Two school visits and a book signing on tap today in Chicagoland:

Heritage Grove Middle School
Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School
Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

57th Street Books
Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

*This isn't a formal reading/signing, just me dropping by to sign stock and say hello. Come by and say hello yourself if you're in the area!

And special thanks to Anderson’s Bookshop for helping arrange the school visits!

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Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:


Roosevelt Middle School
River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School
Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.


Special thanks to The Magic Tree Bookstore for helping arrange these visits!

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Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:


St. Francis Xavier School
Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m. 

Sacred Heart School
Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.



Special thanks to The Book Stall at Chestnut Court for helping arrange these visits!

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Today I'll be dropping by three Cincinnati-area bookstores to sign stock and schmooze with the awesome booksellers there. Drop by and say hello if you're in the area!

Blue Marble Bookstore
Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

Blue Manatee Bookstore
Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.


*Note: These aren't formal readings/signings, just me signing books the stores have in stock. I'd still love to see you if you'd like to stop by!

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The publication day for Fantasy Baseball is upon us! The official on-sale date is Thursday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day, apropos of nothing). To celebrate, I'm doing a slew of school and bookstore visits all week, beginning Saturday! Wendi and Jo will be with me on the trip too. If one of these stops is near you, come on out and say hello!

*At all the bookstores, I'll be doing stock signings, not formal readings. We'd still love to see you! It'll just be informal--I'll be signing the books the stores have on hand and chatting with anyone who shows up.

Saturday, March 12

*Blue Marble Bookstore, Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

*Blue Manatee Bookstore, Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

Travel day

Monday, March 14

St. Francis Xavier School, Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m. 

Sacred Heart School, Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15

Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16

Heritage Grove Middle School, Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School, Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

*57th Street Books, Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 17

*Fantasy Baseball debuts!*

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Friday, March 18

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Saturday, March 19

Lit Works: A Teen READ Conference from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Eisenhower Public Library and Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL

This event is open to the public, and features a great collection of YA authors:

Art Baltazar (we love his comics!!), Brent Crawford, Candace Fleming, John C. Ford, Kristin Walker, Janette Rallison, Todd Strasser, and yours truly!

Click here for more info!

Sunday, March 20

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, KY @ noon

Then home again, home again, jiggity-jig!


Hope to see you on the road this week!

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I recently recorded a brief introduction to and reading from The Brooklyn Nine for TeachingBooks.net. Give it a listen!

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I'm very happy to announce that I have been contracted to write a Star Trek novel! Those of you who know me well will probably know I've been a fan of Trek for a long, long time.

What few people realize is that one of my first attempts to become a published author, way back in the day, was by sending in a proposal for a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. I was in grad school at Tennessee at the time, and I had an idea to do a Heart of Darkness/Star Trek mash-up with Worf playing the role of Marlow, going after a rogue Kurtz-like Vulcan on a pre-warp planet. (If that explanation makes sense to you, kudos on multiple levels.)

The funny thing about the whole process was that Pocket Books, the publishers of Star Trek novels, only allowed agented submissions--and no agent was interested in someone who was offering to just write licensed fiction. So Wendi submitted my work under her maiden name as my literary agent--with phony letterhead and all.

Alas, while Pocket Books liked my work (particularly the humor) I had mixed the Next Generation show with the Deep Space Nine show in the book (Worf made a pit stop at DS9 on the way to the assignment--this was before his character migrated to that show!) and that was apparently a no-no. I would have been happy to take that part out, but it was a no from Pocket, and I had already moved on to other writing projects and dreams anyway. My writing career went a very different direction, as you know, but I continued to read Star Trek novels as a fan, and often still daydreamed about writing a Star Trek novel.

Then, at the end of last year, Simon & Schuster began a new young adult Star Trek series called Starfleet Academy. The series is based on the academy days of Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Spock, as re-imagined in the fabulous Star Trek reboot that came out in theaters in 2009. Star Trek? YA? I shot off an e-mail to agent Barry right away and asked him to look into it for me. He made first contact, I submitted a proposal, CBS/Paramount gave me their seal of approval--and I was contracted to boldly go where I've never gone before! My proposal is called Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game, and given the quick turnarounds on the deadlines, it may even come out this year! (Part of the reason I've been so quiet around here lately is that I've had my nose to the keyboard on this and the other book I'm working on.)

I'll continue to write original books of course--in fact, now that I've turned in my outline for the Starfleet Academy book, it's back to the current work-in-progress, The League of Seven, which is almost finished. But writing for Trek is a long-time dream come true, and I'm thrilled to now be an official part of the Star Trek galaxy.

Live long and prosper!

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Neil Gaiman's thoughts on book piracy. Thoughtful, honest, and insightful!

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