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‘Devil beware’: Randy Tremba to host launch party for second book

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Jun 11, 2021

"80 Dispatches from the Devil's Domain" will be on sale at Sunday's book signing event at the Bavarian Inn gazebo lawn. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — This Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., beloved local author, blogger and former Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church pastor Randy Tremba will be holding a launch party for his second book, “80 Dispatches from the Devil’s Domain.”

The event will be held on the Bavarian Inn’s gazebo lawn, and will feature live music by Eldred Hill, Jade Tremba, Mary Anne Hitt and Than Hitt. The event will also feature a special guest, West Virginia radio talk show host and author of the book’s foreword, Hoppy Kercheval.

According to Randy, he began writing his first book, “Let Love Arise,” after retiring from his career as a pastor in 2017. The book’s success shocked him, and led him to potentially consider writing a second book in the future.

“The first printing sold out within a month. The second and third printing also sold out. Three hundred copies total,” Randy wrote recently about the experience. “It was the best selling book in Shepherdstown in 2019. In fact, it outsold the Bible [in Shepherdstown].”

According to Randy, his second book was inspired by the feeling of loss he experienced after no longer writing weekly sermons to preach in his church or essays to publish in the now-defunct Good News Paper.

Tremba

“For 40 years before I retired, I wrote a sermon nearly every week and an essay every three months for the Good News Paper. That’s 2,000 sermons and more than 100 essays. People listened to what I said. People read what I wrote. I heard cheers and boos. I was relevant and didn’t even know I was relevant, until someone asked me soon after my retirement how it felt to be irrelevant,” Randy said. “I wasn’t sure whether that was an insult or a joke. But I took that question into my cave. I sat down, sighed and unwound. After 40 years of being in the arena, I quickly got used to being in a cave. It was bliss. And then one day, out of the blue, the devil found me.”

While Randy was initially led to question his value and purpose after retirement, he soon overcame the doubt.

“The devil left in a huff. But he left a gift. I started whistling, ‘This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? No! Never!’ I had forgotten how much I loved that song,” Randy said. “Yes, of course, your light may be small, but it’s yours.”

The lessons he learned from this experience became the focus of “80 Dispatches from the Devil’s Domain,” and also the inspiration for his future retirement plans.

“Devil beware. I’m stepping out. I’m gripping my pencil. I’m getting back in the arena,” Randy said. “I will bring prosperity to West Virginia, democracy back to America and peace to the world.”

While Randy’s first book is the only one currently available for purchase at Four Seasons Books, he said copies of his second book will be available at Sunday’s book signing event. Those who can’t attend the event can preorder it from Four Seasons Books or online.