Newsletter #2 - The Big Reveals
Hello again, and welcome to Al Pessin Author Newsletter #2, “The Big Reveals!”
It’s here. OMG, it’s here! This is the cover of Sandblast, thanks to the amazing team at Kensington Publishing:
Click for amazon.com.
Cool, huh?
They used the great quote from Richard Castle (pen name of Tom Straw, a terrific guy and great author/screenwriter I met at Sleuthfest). Other quotes will be on the back and/or inside.
I love the the texturing in the background that, to me, suggests a desert at night (“sand”) and the shadow of a man running through an explosion (“blast”). The Capitol Building indicates that he’s an American. And the explosion and fire promise plenty of action.
We came up with Task Force Epsilon as a way to link Sandblast to the two sequels that are in the works. The name is explained toward the end of Sandblast, when the team’s success is rewarded with a permanent status.
Sandblast is available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target and soon other online outlets, and also by order from your local bookstore. It’s already discounted on Amazon and Target! At this writing, only the paperback is available, but the ebook should be posted soon. Shipping or electronic delivery will be March 31, 2020.
Click for Willow Theatre.
My other big news is that we have the official poster for my play, “Murder at the Butcher’s.” And we also have a cast – ten wonderful actors who are studying their lines right now to prepare for our first rehearsal in early September.
It was fun to attend the auditions. We have four great young actors, fresh from the Florida International University Theater Department, to play the twentysomethings, and six seasoned pros for the, um, older roles, including Benny the Butcher, his wife Miriam and their ‘seductress of a certain age’ neighbor Sylvia.
Tickets go on sale September 1. They’re just $25, $15 for groups of four or more, www.willowtheatre.org.
The performances promise to, as director Teresa Biber LoMonte says, “bring the house down every night.” So, if you’re in the area, or can possibly be, please come by and see the show!
One other thing. I had a fun three-night trip to New York a couple of weeks ago to attend the Thrillerfest writers’ conference and meet the team at Kensington Publishing. I did not take any good pics at Thrillerfest, and none at all of the Kensington authors’ lunch. I will do better in the future. The lunch at Capital Grille was hosted by Kensington CEO Steve Zacharius, who is a great guy. It was terrific to meet some other Kensington authors, including fellow-thriller writer John Gilstrap, and modern western writer Reavis Wortham. I attended some interesting panels on writing and publishing, and met lots of authors, agents and publishers. I also had a chance to see “The Play that Goes Wrong,” a farce playing on Broadway. So, lots of inspiration for my novels and for the work ahead on the play.
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