Archive for month: July, 2016

Well, the summer is over and the presidential campaign season has begun. Book sales (especially fiction) traditionally take a dip every four years during the presidential race, which is why I decided to publish my new novel, The Gate House, on Tuesday, October 28, a week before Election Day. There is a method to this madness, and if I remember what I was thinking, I’ll share it with you. Meanwhile, let’s all buck this silly slump in book sales for this election and pre-order The Gate House (click here) or run out and buy it on October 28. The book is 688 pages long, and I guarantee that if you throw it at your TV set during the election returns, you’ll knock out the picture. The book will survive.

The Gate House, as you may know is the sequel to The Gold Coast, and as I mentioned in the last Newsletter, Grand Central Publishing has reissued The Gold Coast in the large trade paperback size, and will reissue the standard paperback on October 1. Both editions have a new cover, a new Author’s Introduction, and a new Twenty-first Century price. You don’t need to read The Gold Coast before you read The Gate House — you can read them concurrently or in reverse order — it’s only important that you buy both books. I’ve got a two-year old who’ll be in college in 16 years.

Costco has done a wonderful promotion of the reissued Gold Coast and if you get their newsletter you’ve seen this and seen the great review, by J. Rentilly, and also seen some very nice things written about me by Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco’s book buyer.

I spent the summer outlining and researching my next novel, which will be the sequel to The Lion’s Game, featuring John Corey, NYPD (ret.), currently with the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force. I’ve already begun the book and in the first chapter of the sequel Corey kills his nemesis from The Lion’s Game, Asad Khalil. I think that was supposed to come at the end of the book, so now I’m not sure what to do. Maybe I need to rewrite Chapter One.

Anyway, I’m very excited about this book (as yet untitled – any suggestions?), and I’m happy once more to be spending my days with John Corey and Kate Mayfield — especially Kate.

My Newsletter generates hundreds and hundreds of responses from you, and as I’ve said, I read each and every one of them, and I wish I could reply, and it’s frustrating that I don’t have the time to do so, but I appreciate all the emails and I thank you for taking the time to write. I get a much needed ego boost from the letters, but I also get taken to task by some readers for my use of profanity. As one lady wrote, “I read Wild Fire three times and counted the F-word thirty-six times.”

I need to say here that my original manuscripts contain no profanity whatsoever. But Grand Central Publishing has an editor known as the “F-Guy,” who peppers my manuscripts with four-letter words. I would end this practice immediately, but it’s been brought to my attention that the publisher has this right, as per the small print in my contract.

Having said that, I will speak to the “F-Guy” about this and try to clean up the next John Corey book. In fact, at the beginning of Chapter One in The Lion’s Game sequel, John Corey says to his boss, “I am going to find that dastardly blighter, Asad Khalil, and kick him in the shins.”

A side note here: I did a booksigning this summer with other authors to raise money for the East Hampton Public Library. I love libraries — you know, those places where they give away my books for free. I mean, East Hampton is one of the wealthiest communities on the planet, so I think the residents who live in twenty-million dollar summer homes can buy their books. But I digress. At the signing, I met Alec Baldwin, of all people, and we chatted about his past involvement in the movie version of The Gold Coast. That’s a long story, but I need to say here that despite what people may think of his politics or his personal life, he is a charming man, and as down-to-earth as any actor I’ve ever met. And I don’t say that just because he loves my books — he liked Night Fall the best — but I say this because he’s an astute reader and he’s bigger than me — see the photo in my Photo Gallery.

Okay, so that’s about it for this time. I’ll get out another Newsletter before the October 28 publication date of The Gate House.

Meanwhile, click here for my publicity schedule. I’m not doing much of a cross-country booksigning tour this time — I need to work on the sequel to The Lion’s Game — but if I’m in your area, drop by and bring a copy of this Newsletter. You’ll go to the front of the signing line and I’ll tell you a funny story about Alec Baldwin.

Thanks for all your cards and letters and for your support over the years. And remember, no matter who wins the presidency on November 4, the other guy will lose.

Best regards,
Nelson DeMille

Since my last Newsletter, the financial markets have been in crisis, and Congress has approved a $700 billion bailout. An important earmark in this bill is the Bestselling Author’s Relief Fund (BARF), which I heartily support. So, please write your congressional representatives and thank them if they voted for BARF. If they didn’t, then reprimand them for not sending your tax money to bestselling authors who made some bad investments. I’m waiting for my bailout check.

