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Arts & Entertainment

Local Resident Promotes New Novel at Digger's

Riverhead resident Tom Gahan launches his new book, "Harmony Bay," at downtown restaurant.

Tom Gahan harbored a dream to write a book. Last Saturday, he held the dream in his hands during his book launch party at Digger O'Dell's. The novel is the first book for the man who helped found the Riverhead Blues Festival.

"Harmony Bay" is a culmination of Gahan's interests: history, small communities and the fragile nature of the waterways. The novel entwines these interests by weaving the past with the present.

"Harmony Bay" reveals a historical mystery when artifacts are discovered by a boy who recently relocated to a small waterside town with his mother. The items lead to stories of the whaleboat raids in 1778 by the British during the Revolutionary War, Gahan said. In the whaleboat raids, the Patriots rowed across Long Island Sound to attack British encampments on Long Island, Gahan said.

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The tales of the whaleboat raids are true, Gahan said. So are descriptions of the fragile ecosystems of the waters described in "Harmony Bay." The rest is fiction.

"There's no one in the book that is based on anyone in real life," Gahan said. "It's fiction. The characters are composites."

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Gahan did receive some real life help from Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) in Riverhead. Kim Tetrault, a community aquaculture specialist, was especially helpful for scientific information, Gahan said. So were volunteers that manned CCE's SPAT program in Southold. The program teaches the interested about aquaculture and shellfish restoration with a hands-on approach.

Weaving factual environmental information was important to raise awareness about coastal environments and their stewardship, Gahan said. Equally important was revealing what life is like in a small community.

"'Harmony Bay' really got to be a handbook for the way a community should behave," Gahan said. Those qualities include random acts of kindness, watching out for each other and rising to the occasion, when needed.

Despite the Riverhead influence, the book is not set on Long Island, Gahan said. Like the characters, the community is a composite of seaside communities that could be anywhere in the Northeast.

Writing a novel was a new direction for Gahan. Besides founding the Riverhead Blues Festival and running it in the early years, Gahan is a publicist who honed his writing craft through press releases. Writing "Harmony Bay" was the project he undertook for himself, he said.

The process, while long, was satisfying, Gahan said. Once his mind was set, it took around nine months to write the book and another nine months for editing, production and fine-tuning.

"The writing was fun," Gahan said. "Everything else was work."

The book is published by Outskirts Press, a print on demand publication. This route was preferable to pitching agents and securing publications via commercial or small presses because of the industry shift that now prefers self-publishing for initial runs.

"They're not publishing first-time authors," Gahan said. "I researched it and self-publishing was recommended as the way to go."

So is making sure a Kindle version is available. Both print and Kindle versions are available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. The book costs around $15.

Gahan wanted to launch "Harmony Bay" in Riverhead. Digger's was a natural choice since they are long-time supporters and friends. Ideas for the book sometimes sprouted there but writing methodically took place in his office in his Riverhead home.

A sequel is already in process, Gahan said.

Information and updates on "Harmony Bay" can be found at www.tomgahan.com.

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