Four days after Seattle's Camel Press released Alpaugh's novel it rose to #3 on Amazon.com's Bestseller List for its genre, and hit #1 in Canada. The book is a modern fable about lovable misfits, both animal and human, whose fates become intertwined in a ragtag circus troupe. It is currently held in over 500 libraries in six countries.

"I tried to write a story about salvaging hope from some really rotten circumstances," Alpaugh explained. "My characters tend to get run over by speeding cars and hit by lightning, especially when things start looking up. You have to be very careful when believing you see a glimmer of hope. It could actually be the shine from the broken bottle some drunk guy's about to crack you with."

Alpaugh began his newspaper career in the early 1980's, at a daily paper on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where he covered everything from bake sales to KKK meetings. He moved on to a paper in Massachusetts to specialize in feature essays, where his stories on a Hispanic youth gang and the life of a Golden Gloves boxer won national awards.

His most recent newspaper job was at a large daily in Central New Jersey, where he was given the freedom to pursue more "true life" essays, including award winning pieces on atraveling rodeo, and an in-depth story on an emergency room doctor. The physician's story was nominated by Gannett News Service for a 1991 Pulitzer Prize.

Alpaugh also did work for two Manhattan-based news agencies, covering conflicts in Haiti, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and guerilla raids conducted out of the refugee camps along the Thai/Cambodia boarder. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines, as well as most newspapers in America.

Alpaugh is currently a freelance photographer and writer living in Northeast Pennsylvania, where he also coaches his daughter's soccer team. Find him online at ColeAlpaugh.com.

The Bear in a Muddy Tutu is available in Kindle ($4.95) and print editions on Amazon.com. It is also available in print and Nook versions at BarnesAndNoble.com. Other electronic versions can bepurchased on Smashwords or at any of the major online ebook stores. For more information, contact the Homosassa Public Library at (352) 628-5626, or the Coastal Region Library at (352) 795-3716.

A video trailer and other reviews and info can be found at: http://www.colealpaugh.com/indexBEAR.html.