When Gregory Campbell got his first book, “Cold Hands, Warm Hearts,” published it was a dream come true.

Not just figuratively — the ideas behind Campbell’s sci-fi thriller are literally pulled out of his dreams.

“Every thing I come up with comes to me in my dreams,” Campbell said. “So I’ll immediately wake up and write these ideas and thoughts down. Later I revisit them and flesh them out. That’s how this book was written.”

Campbell, who is a native of Pedro, says it has always been his goal to be an author. He also admits the satisfaction of achieving that lifelong goal was dampened by the loss of his wife, Pamela.

“It’s bittersweet,” Campbell said. “We were together for 14 years, and she always enjoyed the things I wrote. She read my manuscript of this novel but passed before she ever had a chance to hold a physical copy.”

Now Campbell keeps a picture of his late wife on a bookshelf overlooking the desk where he often writes.

“I keep that there so she can watch me work just like she used to,” he said. “She is as big a part of this as I am. She was my muse, my inspiration and she always believed in me.”

The novel took Campbell 30 days to write and underwent several re-edits before he was ready to send it to publishers.

“I had my friends read it,” Campbell said as a smile crept across his face. “After my last re-edit the reaction was unanimous that it was ready. I had got it perfect.”

Six weeks later Campbell has sold more than 500 copies, and has a book signing at Empire Books in Huntington, W.Va. from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The path that he took to reach this point wasn’t traditional but he says it was worth it.

“I didn’t go the traditional route toward publication,” Campbell said. “I’ve done it all my own, and every copy I’ve sold has been from word of mouth. It’s a surreal feeling. I feel 30 feet tall.”

“Cold Hands, Warm Hearts” can be purchased by visiting Amazon.com or by visiting Kindle.com for the electronic version.