Georgia Tech's own Scott Sergent signs novel at bookstore

Writing a first novel, getting it published and promoting the book can be an overwhelming experience. And, that is exactly what Scott Sergent, programming manager for the Georgia Tech Cable Network (GTCN) has done and is doing.

Promotion includes a book signing at the Georgia Tech Bookstore, Thursday, Nov. 7, noon.

The book
Set in 1950s Brooklyn (New York) and Chicago, the romantic novel, An Invincible Summer, was "fun to write," said Sergent partially because of the differences in the times.

"There was no Internet and communications were different," he added.

The first traffic light in New York City and the first McDonald's in Illinois were two of the events he discovered in his research of the times.

"I read the New York Times on microfilm and studied old issues of magazines like Life," he said of his authentication of the era. "I learned the dress styles for women included wearing gloves and that men wore hats."

Under the pen name of Ivan Scott, Sergent combined his own experiences with his imagination, creating identities for two men and his idea of the perfect woman.

"I was engaged a long time ago," he said. "I took the disappointment and hurt [from the broken engagement]," in writing the book.

Sergent also included sports in his book with factual references to game by game statistics of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team.

"People in New York at that time were like college football in the South now - passionate about the games," Sergent said.

What's Next
Copies of the book are now on sale at the Georgia Tech Bookstore.

Sergent is also working on his second novel, Ghostwriters, scheduled for release spring 2003.

"My largest fear is leaving this world with nothing of worth to show for the time I was here," Sergent said (on his web site www.ivanscott.com). "Maybe, with this creation, and hopefully many more to follow, I will have left something for those who come after."

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