Well, the summer of ’23 is history, and I hope everyone had a safe and happy one. I did go to that sensitivity class at Columbia University that I mentioned in my last Newsletter. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well. Halfway through the second session, the professor screamed at me, “Get out of my class! You are a Neanderthal!” Then he started sobbing. Geez. All I said was, “If the woman you’re sleeping with calls you a pervert, is that a microaggression or a compliment?” Honest question. Right?
Anyway, I was suddenly free for the summer so I went to France for two weeks—a week of wine tasting in Bordeaux, and a week in Paris drinking the wine I tasted in Bordeaux. As the French say, “A meal without wine is breakfast.”
My last book, The Maze, came out in paperback in June, and thanks to you it sold very well. The Maze was based loosely on the real life Gilgo Beach murders which took place here on Long Island, and my book sales may have been helped by the arrest this summer of the suspected serial killer in those murders. I can’t say I cracked this case in my novel, but people tell me that The Maze caused renewed police interest in this ten-year old case. It would be interesting if the suspect read The Maze. Maybe that will come out during the trial. In any case, it appears that justice for the murdered women will be done.
Just to remind everyone, my next book—which I coauthored with my son Alex—is titled Blood Lines, and will be out October 10. I’m not saying you should click here and buy it now, but because of the paper shortage and transportation disruptions, it would be wise to order it now.
If you’d like to know what Blood Lines is about, take a look on my website page. And/or go to Alex’s website here. Also, I’ve posted the first two chapters of Blood Lines on my website here, which I hope entices you to buy the book. The book business has been good to me, and to Alex, so we don’t need the sales. But my publisher, Simon & Schuster/Scribner, would benefit from your purchase. Please help them out.
Alex and I are doing an abbreviated book tour for Blood Lines and you can see if we’ll be in your area by clicking here. This schedule will expand as we get closer to publication date, so check it out every few days. Hope to see you at one of our events. Ex-girlfriends who said I’d amount to nothing are invited.
So what am I working on now? Well, I just started a book and typed the title page: The Explorers Club, by Nelson DeMille. Good start. Then I typed: Chapter One, then Page 1. Moving right along. The first 300 pages are the toughest. I’ll keep you posted.
Because of the screenwriters strike and the actors strike, there is no news coming out of Hollywood. But I did hear that one of my older books, The Charm School, is ready to be developed as a feature film when the strike ends. We will see.
In my last Newsletter, I gave you a few suggestions for summer reading—Getting Out of Saigon by my friend Ralph White, The Siberia Job by Josh Haven, and An Honest Man, by my friend Michael Koryta. If you’ve read any or all of them, I hope you enjoyed them.
I have three more books I’d like to recommend: the first two are Ozone Therapy and Tesla: Wizard at War, by my friend Marc Seifer. These are both non-fiction and they are brilliant and very controversial. You can check them out online.
The third book is also non-fiction, titled The Picnic, by Matthew Longo, who is my son Alex’s college friend. Picnic is subtitled, “A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain,” which tells you a bit of what it’s about, and I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of Cold War history. In some ways it’s a good companion book to Blood Lines. Publication is November 7. Check it out online.
A lot of people recycle books that they’ve read by giving them to friends or donating them to libraries or charities. This sounds like a good thing to do, but when you do this, you’re passing on your germs. You wouldn’t give your used face mask to someone. Right? Books that have been read once should be burned. I don’t say this because I don’t make a dime from you giving my book to someone else to read for free; I say this because I care about the health of your friends and family. Chances are you’ve sneezed on or drooled on the book you’ve read, and touched it with unclean hands. It needs to be burned. Keep America safe. Thank you.
It is autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere) a time to switch back to brown liquids—scotch, bourbon, rye whiskey, and brandy. A time to sit in front of the fireplace with a good book—they burn more easily a page at a time—and text everyone you know the title of the book you’re enjoying: Blood Lines by Nelson and Alex DeMille, available in hardcover and audio wherever fine books are sold, and a Main Selection of the Literary Guild.
Have a wonderful fall season.
Sincerely,
