First Chapters: Remington & The Mysterious Fedora by Chuck Waldron

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remington & The Mysterious Fedora
By Chuck Waldron
WriteByMe Books (April 6, 2011)
Fantasy
256 pages

Chapter One

Walking through a door one afternoon was a life-changing event for Josh. Earlier that morning, he had made a grand announcement. Grandiose might have better described it.

“I’m going to write a novel, and what’s more I’m going to write it in a month.”

When his friends stopped laughing he said, “I’m not kidding. I saw it on the internet, a challenge to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November. I’m starting at midnight on November 1^st.”

His friends looked at each other shaking their heads. They had heard crap from Josh before, and believed were hearing it now.

In spite of his insisting he would do it, they all turned and walked away.

Hell, he thought, that only takes 1,667 words a day, give or take.

When Josh woke up that morning, he had no idea — absolutely none — that a typewriter and hat would figure into his day. But, if I told you any more now, there wouldn’t be a story to tell.

It was usual for Josh to wake up early, dress and wrestle his bicycle through the apartment door, onto the elevator, and out through the building lobby, narrowly missing the fake potted-palms.

This day he looked around; it wasn’t a particularly cold day, nor was it warm. It was a typical autumnal day for this part of the world. A brisk breeze was blowing from the west, signaling a passing cold front. He chose his route. He would ride into the wind and enjoy its push on the way back.

Josh had never been mistaken for an athlete, but he appreciated the value of exercise.

The riding provided another clear benefit for him. As he pedaled, his muscles straining, his heart rate rising, his mind would clear and sometimes wondrous thoughts would sneak into his consciousness. He often grasped elusive ideas while riding. Once, he had solved a complex mathematical formula in his head while taking a leisurely ride.

There was always a potentially serious downside to those aha moments, however. He had been so focused on the mathematics while riding that long-ago day, he rode, without stopping or looking, across a busy street. He barely noticed, or gave a second thought, to the screeching sound of tires braking on asphalt, as one car stopped inches from his right leg. He simply rode on, oblivious to the event.

What does any of that have to do with a typewriter and hat, you ask? Nothing really, but it explains why Josh happened to be out and about that morning, on that fateful day.

Chapter 2

As Josh rode on that brisk morning, he noticed the sign advertising “USED STUFF.” He took pride in knowing all the places to buy stuff cheap. They were some of his favorite places to stop during his bike rides about town. Josh was above all an extremely economical young man. Browsing vintage clothing and routing around junk stores was his passion. He once considered writing a book, sharing his ability to find inexpensive and useful things. Along with many other things in Josh’s life, the book idea was shelved, committed to the “forgotten” file, along with others.

What the…

I’ve never seen this sign before.

He braked and locked his bike to a nearby fence railing. Walking through the door, he took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the lighting inside store. He became aware of an odor, the whiff of what? Stuffy, he decided.

They could use some lights. Even I’m not this cheap.

Inside the door on his right was a display counter. It reminded Josh of a photo he had seen once, a photo of a dry goods store in some rural town in the early twentieth century. The date on the photo was 1911, he recalled after a minute’s thought.

A man of indeterminate age stood behind the counter in the dusty store. Josh had never seen a banker’s eyeshade before. (He learned later such visors were worn by all sorts of people, bankers, clerks and gamblers.) The man behind the counter had one; it was green. Josh saw the man’s eyes peering out from under the visor, but there was no way he could guess the nature of the man looking at him.

The clerk didn’t say anything, merely pulled a worn cardigan together at the front and stared at him. Josh waited, but the man didn’t say anything.

Deciding to break the ice, Josh said, “I’ve never seen your store before. Did you just open it? Where did you get all this incredible old stuff?” Josh waved his arm around at all the miscellaneous mish-mash surrounding him. He thought he detected a faint smile emerge from under the visor.

“New or old, merely words,” the man said.

What is this guy talking about? Josh said to himself, not given to scatological language, even in his thoughts. The truth was, Josh was growing more than a bit nervous, and as he was deciding to leave, the man said, “Why not take your time and look around. You never know what treasures you might find.”

Josh turned back around. “Is there any organization to things here?”

“Just start looking,” the man said with a shrug. “Isn’t the best part of a journey the journey itself? Look, discover, take pleasure in the search itself.” The man waved to one side, “There are two more rooms. This room I call old, the second room I call older, and you can guess what I have in the last room,” he finished and started a phlegmatic coughing, not bothering to cover his mouth.

Josh didn’t like the sound of the cough, but he was intrigued. He started to ask another question, but the man had turned to pick up a book. He began reading intently, oblivious to the young man on the other side of the counter. For no apparent reason, Josh noted the man was reading Moby Dick.

