It truly is Independence Day (at least, in one way, for this author)!

The on-again/off-again saga of Scott Frank's mystery crime-thriller, "Darkness Descends," continues. With this newsletter it is on-again! You can purchase your copy of this "compelling and compassionate" novel directly online at http://www.bn.com.

But with this announcement comes both good news and bad news.

The bad news is that bn.com raised the retail price to $19.00.

The good news is that they offer their nice 30% discount, bringing the price down to $13.30. (If you happen to belong to Barnes & Noble's Readers' Advantage program the cost is only $12.64.) As this adventure with bn.com carrying the book seems to be rocky, at best, you should take advantage of the current availability and price and get your copy today.

In addition, some possibly even better news is that bn.com still offers free shipping (directly to your home-what could be more convenient?) when you order two or more books. That's either two copies of "Darkness Descends" (one for you, one for a friend) or one copy of DD and another book you would love to read.

To locate and purchase Scott Frank's novel simply go to http://www.bn.com, click on the "bookstore" icon and do an "author search" for Scott Frank. "Darkness Descends" should be the first item listed on your screen. Click on the icon and bn.com will offer you the book.

As a note, "Darkness Descends" was, this morning, ranked at number 106,527 in sales of the million-plus or so titles that bn.com offers to readers. While that certainly is not "New York Times" bestseller status, it shows that there are people out there ordering their copy of the book. Do yourself a favor and order yours today for a great summer read!

And don't forget, if you would rather purchase "Darkness Descends" as an eBook for your desktop or laptop computer, you can do that at http://www.booklocker.com/books/786.html (for the PDF format) or at http://www.firstprint.com/authorwelchs.htm (for the Microsoft Reader version). FirstPrint.com also offers Scott's short story "iloveyoudotcom" at that same location.

In other ScottNews, check out the latest song offering from Angela Scott Music at http://aol.tonos.com/scottdwelch. (For those of you who are recent additions to ScottNews, Angela Scott Music is the collaborative effort of singer/songwriter Angela Baker and writer/lyricist Scott D. Welch.)

The latest song is called "Temporary Goodbye" and was written, composed and features vocals by Angela Baker. Angie is currently working on an as-yet-untitled piece, which promises to be for the likes of Shania Twain. As soon as it is complete, it will be uploaded to and offered at the tonos site.

The earlier songs posted at tonos (Angela Scott's "See Him Again" and "Our Love" by Lene Dissing, Christian Warburg and Scott D. Welch) are also available to hear and enjoy.

For more information about Angela Scott Music (and to read song lyrics written by both Angela and Scott) visit either of their websites, http://authorsden.com/angelascott or http://angelascott.writernetwork.com.

That's the news for now.

Enjoy reading "Darkness Descends" and listening to some great music.

Best,

ScottNews