Information Leak (Don’t Tell The White House)

This news isn’t breaking; it’s not even damaged much. Some of it will break soon, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.

The audio book of Grind Joint is complete and awaiting final approval by the powers that be at ACX. Based on their most recent communication, it should be available at Amazon, audible.com, and iTunes next week or the week after. Mike Dennis did a hell of a job with what is not the easiest book to read aloud if you’re not a native speaker of Western Pennsylvanian. I’m not sure of the price at this time, but it’s not going to be an arm and a leg; I draw the line at “or.”

Speaking of Grind Joint—and what else have I done without surcease for the past several months?—the e-book will release next week. Exact date TBD, but I plan to finish the formatting and post it to Amazon over the weekend, if not before. I do know the cost of this one: $3.99. That’s right; four bucks. I promised I wouldn’t be like one of those big publishers and charge damn near as much for the e-book as for the real thing, and I haven’t. And if I ever get a contract from a big publisher that wants to do that, I’ll tell them I forbid it. (Unless they pay me a lot of money in advance, in which case you’re on your own, dear and valued readers.)

The successor to Grind Joint is complete. Resurrection Mall is the counterpoint to the casino in Grind Joint, a religious-themed shopping center with a church as the anchor. It is hoped this will revitalize the decaying downtown area of Penns River. We’ll see.

Speaking of Resurrection Mall, that manuscript isn’t destined to sit on my hard drive until I get a bug up my ass and do something with it. I signed a deal to be represented by Bob Mecoy earlier this month, and the manuscript went directly to him, which frees me up for another couple of projects:

1. Right now I’m working on a chapter in a progressive novel called The Bank Job, where each of over fifteen writers contributes a chapter. It’s a multi-POV story, and that’s all I’ll say about it, except that I’m delighted to have been asked, considering the company I’m keeping. (Eric Beetner, Les Edgerton, Nik Korpon, Terrence McCauley, Tom O’Mara, Charles Salzberg, and about a dozen others who were willing to risk their reputations by allowing my name in the credits.) The plan is to have the book ready by Bouchercon in November.

2. The fourth Penns River book (working title PR4—I’m not wasting any of my limited creativity on a title I’m going to ditch) is undergoing final outline revisions. I’ll start on it as soon as my chapter for The Bank Job is finished. Doc and the cops have to solve what appears to be a random homicide while dealing with a new drug boss and a federal consent decree that mandated more female cops in Penns River.

Updates as they become relevant.