FREE RANGE RODEO: Horseback through the Apocalypse (by Sea G Rhydr)
is now a real live book available in paperback and hardcover on Amazon!

I’m beyond excited, beyond relieved, a bit in shock and so, so happy to be able to share this news with you! To share this story with you! I could fill this whole blog post with gratitude to every single person who has helped to make this possible, but I’ve always felt like “thank you note” blog posts (and books) are the most boring thing for everybody except those being thanked – and risk hurting the feelings of anyone left off the list. That said – I hope you will all forgive me for this short list of the four people most immediately responsible for getting this book Actually Published Now.

Karen Fisher believed in this book before she ever met me, invited me to come live on her property while I finished writing it, became my writing mentor, therapist, sounding board, encourager and best friend. She refused to kick me to the curb, despite the loving advice of her friends and family, and kept me well nourished, body, mind and soul. Karen is steadfast, generous, kind and deeply honest and gave me so much confidence in my viability as a Writer, an Author, a Storyteller – and then helped finance the actual publishing once the book was ready to fly. I lived with Karen on Lopez Island for 9 years – the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere. Words don’t even come close.

Barbara Harding from Ohio, whom I’d never met before I drove out here to meet the ponies, left a comment on my blog suggesting that I had absolutely nothing to lose by at least publishing an eBook version of my manuscript before jaunting off on my current adventure. This led me to actually looking at the manuscript for the first time in too long and realizing that I had something very close to a finished book in my laptop. Never underestimate the power of a well-timed suggestion!

Armando Saint-Martin and Barker Publishing LLC went the extra mile to bring my word document of a manuscript into alignment with my vision of what I wanted it to be as a book. It felt like a big risk to go with a small publishing house operating out of Mexico City, but I have zero regrets. So many people have asked me how I knew this wasn’t a scam, and in today’s world that’s a valid concern, but as it panned out, Armando was generous and kind about many more rounds of revisions than we’d originally agreed on, he and his team were patient and supportive and paid meticulous attention to every part of the process. If you do read the book you will notice that my writing style is unorthodox, which required them to think outside the box – and then there were the numerous photographs and sketches which I wanted to include in specific places – I’m so glad I didn’t have to figure this all out alone!

Pia McKoryk, my Canadian emotional support human (and former snorkel buddy) came through with unexpected and much appreciated deep proofreading skills over several last minute revisions; she went over the entire manuscript with a fine tooth comb at least twice in less than two weeks, catching all sorts of details, raising excellent questions and helping me keep the faith (even after coming down with Covid in the home stretch!)

And now there is a real live physical book in the world with my name on it and it’s time to find out what happens next! We’re still working on the Kindle/eBook version, so if you prefer to read in that format (which I do, personally) you’ll have to wait a little bit longer – hopefully not too much longer! The paper copies can be purchased on Amazon just like everything else in the world, which is a strange thing to be happy about – but that’s the reality of publishing in today’s world, and here we are. If you don’t want to buy anything from Amazon, Ever – I’m in the process of making an eBook version available via Barnes and Noble and Apple and probably a few other places. I’ll keep you posted! (I’m also very keen to do an audiobook version at some point, but that will require time and a sound-proof space and the proper recording equipment – none of which are obviously available at the moment, but on my wish list moving forward.)

Last night, when the book became available on Amazon I ordered a box of 50 paperbacks to be mailed to Kelly Burnell’s house in Sheridan, Indiana. My plan is to sell these from the wagon as I make my way across the country as a way of financing my current adventure. If you are not on my route but would like an autographed copy, we can do that too! Any books I sell in person will be sliding scale. So – if you want me to mail you an autographed paperback from Indiana, send me an email at: Sea@freerangerodeo.com
with your mailing address and anything specific you want me to write inside the book
(name, message, “happy birthday” – anything you want – or I’ll just wing it 😉
and then go to Venmo, Paypal or Zenni (all information on the Contact Page of the blog – or just use the Venmo button on the main page – on a phone scroll down and click on “view full site” to find these things) and send however much makes sense to you!

Full transparency: My cost to get the book and mail it out (within the USA) is around $15 for the paperback – the Amazon price is $21.21 – which lets me make $5 for each book sold – so any amount you can send above that is greatly appreciated and will help keep me and Thick and Franklin and Theodore on the road in the Mustard Seed – interviewing our neighbors and trying to save the world! If $20 is more than you can do, or if I owe you a book, send me an email and we’ll work it out. If you’d prefer Hardcover I can do that too but for reasons known only to Amazon that will take a little longer, so I probably won’t be able to mail it out until somewhere in Illinois – I won’t order those unless people ask for them specifically, but if you do ask, that’s what I’ll do!

Meanwhile, it’s been a very eventful two weeks since my last blog post – WiFi isn’t always readily available in rural Ohio and I’ve been a bit rattled and debating how much of the story to tell. But here are a few hints…

My nephew Tobiah swung by on his way home from graduating from Wheaton College (congratulations Tobiah!) and put the Strava app on my phone – so now if you want to follow along with my route on the map you can do that – the link to that is also on the Contact page.

We’re all alive and well and only about 15 miles from the Indiana border! But before we leave Ohio, I’d like to introduce you to a young woman who hosted me in her old barn during a big storm. She’s got an almost 2 year old and an 8 month old, a husband that she truly adores, is learning to sew at church and makes a delicious tater tot casserole – here’s Katelynn.