Actually, books sell well in hard economic times — or at least, that is the conventional wisdom in the publishing industry. The theory is that people tend to stay home and read more since they don’t go out to dinner or sporting events, and so forth. This actually did happen after the Crash of 1987 and in earlier tough times. So, if you’re looking for an escape from the bad news and the presidential campaign, turn off the TV and radio, burn the newspaper in the grill, and buy a book.

As I said in my last Newsletter, my latest novel, The Gate House, will be released in hardcover tomorrow, October 28^th. The Gate House is a sequel to The Gold Coast, which has just been reissued in mass market paperback and the larger trade paperback edition. Both these stories, The Gate House and The Gold Coast are excellent escapist reading, and their themes of money, greed, seduction, betrayal and murder are very timely.

On the last weekend in September, I attended the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) convention, which was held in Mobile, Alabama. Independent bookstores all over the country are struggling to survive the tough competition from chains and online retailers. The men and women who own and run these stores are a dedicated and knowledgeable group of people who truly love books, and I felt honored to be invited. You probably get a lot of your books online or in a chain bookstore, but if you have an independent bookstore in your area, give them some of your business too.

Also, if you happen to be watching “The View” this Thursday, October 30^th, they’ll be giving a copy of The Gate House to everyone in the studio audience. The audience will be told that they’re getting a fifty-acre Gold Coast estate, so when they get a book instead, they’ll be really surprised, and you can watch them get a big laugh at the joke.

I’ve just launched the redesign of my website with new bells & whistles. Be sure to check back regularly, as there will be contests and a video Q&A in the weeks to come.

Okay, this is my last Newsletter until sometime after the election and before Thanksgiving. Remember to stop at a bookstore on your way to or from the polling place. In the last chapter of The Gate House I predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election, and you’ll want to see if I’m right.

Enjoy this beautiful fall season.

Best Regards,
Nelson DeMille

Again, thanks to everyone who put The Gate House on bestseller lists all over the country. The book continues to sell very well, and many people tell me they are buying multiple copies to give as holiday gifts. This is an excellent idea; books are a wonderful, relatively inexpensive and thoughtful gift. People especially enjoy an autographed copy, so if you haven’t been able to get to one of my booksignings, you have my permission to sign my name on gift books — or your own book for that matter. And add a nice inscription. Just spell my name right, and don’t make any grammatical or spelling errors in the inscription. Thanks.

On the subject of signed books, I’d like to thank all the people who came out to my booksignings. You were all terrific, laughed in the right places during my talk, asked great questions, waited patiently in line to get your books signed, and some of you even brought gifts. Authors only see their fans if they do booksignings, and I look forward to these occasions. I’m always impressed with the people who read my books, and this reminds me of why I write, and it connects me to the people for whom I am writing.

No news on the movie front except that my agent is getting a lot of calls from Hollywood about The Gate House, and also about The Gold Coast, the movie rights to which are already owned by Bregman Productions. So, we’re trying to put together a co-production deal for both books to see if we can get them both on the silver screen, sort of like Godfather and Godfather II. The major obstacle seems to be my insistence that I play the role of John Sutter.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress of those projects as well as my other Hollywood projects.

Meanwhile, my agent has gotten an offer from the New York City Ballet to turn my John Corey books into ballet performances. (I’m having trouble picturing John Corey in tights, but Kate Mayfield in a tutu might be interesting.) Anyway, these books would be interpreted through dance — the dancers don’t talk much — and this would eliminate most of the obscenities. But maybe Corey could flip the bird now and then. I need to think about this.

The Gate House has generated thousands of emails through my website, and once again I am overwhelmed with your warm and flattering comments. My mother drummed into me the concept that I had an obligation to answer every piece of mail I received, but this was before email, and I’m not sure what Mom or Emily Post would advise today. My publisher advises me to start writing my next book, and so I have. I’m having fun with the new John Corey, and I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress and the likely publication date.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a good read, I can suggest some terrific books by great authors, starting with me. Here are my previous books in the order they were published: By the Rivers of Babylon; Mayday; Cathedral; The Talbot Odyssey; Word of Honor; The Charm School; The Gold Coast; The General’s Daughter; Spencerville; Plum Island; The Lion’s Game; Up Country; Night Fall; Wild Fire.

These books, now in paperback, make great stocking stuffers. Or, buy them all and give them as gifts in a box as The Complete Works of Nelson DeMille. Don’t forget to autograph them.

I’ll get back to you on the other books and authors that I recommend.

The holidays are upon us, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah, a Happy Kwanza, and a New Year filled with peace, love, good health, and all good things. And don’t forget our men and women serving overseas and in military hospitals, and keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Nelson DeMille