Josh didn’t find anything of interest in the first room. He kept looking back over his shoulder, but the store owner was paying no attention to him now. There was a pile of old magazines that caught Josh’s attention: Life, Look, National Geographic, and something called The Fiddlehead, which turned out to be a Canadian literary magazine from 1945.

He moved on, fingering some glassware, but nothing on those shelves grabbed his attention. He pushed his plastic glass frames up a little further on his nose and stifled a sneeze, tickled to life from the dust.

He found the second room even more interesting. In the corner of the room he spotted some racks of vintage clothing. Alongside was a shelf of old headwear. He was intrigued with a particular tall hat. He picked it up and held it, eyes wide with curiosity, turning it in his hand. He looked at the headband on the inside, looking for a clue that would tell him what kind of hat it was.

“They called it a stove-pipe hat, back in the day. I always wondered if that hat you’re holding might’ve belonged to Abraham Lincoln himself,” the shop owner said with a chuckle. He had crept into the room to stand behind Josh, and started to cough again. It was an unpleasant cough, really, the man reaching for a handkerchief this time and holding it to his lips. “Try it on. There’s a mirror in here someplace.” The man shuffled off into another room, and Josh put the hat back on the shelf.

He placed it next to another interesting looking hat. It was camel-colored, with a dark brown ribbon wrapped around it, just above the brim, a fedora. Josh picked it up and tried it on. He finally located the mirror and almost started to laugh.

I look just like Indiana Jones.

Award-Winning Book Publicity Company Since 2007

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR, BLOG TOUR & BOOK PUBLICITY ENDORSEMENTS: NICE THINGS PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PUMP UP YOUR BOOK

NEW! "Thank you Dorothy for a lovely tour! Thanks so much for the graphics and wonderful trailer!!"Avery Sterling, PRECIOUS BURDENS

"I just wanted to thank you for everything. You ARE the queen. Your are so personable and professional. Your graphics soared beyond. They are beautiful. It was a pleasure to work with you."Jude Hopkins, BABE IN THE WOODS

"THANK YOU for all of these graphics!!! That was a valuable added perk of working with you on the VBT! Thank you for all the work you put into those, and into the organization and follow-ups on the tour itself. It's been a pleasure working with you, Dorothy!"Allyson Rice, The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

"Oh, awesome!! Thank you so much! You ran such a lovely tour. Those images are great, I look forward to using them and will miss seeing the regular postings on Twitter ;-).
I really appreciate your steadfast and ongoing support. It means a lot!!"Palmer Pickering, MOON DEEDS

"Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you again for the amazing blog tour and to tell you that we will be adding the tour to Mark's author website in the next few days. We will of course be recommending your company to other authors we know. And when Mark's next book is out, we will use your services again." Kirsten Grenside on behalf of Mark Grenside, FALL OUT

"Thank you for all the great, creative, work you have done on behalf of my book. You are
a special lady, as a kind hearted woman and a professional."
Maria Andrade, DEFIANCE AND REDEMPTION

"Everyone did an excellent job. The blog pages were beautiful, and the trailer was so clever and funny. Thanks for sending these lovely "souvenirs" from my tour. I will be able to use all of these posts on Twitter. I enjoyed this so much and look forward to my next tour!"
Irene Woodbury, HONEYMOON ROULETTE

" I am delighted with the results of my recent tour with Pump Up Your Book. Dorothy is meticulous and professional, presents beautifully laid out pages, maintains constant contact with the client, and gives more than expected value for money. In a nutshell: you get what you pay for and more on top! I will certainly be using Dorothy’s services for my other Regency romance books.”
Arabella Sheraton, THE LORD BLACKWOOD REGENCY ROMANCE SERIES

"Thank you so much for The Shadow of Atlantis tour. I've really enjoyed all the posts and seeing my book being promoted. I will definitely come back to you with another of my titles!"
Wendy Leighton-Porter, THE SHADOW OF ATLANTIS

"Thank you so much for the great job on the book tour! Pump Up Your Book was a driving force in the launch of THE PILATE SCROLL!"
M.B. Lewis, THE PILATE SCROLL

"Thank you ever so much - it was a fun tour. I will continue singing your praises to my fellow authors. And grateful for the images, I will put them to continued use."
Kathleen Shaputis, HIS KILT DROPPED HERE

"I appreciate you and your hard work. Thank you for creating these awesome images for my book and allowing me to use them. I am very thankful to have them!"
Joni Ankerson, TO KILL OR BE KILLED

"Thank you for an Amazing Virtual Book Tour for Son of a Soldier! I really appreciate all the work you put into it!"
Aiken Brown, SON OF A SOLDIER

"Thanks so much for getting ANNA INCOGNITO out there and reviewed and shared with so many people. It was great to see it on so many twitter feeds!"
Laura Preble, ANNA INCOGNITO

"Thank you so much for such a fantastic tour! You did an amazing job getting it together so quickly, and I couldn’t have been happier!"
Lena Gregory, GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

"Thank you so much Dorothy! I appreciate your hard work. Love the graphics!"
Jennifer Chase, FLOWERS ON HER GRAVE

"This has been one of the best things I’ve done as an author. Not only am I getting the word out about my books but I’m learning about my own work and my readers along the way. I love it!"
Elysia Strife, A PROMISE IN ASH

"Today my blog tour ended, with another great review which made me end the tour with a big smile! What a fun way to end this incredible 4-week tour. I will surely miss it. I want to thank you for arranging it so well and for being there for me whenever I needed. Thank you!!!"

