Flower Seeker CD

One of the most intriguing parts of preparing The Flower Seeker for publication has been the CD that will go in the back of the hardcover and limited, signed editions of the book.

This is the first time I've had a CD with a book of mine, and it's been fun but difficult. It wouldn't have happened at all without the help of my brother Mark, archaeologist, blues master, and polymath supreme. Mark was the one who volunteered to engineer the audio tracks and get them ready for copying, and it's been a mammoth job of learning at his home recording studio.

There are four tracks. First is the only extant recording of the now-lost Keowee River in northwestern South Carolina, buried beneath the waters of a dam(n) for a nuclear power plant. Our father made a field recording of the river in 1967 at the shoals where Bartram crossed many times while he was on the Cherokee/mountains part of his travels across the South. Sure, it sounds like any running stream, but it isn't. It's an artifact of history and a reminder of the tragic destruction of the river and the valley.

The second track is the river and an orchestral composition of mine I call the Bartram Suite. This composition, like all my work, has a fully written-out orchestral score and was recorded using sampled sounds and computer generated effects. The sound is terrific. I hope everyone likes all the tracks.

Track 3 is the river, the music, and me reading Canto 24 of The Flower Seeker. The fourth track is the music alone.

Those who buy the paperback version (formally on sale September 1) won't be getting the CD. And there's no getting around the fact that the hardback of The Flower Seeker is expensive. But the entire experience of owning the hardback and the CD will, I believe, be worth it. (The books are already for sale online but won't be delivered until after Sept. 1.)

Mark's work on the CD was essential. Without him, it never would have happened at all. Last Friday, when we ran into some serious problems with the CD we'd prepared to be copied, it was Mark who spent most of the day on and off the phone and finally sending the wave files by FTP to the company that makes the copies.

Without his engineering skills and his knowledge of recording and music, I'd be up the proverbial creek. People think that when a book comes out, it's the writer who did all the work, but that's never true. The people at Mercer University Press are wonderful and are always working on my books.

It's nice to have friends (and brothers) who know how to help out when the going gets tough.