Glorious Serendipities

Speaking sometimes yields glorious serendipities.

I’m in east Tennessee this week. My first stop? Clinton, Tennessee.

A suburb of Knoxville, downtown Clinton has loads of southern charm. Maybe it helps being so close to good ole Rocky Top.

But no one was more surprised than I when a man raised his hand after my program and asked me if I knew what Clinton was called originally.

Bill Gallaher said Clinton was originally named Burrville after Vice President Aaron Burr. When Burr shot Alexander Hamilton, the town fathers changed the name from Burrville to Clinton to distance themselves from the scandal.

Of course, Bill got a copy of Hard to Die, which features Burr’s tragic daughter Theodosia Burr Alston. (HINT: E-versions are still 99 cents through Sunday!)

And speaking of Hard to Die, it peaked at number two on Amazon in the historical thriller category and made it to the 488th place on Amazon overall. Not bad for a random August Wednesday.

This week, I’m speaking at east Tennessee groups. There I am above in Chattanooga near Hamilton Place Mall, where my aunt really bought five fur coats for $30,000 on a crazy shopping spree. Just another one of those glorious serendipities.

Next week, I’ll be in the greater Atlanta area. If you’re near Snellville, Georgia, pop in for my lunch event at the Greater Eastside Chamber of Commerce. Wednesday, August 21 at 11:30am.

What I’m Reading

The Leavers by Lisa Ko. A novel about what happens to a Chinese American boy when his mother leaves and he’s adopted by a white American family. It was a 2017 finalist for the National Book Award for fiction.

Best Thing I’ve Read Online This Week

Inside Robert Ballard’s Search for Amelia Earhart’s Airplane by Rachel Hartigan Shea for National Geographic. Ballard found the Titanic, so it’s little wonder he’s obsessed with the most famous missing plane in history. He and his team are searching the remote Pacific Island of Nikumaroro, one of the possible final resting places for Earhart’s aircraft.

Best Non-Writing Thing I Made This Week

If you can get your hands on some fresh peaches, here’s the quick recipe:

• Drizzle balsamic vinegar onto a salad plate
• Slice up one peach per plate and arrange on top of the balsamic like petals of a flower (see photo)
• Quarter 10 – 12 oil cured black olives per dish and scatter over peach slices
• Add a pinch of vanilla salt to the peaches and let sit for 30 minutes to draw out the juices
• Layer on fresh basil leaves as desired
• Add one-half of a ball of good quality burrata in the center of your peach flower
• Pepper the peaches and cheese
• Drizzle with high quality olive oil
• Enjoy this combination of glorious serendipities!!