This is an experiment. Randy Cassingham made a very nice video introduction for me to put on the www.americanflyingbroomstick.com home page. And he did a great job! But I did it on a day that my bipolar illness had taken me way, way down. So, I thought I’d try something a little different:
The production values stink, but I would like some feedback on the concept. The video is much shorter and hopefully more entertaining. So, compare it with the old one here: Read more…
Reader Chelsey, shown here in a Facebook photo, loves the American Flying Broomstick series
It’s nice to get fan mail. I guess it’s the best part of being an author—learning that other people get as much fun out of the books as I had writing them. Here’s a comment from Chelsey, a young man who lives in Denver:
“Bravo again! I just finished book 2 and can’t wait to snag book 3! I just can’t put them down once I start reading! The books not only make me wish I could fly a broomstick, but as a life-long resident of Ridgway that has since moved away, it is like taking a trip home. It is especially enjoyable to personally know the characters; it often makes all the laughs that much more enjoyable! I spent a large amount of my reading time laughing or chuckling. I think my girlfriend thought I was a little nuts at first because I would just randomly break the silence of the room in tear-jerking laughter! Thanks for all the hard work Dave! Great books! Now its on to book 3! Any plans for a book 4? Best Regards, and Safe Brooming, Chelsey”
I remember Chelsey when he was in high school several years back. He led the team from our tiny little high school that entered a solar-powered car in a national race. He’s a ham radio operator, too. Sharp guy!
Well, regarding Book 4, I have the idea—see the chapters in Book 3 that take place in Manchester, England and you’ll see what it’ll involve. But right now I’ve decided to try my hand at a full-blown fantasy with the working title of The Unexpected Traveler, so Book 4 will be put off a bit.
Both our Catalog and our Extended Catalog now feature a shopping cart. That means weight is used to compute postage, saving you money!
It’s overdue, but it’s here! Up until now, all the items in our catalog were intended to be ordered one item at a time. The “Buy Now” button takes you directly to PayPal’s checkout feature. If you want to buy several different books, up until now you had to pay shipping for each on an individual basis.
No more! I thrust my way through the tangled thicket on PayPal’s website and figured out how to use the shopping cart feature. So, you can add an item to the cart, continue to peruse the site and add more items, and when you’re done you just click on any “View Cart” button and you’re whisked to your shopping cart, where you can finalize your order. Of course, you can remove items or change quantities at any time, simply via the “View Cart” button. All “View Cart” buttons take you to the same place: your shopping cart.
The cool thing is that the shipping is calculated on the weight of the total order. That can represent significant savings. The starting point for shipping is $2.75, but if you order, say, the Railroad book plus Mary Ann Dismant’s memoirs, the total shipping is just $3.00. What a cool way to save money!
I’ve got the cart up for the Mt. Sneffels Press catalog and will update the extended catalog soon so that it has this feature also.
UPDATE Jan 22, 2010: The Extended Catalog has been upgraded to add the shopping cart feature.
This is a picture from Wikipedia of the SS John W. Brown, one of the two surviving out of over 2000 Liberty Ships built during WWII. One of the Liberty Ships was named after Otto Mears, a key railroading figure in Colorado
Reader Norm Delucchi sent this comment:
“Reading my copy of Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle – I questioned an item – going to my reference library I found that the SS Otto Mears (Hull # 2157) was built by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond #2 Yard, Richmond, CA, not Matson Navigation of San Francisco as stated on page 90.”
Norm is correct. I might also note that in researching this, Wikipedia states that 2710 of these handy, easy-to-build cargo ships were built during the war years, not quite measuring up to the “over 3000″ on page 90. That still a lot of ships! Out of all these ships, only two are still seaworthy, the SS John W. Brown (pictured) and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the latter being preserved as a memorial in San Francisco with occasional trips at sea. The SS Otto Mears itself was launched in 1943, sold private in 1947, and wrecked and scrapped in 1967.
One would think, given that Broom 3 has been out for awhile, that I’d have the American Flying Broomstick site up to date. Well, it is now, only three and a half months after I announced it here on this site. At least I can say that I’ve been updating things on the website. (I’m devoting most of my free time to my all-new fantasy book, The Unexpected Traveler.) So click on the image or click here to see the updated American Flying Broomstick website. Oh, rats, I’ve got to do a video too!
Greetings from Geekland here. I’ve spent the last couple hours upgrading the blog software that underpins this site, WordPress. The auto upgrade feature doesn’t work for me (I must have a configuration file set wrong somewhere), so that means transferring hundreds of files to my hosting provider. They make it fairly easy, but I did run into a snag here and there. I like WordPress because 1) I’ve been able to make it work, 2) it’s pretty easy to post things and add shopping buttons and whatnot, and 3) it’s well supported. Oh, and 4) it’s free! If you want to experiment, WordPress allows you to create your own blog on their site. Mt. Sneffels Press isn’t hosted there, but rather at Digital Space.
I’ve been putting off this upgrade for awhile now, but it pays to be current, as the latest version has all the bug patches and security fixes. I decided to devote this evening to getting my Internet house in order, although I hope to spend a little time working on the first draft of The Unexpected Traveler!
Mt. Sneffels Press is a small press located in Ridgway, Colorado, that focuses on local authors. Our catalog is expanding! For ordering information, see the Catalog page.
