Stanislaus County community novel launch party Saturday

When the entire county gets together to write a book, it’s something to celebrate.

That’s what will happen Saturday at a launch party for Stanislaus County’s first community novel, “Ashes in a Teardrop,” a collaboration by 15 authors who each wrote a single chapter.

The 184-page novel now is available in paperback and will be sold at the launch at a discounted price of $11 each, with proceeds going to the county’s Library Foundation and Modesto Junior College’s Quercus Review Press, which helped publish the book. The book also is available on Amazon.

“Ashes in a Teardrop” is a mystery set in present-day Stanislaus County. The story begins when a young couple, biking along the Tuolumne River, discover an abandoned teardrop trailer, visible because a drought has lowered the water’s level. In it, they find an urn, a diary and other items that lead them on an adventure to piece together the trailer’s history.

Susan Lilly, communications, marketing and fund development manager at the Stanislaus County Library, said the idea for the novel came after reading about a library in Kansas that had produced two community novels. Staff at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library shared their experience and helped the local team set up time lines and other details for the project.

Each author wrote his or her chapter independently, Lilly said in an email interview. Michael Mayreis, a library assistant at the Turlock library, coordinated the effort and Clare Noonan, a former writer and editor at The Modesto Bee, edited the book. It was compiled by Sam Pierstorff of Quercus Review.

“The authors met once to brainstorm and then each wrote their respective chapters, building on the work of the previous authors,” Lilly said. “The brainstorming meeting and the group of authors worked so well together. ... It really became a collaborative process.”

Authors, chosen by the library’s outreach committee, are made up of men and women of varied ages, backgrounds and writing experience.

“This was a huge undertaking and I think the biggest challenge was combining the work of 15 different authors into one cohesive book,” Lilly said. “Personally, I really enjoyed the references to all the local landmarks and institutions, from Don Pedro Reservoir to the West Side Theatre in Newman and the Ice Cream Co. in Modesto’s Century Center, and of course, the Modesto library and McHenry Museum.”

Saturday’s event will include a project overview and a reading of excerpts by some of the authors, a Q&A, book signing and light refreshments.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County community novel launch party Saturday."