Marcia and I made it home from Hawai’i late this morning after a classic red-eye flight from Kailua-Kona (depart 11:30 PM) to Phoenix (arrive 7:30 AM). I pounded some melatonin and tried to sleep, but it was fitful at best, so I’m definitely in the logy zone this afternoon.

The trip was a great one. The first week was spent, as reported in Item #1 here, at The Writing Workshops Hawai’i program, held at a lovely, isolated retreat center on the far northern corner of the Big Island. We met some wonderful and talented folks, read, discussed, and listened to a variety of great stories (fiction and otherwise), ate outstanding food and had spare time to explore some of the more accessible sites on that side of the island. Good times with good people, doing things we love to do. Can’t go wrong with that sort of situation.

For our second week, we shifted over to Kona Town, renting a condo where Katelin and John joined us. In a fortuitous turn of events, Marcia’s sister Evelyn was also in the Kona area for the week, so we spent enjoyable family time with her, and benefited from her deeper knowledge of the island. Over the week, we pretty much circumnavigated the entirely of the Big Island, which deserves its name, because it takes a lot of car time to see that much of it. But the sights you see, oh my, they are glorious and unique, and well worth the effort.

Between this trip and our recent Spanish adventure, we were away from home for a longer period of time than I think we’ve ever experienced before over a five week period. It was all wonderful to be away in such great places, of course, but then it feels especially wonderful to be home after such travels.

And not to bury the lede here, but that bit about “with representation” in the title of this post refers to a most delightful happening from this working vacation. With apologies to those of you who are my e-mail lists and have already heard this, here’s the message on this topic which I sent out earlier this week . . .

Hello, friends,

With apologies, as always, for my occasional mass emails, I wanted to let you all know that I have a new book coming out this month in collaboration with my writing partner, Jim McNeal. For the non-Navy folks: Jim and I were classmates at Annapolis and Supply Corps Corps school, so have known each other for 40+ years at this point, and it was a joy to work together on this fun and interesting project.

Here is the publisher’s link to the book, titled Side by Side in Eternity: The Lives Behind Adjacent American Military Graves. It is currently available for pre-order from the publisher, and also from all of the major book-selling platforms, if you prefer to order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or elsewhere.

For my friends in the working media, if you would like to acquire a review copy, please let me know directly and I will provide your information to the publisher’s marketing folks. Jim and I would be deeply appreciative of such support, just as we’d be deeply appreciative if any of you are able and willing to pre-order Side by Side in Eternity to help generate buzz around its actual release.

Finally, I am also most pleased to announce that Jim and I recently contracted for representation on our next book project with highly-esteemed literary agent Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group. I had the opportunity to spend a week in Hawai’i at a writers’ workshop with Mark and was most impressed by him and his work. Jim and I are truly delighted to have him as our agent. Our working title for the next book is Crucibles: History’s Most Formidable Rites of Passage. Watch my website over the months ahead for updates on that project.

Again, with apologies for mass mailing, thanks so much for all of your ongoing support for my creative endeavors. It means a lot to me.

All best,

Eric

And with that wonderful piece of news out there, I now turn to the obligatory post-travel photo album, as I always do. You can click on the photo of Marcia and I illuminated by Kilauea’s lava glow, just after sunset. There are some “wow” pictures in the album of what you see when you look over that volcano rim, too, along with all sorts of sights from all sorts of other places around and about the island. Pretty darned impressive, I tell you. Pretty darned impressive, indeed.