As I near completion of my fifth book and start to prepare it for publication, one of the things I will add to the beginning is a dedication. I’m one of the few people who always read book dedications. Most are simple and succinct, but some are lengthy and detailed. I’ve read dedications that are puzzling, others that are heartfelt, and some that are hilarious.
If a book dedication just says something like “For John,” I’m always left wondering who the heck is John? I like when an author at least states who that person is to him or her, so that’s what I do in my dedications.
Here are the four dedications I’ve made so far.
For “The Clearwater House,” because it was my first book, I dedicated it to the two most important people in my life, my children.
When I published it, I feared it might be the only book I’d ever publish, so I didn’t want to lose that opportunity to dedicate a book to them. Now that I have released others and have many more I hope to publish, they may get second books dedicated solely to each of them, but we’ll see. Clearly, they’ve been both an influence on my writing as well as cheerleaders for it, Sam more than Trevor in that second respect. I have vague story ideas involving coaches and scientists, so they may get books individually dedicated to them down the road someday.
Since my best friend, Amy Vojtech Beran, died too young at the age of 50, and since I’d promised to dedicate my next book to her, I compiled some completed stories and added some poems and specifically put together “State of Georgia . . . and Other Writings” in her honor.
I deliberately chose two longer upbeat stories to bookend the four stories in the collection because Amy was such an upbeat person. Her struggle with cancer brought her to the lowest place in her life, but even then, she still had a smile for those she loved. I love that I’ve been able to immortalize her just a little with my simple book dedication.
Since “Ticker Tape” is about a Vietnam veteran, it only made sense that I dedicate it to my father, but I couldn’t dedicate a book to him and not to my mother at the same time. It’s not really a book that fits her the best, though, so maybe down the road, there will be a novel that I can dedicate to both of them again with my mother reflected more in the book’s content. I don’t think a book’s content necessarily needs to fit the personality of the person to whom it’s dedicated, but if that person is still living, I think it will be appreciated more by that person. For example, I don’t think my mother would appreciate me dedicating a book of erotic stories to her, if I were to ever write such a thing. In fact, I think readers would find it quite odd as well. So, the content does matter to a certain extent when deciding to whom you want to dedicate the book. It was, thus, a very natural thing to dedicate a novel about a veteran to the most important veteran in my life and to the woman who supported him during his 20 years of service.
My mom’s brother, Paul, a professional photographer, had passed away a year prior to my publishing this book. The image on the cover of “State of Georgia . . . and Other Writings” is a photograph that he took, and I was planning on using another of his photos for “Twinges.” It was important for me to dedicate a book to him also, but I didn’t want to wait years to do so. That’s why I added him to this dedication, and I added a photo he took of an American flag covered in snow to the final page of “Ticker Tape.” I’m planning to use another of his photos for the cover of what will either be my 6th or 7th book, depending on which I tackle first, and then I will continue to look to the photos I have saved that he took in the hopes of using more for covers down the road.
A year ago, I released “Twinges,” (with that cover photo my uncle had taken) and since it’s about a serial killer, I didn’t really want to dedicate it to my boyfriend or to anyone else I love. Again, that content connection. The story is about an elementary teacher who can sense what her students will become, and she senses that one will grow up to be a killer. Since I was a teacher, albeit not an elementary one, for 30 years, it seemed fitting to dedicate the book to all my former students. Fortunately, as far as I know, none of them grew up to be murderers. To lighten the mood a bit, though, I injected this particular dedication with some humor.
Those who were little monsters know who they are.
There are many individual students who stand out as deserving of individual book dedications, but I’d have to write many, many books before I could ever get to all of them. This way, I made one fell swoop and got them all in the dedication.
The next novel, “Trouble on Tybee,” will be available by the end of November and will be dedicated to my other best friend, Silvia Realpozo. She was my first exchange student many years ago and then, over time and especially after the death of her parents in a car crash when she was barely in her 20s, she became like family and then my dearest friend. She’s suffered a lot these past two years after her kidneys failed and she had to return to Mexico instead of remaining in the U.S. as she’d hoped to do after getting her business degree here. She has had a kidney transplant, but things continue to be up and down for her, medically speaking. I pray she will have many more years ahead of her and that she and I will have many more fun adventures in Mexico, but I learned a hard lesson with Amy’s and Paul’s deaths that I can’t put things off. So, while she’s somewhat healthy, I want her to benefit from having one of my books dedicated to her. She’s been a huge supporter of my writing and my biggest cheerleader. I love her so much. I’m not completely sure, but the dedication will go something like this: “For Silvia Realpozo Sanchez, my best friend whose heart is bigger than a Chili’s bag, who can talk her way out of a speeding ticket using hunger, who can’t read a map yet leads me on the greatest adventures, and who never fails to make me laugh when I need it most.” I think it’s a dedication that she’ll cherish because she’ll understand the inside jokes that it entails.
An important character of “Trouble on Tybee” is named Sylvia, and I named her after my friend, but I spelled it the more common American way instead of the Hispanic way. So, if you read that book after I release it, you will know that not only is it dedicated to Silvia, but there is a character in it named for her as well.
Book six or seven will be one I began years ago about a woman who buys a motorcycle only to learn it is possessed by the spirit of its former owner. That one I plan to dedicate to my boyfriend. We met because of motorcycles, so it’s only fitting.
I have a story collection about a comedy club and the people who populate it that I’m not sure yet who will receive its dedication. It might be my brother, but I don’t know yet — I doubt he’s even read my previous books. I also have another thriller/murder mystery in the works. That book’s dedication is still to be determined.
If you’re not one to notice or read book dedications, I hope you’ll start doing so. If you haven’t yet read my books, I hope you’ll do that as well and also read “Trouble on Tybee” which will be available soon. Here’s the photo that will grace its cover. Sadly, it was not taken by my uncle, but it’s beautiful and I appreciate that the guy who took it on Tybee Island allowed me to purchase it and all the rights to it:
Here’s my author website: Tammy Marshall Author
On it, you can find a link to Amazon if you’d care to purchase paperback copies or the eBooks.
Until next time. Thanks for reading.
Tammy Marshall