My novel Everywhere She’s Not is now available, in hardcover, paperback, and e-book, wherever books are sold.
I’d be delighted to send you a signed copy of Everywhere She’s Not, inscribed according to your instructions. Order below. (So sorry, but at present I don’t ship internationally.)
This novel wouldn’t have been possible without the generous supporters of its Kickstarter campaign!
What’s Everywhere She’s Not about?
Here’s its summary:
David is a brilliant young man living alone in an old seaside motel in San Francisco in 1979. He has just destroyed the life that he and his live-in girlfriend Kate spent two years building together.
He has no idea why he did the terrible thing he did. All he knows is that he’s appalled he did it, and desperately wants Kate back.
Fat chance. Kate, who loves David, is many things. Stupid isn’t one of them.
Everywhere She’s Not is about crazy-making, mind-boggling, gut-wrenching love. It’s about how ultimately rewarding it can be to keep hoping, even when you know there’s no hope at all.
It’s about passing through locked motel doors, travel brochures for ax-murderers, Cornish game hens playing lawn darts.
It’s about helping your best friend, who is gay, pretend that he isn’t gay, so that his ex-wife won’t take away his child visitation rights.
It’s about David Allen Finch finally facing the truth of who is family is, and what they’ve made him become—and what, if anything, he can do about that.
Do people like the novel?
Well, here’s a few reviews of it that have come in so far:
“It’s not easy to tell a story that is filled with hilarious humor, the pangs of love lost, excruciatingly sad family life and deep, deep inner circumspection that ultimately uplifts your soul, but John has done just that. I highly recommend you read this book; you will thank me later.” — Jon Mayes, Advance Reading Copy
(You can learn who Jon Mayes is here. You can read his interview with me here.)
“Deeply engrossing . . . a hightly satisfying reading experience . . . Shore’s writing is so stylistically on target that the language itself falls away, allowing the reader to enter into the subtleties of the story completely. . . . Shore’s protagonist is authentically funny and rawly sympathetic . . . This novel stands apart for its originality. It is a testament to the notion that the strongest works are often those with simple storylines, exceptionally told. 10 out of 10.” — Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize 2019
“Shore’s territory is the daily, personal challenges of how we live. He traces the very real, very emotional lives of ordinary people who are just trying to keep up–with, often, their own hearts.” — Bruce Steele, The Asheville Citizen-Times
A powerfully compelling introspective look at life . . . The wrecked persona of David is beautifully achieved through narrative intimacy, stellar descriptive work and compelling dialogue . . . Everywhere She’s Not is a harrowing and fascinating novel — K.C. Finn, for Readers’ Favorite
“I just couldn’t put it down. A couple of times I really had to stop and walk away from it–it was that honest, raw and painful . . . I wish I could give a copy to the struggling people I know, grab them by the lapels and say, ‘READ! READ!'” — Mary L. Harper, Current Literature Book Club
And then there are the reader reviews . . .
“I’ve read Everywhere She’s Not. I love it. Now what?”
A 5-star review on Amazon and/or Goodreads would be a huge boon for the book. If you have a book club, bring the novel to it. (I’ll be happy to show up in person, or do a Skype chat with the club, once everyone has read it.) The value to its fortunes of sharing the book on social media is incalculable. If you have a blog, write about Everywhere She’s Not. If you have a podcast, radio, or television show, have me on as a guest.
This novel will live or die depending upon whether or not its readers get behind it in all of these kinds of ways. It really is that simple. Thanks for your help!
“Didn’t you used to have a massive blog?”
From 2007 to 2014 I did write a spirituality / humor / advocacy blog here at JohnShore.com, as well as for The Huffington Post and on Patheos.com.
Back then my blog header looked like this:
My blog did some 300,000 views a month. You can read more about the work I did on my blog here.
“Do you write an advice column?”
I do — or, rather I did. From October 2016 through January 2020, I wrote a weekly advice column, Ask John for The Asheville Citizen-Times. I still write for the Citizen-Times, though. But now I’m writing for them freelance pieces about whatever in Asheville I’m, well, moved to write about. I love it.
Did you write the first real-time serial novel ever published on the website of a major daily newspaper?
I did! Please notify literary history. From April 2016 until I concluded the story in November 2017, I wrote Ashes to Asheville, published on the website of the Citizen-Times. Ashes is also available as a podcast via iTunes or its Libsyn page. The Citizen-Times’ article introducing Ashes to its readers is here.
“Let’s stay in touch!”
I’d love that. These days I’m mainly communicating through my monthly newsletter, to which you can subscribe below. I hope you do! (I use MailChimp for the newsletter, so you can be sure it’s safe, secure, and won’t ever result in any spam or ads. Unsubscribe with a click of your mouse.) Please drop me a line, any time, through my Contact Me page. I look forward to hearing from you!
My novel, Everywhere She's Not, is now available wherever books are sold.
It’s not easy to tell a story that is filled with hilarious humor, the pangs of love lost, excruciatingly sad family life and deep, deep inner circumspection that ultimately uplifts your soul, but John has done just that. I highly recommend you read this book; you will thank me later. — Jon Mayes, Advance Reading Copy.
Deeply engrossing . . . a hightly satisfying reading experience . . . Shore's writing is so stylistically on target that the language itself falls away, allowing the reader to enter into the subtleties of the story completely. . . . Shore’s protagonist is authentically funny and rawly sympathetic . . . This novel stands apart for its originality. It is a testament to the notion that the strongest works are often those with simple storylines, exceptionally told. 10 out of 10. — Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize 2019
A powerfully compelling introspective look at life. . . This is a harrowing and fascinating novel. — K.C. Finn, for Readers' Favorite