Miri Leshem-Pelly, SCRIBBLE & AUTHOR

"I think you did an excellent job last time, thank you!"
Shami Stovall, KNIGHTMARE ARCANIST

"Just wanted to thank you for the book tour. :) You did a great job. :)"
Suzanne M. Hurley, THE TEDDY BEAR EYE CLUB

"I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful virtual tour in August for Brimstone and Water. I was very happy with the amount of attention given to the book and to me. I am mentioning it to friends on line that haven't gone to the site yet to be sure and take a look. Thanks for all your work."
Sharon House, BRIMSTONE AND WATER

"Thank you for running my book promotion for BlackJack. I am so pleased with the reviews that came in and appreciated all you did. My sales have improved from being around 800,000 down to the 200,000 on Amazon and hopefully dropping still. I will definitely be contacting you for a promotion again."
Christine Donovan, BLACKJACK

"You’ve been a joy to work with, and I’d do another tour with you in a heartbeat. Overall, it was an excellent experience and a good value. I’ll be sure to look you up when it’s time to release my next book."
Michael Allan Scott, GREY DAZE

"Just wanted to thank you for putting together a great tour for You Won't Remember This. I think the author was pleasantly surprised and overall very pleased."
Bacon Press Books

"Dorothy, thanks so much for another great VBT!!! The Twitter-Party was a new feature this time that I particularly enjoyed. I will continue to recommend PUYB to my writer-friends, because you are simply the best!!!"
T.M. Wallace, WINTERGARDEN

"Thank you for a great blog tour for my “Depression and Your Child.”
I’m in the middle of my third book and will definitely call on you again when it’s time to market it."
Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

"Your hard work and professionalism hasn't gone unnoticed. When I release my next novel(s), I will definitely use your service. I have already recommended you to several authors."
Ashley Fontainne, GROWL

"Thanks for a very good experience with Pump Up Your Book. Fighter Pilot's Daughter has sold out of the first printing (still available as POD on Rowman & Littlefield's site, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.). My editor at R & L says there's a very good chance the book will come out in paperback in the summer. He asked me "Did you hire a publicist or something?" I told him about you, and he was impressed."
Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

"You are amazing Dorothy and I love what you do to get the spirit of our books out to the world. Thank you!"
Lee Papa, TEMPLE OF ALL KNOWING

"I can't believe the response this book is getting! I am so very thrilled that she liked it!!! You are THE BEST, Dorothy, for hooking up this amazing tour with all these stunning reviews! This was the book I was going to keep under my bed forever and ever and now WOW. I can't believe this is happening. It's like a dream come true!"
Madeline Wynn, DAUGHTER OF THE FALLEN

"Just wanted to say I'm appreciating your tweets so much. This is really helping my book sales, and I'm telling writer friends about you."
Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

"Thank you SO much!!!! I had a blast on the tour and appreciate all the time the bloggers and reviewers spent promoting Ash to Steele:)"
Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

"When it comes to looking for a virtual book tour coordinator, Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Tours is simply the best. I have tried several virtual book tour coordinators and have even set up a book tour on my own, but none of them were as successful as my tours with Pump Up Your Book Tour, which has the combination of expertise and experience needed to get the author the results they need. On this latest tour, TWELVE TO MURDER made it up to number three on Amazon! Thank you, Dorothy!"
Lauren Carr, Best-Selling Mystery Author of Mac Faraday, and Lovers in Crime, Mysteries

"Thank you again for all of your help and support for my recent book tour. You were so supportive and responsive, and I enjoyed working with you. It was a great tour and I really enjoyed it, especially when my book hit the top 100 in the two subcategories! That was awesome! Thanks for "pumping up my book!""
Monique Roy, ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES

"Thank you for another amazing tour, Dorothy!! I loved the sites I had an opportunity to visit and the people I met along the way. I even made a few new friends and found wonderful supporters that I'll never forget - I promise! The exposure you gave my book was absolutely unbelievable, and I can't think of a better way to welcome and expose an author's new creation to the literary world. Happy New Year to all your readers and may your success continue to grow. "
Kaylin McFarren, BURIED THREADS

