Tales from the Towpath

A posthumous collection of short stories, observations, and tributes written by our grandfather, compiled and published by my brother Nate and I after he passed. The book is split into two parts: Tales from the Towpath, which collects eleven of his short stories, and Tributes, Notes, and Observations, which gathers the stuff that didn't fit neatly into "finished story" but was too good to leave in a box. Published under Towpath Publishing, an imprint we founded for exactly this purpose. Click the link above to buy it through our imprint or reach out to me directly for a discount (zach@zachgoebel.com)

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The Challenge

The author had passed away. You can't ask a dead person which version of a story he preferred, which pieces he'd want published, or how he'd organize thirty-some years of writing. Some stories had multiple drafts with different endings. Some pieces weren't clearly finished. Every editorial decision, from inclusion to sequencing to which draft to use, had to be made by two grandsons doing their best to honor the work without being able to check their answers.

The Outcome

A printed, published book that collects the best of our grandfather's writing in one place. The whole family has copies. It exists as a real thing on a shelf instead of loose pages in a box. That was the whole point.