AMA Hall of Fame member, Dave Gierke, is offering special promotional pricing for AMA members on his new novel. After three decades of research, followed by eight years of writing, Gierke finished his two-volume, lightly dramatized biographical novel based on the American aviation pioneer, Augustus Moore Herring. To Caress the Air: Augustus Herring and the Dawn of Flight – Book 1, takes place in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and chronicles the engineer’s aeronautical achievements, his ordeals, and his triumphs over severe adversity. The book’s setting is the New York State Supreme Court. Herring’s account is conveyed through his testimony during the 1921 civil action trial, Herring-Curtiss Company v. Glenn H. Curtiss, et al., which provides a venue for flashbacks that document his role in solving the age-old problem of manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight. Working with other luminaries of aerial navigation, including Lilienthal, Langley, Chanute and Glenn Curtiss, Herring moved his family from New York City, to Washington DC, to Chicago, to St. Joseph MI, and back to Long Island NY (with brief stops at Hammondsport NY, and Marblehead MA), all in the pursuit of solving the mysteries of dynamic flight. Gierke states that unlike the Wright brothers, Herring believed that flying models were useful for developing full-size, man-carrying aeroplanes. During the 1890s he designed, built and flew many gravity-powered gliders and twisted rubber-powered craft. In 1902, he engineered and fabricated the world’s first practical internal combustion model airplane engine, which he used to power a successful free-flight model in January of 1903; this served as the basis for Ray Arden’s first engine in 1907. Gierke is a lifelong control-line and radio control modeler. He is also a columnist for Model Airplane News magazine. For a limited time, he is offering AMA members an exclusive pre-order deal for the ebook. To Caress the Air: Augustus Herring and the Dawn of Flight – Book 1 can be pre-ordered for only $1.99. In return for this price, Gierke requests that the purchaser writes a review of Book 1 and submit it to Amazon and Goodreads. The official launch date of To Caress the Air, Book 1 (ebook, paperback, hardcover) will occur on June 1, 2018, at which time the ebook price will revert to $9.99. For more purchase details, including a free gift and several never-before-published photos of Dave’s models, go to www.davegierkebooks.com.