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These arrived in the mail today.

Which is… surreal, to hold the finished product in my hand. It feels good. I almost wish I had more time to enjoy it? Not that I didn’t enjoy it. It just feels like… the book comes out this month, and suddenly everything feels like it is ramping way the fuck up.

Which is a champagne problem, I know.

But being the first of the month, a whole bunch of stuff hit today, and rather than clog up your feeds with me tweeting (more than I already have), I figured I would put it all in one place, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

• Entertainment Weekly picked The Warehouse as one of 20 books to read in August (alongside my pal Alex Segura, whose excellent Miami Midnight drops Aug. 13—the two of us will be appearing together at The Mysterious Bookshop on Aug. 20, details here).
• Also got a tip of the roundup cap from CrimeReads, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, io9, and Goodreads.
• The Real Book Spy included me in the August reading guide AND wrote a lovely featured review of the book.
• And the Apple Bookstore picked it as one of the best books of August, calling it “one of the most exciting and thought-provoking books we’ve read in ages.” Which is kinda nuts?
• An interview I did with The Big Thrill just went live. This was a fun one, and I got to talk a little about the process of writing and selling the book.
• The street team is nearly filled up. Want to join that? Don’t wait. Details here. Essentially you will get some cool swag and maybe books!
• We are close to nailing down my international stuff. I’ll definitely be in London Aug. 14-16, on behalf of my UK publisher Transworld. It looks like I might be visiting a few more countries in September (I will be in Germany for sure, but should be finalizing more details shortly on where else I’ll be).
• Last but not least, check out this creepy AF trailer!

**REGISTRATION IS CLOSED!**

We’re less than a month out from The Warehouse. I am excited! So… now is a good time to start increasing awareness. Now, I know what you’re thinking—it’s all I’ve been talking about for like a year. How more aware can we be?

Well, I’m aware. You’re aware. I want your friends, your family, and even your enemies to be aware. So here’s the deal:

My publisher made up all these cool graphics. Some of them are super creepy! I’d like you to share them. That’s pretty much it. You sign up, and when I give the word, you share a bunch of them on your feeds, and tag me in your posts. Maybe say that I’m handsome and a good writer—you know, embellish.

What do you get in return?

Swag! Specifically: a Cloud lanyard, a Cloud brochure, a bookmark. Oh also some of you might get a copy of the book. You never know! Plus, when the dust settles, I’ll pick a few super-fans to win some other cool stuff…

To review:

• Use this form to sign up (REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED)
• Do this by August 5.
• You will get stuff in the mail!
• When I give you the signal (via e-mail on August 12), it is time… I will give you access to the graphics.
• Share your favorite and tag me.
• Here’s where it gets fun: share more than one of the graphics to put yourself in the running for additional prizes, like my backlist books, a UK edition of The Warehouse… essentially whoever shares these the most often or the most creatively is gonna get more stuff.
• That’s it!
• Depending on how well this goes I may have to cap it? We’ll see…
• Sorry this is limited to the United States only.

If you’re in, hit that form, if you get deluged with spam shortly afterward it is just a coincidence. And thank you in advance for your enthusiasm!

 

Guess who is going to be at San Diego Comic Con this year? A lot of famous and important people. And somehow also me!

This will be my first SDCC—ever—and I am terribly excited to be there promoting The Warehouse. We’ll be giving away galleys, along with those super cool custom lanyards my publisher made up.

I get in Thursday, and will mostly be floating around the floor, gawking at things like a goon (except for most of Friday when I am have a secret-mission drive to LA for *reasons*…) but here is where you can officially find me.

Friday

• How Our Present Impacts Today’s Speculative Fiction, 5 to 6 PM, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina Grand 12 & 13, with Blake Crouch (Recursion), Kali Wallace (Salvation Day), and Chuck Wendig (Wanderers)

Saturday

• Signing at Penguin Random House Booth, 4-4:45 PM, Booth 1515-B

Sunday

• Signing at Penguin Random House Booth, 10-10:45 AM, Booth 1515-B

• I’ll Take Muggles for $500: A Fan Game Show, 2-3 PM, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina Grand 10 & 11, other panelists to be announced

Continue reading “San Diego Comic Con schedule, and daring to dream”

We are less than *two months* from the release of The Warehouse, which means things are ramping up, which means I am living with low-level yet constant feelings of anxiety!

Warehouse made a few more round-up lists, which is always super exciting. The Bolo Books Summer APB (thanks to Kris at Bolo for the photo accompanying this, which he took at ALA!) and the Today Show’s books recommended for Father’s Day (even though it wasn’t available on Father’s Day), as well as PopSugar, the BBC, the Real Book Spy, and Read It Forward. Plus it made the top ten of Publishers Weekly’s fall announcements in Mystery/Thriller. That’s on top of being named a hot summer read by Publishers Weekly, CrimeReads, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today. So… things are going well.

Second: Touring! Lots of people have been asking me: when will I be hitting the circuit? And the short answer is… I don’t know! Here’s the thing: The book pubs at the end of August, which is not the best time to tour because it’s the tail-end of summer. But things get dicey going into September because I’m definitely going to Germany, and possibly a few other European countries, and I need to balance all this with being a not-terrible husband and father, so… this is currently about as complicated as planning a shuttle launch.

I can tell you that I’m doing a release party at The Mysterious Bookshop on Aug. 20, where I’ll be joined by Alex Segura, who’ll be shilling the last Pete Fernandez book Miami Midnight. On Aug. 21, I’ll be at the Staten Island Barnes & Noble. On Sept. 4, I’ll be at Politics & Prose in DC, in conversation with Six Days of the Condor author James Grady.

I’ll also be Bouchercon in October, and later this month I’m going to my first San Diego Comic Con (more TK on panels and signings), as well as a couple of regional library and book festivals. And I’m confirmed for the Harbour Front Literature Festival in Hamburg on Sept. 19.

Oh, and before I hit SDCC, I’ll be floating around Thrillerfest, and I’ll be reading at Noir at the Bar at Shade Bar on Sunday, July 14. I will have at least one galley of The Warehouse to give away. Maybe two! Depends on my mood.

As for the rest, I’ll keep you in the loop, but I will definitely be out and about, signing books and eating burritos and doing crimes (don’t tell my publisher about that last one).

So… that’s it for now. If you want to pre-order, you can find a whole mess of links here. The audiobook is available for pre-order now, too! They let me listen to the narrators who’ll be handling the book and they sound great. I’m excited for that. And if you want to add it to your Goodreads shelf or review it, you can do that here.

Finally, in your extra-credit reading assignment: Amazon was just granted a patent to develop drones that will deliver packages and spy on you at the same time. So that’s fun.

Hey so let’s see when was the last time I updated the blog holy shit it was March.

A lot has happened since then!

The Warehouse now has three starred trade reviews (a.k.a. a tri-force), from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal.  I did four days at the Javits Center for BEA and BookCon, where I appeared on the Author Buzz panel (video above!) and signed several hundred galleys. The Buzz authors talked to PW about the inspirations for our books, which was printed in the big glossy handout for attendees. The Warehouse got name-checked in publications like the LA Times. It was also picked as a hot summer read by Publishers Weekly, CrimeReads, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today.

I’ve also locked in my London tour dates with my UK publisher (August 14, 15, and 16), I’m currently settling the US tour stuff, and might be going on a bigger European tour after that, and could be hitting one more convention before the book comes out…

Continue reading “Reckoning with the promo machine”

Very excited to kick off The Warehouse promo next week at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle.

Want to find me there? Want to get a copy of the galley? Want to get a job assignment at Cloud?

This is how you do it.

Thursday

Story Unlimited: Using Non-Traditional Methods to Tell YOUR Story

Time: 2:45 – 3:45 pm

Location: WSCC 603

Friday

SciFi Adrenaline Rush Panel

Time: 1:30 – 2:30 pm

Location: WSCC 611

Sci Fi Adrenaline Rush signing

Time: 2:45 – 3:45 pm

Location: Tables 3 & 4

Saturday

Booth signing

Time: 6:00 – 6:45 pm

Location: Penguin Random House Booth (#2215)

Take-Out is here.

This is a funny collection. It started as a joke—haha food noir—that turned into a real thing and now it’s an actual book you can hold in your hands and read.

The stories in this collection represent some of my better short story work. Two made honorable mention in Best American Mystery Stories, and one made the final cut. One got nominated for a Derringer Award. One was accepted for publication the first time I read it to an audience, before I even left the microphone.

But it’s more than that, too. I’m a big believer in the way food unites us. Every culture has signature dishes and customs of hospitality. Every person has a favorite dish. Food is the thing that binds us across cultures and continents. And it’s a place where passions can collide—just like crime fiction.

To celebrate the release, I want to treat you to some take-out.

Specifically, three of you who will win $20 GrubHub gift cards.

How do you win? Simple. Help me boost the signal. Share this link on social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, whatever. Tell your friends and family I’m nice. Take a selfie at your favorite restaurant. Use the banner at the bottom of this post if you feel like it. Whatever! Have fun. Just be sure to use the hashtag #takeout and tag me so I see it.

As long as you help me spread the word, you’re in it to win it. PLUS! Every social media post counts as an entry. Hit the Twitter-FB-Insta trifecta? That’s three entries. Twelve tweets? That’s twelve entries. What I’m saying is: the more you shill for me, the higher the chance I’ll end up buying you a burrito, or some Chinese food, or whatever the hell you decide to order…

Anyway, Friday at noon EST I’ll pick three winners (from the US only, and if you’re not in the range of GrubHub, we’ll figure something out).

And if you were thinking of coming out to the release party on Jan. 23 at The Mysterious Bookshop (where I’ll be appearing with Miraculum author Steph Post), you might find more chances to win…

Take-Out, the food noir collection I have been threatening you with for years, hit stores in a week. As such, here are some things worth knowing:

Publishers Weekly liked it, saying that: “Hart’s first story collection offers 16 winning food-themed tales, three previously unpublished… The varied settings and story lines effectively showcase Hart’s versatility.”

It was listed as an anticipated book by sites like CrimeReads and Vol. 1 Brooklyn.

Speaking of CrimeReads, I wrote a food tour of New York City’s crime world for them, which took quite a bit of research but was really fascinating. Check that out here.

On Jan. 23, I’ll be appearing alongside Steph Post at The Mysterious Bookshop at 6:30 p.m. Steph will be promoting her new book Miraculum, which I was lucky to get an early read on and it so damn good. We will have food and booze. If you haven’t bailed on Facebook yet, here’s where you can RSVP.

(The title of this post is not a joke about how much I drank this weekend but it very well could be…)

Hahaha ok seriously though.

This past weekend, Kellye Garrett won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel for Hollywood Homicide. Attica Locke won Best Novel for Bluebird, Bluebird, and The Obama Inheritance, edited by Gary Phillips, won Best Anthology.

It was pretty incredible to see three major awards go to black authors—especially when the awards are a popular vote by the convention attendees.

(UPDATE: I can’t believe I missed this, but I’m also so thrilled that Kristen Lepionka, who is part of the LGBT community and is a hell of a writer, won Best First Novel in the Shamus Awards!).

But there’s something I’ve been dwelling on since Saturday night, and it’s what Kellye said during her acceptance speech.

She referenced the dismal state of representation, highlighted in this list at Sisters in Crime. It lays out, in a pretty stark way, how unbalanced the crime and mystery field is (and this is just crime and mystery).

There are less than 200 people here who are traditionally-published and not straight and white. Just 81 black writers, 22 Latinx writers, 9 Native-Americans writers, 19 Asian American/Asian writers…

Seriously, give it a look.

Kellye said something important during her acceptance speech: “We need to stop treating diverse writers as a trend and start treating them as the status quo.”

I understand and appreciate the need for diversity, and recently talked about the importance of reading diverse books (both as a writer and as a person). But Kellye’s speech and this list really take the issue and underscore it and highlight it and string it with Christmas lights. It makes the whole thing a little less theoretical and a lot more tangible.

In a large sense Bouchercon was a fun weekend. I was glad to see a lot of folks and a lot of people got to meet my daughter and that was nice. I was going to write a rundown of some of the cool stuff that happened, and the lessons worth sharing… but I keep thinking of standing there in the ballroom, listening to Kellye’s speech, happy as hell for her because she is super cool and it’s a great book, and how I wished more people could hear it, because there are a lot of people in the community who were not in that room.

So, that’s the memory I wanted to share.

Go follow Kellye. She’s a smart and strong advocate for this issue. Bookmark that list and the next time you’re looking for a new book to read, or you’re setting up your own event, recognize it as a resource that is both very valuable but something we should also be sad about.

And congrats to all the Anthony winners. It was a good year.