Rob Hart's Blog, page 6

‘The Woman from Prague’ in paperback and ‘Potter’s Field’ release party

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The Woman from Prague is out in paperback today!

There are already copies at The Mysterious Bookshop, which I’ve signed, or you can click through to this page to find links to a variety of book-buying locations.

I loved writing Prague, and I was very happy with how people reacted to it: Publishers Weekly and The Boston Globe called it a hot read of the summer, plus PW gave it a starred review—my first. James Grady, author of one of my favorite spy/espionage thrillers of all time, Six Days of the Condor, gave it a very nice blurb. Booklist called it a “spy thriller in all the genre’s old-school glory.” That’s pretty cool.

And now you can get it in an edition that is slightly lighter and cheaper than the hardcover!

I’ve also set the release party for the fifth and final Ash McKenna book, Potter’s Field. It comes out July 10 but we’re doing an event for it at The Mysterious Bookshop on July 17. Alex Segura, author of the Pete Fernandez books, will be doing a Q&A with me. We’ll have hardcover copies of Potter’s Field AND paperbacks of The Woman from Prague, plus some of Alex’s books, and lots of other books because it’s a bookstore. And maybe cupcakes.

But definitely booze.

Here’s the link to the event on Facebook. If you still do Facebook, and wouldn’t mind hitting the RSVP button that, it would be a big help (so I know how many cupcakes to get). Otherwise—sign up for my newsletter to get at least one gentle reminder beforehand, but also book recommendations and links to craft essays and whatnot.

Writing Advice Sucks #2: How forgetting shit might make you a better writer

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Last week I talked about the mechanics of thrillers and writing to trends.

This week I want to talk about why forgetting shit can be really valuable.

I’m the kind of writer who needs an outline. I respect people who can write by the seat of their pants—that ain’t me. My outlines don’t need to be super intense (usually a couple of sentences per chapter), and a lot of times I’ll diverge from them. But I need a general sense of where I’m going.

I learned this as I was writing my first book, New Yorked, which took me five years to finish. I was just writing blindly, and had to keep finding my path. I re-wrote it from the ground up twice. It tried to outline it three or four times after I’d already written it.

I went into my second book, City of Rose, with a solid outline, and it took me four or five months to write.

Which, granted, I knew my character and I found my process, and I had more confidence. But the outline helped a lot.

Remember: writing advice is mostly bullshit and you have to take what works for you and trash the rest. Maybe outlines don’t work for you. That’s fine! But I do have a trick for them. I even found another place to apply that trick, in my research.

(I stole this idea from a friend of mine, who does it for his short stories, which is another application…)

I wrote the outline for City of Rose. Then I threw it out. A few days later, I rewrote it. I did that a few times until I thought it was ready.

That’s the trick: don’t be afraid to trash your work.

Because if you get rid of it, you remember the good stuff, because it’s good. You forget the bad stuff because it’s boring, or not important, or just plain bad. And all the connections that weren’t clicking just yet, you have time to mull them over.

I think the writing/trashing part is pretty important to the process. To get it down on paper so you can really focus on it. And then getting rid of it feels cathartic. Because if you can get rid of it, you can get rid of anything. Nothing is precious.

The good ideas remain. That’s how you know they’re good.

It’s important to note, so I say it again, an outline isn’t gospel. There were a few points where I veered off, or found while writing that something needed to be moved or added or eliminated.

Think of an outline as a roadmap. You can cut around construction or take a longer route to get in some sightseeing—but you’ll arrive at your destination (the completion of the first draft) so much sooner if you’ve got some semblance of a plan. I do, at least.

And by allowing myself to forget stuff, I don’t get wedded to things that aren’t working. That’s an easy trap to fall into. You have an idea, and even if it doesn’t really work, you want it to, so you hammer at it until the square peg fits into the round hole.

Except it doesn’t really fit. It’s easier to deal with stuff like that before you’ve put them into a book. After that, once you really realize it doesn’t fit, then you’re doing triage on your draft. That’s when blood gets everywhere.

I’ve started doing this with research, too.

I keep a Google Doc for every project I’m working on, and that Doc becomes a repository for links and pictures and half-formed ideas. Right now I’m reading a lot of non-fiction books in the course of researching my next book.

