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Upcoming Events
LOCAL AUTHOR TALK
MAY 2nd, 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
@ Books & Mortar
966 Cherry St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Free and Open to All. No RSVP or tickets. Just show up.
Join me in my first public speaking event as I talk about writing as an independent author, showcase my bookbinding process with a live demonstration, and perform a chapter reading from the book bound during the demonstration. Businesses and restaurants along Cherry St will also be hosting events, sales, entertainment and promotions, so buy some books, stay out late, and enjoy the community happenings.
About
Photo credit: Kaytie Kelly
Pat Bitt is an independent author and occasional cartoonist currently based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He finds beauty and inspiration in music and the outdoors, and enjoys drawing and trying every variety of hot sauce he comes across, consequences be damned.
After several small projects and unfinished manuscripts, he began Demokratia in the fall of 2019 after staring too long at a painting of some mountains that, to him, resembled "a polar lion." To support himself while working on the ambitious novel, he worked various odd jobs ranging from teaching guitar to tutoring English, until the project was completed near the end of 2023.
He founded It From Bit Publishing LLC to launch the book and support himself as an author, his childhood dream and vocation of choice. IFB's mission is to enable him to write stories, make cool and thoughtful books, and explore creatively without restraints for the rest of his life.
Works
Demokratia
Sometimes the grandest adventures start with the simplest of gestures.
The city of Boranassos is thriving in a golden age of art and science, though the beauty of it is lost on thirteen-year-old Iosef Fortunado. Underchallenged in school, misunderstood by his parents, and reeling from the death of his brother in a war he can’t figure out the meaning to, he spends his days skipping class and painting graffiti throughout the metropolis. Nothing seems to matter, until one day when he meets Miro, an escaped polar lion from the circus on the run after being framed for a murder.
To prove Miro’s innocence, Iosef takes the polar lion on a quest to find a legendary beast tamer rumored to be able to grant animals speech, but what they uncover and must face together is an ancient conspiracy rooted deep within Boranassos’ history that pushes Iosef to discover something worth fighting for.
Demokratia is the legendary debut novel by Pat Bitt, setting a new standard in independent publishing. Written, typeset, printed, and produced by the author himself, the process of making the book is interwoven with the themes of the story itself, upholding the principles of truth, wisdom, and self-determination.
Curious? Seeing as curiosity is one of the core virtues of both writers and readers alike, your curiosity shall be rewarded with a free preview of the novel. Click the black button to read the prologue and the first two chapters of Demokratia for free.
