New ebook release now available at Barnes & Noble.com

Dec. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- Tamaqua, PA
For over ten years, Tamaqua author, Victor Merkel, has been writing about bittersweet recollections of a raw and isolated life in the hills of southeast Pennsylvania. Sometimes we need a reminder of the past for reflection and contrast to our current work-a-day world. A lesson about life to guide and inspire us to make this day, the best possible. Merkel’s 2009 novel, Misery Mountain, stuns the senses from page one to the gut wrenching finale. Follow student, Vance Remke, as he copes with his parents, school, girlfriend and a vicious bully. The novel reads like a memoir and rightly so because some of the scenes walk in lock step with actual events. Yet, it has the pace of a mystery, riddled with surprises, some pleasant and others catastrophic.

Misery Mountain looks beyond the earthy coal-town setting to the characters abandoned by the large mining companies. Without education, skills or a job, the former coal diggers had time to think and fester over their future. But the true casualties were the sons and daughters of those miners, grappling with fear, hate and revenge. And last, a crucial part of the story exposes how a bricklayer’s family copes with a psychotic mother and shortcomings in the 1950’s mental health industry.

About Smashwords and Barnes & Noble
Launched in 2008, privately held Smashwords operates a digital publishing platform and online book store for independent ebook authors, publishers and their readers. The free service puts authors and publishers in full control over the publishing, pricing and marketing of their works. In addition to receiving exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential readers on the Smashwords web site and via distribution on Barnes & Noble, etc., authors and publishers receive up to 85% of the net proceeds from sales of their works. For readers, Smashwords offers the opportunity to discover exciting new voices in fiction and non-fiction. Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California, and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com. Ebook, Misery Mountain can be found at http://www.barnesnoble.com.

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About Victor Merkel
Selling bags of stove grade anthracite on the streets of Tamaqua, PA at sixteen ingrained a sense of purpose and pride. Poor people needed cheap coal and he could fill those stoves and warm their hearts with gratitude. A lesson Merkel carried with him through his life long career in sales and marketing.