The following came in yesterday through Netgalley.com, a literary trade industry website where bibliophiles are provided advanced review copies of new books and provide unbiased professional-grade assessments. This is not your feel-good “friends & family” ego-stroking love fest. It’s pretty hardcore, and the reviewers pull no punches:   "Ballad of a Sober Man" was so riveting that I had to finish it within hours of picking it up. Yes, Dr Remy may be a board-certified E.R. physician, but he is also a prolific storyteller. This man can write! I HIGHLY recommend this book to those who are in recovery, and/or to those who have a loved one or friend dealing with alcoholism. It's wonderful to see the humanity behind the disease. This gist of this memoir is that Dr. Joe finds himself, at age 49, "morally bankrupt" and "deep in spiritual debt." In the first few chapters, we meet him as he's "voluntold" into a psychiatric hospital to detox f

Twenty Days.  It took a year to write. It took six months to edit, and three to promote. Ballad of a Sober Man: An ER Doctor's Journey of Recovery has been up for sale twenty days.  It made the front page of my local newspaper. Saturday was the big book reading with Amber and her book of poetry under the autumn color of the Virginia Blue Ridge. There was music, food, and and fellowship. I sold books. The river of texts was flowing fast. My friends helped with the celebration, and I continue to surpass my expectations of sales online. Funny though, I'm ready to put it all behind me. In the rearview mirror. In the experience timeline of any project, there seems to be the concept, the fantasy, the work, the implementation, the process, the buildup, the moment of release, the celebration, the self-congratulation. I am now experiencing the aftereffects...the reflection, and even, in to a certain degree, the subtle hangover. This morning I took out a large cardboard box and stuffed

 Dear friends, There’s no other way to describe it. These last two weeks have been wickedly fucked up, but in a good way. Since the book’s release, I have been grabbed at 360 degrees between interviews, podcasts, responding to emails, and getting ready for Saturday’s book reading/signing. I’m experiencing social media fatigue. Oh, and my phone is on fire. Let’s throw in the mix that I am working a string of night shifts in an emergency department out of town. I’m tumbling, mentally speaking.  All of this attention is very humbling and to be quite honest I look forward to the dust settling a a little. One of my interviews ended up on the front page of my hometown paper, which I did not expect, and have mixed feelings about. I am very much feeling like an imposter these days. Dammit Jim, I’m an ER doc, not a real author! But, I have some time off work coming up, and Saturday should be fun. For those of you coming, thank you- enjoy the food, the music and the atmosphere! For those of you

Happy Saturday, By this time many readers have bought the book in both digital and paperback form. I thank you from the depths of my soul. I know sales of Ballad have gone way beyond purchases by friends, family and work associates simply by looking at the stats on my "Author Central" page- I simply do not have a relationship with nearly as many people in this world as total number books that have sold.  Be that as it may, I want to make an appeal for honest   reviews on Amazon . Among other things, reviews are a driving force that spurn more sales. In the year 2020, it appears to me that Amazon's software transcends merely highly complex status, having essentially evolved into artificial intelligence (the sci-fi geek in me is beginning to think entities such as Amazon and Google have moved past simple internet programs and have become living, sentient life forms). If it senses “unusual” review activity- such as faked or paid-for reviews, Amazon will dispatch its gremlin

The month of October had traditionally been an exciting and festive time of year in my life, dating back to childhood. I savor the memories of planning Halloween costumes, going on hayrides, watching scary movies with friends, and apple picking excursions. In my college years it was all about homecoming, the first chilly morning runs, and the best parties on campus. Later in life, as a dad, it was the month two of my children celebrated birthdays- I would take them to haunted forests or we’d hike through autumn foliage. At age 49, October took on a much, much darker element.  On October 19th 2016, I lost my father.  That month my drinking derailed me as I began my my final alcoholic death spiral. I went on the most severe bender of my life, which would ultimately lead to the death of my old existence and resurrection into my new one. While my sobriety date may be celebrated every November 4th, preceding it are the series of cascading events which would eventually lead to Implosion Day.

I was completely ready to post some heavy, thought-provoking blog entry today full of drama and emotion, but seeing it is the kind of dreary Monday morning seemingly enhanced by a bit of nostalgic humor, I decided to go with something lighter. For some reason, upon awakening I thought of this scene from the original Blues Brothers movie with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd. But it is the Carrie Fisher scene in the sewer tunnel that resonated with me:  Elwood Blues, face down in sewage, about to pay the ultimate price for all his sins at he hands of Ms. Fisher, who plays the ultimate woman scorned. Um...kinda reminds me of myself circa 2016... Funnier than hell, and a wonderful tribute to two actors for whom I pay my respects....  https://youtu.be/ftt4f2H3GDs

Silly me. I thought that once the book was finally released and out there, I could sit sit back and relax. No sireee...the launch of the Ballad  has only accelerated the intensity of the work to promote, as well as the time commitment. Many people who were kind enough to pre-order took me up on my offer for some swag, so I have been diligently writing thank-yous and stuffing envelopes full of bookmarks and book plates. I'm trying to keep up with the Facebook posts and tweets.  My phone has been blowing up for two days, and I'm running around to book retailers large and small to offer up my little creation for selling on store shelves.  Oh, yeah...and when I have a spare moment, I work as an ER doc. Most importantly, I must find time to continue my program of recovery, TODAY (and every day). Because like some very smart people once  told me in rehab four years ago,  I MUST put my recovery first. If I lose my recovery, well....everything goes *poof* and I'm just some sorry a

Excerpt from the book’s Preface: I wrote these pages while I learned how to live an alcohol- and chemical-free life. Strangely enough, ditching the vodka (my drug of choice) was the “easy” part. It was maturing in sobriety that required massive effort. With the ever-present help from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, sponsors, therapists, family, and friends, I was able to successfully navigate between my own personal Scylla and Charybdis to this moment. Sirens’ songs were resisted, and my cyclops was smote. Alas, even while I wrestled with the challenges described in these pages, a new mammoth one presented itself: I found myself facing, as a rehabilitated emergency physician, the biggest pandemic our planet has seen in over a century. Within these chapters, you may recognize phases of growth, drawing parallels to the challenges that every baby, toddler, child, and teen goes through in “leveling up” to the next change of life. There could have been no other way; there were no