I like to set challenges for myself, and my challenge for this book is: undertake the most in-depth and complicated research I’ve ever done for a book, and make it readable. Kind of like what Andy Weir did with Artemis—lots of really intense science and world-building that aids the narrative, rather than detracts from it.

As I’m doing this, I come across a lot of details I love, and want to include, but in the back of my head I know are probably not going to be important to the story.

Those details are mostly harmless. But they can also turn into rabbit holes, where I tumble down and spend too much time there, rather than doing the only thing in this process that matters: writing.

I recently read a non-fiction book that was really helpful, and I took so many notes, stopping every few pages to jot something down—it slowed me to a point that the book became a chore to read.

So I stopped. I read the book. I internalized it and understood it the best I could, but I stopped making myself feel like I needed to produce a book report—to extract every single word that might be valuable.

(Though, I am moving nearly all of my research-reads to eBook, so I can highlight and search. That, at least, is nice and easy.)

But, I think it’s better to internalize the information, and trust that the important bits will settle in, rather than drive yourself nuts feeling like you have to memorize everything.

It’s about trusting yourself. Which is hard! Because every time you start a new book (and someone else said this on Twitter recently but I don’t remember who) it feels like you’re looking at a mountain and also you forgot how to climb a mountain, even though you’ve done it already.

And none of this is to say: don’t take any notes. I still take a ton of notes. My Google Doc for The Warehouse ended up being 70-something pages, and a lot of those pages were links.

None of this might work for you, but if you find yourself losing your path or falling down rabbit holes, maybe give it a try!

Don’t sweat the details. Throw stuff out. Allow yourself to forget. Most of the time what you forget isn’t important anyway.

The good ideas will remain. That’s how you know they’re good.

Last week’s essay went over pretty well. I’ve got more coming up. If you want to keep up (and also get some groovy book recommendations), sign up for my newsletter.

Last week I gave away hardcover copies of The Woman from Prague (winners: Lorrine Thompson and Timothy Weed). I may be giving away more stuff soon and it doesn’t matter if you’re a new subscriber or a newsletter OG, so you might want to get in there.

I’m excited about the book recommendations, and since I’ll be sending out my first newsletter soon, I’ll probably recommend four or five really good ones.

Finally, in the words of Jay-Z, I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man, so I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you the last Ash McKenna novel drops next month and is available for pre-order here.

Writing Advice Sucks #1: The mechanics of thrillers, writing to trends, and free books

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I hit the publishing hat-trick with my newest book, The Warehouse. Nice deal with Crown, sold to publishers in more than a dozen countries so far, and optioned for film by Ron Howard. One of the funny/odd/interesting things about this is: how other people have responded.

Besides the general well-wishes, one writer called dibs on getting a blurb when his next book is ready (which is baller, so I said yes). I’ve had people walking on eggshells like I’m suddenly going to forget who my friends are (I won’t!). I’ve had at least one person quiz me on how the deal went down, and seemed so stunned that, by the end of the conversation, I felt a little bummed out (because it sounded like: “how did you manage to do this?”).

But one question I’ve gotten a couple of times now is: did you write something you were passionate about, or did you write to a trend?

And the more I think about it, the more I want to answer that. Because it’s like 95 percent no and five percent yes. And even that five is a little wonky. 

Let’s talk about the bigger part first: The Warehouse is a book about how the American worker is being turned into a disposable commodity. For reasons that would be too much of a spoiler to discuss, some things happen in this book that I thought might make it unpublishable. It was a risk, but it’s a story I felt strongly about. 

In fact, there’s a twist toward the end I figured, if the book were picked up by a publisher, would be the first thing they would ask me to cut. It was cited by many readers as one of their favorite parts.

I’m not sure writing to a trend is the best way to go? There’s a certain trend in publishing right now, and I know some people who are trying to start a new company to meet it, and it doesn’t seem to be going well. I think that’s for two reasons. One, you can’t force it. Two, publishing has a long tail—by the time you’re done, before you go on sub even, that trend might be over.

