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My Name Is Sam: … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through
June 11, 2019 – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1071097202/ 

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Independently published (June 11, 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1071097202

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**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact the author, Joe Siccardi:

Telephone: (207) 279-0448

E-mail: wisdomfromafather@gmail.com

_{Local Author Pens Third Book}

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                DOVER-FOXCROFT, ME – Local Author Joe Siccardi has completed his third book, My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through.

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A Facebook Live hard launch is scheduled at July 2, 6 p.m. at Thompson Free Library, Dover-Foxcroft. Both e-book and paperback copies are available on Amazon. For a signed copy, contact the author at wisdomfromafather@gmail.com.

  My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through is a follow-up to the breakout novella, Heaven Shining Through. It introduces Sam (Samantha), her family and friends in more detail than the original, and picks up where the original novella left off. It has already generated pre-release buzz, including one reviewer commenting, “I LOVE the ending of your book. It was probably the strongest ending I’ve read in my entire life!”

In between the novella and novel, Siccardi published a non-fiction book, Wisdom From a Father … One Dad’s Thoughts on Life. It was published in November and is an update of posts made on his blog, wisdomfromafather.wordpress.com. The 52 essay chapters include reflections on life, love, and family. All are written from the heart, sometimes seriously and sometimes with a touch of humor.

Siccardi is a 52-year newspaper publishing veteran, most recently as publisher/editor of a community weekly newspaper in Seneca County of the Finger Lakes in New York.

Siccardi credits the quiet of Maine as the impetus for completing his writing projects. He moved to Dover-Foxcroft almost four years ago while commuting to and from upstate New York until his publication was sold. He retired permanently to Piscataquis County in July 2017.

The novel is a response to reviewers’ comments Heaven Shining Through could have been a full novel with more character development.

“In my entire writing career,” Siccardi laughed, “I had never been told my writing was too short. But I took their constructive criticism to heart. My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through is the result. It is written in the first person and reads like a fictional memoir. “I hope readers get to meet Sam as a friend, a life long friend.”

As in the novella, the presence of God in ordinary life is the underlying theme. “I tried to keep it real with appropriate language and activities,” said Siccardi. “I purposely stayed away from being ‘preachy’ but rather told a story that showed the presence of God in every day, sometimes messy lives. My hope is readers will be able to see that.”

A lot of the early activity inside the pages takes place in the greater Paterson, NJ, area, where Siccardi called home as a youth. Some of the backdrops will be familiar to fellow Patersonians who grew up in the mid-60s. The later activity takes place in the greater Dayton, OH, area.

My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Shining Through will be available at book signings and presentations, which are currently being scheduled. All of his books are available online through Amazon.com or at his website, wisdomfromafather.wordpress.com.

            Siccardi is the retired owner/publisher of Reveille/Between the Lakes, a weekly newspaper in Seneca County, NY, right smack in the middle of the Finger Lakes. He worked in the newspaper industry all his life including stops in New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, DC, Maryland, New York and now Maine. He and his late wife raised five children and currently have 18 grandchildren, three great-granddaughters and another great-granddaughter due in the fall.

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