Published in the Time of COVID-19

My novel Machinia began life in the 80's and was finished in the 90's.  From that point it was shopped and edited for thirty years until finally being selected by Pandamonium Publishing House in Southern Ontario, Canada. Many things changed over the decades: publishing houses merged or went out of business, submissions to publishers/agents went from strictly snail mail to electronic only. As a writer, my ability to send out material became a smoother process thanks to the speed of these transformations. Where I once had to wait months for a reply to a submission, I was now able to hear back within a matter of weeks. The sweet acceptance of a contract made me believe that the long awaited moment in the sun had arrived. I couldn't wait to participate in book signings, art crawls, comic-cons and all the events associated with publication! All of that got shut down and postponed indefinitely into some vague future called "TBD 2021".  What that means is that most of the effort to get Machinia seen by the reading public has been online, a vast sea of endless wilderness.  Granted, positive reviews have been encouraging and heartwarming. But without my physical book sitting face forward on a bookstore's shelf getting it "seen" is an ongoing effort.  So I promote with this site, Facebook, LinkedIn, my publisher's website, Amazon and Barnes & Noble and many online independent book stores..  But to me these are the "Also available at..." choices.  Like my work (I currently teach for Brant Skills Centre in Brantford) everything has become channeled through the Internet, a peculiar experience in which the tactile world of direct interaction is now replaced with a screen and speakers.  I make do (as we all must) with the technology utilizing its features as a temporary solution to the restrictions placed upon me by COVID.  And while it has shown to be exceptional in certain ways it can only go so far.  I look forward to "TBD 2021" when I can finally sit at a table in a bookstore with a stack of books and a pen, signing books and talking to people without needing microprocessors and telecommunication infrastructure to do so. PM-12/15/2020