Costrini publishes wolf-dog novella

“Friends and Fears: The Two Lives of a Wolf-Dog” is a new 76-page novella that was self-published by A. Costrini, a young area author.

The book’s target audience is kids in roughly the 10-13-year-old range.

The back cover of the book reads, “I leaped over tree roots and tore over grass. I had no intention of returning. My human was a murderer!”

Cotton, the low-content wolf dog, had a wonderful life with his humans ever since he was young. But one day the people he trusts most betray him and his friend. Confused and hurting, Cotton runs from the pain and finds himself lost deep in the woods. Will he ever hope again? And will he ever find the reasoning behind the hurt his humans caused?

Costrini was inspired to write this book after hearing about a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge to write a book in a month. She set a goal for completing a specific number of words per day and finished the rough draft in 20 days.   

Much time was then spent editing her manuscript with help from her grandmother.  Despite careful attention to fixing errors, the first edition of her book still contained various wording mistakes and page design formats that were not quite what the author had hoped for. 

Costrini was able to fix the errors she found and also reformatted the layout of the pages. A new cover was designed by the author based on community input, and she recently used the same company to self-publish a second, “new and improved” edition of “Friends and Fears.”

Inklings Bookstore in Holyoke will be hosting a book signing with Costrini on Saturday, March 6, from 10 a.m.-noon. 

A limited number of books will be available for purchase, and the author will be on hand to autograph the books. 

Gift wrapping is also available in addition to a small assortment of merchandise related to the book’s characters and topics.

The event includes cookies, coffee and water, and those who purchase the book will be entered into a drawing for a door prize.