The Mortality Shot has landed, let's celebrate!

You are invited to an exciting book launch and conversation about Aging Dangerously!

This is me holding the first copy of the actual book I saw, which arrived at my mother's house in Maine on the day we were leaving. I got to see more in NYC when we got home. Hard to explain what it's like to hold something I worked so hard to bring into the world. Especially when your debut is at age 59. I can't thank Jakob Sergei and Liquid Cat Books enough for making this hybrid collection of stories, essays and stage text a thing of beauty. When you see the formatting of the stage text, take a moment of silence for how long that took to make right and know why I am so grateful for the precision and patience that took. I am so grateful to all of you who preordered, it kind of blew us all away, and even now Liquid Cat is working to get orders to everyone. If you ordered a hard cover, it should be arriving soon! I don't have mine yet either. But those of you who have seen the book know how beautiful the work they do is, so I know the hard cover is gonna be special. And I want to celebrate with you and see you in real life and Sign Your Books, so check this out:

The wonderful people at Buuni Cafe in Inwood are hosting a fabulous joint book launch on October 29 from 4-6pm. I am honored to be in conversation with Priya Malhotra about her wonderful debut novel Woman of an Uncertain Age moderated by Aurvi Sharma, a very talented writer and fabulous human. We will be discussing aging, mortality, and how we can allow truer versions of ourselves to emerge as we get older. And there will be delicious snacks. What's not to like?

If you don't have a book already, both Priya's and my book will be sold by the event's co-host, the gem of uptown book culture: Word Up Community Bookshop.

If you can attend the book launch, please register for free here. This will help us plan for numbers. If you are coming from elsewhere, I suggest coming up early to walk in the park's old growth forest. The leaves are changing and by next weekend it will be drop dead gorgeous (see preview below!)

And finally to all of you who celebrate: order THE MORTALITY SHOT at Liquid Cat (or Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble or Amazon or ask your local indie bookstore to order it, which will help us get it in stores). If you want a signed book but we can't see each other in person, email me so we can arrange

There will be more events in November, some virtual and some in person (including an in person reading of Respairation or you have to unmute yourself, the stage text in the book); I will send another newsletter about those. I am also going to be scheduling virtual coffee chats with some amazing writers, starting with the fabulous authors who blurbed THE MORTALITY SHOT. Meanwhile, you can read This is 59,my answers to Sari Botton's Oldster questionnaire, about aging, writing, mortality, and reframing my life since my autism diagnosis at 57 here. And see the listing for my book on Bijal Shah's soul enhancing Book Therapy site, here under Bereavement.

THANK YOU to all who have already purchased this hybrid collection of stories, essays and stage text, with a special shout to to you who have contacted me about it saying how much it has meant to you and sent photos and comments as you are reading. Writing and publishing a book—unlike theater—is a lonely business, and damn, but it's nice to know what I have written is landing powerfully. In fact, it means the world.

If you have already read the book and loved it, please tell your friends and post about it, and review on Goodreads or Amazon, because this book's future is firmly located in the grassroots...and all your support helps so much.

And finally to all of you who celebrate:HAPPY DIWALI! The Festival of Lights! In honor of this delightful holiday, I end with a photo of Inwood Hill Park doing its part to add to this colorful celebration, as it tunes up for peak leaf season coming soon!