Debuting in 1999/2000 the novel engendered three Barnes and Nobel “staff recommendations” local to the author’s home town. By the mid-2000s the novel was unavailable due to stock exhaustion and major logistical problems associated with the publisher relocating from Florida to Alabama.
“Our move coincided with the loss of everything necessary to take The Gray Stopgap to press,” said Publisher Ron Richard. “That disaster, coupled with inventory depletion, put the novel out of circulation. Bringing it back was always our intention, but the effort was fraught with unexpected obstacles.”
The obstacles were those facing novelist DL Tolleson, who the publisher contacted for a manuscript replacement.
“The manuscript was in electronic format,” Tolleson explained, “and corrupted with gibberish. I had to reconstruct it guided by the print edition. It took a long time.”
During the novel’s absence from titles in print, previous signed editions were occasionally offered by third party Amazon.com vendors at collectible prices ranging upwards to $500 or more.
Tolleson reports that when he contacted one of the sellers about the exorbitant price, he was told that it related to the scarcity of previous editions, particularly those signed by the author.
“True enough, I’ve signed only a handful of books,” Tolleson admitted, “along with a promotional postcard that was my first autograph request. But still, I mean really, $500? Maybe for Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy or F. Scott Fitzgerald...”
Previous collectible editions aside, Publisher Ron Richard said that commitment to releasing the novel in hard cover is owed to the novel’s emotional appeal across multiple genres and its undercurrent of literary heft.
“That’s where the real value of this novel is found,” Richard added. “To be certain, it’s a techno-thriller—a spy thriller. But at its core it is something more akin to a morality play. That’s a rare thing in adventure fiction.”
About the novel: The Gray Stopgap opens with an ill-fated experiment in “bio-chemical synthetic intelligence” orchestrated through flashbacks and reality. Playing out across international borders and ranging from deep sea rescues to sub-orbital dogfights, it is both espionage and techno-thriller. But it is also a literary sleight-of-hand where international intrigue is but a shadow cast by the emotional relationships central to the plot.
The Gray Stopgap is now available at or through your local bookstores and online retailers. For more information please visit, www.TheLighthousePress.com/graystopgap.htm.