Plus (and this is me, Rob, speaking as myself, and not on behalf of anyone) I don’t totally understand why someone would write strictly to a trend? If there’s a current hot trend (let’s say… wombats) and you have a great idea for an entirely new and different kind of wombat book, and it’s something that speaks to your heart and soul, then fuck yeah, more power to you. You do wombats.

But if you’re going to write a wombat book because you think that’s your ticket to fame and glory… why are you doing this again, exactly?

We all want to be successful, but there’s got to be some love of the game in there too, right?  

Which brings us to the five percent.

I like to set myself challenges. And the challenge for The Warehouse was: could I write an “issues” book wrapped in the language of a thriller? Kind of like how you sneak broccoli into a kid’s mac-and-cheese. They get their vitamins and they don’t even know it!

I’ve always been a strong believer in the ability of story to seduce. I could write a long-ass non-fiction book about why I think the American economy sucks, or, I could write a fun but dark thriller that lets a reader digest that information without feeling like they’re being lectured at.

For the past couple of years I’ve been studying thrillers. Basically any book that makes the ‘best of summer’ or ‘best of the year’ list in the crime and mystery categories. I wanted to learn the mechanics. Lee Child or Michael Connelly or Jeffery Deaver or James Patterson write fiction that readers want to read. Even if they’re not your cuppa, you can’t deny they know their shit.

Because there’s something they get I’m not sure writers always think about: how this is not about you.

We all want to be true to ourselves. We all want to be artistes. But writing is a two-way street. We’re writing for a reader. And we have to find that space between satisfying what it is we want to say, and meeting their expectations.

What are their expectations? Who the fuck knows! Then it’d be easy. But there’s a reason certain things happen in stories over and over again. You could call them tropes, but you could also think of them as reader comfort zones. And they are not inherently bad.

I’m not saying you should take it easy on the reader. I’m not saying you should compromise your story and make it all sunshine and gumdrops. But you have to ask why the person who picked up the book is reading it in the first place.

I think one of the things that helped me with The Warehouse was: this isn’t about you (as in, me).

I mean, it is about me, because everything I write is about me. But it’s not about me. It’s about the person who picks it up. It’s about what I want them to get out of it, which, when you boil it down, is enjoyment and entertainment.

Point of all this is, I didn’t write to a trend in the sense of trying to replicate something like “domestic suspense featuring unreliable female narrator.” Rather, I looked at the trends and tried to break down the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of why they were trending.

And when I mean nuts-and-bolts, I mean exactly that. I’m less interested in big-picture stuff (you have to feel your prose deeply in your heart) and more interested in stuff I can stock in my toolbox, and wield when the job calls for it.

Here’s some of what I added to my toolbox:

One of the best bits of advice I got was from James Patterson (I co-wrote a Bookshot, Scott Free , with him). At one point in the book, one character charges into another and I compared it to getting hit in the gut with a cannonball. Patterson’s note was that no one knows what it feels like to get hit with a cannonball—you have to use stuff a reader will understand.
Not specifically from Patterson, though he’s known for it, and something I’ve come to find as valuable: short chapters. My Ash McKenna books have longish chapters with a lot of section breaks. The Warehouse has no section breaks, and it has some long chapters, but it has some short ones, too. Short chapters are a good way to keep a reader barreling forward, and to give them a sense of accomplishment.
This is an easy one but it bears stating: chapters really should end on a very, very strong hook. Think about your reader, and what’s going to make them have to read the next chapter. Not want to. Have to.
I got this from Blake Snyder’s book Save the Cat , which is about screenwriting, but it’s a good character note, because once you notice it you see it everywhere: make your characters likable, even if they’re not. The three characters in The Warehouse do things that turn a reader against them. I needed them to do things that turn the reader in their favor, too. I know it’s “fun” and “real” to write characters who are bastards, but if your character is too much of a bastard, the reader isn’t going to give a fuck about them. Which is the title lesson of Snyder’s book: have them save a cat. Even a small moment of kindness will put them in the reader’s favor.
Ask questions of your reader. Lee Child says it better than me. Seriously, read this.
And finally, everything in service of plot. Which was a tough line to walk on The Warehouse because there are a lot of “interlude” chapters that are essentially manuals or company-wide notifications or scripted videos. One character narrates almost entirely through blog posts. So while it feels like I’m spending a lot of time on world-building (and I am) each one of those bits also speaks toward something important.

