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Randall Hicks "Official" Newsletter #1
Greetings!
Randy Hicks here, with his first ever Subscriber
Newsletter. I suppose people sign up for newsletters
actually expecting a newsletter once in awhile. So, here's
my first. I do this naked and alone (not actually naked,
but meaning without a web guru guiding me), so maybe by
some miracle it will work and get where it is supposed to.
What's new with THE BABY GAME? Well, I'm really pleased to
say things continue to go well with my little underdog of a
book. In the film industry (where I labored as a starving
actor for about five years a few decades ago) they say when
a movie is lasting a long time at the box office that it's
got "legs." I always liked that phrase, so I'll borrow it,
as in its own small way, THE BABY GAME has legs too.
Nice reviews just keep coming in. That's extra nice as from
my limited experience, the first month or two after a book
is released is the usual "window of interest" from most
commercial reviewers. We are now in month three, so it's
nice to see reviews and interest continuing.
They say bad things happen in threes, but evidently so do
good things...
Goodthingie number 1: The very popular Confessions of an
Idiosynctratic Mind web blog of Sarah Weinman
(SarahWeinman.com) had TBG as one of its Picks of the Week
a few weeks ago. It was a very nice review: "What a
wonderful debut! Hicks, a noted adoption attorney, has a
great voice and a way with telling a mystery story... I
couldn't stop reading even if I wanted to." (Boy, feels so
smug to repeat such nice comments, but hey, I'm proud. What
can I say?) I visit her site all the time and it was cool
to just stumble across my book cover and the review on her
home page. By now, I'm sure it's relegated to a back page.
Goodthingie number 2: A friend e-mailed me that the
Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association selected TBG
as one of its five "Killer Books" for the month of October.
(KillerBooks.org) This was another fantastic surprise.
Goodthingie number 3: This one I knew about as my editor
gave me a heads up. The Mystery Ink website (home of the
Gumshoe Awards) just posted a review of TBG. They only
review a small number of books so it was an honor to be
selected, not to mention it was one of the nicest reviews I
could ever hope to receive. "An energetic and remarkably
adept thriller debut... Randall Hicks, in a fiction
tour-de-force, has constructed a fast and furious whirlwind
plot filled with laughs, heartbreak, unexpected twists,
sudden turns, kidnapping, murder and a hell of a surprise
ending... Once I started reading, I could not put this book
down."
Needless to say, I'm tremendously grateful to everyone who
keeps the word out there about the book.
For the last few months, I took a break from writing due to
the time needed for promotion. I had no idea how time
consuming it was. Looking back, I don't know what I
accomplished. I just know it took a lot of time.
Now, I'm back writing, but still doing some promotion on
the side. (Of the two, writing is a lot more fun, plus you
can do it in your pajamas.) This weekend I'm back on the
road for some signings. On Saturday, October 15th I'll be
at the San Francisco Mystery Store at 2:00 pm. I'll
overnight in SF then be at the M is for Mystery store in
San Mateo at 11:00 am, then fly home that afternoon. Call
all your Bay Area friends and have them come - I'm
expecting a crowd of about two people.
My home town of Fallbrook is having its first ever Book
Fair, called The Art of the Book, on Sunday, October 23, in
the parking lot of the Fallbrook Library (Mission and
Alvarado). I'll be there signing from 11:00 am to 1:00.
Next up is a fun event, Men of Mystery in Irvine,
California on November 5th. No, it's not a strip show or a
calendar, which was my first guess. It's an all day book
event. Dean Koontz is the featured speaker, along with 60
male authors, of which I am one. We each host a table of
ten women, so a crowd of 600 I believe. I think they pay
$50 each, and I assume it goes to charity but I don't know.
It goes from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Other than DK's address,
each author gets 90 seconds to talk about his book to the
whole room. There is an book buying/signing period as well.
When it's all done, the authors stay for a champagne get
together. Some of the other 60 are Barry Eisler, William
Bernhardt, Terrel Lee Lankford, Bill Fitzhugh, the Goldberg
brothers Tod and Lee and (wait, I could go on forever. I'll
just stop there).
Anyway, next up is a signing at the Barnes and Noble in
Riverside, CA on November 10th at 7 pm, then the Seattle
Mystery Bookstore November 15th at noon. That's about it
for 2005. I'm shocked how far in advance they book things,
as I've got speaking dates set in 2006 which I won't bore
you with. These people plan ahead, let me tell you.
Speaking of the future, I'm going to go to Malice Domestic
and Bouchercon for sure, and am hoping to work things out
to go to Left Coast Crime in England as well. We will see.
Well, that will wrap up my first newsletter. Maybe I should
sign up for a few other authors' newsletters, so I can see
the RIGHT way to do them. But for now, this will have to
do. Thanks again for your interest in, and support for, THE
BABY GAME. I greatly appreciate it.
Want to write back? I'm at randy@randall-hicks.com
Be well!
Randy Hicks
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