bosArt | Print: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-21-2025 at17:21:

The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Yes, it took 10 years to do but I finally completed the Author's Edition. I am just waiting on my marketing "team" to put together a full on ad campaign that will precede the launch, but once it's up and running, it will be available on Kindle and as both a paperback and for the first time ever as a hard back through KDP. As a little taste, I am posting a photo of my intrepid, one-shoed main female character, Laura, on this site, along with the snippet from the novel the image is culled from. I hope you will enjoy this and once the novel is released, I hope many of you will avail yourselves for a copy. My only request is that if you do, please put up a review on Amazon. (Hopefully a good or great one!) I need as much buzz and promotion as I can get. And now, without further delay, Laura fighting back:

She inched forward into the darkness; her breath trembled. The stones lodged under her bare left foot hurt even more now. She stopped and leaned against the end of a row of empty shelves and pried the stones loose, letting them scatter to the floor. She shook out the smaller grit and planted her foot back to the floor-high on its ball-and exhaled in relief. It felt much better now.
Her gaze now locked on a metal pipe leaning against a nearby shelf. She snatched it up, gripping it in her trembling hands. It was cold and heavy, but better than nothing. She raised the pipe to her left shoulder -- like a left-handed batter preparing to swing -- and crept forward up the aisle. Her heart pounded, her pulse throbbing in her ears. She'd caught her breath but still panted-more from fear than exertion. Her bare legs quivered in the cool air of the room, the chill rushing up past the hem of her skirt like an unseen malevolence invading her most personal of spaces. Her mouth was dry, tinged with the metallic taste of the adrenaline surging through her veins. (All text and image copyrighted 2025 by me)

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-21-2025 at20:29:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Whats wrong with the board? I can't upload. Keep getting an error message.

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-21-2025 at21:56:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Okay, here is another snippet and complimentary render of a scene from the novel. This is where Laura initially escapes into the rail yard:

Mike paused. ?Okay, so the Russian dies. Is that when you ran into our yard??
Laura huffed. ?Yes,? she replied, soft and reluctant. ?I had to get away from where I was. I thought about taking the Russian?s car, but there was no way I could move his body from the driver?s seat. He was over twice my size. And the blood! It was everywhere! So, I got out.
?The temperature had dropped more, and I pulled my jacket tight around me as I looked back up the road the Russian had taken me down. The pavement was cold and rough too, and it bit into my practically bare left foot. I lifted it, curling and uncurling my toes to ease the sting. I looked down at it, then back up the road. It was going to be a long walk back in just one heel?a very long, painful walk back.
?I started hobbling out of the cul-de-sac, but then stopped when I saw headlights cutting through the fog?two cars, and one had only one headlight. My heart skipped a beat. It was the creeps! I mean, how did they find us?
?I began to panic?looking for any place to run and hide. Then I spotted this driveway leading off the cul-de-sac into the reeds, and I ran, skipped, hopped?whatever it took to get to it and up it in one heel. I prayed the drive would lead someplace where I could get help.

Posted by Mandrake on 06-22-2025 at00:29:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Congrats Grizzletoad! Love the pic.

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-22-2025 at01:15:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

I'm trying to post the snippet of the novel that goes with the picture but the site keeps knocking it down saying something is incompatible. I don't understand. I posted one earlier with no issues. Let me try again.

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-22-2025 at01:22:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Here is the complimentary snippet that goes with the render:

I keep getting an SQL Database Error and can't upload any of the text of my novel. It's a .docx Word document well within the limits for this site. I tried everything, even posting from Notepad. Very frustrating.

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-22-2025 at02:12:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Okay, here is the snippet, finally. I had to convert and save this as an ansi file. This site needs an upgrade! Anyway, Here it is in full:

Mike paused. "Okay, so the Russian dies. Is that when you ran into our yard?"
Laura huffed. "Yes," she replied, soft and reluctant. "I had to get away from where I was. I thought about taking the Russian's car, but there was no way I could move his body from the driver's seat. He was over twice my size. And the blood! It was everywhere! So, I got out.
"The temperature had dropped more, and I pulled my jacket tight around me as I looked back up the road the Russian had taken me down. The pavement was cold and rough too, and it bit into my practically bare left foot. I lifted it, curling and uncurling my toes to ease the sting. I looked down at it, then back up the road. It was going to be a long walk back in just one heel - a very long, painful walk back.
"I started hobbling out of the cul-de-sac, but then stopped when I saw headlights cutting through the fog - two cars, and one had only one headlight. My heart skipped a beat. It was the creeps! I mean, how did they find us?
"I began to panic - looking for any place to run and hide. Then I spotted this driveway leading off the cul-de-sac into the reeds, and I ran, skipped, hopped - whatever it took to get to it and up it in one heel. I prayed the drive would lead someplace where I could get help.

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-23-2025 at20:51:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Here's another image ripped from the novel that Chat AI helped me do. This is really coming together and I hope to use many of these for my advertising campaign. This is the scene where Laura, after breaking her heel walking back for help with her car and removing it to inspect, is being initially grabbed by the "creeps," with her broken shoe spinning from her grasp, never to be in her possession for the rest of the novel. Harrowing.

Posted by Mandrake on 06-24-2025 at01:11:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

Nice!

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 06-29-2025 at06:36:

RE: The Railroad Man Author's Edition is finished!

The novel has moved a step closer to publication. Tonight I uploaded it to Kindle to make sure there were no technical glitches. There were none! It is right now in suspense until I get the paperback and hard cover editions uploaded and the marketing plan finalized. I would say we are within a month of a full launch of what I believe is not only a great story, but the greatest railroad oriented story ever written, and THE GREATEST ONE SHOE STORY EVER! Hope it's successful enough that we all see it as a feature film or streaming service miniseries at some point in the future. Until then, stand by!