To dig down into that last point a little more: everyone in The Warehouse wears a smart watch. So one chapter is a rundown on the watch features. The watches are important and the reader needs to understand how they work. It’s in service to the plot.

There were plenty of other “interlude” chapters I considered and never followed through with, because they were strictly world-building. They would have been kind of cool, but would have bogged down the forward momentum of the story.

That’s so important. Momentum. Not leading a reader through the story. Grabbing them by the shirt collar and dragging them.

Those are some of the ways to build momentum. There are more. Many more! But I’m going to hold off on that for now. Because I’ve been thinking a lot about craft lately. I’ll be a student until the day I die, and right now is a good time to re-evaluate where I am, and where I’m going. I’m looking toward the next book, and some other projects, and setting myself some new challenges.

And my writing toolkit looks a bit like my tool bench down in the basement. Everything is scattered. Nothing is in its place. I can find what I need if I look long enough, but wouldn’t it be nice to put everything in order?

So, expect more of these. I’ve got a whole bunch of topics I’d like to cover. All of it couched in a very important fact: writing advice is mostly bullshit!

For example, some people will tell you that you need to write every day, and it’s the only way to be successful.

Some people can’t. You might have two jobs, or a sick relative, or you just don’t want to, and that’s okay! I don’t write every day and I’m doing all right.

But it’s lame to think someone might see that and say, “well I can’t write every day so clearly I can’t be a writer.”

Writing advice is like anything else: take what works for you. Trash what doesn’t. You will trash a lot. A big part of this process is finding what works for you. I’m still finding what works for me.

So I’m going to write a series of craft essays and call it Writing Advice Sucks, until I think of a better name, or decide I actually like this one. 

To this end, I’m reformatting my newsletter. I think I’ve sent out five or so since New Yorked came out. But I’d like to use it more, for book recommendations, and updates on the craft stuff, and then every now and again, when I want you to buy a thing I did so I can keep feeding my family.

Expect to see two or so newsletters a month. I don’t want to drown you. But I’ll be recommending good craft books, or just books that I’m reading and enjoying. Plus who knows, maybe I’ll give some shit away.

Like, how about this: Sign up for my newsletter right now and I’ll select two people at random to get hardcover copies of The Woman from Prague. Publishers Weekly called it one of the best books of summer 2017. I’ll pull the names on Friday. US only.

Sign up here. Oh and hey, in other news Potter’s Field got picked as one of the best books of the summer by the Star Tribune! Pre-order it at this link!

Coming in January: ‘Take-Out, and Other Tales of Culinary Crime’

[image error]Someone else noticed before I did.

Over the course of a few months, I wrote and published stories involving a bagel maker, and warring food trucks, and a restaurant scam. A friend asked when my collection of food noir stories was coming out. When he said that, I was working on a story about a bouncer at a pastry shop.

It’s not surprising I’d fall into a theme, with writing about food. I like to eat. But it’s more than that, too.

Food is the thing that binds all of us, across continents and cultures. No matter where you go, there are signature dishes and traditions of hospitality. Sharing a meal is as much about emotional sustenance as it is about the physical.

Which makes food a fantastic storytelling device, especially within the confines of crime and noir fiction. They’re intersections where passions collide.

In total, I wrote more than a dozen stories with components of food or hospitality.

And now Polis Books is going to collect them in Take-Out—and it will include three stories that haven’t been published anywhere. The whole jam will be available in paperback and eBook, and it’s coming out in January.

That should fill the hole in your heart between Potter’s Field (coming in July and available for pre-order) and The Warehouse (due sometime in the back half of 2019).

I’m really excited to see this hit, because I think it represents some of my best short story work. Two of them were shortlisted for Best American Mystery Stories, and one (the title story, “Take-Out”) made the final cut. Another (“Foodies”) was nominated for a Derringer Award. One (“Confessions of a Taco Truck Owner”) I read at Noir at the Bar, and Todd Robinson told me he was putting it in the next issue of Thuglit before I even left the microphone. Best short story acceptance I ever got.

More on this soon. Three cheers to Jason Pinter for agreeing to publish it, and Josh Getzler for sealing the deal. This is going to be a fun one.

Want to get updates on this and other stuff? Sign up for my newsletter.

What’s ‘warehouse’ in Greek?

The dust has settled a bit, and it got announced in Publishers Marketplace, so now I can say, with some degree of confidence, that The Warehouse has sold to publishers in seventeen countries.

I’m astounded. Because I never sold foreign rights on the Ash books, but also, The Warehouse is very much about the American economy. So I figured—no one outside the U.S. would care.

But my wife pointed out: the American economy is the world economy, and she’s generally smarter than me, so I’ll go with that.

Come next year the book should be available in (deep breath):

Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Japan, Italy, Greece, France, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Turkey, and China.

I’m thrilled to be in each and every one of these countries, but a few of them hold special places in my heart: I’ve visited the UK, Prague, and Poland, and loved them all. I’ve always wanted to visit Germany and I hope this means I might get that chance. And I took French in high school, so even though I can’t remember much beyond the pleasantries, it’s still nice to know I’ll have a French edition of this book.

More than that, I will have very many editions of this book I cannot read. Which is fascinating. How is the translation going to change the text? What are the covers going to look like? I already spoke to my publisher in the UK, Transworld, and they have some incredible ideas for how the book might look (which is one of the things that tipped me in their favor).

As always it’s important for me to thank my agent, Josh Getzler, for doing such an incredible job on this. The last few weeks have been non-stop—we were at auction in a lot of these countries, so the numbers were constantly changing, and then we were doing the movie deal at the same time. So we spent a lot of the last month in constant contact.

Normally publishing news comes out of New York, which is where I live anyway, so it’s standard business hours for me. But the European markets are ahead, time zone wise, and L.A., where the movie stuff happens, is behind. So I would wake up to updates on foreign, and then by the time I got home from work, I’d hear about film. I spent a lot of hours in the middle wondering what the hell was going on.

Josh did an incredible job on this, and so did all his sub-agents. A little publishing 101: agents generally aren’t making the foreign deals themselves. They’re working with sub-agents in other countries. So, for example, my book was sold in the UK by a very nice man named Caspian who I promised a pint to when I come through on tour, because damn did he earn it.

Below is a screenshot of the Publishers Marketplace announcement, just to show you the depth of the bench here (and in case you want to see who is publishing me where).

And it really goes to show what an incredible job Josh did, keeping all of this on track.

This is nuts. I’m hugely excited to see what happens next, but also, as someone who loves to travel, I’m looking forward to putting some more stamps in my passport, because a couple of these publishers have already said they’re going to bring me out for promo…

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Ron Howard might direct ‘The Warehouse’

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I’m trying to swear less around my daughter, especially now that she’s three and repeats so much of what we say. This is not easy as I tend to swear a lot. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to help.

For example, I get home from work and sit down at the dining room table with dinner. I pop open my laptop and see an e-mail from my agent about The Warehouse, which had already sold to Crown and was doing bangin business in foreign territories.

The e-mail is simple enough: there are multiple offers for film or TV, and which would I prefer? I thought about it for a few minutes and responded that it’s a nearly impossible question to answer, and I would think about it some more, but my gut was telling me TV.

His response was: Well what if it’s a film and Ron Howard is the director?

And I’m pretty sure I yelled “what the fuck!”

The kiddo was immersed in Peppa Pig so, luckily, it seemed to fly over her head. I relayed the exchange to my wife and I think she used a swear word, too. What other response is there to news like that?

What followed was a bunch of back-and-forth and some other offers I had to at least consider because they were pretty damn cool, but I never strayed too far from thinking: Yes, I want my book to be adapted by Ron Howard.

When I was a kid, I nearly wore out my VHS copies of Apollo 13 and Backdraft. That’s not even a cute thing I made up to make the news seem more impactful. It’s true. Ron Howard was one of the first directors I could cite by name. I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time. The dude knows how to make a movie.

During the auction period, Apollo 13 was playing on Showtime. I re-watched it one night because it felt like a sign. The movie has lost none of its luster.

We accepted the deal from Imagine Entertainment over a week ago. I told family members and close friends, but I was waiting on the press release before I could make it “Facebook official.” Of course I wanted to shout it from a mountaintop but I was on their timeline.

I thought I’d get some warning. Of course I didn’t. Last night I was at the James Beard house having a fancypants dinner with my wife and a friend of ours, and my agent texted me, telling me to read my e-mail ASAP, because the story was already live at Deadline.

Real talk: I shared the link on Facebook and Twitter with shaking hands. Then I pocketed my phone and looked up and my wife had already gotten us glasses of champagne. I told myself I’d enjoy the dinner without looking at my phone again, but of course it didn’t work out like that.

This is nuts. Seriously. My first four (and soon five) books came out from a small press. Polis does a hell of a job for me but book promo has always felt like a full-contact game of inches. You break your ass in half and, frankly, it doesn’t always pay off. You feel like you’re endlessly chasing something and it’s always out of reach. Out of sight, even, over the horizon line.

You spend so much time running, sometimes you want to stop running. The last book in the Ash McKenna series (Potter’s Field, pre-order it here!) is coming out in July, and I’d already decided I wanted to take a bit of a break. I’m going to promote it of course, but probably no touring. I didn’t want to beat myself up so much over those inches.

And then all this. Surreal doesn’t quite describe it. Fucking insanity gets close.

I know the reality of this: The movie is optioned. That doesn’t mean it’ll get made. But to know the guy who is currently doing a Star Wars movie might be talking about The Warehouse on the promo circuit in a few weeks—that’s pretty rad.

And in case you were wondering (because in telling close friends and family I have been asked a dozen times) I am not writing the script. My pal Jordan Harper (who wrote She Rides Shotgun, which just won an Edgar, but who also works in Hollywood) said the author of a book is the worst person to adapt it.

I don’t know that language anyway. I’d rather someone who knows how to write a screenplay take a crack at it. The book is in good hands. I feel confident about that.

Quick shout-out to Jordan, who gave me some really good advice through this process (seriously, read his book), as well as, of course, my agent Josh Getzler and my film agent Lucy Stille. Josh and Lucy just killed this.

There are three big boxes when it comes to a book sale—the American deal, the film deal, and the foreign deals. We’ve checked all three (more very exciting news on foreign soon). My boss, who has worked in publishing for more than 40 years, asked me if I knew this book was going to hit like this.

And of course, no, I did not. I have a hard time seeing past my mistakes and the things I could be doing better. When I first sent this book to my agent I thought it was a mess, and when he told me he had minimal editorial notes, I didn’t even know how to take it.

It’s just gotten more absurd from there, but I think I’m finally getting to a place where I can say with some degree of confidence: I think I wrote a pretty okay book.

Welcome to ‘The Warehouse’

So. It’s been a day.

I’m thrilled to say my new book, The Warehouse, has been acquired by Crown at Random House. I’m even more thrilled to say they bought it at pre-empt before it could go to auction, which is really humbling (and also a little scary!).

It’s April 2 so I swear this isn’t a belated April Fool’s Day joke (I spent part of the weekend thinking maybe it was?).

It’ll come out in 2019, under the editorial guidance of Julian Pavia, who did The Martian and Ready Player One. He also worked on Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, a book I enjoyed so much I read it in a single day. Julian is a smart dude. He gets me and he gets my book and I’m really excited to be working with him.

The Warehouse is about a thing that makes me angry: big businesses and how they treat their workers. It’s also a book I was afraid to write, because I thought I wasn’t smart enough or a good enough writer. I’m glad I pushed past that and I am very excited for people to read it.

I want to give a shout out to my agent Josh Getzler for doing such an incredible job on this—he went to bat for me and knocked it clean out of the park. And Jason Pinter at Polis, who gave me a place to learn and grow as a writer.

Most of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me and encouraged me and read me. I wouldn’t be here without that.

More soon!

Ash McKenna in audio and large print!

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Do you like having your books read to you? Do you like print books but find the letters are too small?

Then you’re in luck!

City of Rose, South Village, and The Woman from Prague are now available as audiobooks for your listening pleasure!

