WELCOME TO AAAUGUSTINE.COM
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My book, short story & comic strip collections
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SUMMARIES
The Coat That
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My Missing
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The Conscious
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The Sideline Kids
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Sifl & Herbert
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A. A. Augustine's
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All Books © 2022 A. A. Augustine
All Rights Reserved |
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Like any other writer, almost every book or short story I've written was directly pulled in one way or another directly from the bowls of my rather off-kilter existence.
Most of the time, of course, the names and places have been changed but even in my most surreal stories like the ending of the "The Coat" above, it's all close to the bone. I'd love to give more away, but if I did, then it would spoil too much. |
All I can say is that there was indeed a man, an alleyway, a post-meeting "trial" and a big life lesson involved.
I'm writing about the source of "The Coat That Wouldn't Come Off" in my "Tales from my life" series which should be out in a year or two. So you'll hear the complete story behind the story then. Thanks for checking out the sample and I hope you enjoy the tale. ~AA |
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First, I have to confess that every-single-word of "My Missing Afternoon" is 100% true.
Second, I have to say that if anything, ANNNNNYTHING... like this happened today, God help me and my parents for the complete debacle that ensued that day. How things managed to get so screwed up, is still a family mystery lost to the sands of time and the fading memories of everyone involved. Well, except me, of course. I can still see almost every moment of those few terrifying hours in my mind's eyes anytime I |
even so much as think about that afternoon.
How in the world I somehow evaded the authorities and my parents that day, I will never know. That day, is so incredibly, indelibly burned into my psyche and muscle memory, that I can still taste the pain of the impact of the... Oh yeah, well, you probably haven't read about that little incident yet, so I'll spare you the descriptive. Thanks for checking it out and I hope you enjoy the story. ~AA |
I started out wanting to become a comic strip author/illustrator and writer even before I picked up a guitar at the ripe old age of 7.
As you can see here from this site and its deep repository of content, I ended up trying it all out and eventually... one of those "everythings" took hold and took off and whisked me away through 35 moves through both coasts, a record company, recording and graphic design studio, a small kids indie publishing company, 9 TV shows that constituted 200+ episodes and so many other iterations and peaks and lows that it will take me years to even tell it all to you. And due to the extreme time and energy demands of creating and producing almost all of the above myself and then having to run the business here 100%... by myself... my writing and comic strips couldn't ever be the bigger creative focus in my life through the last 20 years. But whenever I could, I still found the time to take some pretty deep dives over the years and never stopped creating either of them. What you can now, finally read here on this page is the result of that "never stopping". As far as the larger, (maybe a little left-of-the-dial) formatting goes, I chose an 11x14 16-page format for all my books and comic strip collections simply because I just really, really like the dimensions and page size. It's not too big, not too small, not too much to get through in a few hours and not too little either. In their physical, printed form, the dimensions and the page size feel so, so, good in the hands. Hey, I'm "Mr. Average" all the way 'round the block. So, if they feel good to me, then they should to pretty much anyone else. My books & comic strip collections remind me of the printed newspapers that old dudes like me grew up on and on a 16x9 ratio computer screen like most of use and stare at all day every day, they look great. It's the perfect two-page spread that fills the screen beautifully. I fell in love with newspapers, "zines" of all types and the tabloid formats as a kid, and I swore that when I finally started selling and printing my own work, I would intentionally create everything in the same exact format. If you have seen the paper in the box set collections for Small Town WNY, then I think you may actually realize the method behind the madness. It's just really cool. The papers are super-fun to read and hold and you know... as one who grew up reading actual paper media... the smell of the ink and paper and the sound of the pages flipping and rustling just makes it all a very real and authentic experience to me. An experience that digital has never had, nor probably never will. And hey, in my personal life I am 100% paperless at this point. So, I'm doing my part, buddy... Everyday. The real irony here is that I print these on a medium that is accustomed to being (and meant to be) disposable when they are meant to be anything but disposable. All of my printable media is meant to be held onto, read and shared for as long as any other book or magazine you own does. Yes, they're all printed on a fragile, ephemeral, temporal media that's really only meant for a few cursory reading sessions on the can and not much else before they head to the recycling bin or under your bird's butt! But see, I solved that problem by selling them in groups of three in my unique, super-sturdy, protective, collectable, bookshelf box sets with bonus exclusive pack-ins! It's a fun way to own, read, store, and display and share them with friends and family for years and years to come. All of my books and box sets are made from recycled paper anyway in the event they become trash at any point in their lifespan. And you know, for a format that most times, ends up in the trash within the first few days (or even hours) that's a pretty sound, environmentally responsible way for me to handle the manufacturing and selling side of my publishing business. And that's alright by me and I hope it is so with you. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labors below. There's a lot more to come here over the next decade, so stay tuned. ~AA |