The March of the Fireflies

About the Book

It’s the summer of the magnificent marching band, and folks in the small Minnesota town of Lincolnia seem to be lost in their dreams.

Lillian Brickles bakes the best brownies in town, knows her film noir, and excels at the society page drivel she writes for the Lincolnia Chronicle Gazetteer, yet the most she knows about love is how to spell it. Frank Pinkus, scarred by a long-ago betrayal, is obsessed with revenge. Henry North, the young visitor from Minneapolis, dreams of playing in the big leagues, even though people tell him he never will on account of his physical frailty. And 78-year-old Matthew Macauley is racing to finish his life’s work – a toe-tapping, flag-waving, please-get-out-of-the-way-of-the-tubas march – before the Fourth of July.

Everyone’s dreams, it turns out, depend on the timely arrival of America’s most famous composer/bandmaster. And that’s a very big problem. See, the year is 1991, and at the time of these events, the guest of honor – Mr. John Philip Sousa himself – was known to be resting in a Washington, D.C. cemetery, some 59 years into his eternal slumber. It will take a miracle to satisfy the four dreamers – but then, this was the summer of miracles, too.

About the Author

The March of the Fireflies takes place in Minnesota and offers a lighthearted look at a most improbable summer and the improbable lives of the people it touched. Author Eric Thomas Felton is a born-and-bred Minnesotan who has a great appreciation for the quirks of his state and the eccentricities of anyone who chooses to live in a place where the winters are interminable and the mosquitoes hunt in packs. Since 1993, he has put his observational skills to work as a professional speechwriter. He currently lives in Washington, D.C., where he is collecting material for his next humorous novel.