"Thank you for a great virtual book tour. I thought it went really well and it was great to have a wave of PR that flowed through the two month period of my book release. I'm working on my next book - and will definitely reach out to you when it comes time to market! You were a delight to work with and really made me feel looked after. As I've mentioned before, I just don't know how you do it all."
--Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

"I just wanted to let you know how wonderful I felt my book blast went for Be Careful What You Wish For in the month of August. So many emails and contacts that I would never have gotten. The publicity was just phenomenal!"
--R.K. Avery, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

"Just wanted to touch base with you and extend a huge thank you for the wonderful and successful book blast you arranged for Love Vindicated for me. I was very happy with your services and will be passing your name and brand along to some writer friends with a stellar recommendation. Again thanks and I look forward to working with you again in the future."
--Lila Munro, LOVE VINDICATED

"Thank you so much for all your hard work in putting together the virtual book tour for The Sixth Power. I appreciate it so much."
--Carol Nicolas, THE SIXTH POWER

"Thank you SO MUCH for such a great blog tour!"
--Sandra D. Bricker, ALWAYS THE BAKER, FINALLY THE BRIDE

"Wow - you are absolutely fantastic. Can't believe how lucky I was to find you :)"
--Jo Sparkes, THE BIRR ELIXIR

"I just wanted to let you know that tonight Steven Manchester's Twelve Months became The Story Plant's first #1 Kindle bestseller. This couldn't have happened without you. Barb's cover is an absolute showstopper, Sue's copyediting boosted the overall work, Jackie's proofreading kept all of us honest, and Tracee Gleichner's blog tour started what has become an avalanche of great reviews."
-- Lou Aronica, STORY PLANT

"Blog tours have been the most effective promotion I’ve done. Dorothy Thompson and her company Pump Up Your Book are the greatest. I’ve spent money with other promotion companies that advertised packages then didn’t deliver the service they advertised, inflated their audience and reach and point blank falsely represented themselves. Dorothy has been a Godsend, and by far, her services are the best promotional endeavors I’ve invested in thus far."
-- Alicia Singleton, DARK SIDE OF VALOR

"I didn't realize that there is a place on amazon that you can see your stats for foreign sales; mine are really good and I believe it is your tweeting service. I think I might have found the key to successful self-publishing when I found Pump Up Your Books."
-- Suzanne Jenkins, PAM OF BABYLON SERIES

"Dorothy Thompson helped promote my book, Gringos in Paradise: Our Honduras Odyssey. Taking part in it was so much easier (and less expensive) than the travel schedule I was hving to keep doing on my own. She set up everything, coached me through my part, and I found my book and I promoted it all over the Internet. It definitely increased my book sales."
-- Malana Ashlie, GRINGOS IN PARADISE

"Dorothy was not only a lot of fun to work with but she helped me get the word out about my book. I would recommend her to both debut and experienced authors."
---Deborah Woehr, PROSPERITY: A GHOST STORY

“Dorothy is a firecracker promoter. She is skilled at finding the most visible placements in promoting your book with unmatched enthusiasm.She is creatively talented and a wonderful person to have on your team.”
--Kathy Holmes Eckardt, REAL WOMEN WEAR RED

“I invested in a three month virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Books promotions for my noir thriller, Moonlight Falls. Not only did the marketing campaign work wonders for spreading the word about the new novel, in the very last month, on the very last day of the tour, Moonlight Falls became an Amazon Kindle bestseller!”
–Vincent Zandri, MOONLIGHT FALLS and THE REMAINS

“I’m so pleased every day when I look at Google Alerts and see our titles all around the blogosphere, so thanks for that!”
–-World Ahead Media

“This has been a wonderful experience. Dorothy Thompson and her whole team are very committed to each author, take each author’s tour very seriously, and work towards maximum exposure in the right places. This is the best book promotion expenditure I’ve made in terms of return on investment. I highly recommend Pump Up Your Book Promotion.”
--Phyllis Zimbler Miller, MRS: LIEUTENANT

"I used Pump Up Your Book promotions a few months ago for my novel, Nephilim. My publisher is a great person, but when it comes to promotions, she encourages authors to do that on their own. Enter Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Book. I had 8 reviews of the book and was featured as a guest author every day of the week at various websites during the month that I used her company. Amazing! She secured everything for me which was really nice and I didn't have to do anything but write a few blogs or answer interview questions. I would use Pump Up Your Book again in a heart beat!"
--Mary Ann Loesch, NEPHILIM

Visit here to find out what others have to say!

Follow Us!

Click on image to see who’s touring in November!

Book Mockup Graphics for $49!

Click on image to find out more!

PUYB Book Trailer of the Week

Ring of Rosin by Nancy Golden

Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach