A Very Unexpected Encounter

It all started on June 1st, 2013. We all headed to the Javits Center in the heart of New York City for the last day of BEA 2013. It had already been a great show not only for me but for the whole entourage that accompanied me. Just like in the previous days of the expo, we arrived precisely at 9:30AM to make sure our booth was ready to receive all the power readers that were going to flock their way in, savagely looking for the latest releases.

Banners up, books ready, postcards at hand, our day began. Hundreds of readers made their way to The Whispers of the Fallen booth to get their free copy of the novel. Around 11AM, a man came by the booth, grabbed a hold of the novel and asked me some basic questions such as: How long did it take you to write the book? Who designed the cover? When will the second book be released? He analyzed every detail of the cover as he continued to talk to me.

"You will go places, my friend," he said, giving me a smile. He walked away and our day continued as fans came by to take pictures and get their novels autographed; the entourage kept handing out invitations throughout the whole Javits Center, inviting everyone to come to the booth for their free books.

At exactly 3:30PM, the same man from that morning returned to the booth, which we had already dismantled. He asked me if I had a minute to talk. We sat down at a table and a very interesting conversation began. LIttle did I know that man was Jay Hartman, Editor-in-Chief of Untreed Reads Publishing.

"You ruined my day," he said as he took out his copy of the novel from his bag. "I cancelled all my meetings and appointments today because of this." He pointed to the now-bent cover of the book. To my surprise, Jay told me he had already read most of the novel, and was asking me questions about the story that only a reader would ask.

"This book is crawling under my skin," he said. "It has been years since I found something like this." (By now, I was shaking on my seat, dumbfounded at everything this man was saying). To complete my surprise, on that day I was offered a publishing contract!

Yes, my friends. Starting this month, The Whispers of the Fallen will be re-released by Untreed Reads Publishing in both paperback and digital version. Soon you will be able to find The Whispers of the Fallen not only online, but also at your local book store. We have added exclusive content not found in the previous version of the novel that I am sure will satisfy all the hardcore fans of the series. Untreed Reads will also publish The Whispers of the Fallen Part II - Rebellion, due next year! (I still can't believe that I am writing a blog about me being picked up by a publisher. It surely makes up for the fifteen rejection letters I received in the last two years!)

To all the fans, thank you for all your support and for loving all these characters.

J.D.NettoThe Whispers of the Fallen