Opera Novel Popular Worldwide –
Author Booked on International Talkfest

COMPANY PRESS RELEASE HOQUIAM, WA – 22 August 2000: Dead End Street^SM is pleased to announce that double Frankfurt eBook Award Nominee Michael Vaughn has been booked to appear on the 23 August 2000 edition of Detroit, Michigan/Ontario, Canada based CKLW’s gigantic 50,000 watt primetime talk show. Scheduled to discuss the enormous popularity of his Dead End Street^SM opera novel GABRIELLA’S VOICE, Vaughn has expressed excitement over the opportunity to take his brilliant story to audiences worldwide.

Set to take place during the acclaimed talkie Windsor Now with Melanie Deveauat at 5:40 PM EST, immediately following the widely popular Dr. Joy Browne Show, the interview is destined to draw a lot of attention to Vaughn’s book.

For those of you who can’t get enough of Mr. Vaughn and his fabulous opera novel, tune in to Utah’s KSCV at 9:00 AM CDT on 30 August 2000. He’ll be appearing on Morning Magazine, the popular pre-Dr. Laura Schlessinger talk show.

For those who haven’t heard about the story yet, GABRIELLA’S VOICE chronicles the life of Bill Harness, a man in his fifties who’s been wandering the country in an old Pontiac and leaving generous checks with small-town opera companies to help support young singers with promising voices. Bill journey ends outside of Seattle where he finds an extraordinary soprano, Gabriella Compton, performing "The Barber of Seville" on Bainbridge Island. The power of Gabriella's voice, and the strength of her compassion and friendship, help Bill slowly untangle the three family tragedies that propelled him to make the strange journey.

About Michael J. Vaughn:

Michael J. Vaughn was born in Brunswick, Maine, where his father, a Navy pilot, flew P-3 Orion submarine runs over the Atlantic during the October Missile Crisis. His childhood in the military subsequently brought him to Pennsylvania, Whidbey Island, Washington State (just across the Puget Sound from Bainbridge Island, the setting of "Gabriella’s Voice"); Hawaii, and San Jose, California, where he has lived since 1973.

Vaughn is a graduate of the now-defunct Peterson High School in Sunnyvale (one of his classmates was ice skater Brian Boitano), and earned a B.A. in Journalism with a minor in choral music from San Jose State University in 1984, singing tenor with the San Jose State Concert Choir. He has worked as a theater and opera critic since his graduation, mostly for Metro Publications in San Jose and the Palo Alto Weekly. From 1989-1992, he was publicity director for Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts in Saratoga.

Vaughn is the author of the choral novel "Frozen Music" (Northwest Publishing, Salt Lake City, 1995) and the illustrated storybook "An Agnostic Christmas" (Dragonfly Press, Chicago, 1999). For "Gabriella’s Voice," he received a 1998 Novelist Fellowship from Arts Council Silicon Valley. His poems have been published in more than two dozen literary journals, winning an Editor’s Choice Award from Plainsongs literary journal (Nebraska) and an Honorable Mention in the Emily Dickinson Poetry Competition (Arizona).

Vaughn lives in San Jose, California, where he works as an opera and theater critic, serves as Fiction Editor for The Montserrat Review literary journal, plays drums with the blues band Randie and the eDawgs, and plays shortstop and left field on various softball teams. Much of the background for "Gabriella’s Voice" was inspired by soprano Jennifer Der Torossian and the Bay Shore Lyric Opera Company in Capitola, California.

About the Company:

Founded in 1997 by Ivan R. Black, John P. Rutledge and Fred M. Straughn, the company was originally named Dead End Street Publications, LLC. But, upon filing its servicemark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office, the company changed its name to Dead End Street^SM to maximize the value of its servicemark. It has grown from a pioneer in the electronic publishing industry to a leader in the field. The company recently teamed with NuvoMedia, among others, to sponsor ReBA-Con 2000 – the wildly successful industry gathering held June 17th and 18th at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Warf Marriott Hotel. Dead End Street^SM banners and promotional materials were displayed prominently throughout the much trafficked convention site, and its flyers were in almost everyone’s hands. Company officials drew large crowds to their panel discussions, and everyone was talking about Dead End Street^SM.

With unquestionably the strongest management team in the industry, Dead End Street^SM has become the prototype of a "branded" business. Synonymous with originality and high quality, the company is recognized as a prominent member of an industry still in its infancy. It has an extremely strong business model and intellectual property foundation. Its current stable contains authors with print publishing credits that include Random House, Dell, Harcourt-Brace and Greenwood/Praeger. Clearly, the world is becoming one big Dead End Street^SM.

Investment inquiries should be directed to John P. Rutledge at: jrutledge@deadendstreet.com.