The New "Coolest Thing Ever"

For anyone researching a book, the days of spending weeks in foreign ports of call, "getting a sense" of the world are really not that necessary.

A nice slice of The Interim was researched with Google Earth. However, I was able to merely fortify places that I had seen, first-hand, such as Memphis and Indianapolis.

Now, Google Maps Street View is here. Have you seen this?

About a dozen U.S. cities are on "Street View", including much of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It is unbelievable the detail you can swing yourself through. Now, as I am going through my third novel, Royal's Demons, I can take full advantage of accuracy for my scenes in New York City, Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, Chicago and Detroit.

Of course, I could just spend hours and hours looking up places I've already visited. Ah, The Great Timewaster of 2008! Hear ye, hear ye.

Awards Time. The Season To Add Feathers To Caps.

With 2007 closing up shop in two weeks, this is what I'm looking at for my Christmas list.

A nice run for fiction awards.

When actors or producers are nominated for Academy Awards, they will often break out the "oh, it's just great to be nominated."

Well...I want to win.

The Interim has picked up great reviews for 2007 and I'm interested to see how that will play out in certain novel awards and contests in the coming weeks and months.

I've been searching, off and on, for a Sports Novel of the Year Award. Of course, I guess I could just create one and give it to The Interim. At least, the growing genre of sports fiction has Male Fiction's Heaviest Hitter in the thick of it this year, with John Grisham's Playing for Pizza.



Yeah...I can take him.

Author's note: I've still yet to read Playing for Pizza but I will always back John Grisham's work. There is no crime in wildly popular just as there is no glory in being fully unpopular. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle.

A Team Desperately In Need of Life in Fiction

Now that the proverbial dust is settling with the reviews and distribution of The Interim -- still rather brisk and positive, I might add -- I am also focusing plenty of attention to the team of my childhood for my third novel.

The Kansas City Royals.

My goodness. Is there a professional organization more in need of a shot in the arm than this one? Probably not many. 22 years since the last playoff appearance. Just one winning season in the last 14. Kansas City is the only major league market that has still not recovered from the 1994 baseball strike.

So I'm doing my part with my third novel, Royal's Demons. Look for it in June 2008 and I'm working through the edits and rewriting.

Big Thanks to The Comfy Place Coffeehouse in Bloomer

Just coming off a successful signing at the Comfy Place in Bloomer on Saturday, December 8th. The books are "moving" throughout the bookstores in the region and I'm very thankful for that.

Still plowing through the editing for my upcoming third novel, a baseball epic set for a Spring 2008 release, at least at this moment.

Tomorrow brings a welcome break for me as I'll be at Raiders-Packers at Lambeau Field. This may be one of the last home games for Brett Favre. After years as a sportscaster in my previous life, I could find myself getting numb to incredible sports achievements. However, this just might be it for #4, right? Oh, wait...we've all covered that story for the last three years.

My brief take: If the Packers win the NFC, I think Favre will step away. If Green Bay falls short, my guess is that he'll return for 2008.