What's Been Going On Around Here

Here’s quick rundown of what’s been happening around the Web with respect to my various projects...

JERSEY HEAT

My interview with cover artist Jeroen ten Berge and my new novel, Jersey Heat, got a dandy mention on Man-Eating Bookworm, a blog run by a gent named Peter Andrew Leonard. I’ve been following Bookworm for a little while now. Leonard’s taste runs from mysteries and thrillers to horror and graphic novels. I’m always frankly dazzled by how good-looking his site is.

 Another writer I enjoy and admire, Lee Goldberg, flagged the interview. Goldberg is the mind behind the Monk novels, based on the TV show of the same name. I’ve always enjoyed his other books, such as The Dead Man series, The Jury series, and his stand-alone about surviving the big one in LA, The Walk. His book Watch Me Die is on my reader right now, and I hope to get to it soon.

Mystery novelist Joseph Valentinetti asked me to contribute a Q&A post about Jersey Heat to his site. It’ll be up in a few weeks. Here’s a preview.

SIGNING THEIR RIGHTS AWAY

This book, about the men who signed the U.S. Constitution, will be out in only 24 days! You can pre-order now from any of the bookstores on this page.

For the last two years we’ve been shooting footage of all the historic sites we visit to promote this book series. You can catch a glimpse of three of the South Carolina films in this post I recently did for our publisher, Quirk Books.

MONEY BOOK FOR FREELANCERS

We’re giving away 5 books in a giveaway on Goodreads. Enter soon. The deadline’s Sept. 12!

We donated a bunch of books for the annual Freelancer’s Union auction.

We got a mention in this article on Media Bistro. (Subscription required.)

We’re busy right now compiling our video seminar for the upcoming International Freelancer’s Day. It’s September 23, so don’t miss it!

BLOCKHEAD

Just did a Q&A interview with Media Darlings about my children’s picture book, about the life of the medieval mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci. The interview is here.

HAVEN HOUSE

* No, I am NOT the author of this horrifying new novel. It’s the bastard brainchild of Stuart Connelly, who I’ll interview in a few days. HAVEN HOUSE is a featured excerpt in the JERSEY HEAT ebook, and it’s out this week. You can grab it at Amazon and Smashwords. If you want to scare yourself, snag a free sample and read the first chapter.

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Summer Book Updates

We just sent around our semi-annual note letting people know all the stuff we have going on. I’m posting it here for our friends at large. If you want to get on the real list, sign-up below. We only do about two of these letters a year, so I promise you will not be deluged.

Creative Freelancer Conference: 

We'll be speaking about our book, THE MONEY BOOK FOR FREELANCERS, at the Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago, June 24.

Signings for Signers:

We're doing our annual drive up the east coast, visiting sites associated with the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, to promote our book, SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY. If you're in any of these cities on these days, please stop by to say hi. More details at this BookTour link.

June 30: National Archives, Washington, DC (where Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are preserved.)

July 1: Christ Church, Philadelphia, PA

July 2: Independence Hall Visitor Center, Philadelphia, PA.

July 3: Old State House, Boston, MA

July 4: Old State House, Boston, MA

New Signers Book coming Sept 6!

In September, Quirk/Random House will release SIGNING THEIR RIGHTS AWAY, our new book about the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution. Some online bookstores allow you to pre-order now. If you want to pre-order or get an autographed copy, consider ordering from one of the indie bookstores in our neighborhood. They're listed here.

T-shirts:

Yes, we have still have the geekiest Signer T-shirts available, via our DOI Store. 

Joe's Science Book:

As an experiment in self-publishing, Joe released a collection of his best nonfiction science journalism articles as an eBook. You can download a copy of THE SCIENTIST AND THE SOCIOPATH for the ridiculous price of 99 cents, if you have a Kindle, Nook, iPad or any other device.

Girls of Atomic City

Denise is hard at work on a nonfiction book about the women who unknowingly made the fuel for the world's first atomic bomb. That book is due out from Simon & Schuster next fall, 2012. You can follow Denise's progress here and sign up for her list here.

As always, if you're a member of the media or a book buyer, let us know if you need a review copy of any of these books. If you'd like us to do an event at your shop or site, also let us know.

Thanks all, and enjoy the summer.

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Denise Makes the Paper

I’m told nearly 1,000 women attended yesterday’s WISE women’s conference in Syracuse, NY, yesterday, where my wife and co-author Denise Kiernan was a speaker. There were tons o’ speakers, including make-up queen Bobbi Brown. 

But guess whose session made that city’s paper this morning?

We chalk up the spillover crowd to a couple of things: a kick-ass talk (if I do say so myself) and the public’s endless fascination with publishing, which was the topic of Denise’s talk. Actually, the title was “Publishing as Marketing”—i.e., how entrepreneurs can promote their businesses by publishing eBooks.

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It's Official!

I already knew I was an author, but according to the organizers of this conference I’m attending, I apparently deserve another lofty title...

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Fate in a Glass

The glass is more than half full, right? It is, unless you’re a writer. Then — who are we kidding? — it’s practically empty.

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Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!