Thanks to all who attended our book signing at the Tom Green Central Library on December 5, 2015. I signed the Schnoz of the Rings: A Parody of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and my brother, David, signed his new book, OinK! Only in Korea.
John and David before the event. Yes, that’s a wizard hat John’s wearing.
Here we are before the signing. I’m sporting my new wizard hat and grasping my trusty wizard staff. The hat came in handy to keep my noggin warm, but I didn’t need to shoot bolts of energy at any of the crowd so we just tried to keep the staff out of the way and not trip over it.
We are standing by the entry display of our books. Mine is the one with the ring and the Groucho Marx glasses. David’s is “OinK!” The cover has a picture of the Korean Defence Service Medal. The Schnoz of the Rings is a parody and hence, not serious (funny even!). OinK! is my brother’s story of his time in Korea. David served as an army intelligence officer on the DMZ in 1980.
John reads from the Schnoz of the Rings.
I led off the festivities with a reading from the Schnoz. I read from the chapter “The Long Dark of Mordia”. The particular passage describes Grandkopf’s battle with the Balfrog (yes, it’s a giant frog) on the Bridge of Krazi-dumb. It’s a good fight and the outcome is a little different from the Tolkien version…
Being a ham, I had a lot of fun with the reading, although trying to mimic a Balfrog frog while keeping my hat on and holding a book in one hand proved to be a bit of a challenge. At least I didn’t trip over my wizard staff!
By the way, my brother and I are available for parties and luncheons.
David telling us about the Imjin Bridge leading to the DMZ.
For his part of the presentation, David talked about his time in Korea and showed some of the images from his website. At right he is describing the foreboding Imjin Bridge that leads up to the Demilitarized Zone. David brought a table of artefacts from Korea which included medals, his military police armband and pieces of shrapnel from a shell he helped explode on explosive ordnance disposal detail. David was injured by a punji stick on his first patrol and developed cancer in his knee. He was evacuated from Korea suddenly and had surgery to remove the cancer and rebuild his knee in San Antonio, Texas.
The small, but enthusiastic group asked a lot of questions and David put on a good show answering them. After the presentations, we had cookies and sold a few books. Everyone that came left with at least one book. Half of the attendees bought both books but there were some that already had my book and only got “OinK”. I’m jealous my brother outsold me 2 to 1!
The Osterhout brothers with Cindy Jordan, local author and entertainer.
Amongst the attendees was local author and entertainer Cindy Jordan. Here is a picture of Los Tres Authors before the presentations. Cindy is know as the author of Pearl, Diamond and other books. She has another book in the works. Watch for it.
Thanks again to all who participated. Check out David’s website and visit my book pages for information about my upcoming books “Froyo and the Rings of Men” and “Mack Alpha Nine – The Galactic Enforcement Agency”.
The “Schnoz of the Rings” and “Oink” are available on Amazon in paperback and for the Kindle.