Launch Party for Morris Jumel Mansion Anthology on October 15

Morris Jumel Mansion and Riverdale Avenue Books Host Book Launch Party with Readings for New Paranormal Anthology on October 15th

Saturday, October 15^th, 4pm-6pm

Morris-Jumel Mansion

65 Jumel Terrace, New York, NY 10032

“George Washington used the Morris-Jumel Mansion as a base while fleeing New York. I’ve had writing sessions and meetings for ‘Hamilton’ there. Some writers go to the Berkshires — I go to 162nd Street.”

—Lin Manuel Miranda, author of Hamilton

New York (October 11 29, 2016) –  To celebrate the release of the just published Morris-Jumel Mansion Anthology of Paranormal and Fantasy Fiction, Riverdale Avenue Books and the Morris Jumel Mansion will hold a free book launch party at the historic mansion on Saturday, October 15^th from 4:00 until 6 p.m. featuring readings by some of the book’s authors.

The Saturday afternoon event will feature six of the books’ authors reading from their short stories that take place in the historic mansion or feature some of the mansion’s legendary residents or events such as President George Washington’s first cabinet meeting, the alleged haunting by Madam and Stephen Jumel, as well as a servant girl and a Hessian soldier, and the story behind the assassination of Alexander Hamilton by Vice President Aaron Burr. Pulitzer and Tony-Award winning author Lin Manuel Miranda wrote his ground-breaking musical, Hamilton, in Aaron Burr’s bedroom. This will be followed by a Q&A panel discussion with the books’ editors.

The book, published simultaneously as an ebook and a trade paperback, features 14 tales spanning the genres from romance to time travel, and historic fantasy from New York Times best selling writers as well as first time authors.

Camilla Saly-Monzingo, editor of the anthology, and a neighborhood resident who was married at the mansion in 2015, commented on the stories in this collection,  “What is particularly gratifying about this collection of stories is its diversity. The contributing writers to the Anthology are Latino, African-American, white, gay, straight, bisexual. They are parents, they are childfree, they are single and partnered. They are young and hungry; they are settling into mid-life; they are older and wiser. What’s more, these tales are ghost stories, science fiction, mystery, romance, erotica, time travel, visions of the afterlife, and paranormal fantasy.”

Carol S. Ward, the Executive Director of the Mansion, added, “It is with great pride and excitement that the Morris-Jumel Mansion sees this anthology being published, turning history on its head a bit and creating more stories about the house. Although when you visit it, the Mansion may seem silent, it speaks through these authors’ words and characters. The Mansion itself is a character in all the stories you are about to read. “

Said Riverdale Avenue Books Publisher Lori Perkins, “I believe that this is the first time that a book like this has been published, creating fiction around the legends that have ground up around an historic location.  I hope it is the first of many, tying the past with the present.”

The free event is part of the Mansion’s day long Culture and Arts Festival, 65 Jumel Terrace, located between 160^th and 163^rd streets in Manhattan, one block east of St. Nicholas Avenue. For more information, visit: http://www.morrisjumel.org/culture-arts-festival/.

The Morris Jumel Mansion Anthology of Paranormal and Fantasy Fiction, Edited by Camilla Saly-Monzingo, is available at Riverdale Avenue Books, and on Amazon and on iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold.