SO BAD IT'S GOOD is GO!

Just about a year ago, I published a little book called Please Don't Be Waiting for Me. It concerned a bunch of teenage punk rockers who went to Berkeley High School by day and went to punk rock shows in San Francisco.by night. Hey, that sounds like me and my friends back in the early 80's, which is when the book is set. Then one of their friends gets brutally murdered and they end up getting chased around by homicidal Hells Angels and meth addled, racist skinheads. Ok, that never happened to me and my friends... but it could have.

Anyway, it turned out that people who read the book liked theses made up people of mine, as did I, so I decided to put them through their paces again, this time in a book called So Good It's Bad. This book starts out with a disastrous DIY band tour (something I know a lot  about) that leads to our protagonist Scott and his band mates being held hostage by a family of dangerous loonies, one of whom is a serial murderer popularly known as The Jackpot Killer. Chaos and bloodshed ensues.

Plot synopsis aside, what's most important about So Good It's Bad is that, after months of me teasing you with it, it is finally available. In fact, you can purchase it right now from Amazon by going here (though you don't necessarily have to fuck off.)

It's also important--and dreadfully so--that the book's release will kick off a flurry of promotional activity on the part of your truly. This will include a launch event that will take place in Oakland on August 10th, at which I will read from the book and write my name in your copy of it whether you want me to or not. There will likely also be interviews, podcast appearances and publicity stunts involving varying degrees of public nudity. Watch this space to keep pace, because I'm sure you'll want to witness them all, no matter how much cross-country or international travel it involves.

That's all in the future, of course. For now, all I would like for you to do is read the book', hopefully enjoy it, and recommend it to a friend or two. (Also, Good Reads and Amazon reviews are always nice, but I won't ask for those outright, because that would be unethical.)

Finally, if you are someone who likes to look at and touch things--and I mean that in the most innocent way imaginable--I think that you will find the book to be a pleasing physical artifact, as it was once again designed by my talented friend Andrew Nahem. Then again, if you find the idea of confronting an actual book in all its stark physicality utterly nauseating, there will be an eBook version, though you will have to wait a few weeks.

In summation: MY NEW BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE. PLEASE BUY IT. I HAVE MADE THIS ENTIRE PARAGRAPH AN AMAZON LINK SO THAT YOU CAN DO SO MORE EASILY. THANK YOU.

Wednesday! Join me at Moe's books in Berkeley to talk PLEASE DON'T BEWAITING FOR ME

This Wednesday, December 6th, at 7pm, I'll be dropping by Berkeley's Moe's Books to pimp my recent novel Please Don't Be Waiting For Me. This will likely entail ME reading some salient portions of the book, answering audience questions, dodging various and sundry projectiles, and YOU buying the book and getting it signed by yours truly in a manner that is mutually consensual to both parties.

I am especially honored to be appearing at Moe's, because it is truly a Bay Area institution, serving the community for over 50 years. Given the East Bay bias of my book (its protagonists are teenage punks who go to Berkeley High School during the day and pogo at the punk clubs of San Francisco during the night), it's a perfect fit.

Moe's is located at 2476 Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, between Dwight Way and Haste. Please stop by and say hi. I'll be waiting for you.

Why in the world is Todd in San Diego?

To all those San Diego resident and bound, I will be in that fair city this Friday, September the 8th, signing copies of my books Please Don't Be Waiting For Me and Funky Bollywood at the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, which is taking place at the Museum of Photographic Arts in historic Balboa Park. I should be there from the early afternoon on (and may stay on through Saturday, though that remains to be seen.) In any case, if you're there, please stop by and say hello.

I look like this:

The PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME book trailer is punkalicious!

Now you can read PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME anywhere!

 

Rejoice bibliophobes, for the last physical impediment to you reading my new novel, Please Don't Be Waiting For Me,--by which I mean actual books in all their loathsome, paper-based tactility--has been removed. In other words, an eBook version of PDBWFM has just been made available on Amazon for the perhaps-too-reasonable sum of $4.99 (you see, you have to make eBooks less expensive than print books because they kind of suck--hey, just my opinion!) If this is you, head on over to Besos' place and download that sucker.

BOOK EVENT TONIGHT!

That's right; it's time to stop waiting for the PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME launch event, because it's goddamn TONIGHT! Stop by Oakland's A Great Good Place For Books at 7pm tonight to HEAR a hand-picked selection of classic punk tunes, a reading by yours truly and an interview with Nancy David-Kho. You will also DRINK the provided libations and SEE a bunch of old people who used to be cool (or just really sweaty and obnoxious--see above.) Oh, and also: you can BUY my book, which I will SIGN at your discretion--forced book signings being something that this repentant author has put long behind him. The surviving record will reflect that a good time was had by all who survived. (Photo by Erik Auerbach)

A great good place to start

I apologize for exposing you to the above image. It's harrowing, I know. But, you see, my book launch is this Wednesday, and I wanted to promote it with an image that would be memorable. And what's more memorable than something that causes you PTSD?

So the launch event for my new novel, Please Don't Be Waiting For Me , is coming up this Wednesday, July 19th at 7pm. The venue is A Great Good Place For Books, which is located at 6120 Lasalle Avenue in Oakland's Montclair District. And yes, I know that you'd love to come if only you didn't live in Podunk Holler or one of those awful cities in the middle and bla bla bla--but come on! You know you've been wanting to take a trip to the Bay Area, and Oakland has many... um, things to recommend it. Like trees and stuff. Oh, and a lake. We have a lake.

Events for the evening will be a reading by yours truly, and a chat between me and Nancy Davis Kho of the wonderful Midlife Mixtape blog. Alcoholic refreshments will be available, as will copies of my book for you to purchase. And yes, I will sign your book, if you so desire, but please heed this warning: no matter how obviously shellacked you appear, I will not sign your boob. That is a solemn act of statesmanship that only our president is qualified to perform.

Yes, you can get it on Kindle...

WARNING: Parts of my new novel, PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME, are so shocking that it might be dangerous to read while driving, walking, operating heavy machinery, or, of course, texting. Needless to say, that has not stopped me from making it available as an eBook so that you can do all of those things while reading it on that infernal mobile device that is probably glued to your nose at this very minute. You can pre-order it now by going here. Keep in mind, though, that you will not be able to download it until July, 25th, so try not to wander distractedly into the path of an oncoming locomotive until then.

PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME is HERE!

I'm ecstatic to announce that, after a long series of hurdles that ended with a surprisingly generous proposal from the Sex Pistols' publishers, my first novel, Please Don't Be Waiting For Me is finally available to the public. In fact, you can at this very moment buy it for the very reasonable price of $7.95 by using either the link at the top of the sidebar, or by following this one here:

https://www.createspace.com/6971097

I'm asking you to purchase the book from Create Space because, while it is available from Amazon and other online retailers, I receive a larger percent of the proceeds if you buy it from there--and you get your book just as quickly. Brother got bills, people!

Of course, you're not obligated to buy it at any particular place, or at all, for that matter. Nor are you obligated to write a review of it on Goodreads and/or Amazon once you've read it. Although, you know, it would be nice.

For those of you who live in the Bay Area--or who are inclined to travel great distances for obscure reasons--a launch party for Please Don't Be Waiting For Me will be held at Oakland's A Great Good Place For Books on Wednesday, July 19th. I'll fill you in on details as they develop.

In the meantime, enjoy the book!

Name the fictional punk rock band

In honor of the upcoming release of my novel PLEASE DON'T BE WAITING FOR ME, I've been holding a little contest. The idea is that the person who comes up with the best old school punk rock band name wins an autographed copy of the book. The original deadline for entries was May 15th, but I'm now extending it to June 15th. The truth is that too many of the best entries so far have been from friends of the blog, and I want to be able to award the prize without the appearance of playing favorites. So come on, all you beautiful strangers, step up to the plate!

You can submit your entries here (please don't leave them in the comments.) I only ask that you try to keep your band names era appropriate (circa 1977 to 1981), which means no current cultural references--as tempting as "Covfefe" may be. I'll announce the winner on July 1st.