Oh What a Night! Mechanicsburg comes out in droves on First Friday to support Sunbury Press authors…

Mechanicsburg, PA — Friday November 1, besides being All Saints Day, was First Friday in this borough — an evening to emphasize the arts.  Sunbury Press, the trade publisher headquartered on West Main Street, participated with a program of six authors from a variety of categories.  The author readings ran from 7 to 9 PM.  Sunbury’s showroom was packed with patrons — standing room only.  Many people lingered on the street outside in order to listen in.  Following are some pictures from the event:

Standing room only…

Some of the young patrons…

Mike & Ethan Sgrignoli presenting “Dinorific Poetry Volume 3”

Thomas Malafarina reading from “Undead Living”

Wendy Latty presenting “Colors in the Garden the Creator Made”

Karim El Koussa in front of his sign

Karim El Koussa in front of the Sunbury office

Karim El Koussa, Mike Sgrignoli and Wendy Latty after the show.

Fred Burton reads from “The Old Songs”

Karim El Koussa presents “Jesus the Phoenician”

Karim El Koussa signs a copy of “Jesus the Phoenician” for a patron

Cathy Jordan reads her story from “Undead Living”

Karim El Koussa on West Main Street

 

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Fred Burton’s first novel “The Old Songs” is based in Queens in the 1950s & 1960s

QUEENS, NY – Sunbury Press has released Fred Burton’s first novel “The Old Songs” about life in Queens in the 1950s and 1960s.

About the book:
“The Old Songs” takes place in Queens, N.Y. during the 1950s and 1960s. The members of the extended family you meet have been shaped by The Depression and World War II. In response to these traumatic events they are drawn together into gatherings that are fun-loving and raucous.

It is not long before a tragic event occurs, taking two of the main characters from them. Those left behind struggle to maintain the things that keep them bound to each other, and shun attitudes and ideas that run counter to them. But evidence mounts that events cannot be managed and controlled as easily as they had expected. Their rigid orthodoxy is tested when they consider the poor treatment that had been directed towards those no longer among them.

The title captures an essential theme of the book. The first chapter occurs at a family party. The petty conflicts are undone by the singing of songs and you sense the rich heritage this represents. Later, they sing in a restaurant and it becomes painfully clear how the world has passed them by. The concluding chapter has the larger group reassembled for perhaps the final time. The singing begins and feelings of hurt and alienation are met with a counter-force that suggests that beauty can be found even in difficult situations.

There are no heroes in this book but truth can be found in the fabric of their shared experience, each strand of which struggles for connection. Their love for each other battles against the crises that have shaped their lives. They are poorly equipped for looking inside themselves because of a morality that scorns analysis of this kind. Despite these obstacles each is given a chance to learn how to forgive, both themselves and each other, and those who grow in this way secure some measure of peace in their lives.

The Old Songs
Authored by Fred Burton
List Price: $16.95
6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
220 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620062913
ISBN-10: 1620062917
BISAC: Fiction / Literary

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/The-Old-Songs-9781620062…

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