There is officially a traveling copy of Consanguinity out in the wild.
Not metaphorically. I actually left one behind.
Today I launched Traveling Copy #001 of Consanguinity, leaving it in a Little Free Library here in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The idea is simple: find the book, read it, log where you found it, and then pass it along for someone else to discover.
Hopefully, that person does the same.
And maybe—if I’m ridiculously lucky—someday I’ll get to watch this little purple book make its way far beyond New Hampshire.
Why a Traveling Copy?
I’ve talked a lot about the strange reality of becoming a published author. You spend months—or years—writing a book. Then you edit it, format it, design it, publish it, market it, talk about it incessantly on social media, and generally do everything short of standing on the side of the road waving copies at passing cars.
Although, give me time.
But books are meant to be read.
So I started wondering: What if I just gave a few copies permission to wander?
That’s how the Traveling Copies of Consanguinity were born.
Each traveling book is numbered and has information inside directing its finder back to my website. There’s a guestbook where readers can tell me where they found the book, what they thought of it, and—most importantly—where they’re sending it next.
You can follow the journey of the traveling copies of Consanguinity here.
Today, I made the very first entry myself.
Traveling Copy #001: Londonderry (Nutfield), New Hampshire.
And then I left it behind.
Which, incidentally, is much harder than you would think when you’ve spent the last year obsessing over this particular book.
But Today Was the Perfect Day
Here’s the part that makes me ridiculously happy.
It’s Mack Plaque Weekend in Londonderry and Derry.
If you’re from around here, you know exactly what that means. If you’re not, Mack Plaque is an annual competition between Londonderry High School and Pinkerton Academy, a local tradition dating back to 1983. The two schools compete across fall sports, with the winner earning possession of the plaque—and, perhaps more importantly, a year’s worth of bragging rights.
And if you’ve read Consanguinity, you might recognize it. Because Mack Plaque Weekend exists in Aisling’s world, too.
Consanguinity takes place in Nutfield, my fictionalized version of Londonderry. I borrowed pieces of the real town—its history, its landscape, its traditions—and then added portals, magic, strange dreams, supernatural powers, and 
four teenagers whose lives become considerably more complicated than they expected.
So naturally, Nutfield has its own Mack Plaque rivalry.
When Aisling encounters it, she’s the newcomer trying to figure out why everyone around her has suddenly lost their minds over a school rivalry that apparently requires decorations, temporary tattoos, signs, bragging rights, and an enormous amount of town pride.
Today, while the real Londonderry and Derry were doing exactly that, I put a copy of the book containing my fictional version of it into a Little Free Library in the real town that inspired Nutfield.
There was something wonderfully full-circle about that.
And Now…I Have to Leave It Alone
This may actually be the hardest part of the experiment. I took my pictures. I took some video. I made the first guestbook entry. Then I walked away. I am absolutely not going back to check whether someone has taken it.
For one thing, it’s Mack Plaque Weekend and getting anywhere around here is an adventure all by itself. For another, that would probably defeat the entire purpose of releasing a book into the wild. So Traveling Copy #001 is officially on its own.
Maybe someone will pick it up tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe it will sit there for a week before the right person notices the purple cover among all the other books.
I don’t know.
And that’s actually what makes this so much fun.
Somewhere out there, a person I don’t know may stumble across Aisling, J.T., Eric, and Sabina simply because they opened the door of a Little Free Library and thought, Huh. This looks interesting.
And if they take it home, I hope they enjoy it.
But even more than that?
I hope they pass it on.
Because Copy #001 has officially begun its journey.
Now let’s see where it goes.
If you’ve found one of my traveling copies, visit the Found Consanguinity page and add your stop to its journey. I can’t wait to see where these books end up.
