It’s not often that a book signing turns into a concert but when Peachtree City resident Dylan Higgins re-released his book, “Awakening, Book One of The Emblem and The Lantern,” last Friday at Omega Books in Peachtree City, the event strayed from the typical signing and reading.
Music features prominently in the book and so Higgins brought some colleagues from The Campus (Higgins teaches U.S. History and Government Economics there) and the band The Sleepy Turtles to perform.
At least one of the songs in their set, “The Adventure” comes directly from the book and the people attending the event were encouraged to join in on the chorus.
Higgins started writing the book series two years ago.
“It was originally supposed to be a trilogy, then a cycle and now it will be five books,” Higgins said. He originally published the book last year but learned so much about publishing that he re-released it last week with his own publishing company, Hill Harow.
The second book in the series, “Stirring,” should be available by Christmas and Hill Harow has several more authors set to release books as well.
“Awakening” is the tale of, twins, Ethan and Eisley Lambent’s spectacular journey into adulthood. The book opens with the twins preparing for the Awakening ceremony: an observance that will mark the siblings passage into adulthood upon their thirteenth birthday. However, only days before the ceremony the Lambent twins learn of an ancient family secret that will lead them on a perilous journey into the unknown.
The book has found a following with schools, both public and private, and he and The Sleepy Turtles have performed, doing a reading from the book and performing some of the songs.
The style of music The Sleepy Turtles play would be considered indie folk with a touch of modern bluegrass.
In addition to performing at events for the book, they have played at the Peachtree City Farmer’s Market and at Artist’s Mecca at Books-A-Million.
When not teaching, writing or performing, Higgins is also the worship pastor at Crosspoint Community Church in Peachtree City.
Higgins was pleased with the turnout at last Friday’s signing/concert and enjoyed being at a local bookstore.
The staff at Omega Books loved the excitement that the signing brought to the store.
“Awakening” is available at Omega Books, emblemandlantern.com, amazon.com and more and music by The Sleepy Turtles is available on iTunes and amazon.com as well.
