 |
| JosephFinder.com Newsletter |
Early February, 2006
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Happy New Year
|
|
Our January newsletter is a few days late because of a sad event --- the death of the mother of our terrific webmistress, Clair. We wish Clair all the best.
Dear Readers,
Happy New Year! It may be the Year of the Dog on the Chinese calendar (my Chinese birth sign, by the way) ---but at JosephFinder.com, it's the year of KILLER INSTINCT. KILLER INSTINCT is my next book, due out from St. Martin's Press in May. It's the story of Jason Steadman, a 30-year-old sales executive who loves his wife and works hard, but can't seem to get ahead. When Jason helps get a job for Kurt Semko, an ex-Special Forces operative, Kurt looks to repay the favor. Suddenly, Jason's on a fast track to the corner office...but at what cost?
Keep reading for information about how you can get an advance copy, a free KILLER INSTINCT Nalgene® water bottle, or your own set of KILLER INSTINCT PostIt® notes! Show everyone at your office that you've got the killer instinct.
Joe (Joe@JosephFinder.com)
|
|
|
Killer Instinct - The Buzz Begins
|
 |
Every step of writing a book is challenging, but none is more stressful than waiting to hear what readers think. The first batch of advance copies of KILLER INSTINCT went out at the beginning of this month, and I'm already getting responses that exceed my most delusional expectations. Readers have been nice enough to compliment the book's "sly humor" and its pacing --- the must-read blogger Tom Duff (Duffbert) writing, "I stayed up far too late finishing this one"
Early praise I particularly treasure comes from the legendary BookBitch (www.bookbitch.com), Stacy Alessi, and from bookseller extraordinaire Billie Bloebaum, who works at Portland's famous Powells Bookstore (www.powells.com). Stacy said she loved it, and called KILLER INSTINCT "a true thriller --- really excellent and superbly done. I may even like it better than PARANOIA." Billie wrote that she "loved Jason's ethical ambiguity... and all of the supporting characters in Jason's office are each so richly drawn that I was glad that I didn't make a career out of sales. (Retail doesn't count.)"
If nothing's more stressful than waiting for reviews, nothing is more satisfying than hearing that the book does what I want it to do. Thanks to everyone who's written in with comments; feel free to send your thoughts to me (good or bad) at joe@josephfinder.com.
|
|
|
They're In - KILLER INSTINCT Swag!
|
 |
The KILLER INSTINCT Nalgene® bottles and PostIt® notes have come in, and they look great.
Why a Nalgene® water bottle? Well, one of the subplots of KILLER INSTINCT has to do with the way Kurt gets Jason to start working out and getting in shape, so we thought, what better symbol of that than a water bottle? You can take it to the gym (as Kurt would call it) or to the fitness center (as Jason might say), and they come in an array of colors: ruby red, sapphire blue, and smoke (gray).
The problem is, they take up too much room in my office --- so the only solution is to give them away! This month, we'll give away 25 water bottles, 25 sets of PostIt® notes, 25 Advance Readers' copies, and 25 CDs of my conversation with Malcolm Gladwell to the first 100 people who send their full names and mailing addresses to Sarah, my assistant, at Sarah@josephfinder.com. List the prizes in order of preference (for example, 1. Advance Readers' Copy; 2. Gladwell CD; 3. Water bottle; 4. PostIt® Notes).
Sorry, we can't honor requests for specific colors of water bottle --- you'll have to trust us! Readers who won ARCs last month will not receive second copies of the ARC; we want everyone to have a chance to win one. Prizes are limited to one per household per month. Thanks, and good luck!
|
|
|
COMPANY MAN Makes 2005 "Best of" Lists!
|
If 2006 was the year of KILLER INSTINCT, 2005 belonged to COMPANY MAN - and several book critics were kind enough to put it on their "Best of 2005" lists:
Jon Land, The Providence Journal: "a contemporary version of Crime and Punishment."
David Montgomery, reviewer for The Chicago Sun-Times, The Boston Globe, The Kansas City Star and other papers, who called COMPANY MAN a great holiday gift for thriller lovers.
January Magazine, a great online literary journal: " COMPANY MAN hooks you from the opening page, and keeps you reading even when your eyes want to close at the end of a day."
COMPANY MAN will be available in paperback from St. Martin's in March. You can already place pre-orders online at Amazon ( www.amazon.com) and Barnes & Noble ( www.bn.com), or check back next month, when I'll have some special COMPANY MAN giveaways for newsletter readers.
|
Click here to read more about COMPANY MAN.
|
|
|
A Call For Earworms
|
|
An "earworm," from the German Ohrwurm, is an insidious tune that you can't get out of your head. As some of you may remember, in PARANOIA, Paul McCartney and Wings' "Band on the Run" sandbags Adam Cassidy when he's breaking into an office. A number of you wrote in to suggest other such sticky songs: ABBA's "Dancing Queen," The Captain and Tennille's "Muskrat Love," and what seems to be the all-time worst earworm, Disney's "It's a Small World After All." (Sing it with me: "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears, a world of hope and a world of fears...." if I have to have this in my head all day, you do, too.)
Well, I recently rented the DVD of "Comedian," a documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, and it closed with a song that I immediately downloaded from iTunes --- Susannah McCorkle's rendition of "Waters of March." I've been playing it over and over again in my car so much I feel like Rain Man. It's a great, great version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim song "Águas de Março." Listen to it --- you'll see what I mean. That's my earworm of the month.
I'd love to hear what earworms are possessing you these days. Send the titles of those songs you can't forget to info@josephfinder.com, and I'll list them in the next newsletter.
|
|
|
Cars and Books: A Perfect Combination
|
|
Don Beyer is a modern Renaissance man: a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, the owner of a highly successful chain of car dealerships, and the creator of a popular series of literary evenings in northern Virginia. I'm delighted to be the next author to appear in this lecture series, following in the footsteps of literary stars such as Edward P. Jones and Andre Dubus. I'll be speaking at the Land Rover Alexandria showroom on Tuesday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. The address is 2712 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia; for more information or directions, visit their website at www.landroveralexandria.net.
|
|
| Touring for KILLER INSTINCT |
|
KILLER INSTINCT won't be in bookstores until May 16, but the publicity campaign has already begun. I was in New York City last week for a "media lunch" sponsored by my publishers, St. Martin's Press. It was great to be able to put faces to names, and to hear a little early feedback about the book. You can read more about it at the AOL Book Maven's weblog, here. Last week's lunch was just a curtain-raiser for the big tour, which begins in Boston, my home, on May 16. From there, I'll hit New York City, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego, before wrapping things up in Washington, D.C. on June 6. These events will be rather spectacular --- not because of my presence, necessarily, but because we're trying something very new and exciting on this tour. Details? Sorry, I can't give them to you yet....but you'll hear more soon, I promise.
I am terribly disappointed that my tour won't take me to the Midwest this year. So many of you sent in wonderful suggestions for possible stops --- particularly in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, where I have very loyal and enthusiastic readers. To all of you in the Midwest, I'm deeply sorry that I won't be able to visit in person. As we get closer to the publication date for KILLER INSTINCT, I'll let you know how best to order a signed copy of the book, and I'm thinking hard about other ways I can make it up to you.
|
|
| In Next Month's Issue: |
|
More Giveaways!
Pre-order the COMPANY MAN paperback!
Cool new website features!
More information about the KILLER INSTINCT amazing, incredible, double top-secret contest!
Don't miss out....sign up for the newsletter here, and make sure that "josephfinder@josephfinder.pmailus.com" is on your list of approved e-mail senders. And please spread the word by forwarding this to friends you think might be interested.
Thanks, and see you later this month!
-Joe
|
|