This is pretty exciting. See, what happened was, New Yorked got picked up as an audiobook, but didn’t do fantastic, so the publisher decided not to acquire the rest of the series. Which is a bummer, but I get it. There’s some behind-the-scenes stuff as to why that happened… so goes the biz.

But Ash, he’s a slow burn. The series has been picking up steam. Another publisher swooped in and scooped ’em up. They even brought back Alexander Cendese, who did a phenomenal job narrating New Yorked.

Go forth and listen!

And while we’re talking about subrights, just a reminder: The Woman from Prague is available in a handsome large print edition.

Get ’em here:

City of Rose audio

South Village audio

The Woman from Prague audio

The Woman from Prague large print

These books are available in regular-old eBook and print formats, too, in case you’re so inclined. Now is a good time to brush up, ’cause Ash’s last ride takes place in Potter’s Field, which is coming out in July…

Cheap AF eBooks

[image error]Are you the type of person who does not like to pay full price for goods and services?

Then I have some good news for you: Every book in the Ash McKenna series is currently discounted for one reason or another!

New Yorked and South Village have been selected in this month’s Kindle deals section on Amazon, so both are currently available for $1.99.

City of Rose is going to be in some cool newsletter promotions over the next few days, so for a limited time you can get it for only 99 cents.

And because we love you, we shaved two dollars off the price of The Woman from Prague, which you can now get for $5.99.

That means you can get the ENTIRE series for $10.96. That’s cheaper than some individual eBooks. While the books are currently only discounted on Amazon, due to the magic of price-matching, the other sales sites ought to follow suit pretty soon.

While I am seducing you with the siren song of cheap eBooks, this is a good time to remind you that if you read any of these books, and you dig them, and would be amenable to leaving an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, it’d be highly appreciated.

Here’s the thing about reviews: The more you get, the more your book shows up in search algorithms, and the more it applies for promotions (and trust me, promotions like this are HUGE, especially for authors at smaller presses who have a harder time making some noise amidst the throng of bigger releases).

Already read/reviewed my books? Go review another author’s books. It’s a nice thing to do. Especially if you’re planning to leave a positive, or even semi-positive, review. Because it counteracts stuff like the one-star review I got yesterday on Amazon, calling New Yorked “puerile alcoholic ramblings”.

So there you have it. Get the eBooks before they go back to full price. Contribute the inflation of my sales rankings and therefore my discoverability. The world is a magical place.

If you don’t know much about me or the books, you can click here to see some pretty banners with quotes and blurbs about the books. And if you click those banners you’ll find even MORE quotes and blurbs, and also plot summaries and sometimes sample chapters.

‘The Woman from Prague’ is here!

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I probably should have posted this yesterday, considering that was the actual release date of the book, but hey, things got a little busy. But: The Woman from Prague is now officially available! A lot of fun stuff happened, so I’ll do a quick roundup:

We launched it at The Mysterious Bookshop last night. Author pal Alex Segura did an excellent job moderating.
The book is listed as temporarily unavailable at Amazon, because we already cleared through the first printing. The second printing should arrive any second. That’s nuts.
I wrote a piece for Criminal Element about pulp fiction in a modern context.
This is a little older but I wrote a piece for Crimespree about writing lessons I got from Krav Maga. Also Dan Malmon wrote a really nice review of the book.
I answered some questions for The Real Book Spy, which also reviewed the book.
I got tired of writing promotional posts (there are a bunch more on the way) so I crowd-sourced an interview for LitReactor—essentially, I asked people to pose questions on social media, and then I rounded them up an answered them. It was pretty fun.
LitHub called The Woman from Prague a must-read crime book for July.
I’ve got more tour events coming up. Staten Island tomorrow night, then Scottsdale, Portland, Houston, and Austin. More details here.
I offered a prize pack for people who pre-ordered the book. The winner is Brent McCarthy! Brent, I will be mailing some stuff to you shortly.

It’s been a good launch. I’m thrilled to have a book in hardcover. I’m extremely thrilled that people are responding to the book. Get it if you haven’t, or wait until I show up at a bookstore to buy it, and I will sign it for you, or give me your phone number and I will read excerpts to you (that last one is not true… maybe).