Sometime in early 2017, I started to write a blog entry to post here. It was about a memory, of going to a movie with my father when I was 12 years old. As I continued to write, the blog piece kept expanding as related nuances associated with the memory kept unfolding in the forefront of my mind. They were anecdotes as good as the original concept, so I continued to write…and write…and write. 564 pages later, it manifested as The Elephant on the Raft.


The first draft was completed in April of 2018. The adventure that took place between then and the first scribblings in January, 2017, is a story in and of itself, and, is the story in the book. It entails traveling across several states, hunkering down for research, and concluding unexpectedly on the 2018 Monsters of Rock cruise in and off the coast of Haiti.

What happened after the completion of the first draft is another story. Maybe I'll share another time, but it entails the ins and outs of trying to secure a literary agent and or willing publisher, generating and submitting query after query, pitch after pitch. That was an eyeopener. All this in the midst of editing the manuscript. The short ending of this saga is that I decided to establish my own publishing company, Wilder Street Press. I designed the book's cover and content under the banner of my art and design studio - Curleyworks.

So, that's where I've been since late Spring of last year. That's why I only posted one blog since then. It's been a busy three years. In addition to troubleshooting what was required to produce and publish "Elephants," in my 'other spare time,' I concurrently re-edited, revised, updated and re-released my first book, Masters Among us in February of 2020. It has two added chapters and a previously missing ending.

But the main focus was on the now whittled to 460 page labor of love that is The Elephant on the Raft. I'm really happy to finally offer this. The book is a tribute to my late father. The story entails my journey to rediscover a bond we once had when I was younger, and determine why he was such a fan of Mark Twain. In the midst of that, I discovered a previously unseen elephant standing right before me. The elephant was the missing ingredient in that original first draft. It embodied the nagging hunch that something was missing. When I saw it, it redirected the story - into the history of the United States, and into repressed memories of traumatic experiences in my youth. In the end, this had to be referenced it as the book's title. It's the core and turning point of the book. The "Elephant" is timely, addressing both an important issue underscoring the history of - and the current state of affairs in - the United States, and how some wisdom from the great Mark Twain may provide an avenue to see us through.

If you're inclined, the book is available in both paperback and eBook. The latter, at this writing, is presently only through Amazon on their Kindle platform because of requirements of a Kindle contest into which the book has been submitted.

You can preview the first few chapters of the book on Amazon, if you'd like to give it a gander. Otherwise, I'll be posting a bit more frequently from here on out.

Peace and Good reading!

Tom