Badge is Now Available for Your Kindle Devices, plus Upcoming Portland Badge Event!!!

It's been a great week here at Badge central. I'm getting lots of comments from people digging Badge, and it really feels wonderful. I work on these things for so long, it's almost surprising when someone comments on it. For a second I'm like, "How do they know that?"

Anyway, love the comments. Please keep them coming, and feel free to review Badge at GoodReads. That's very helpful to me at this stage.

For you ebook fanatics, I have great news. Badge is now available for your Kindle devices. That's a week before its publication date! Get yours now!

Also, I need to start prepping you for a Badge-related Portland event coming up in just nine days:

It's on Wednesday, Feb. 5th, at everyone's favorite NE Portland bookstore Broadway Books. I'll be taking the podium with two really amazing Portland writers/people: Monica Drake, whose The Stud Book is a must-read for those who love our fair city; and Mark Russell, whose God is Disappointed in You might be the most important book you read this year. And the best part is, all writers will have a multimedia element to their reading/presentation! This will not be boring.

Badge aside, it will be kind of a special day for me. It's been over a decade since my last reading at a Portland bookstore. Here's a photo of that day.



Were any of you at this reading at 23rd Avenue Books in August 2003? There were 12 of you (yes, I counted).

So, plan on Wednesday 2/5 at Broadway Books at 7 PM. (Free!) I'll be the one with the perma-grin.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Watch the Book Trailer for Badge.



Buy Badge.

New Essay On Self-Publishing up at Word Riot!

An essay of mine on self-publishing just went live a Word Riot. Read along as I start to get cocky about this whole thing.

Also, Badge's book trailer went live last week.

Moreover, you now can buy Badge from my website during its presale.

Finally, if you do buy Badge during its presale, I'll email you the mp3 of Badge's theme song "Calypso" as a bonus!

That's what I've got.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Watch the Book Trailer for Badge.


Buy Badge.

Badge Book Trailer/Badge Presales Start Today!/"Calypso"

Today is a special day in Badgeland.

First, Badge's book trailer just went live. You can watch it here.

The book trailer offers your first chance to hear the theme song of Badge, which is called "Calypso." "Calypso" also appears in Badge as a song written by Betty of No Fun Intended, so it's a fun thing to get to hear.

Also, in celebration of bringing you the Badge book trailer and "Calypso" on the same day, let's start Badge pre-sales at my website early. Like, right now!

To be clear, these are pre-sales, not pre-orders. The difference is, once you buy Badge from me, it will go out in the mail to you tomorrow and not on its release date of Feb. 4th. That's at least two weeks before it goes on sale at Amazon. Come and get it!

And how about we sweeten the deal? If you buy Badge from my website during this pre-sale, I'll email you the mp3 of "Calypso" as a bonus!

So, here's the Badge book trailer, which features "Calypso," and you can have "Calypso" emailed to you if you buy Badge during it's pre-sale period (now until Feb. 3) from my website.

How's that for a week! It only took seven years to get here!

Last but not least, I'd like to thank the special people who made "Calypso" happen.

1) My high school classmate and longtime cohort Bret Hartley for doing such a great job producing it and lending it his immaculate guitar work;

2) Emily Kate Boyd for allowing her stellar voice to also be the voice of Betty;

3) Drummer Kevin Leahy for giving the whole thing the exact right spirit;

4) And Dave Lindenbaum for allowing me to record bass for the track at his studio instead of me having to book a flight to Atlanta.

Every one of these folks worked well below what they're worth to bring "Calypso" to you, so if you like the song, don't hesitate to shoot them a Facebook message thanking them.

Okay then.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Buy Badge.

Or read an excerpt from Badge.

New Adventures in (Rock) Writing and (Self-)Publishing

One of my favorite parts of putting together the promotion for Badge has been writing essays for the Internet. I've finished eight or ten of them ready, and I'm working on another ten or twelve now. These essays deal with my favorite subjects: writing (esp. rock fiction), publishing (esp. self-publishing) and music (esp. the music of my youth). So you can expect one or two short Internet pieces from me each month in 2014.

The first popped up over the weekend at The Nervous Breakdown. It's called Thirteenth Note and explains the name of Kel's and my new publishing company, and why rock fiction characters don't have to be David Lee Roths.

The second is at writer extraordinaire Nick Belarde's website, and it deals with a recent visit back to the bookstore of my literary youth, Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona. Or is it the bookstore of my youth?

Most all of my Badge-related events are booked through March, and they involve stops in Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Final details are still coming together, but know each event will be special in its way. I can't wait for this part.

Finally, Badge pre-sales start in less than two weeks at my website! If you missed the Kickstarter fundraiser, this will be your first chance to get your copy of Badge, which goes on sale worldwide on Feb. 4th.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Read the blurb of Badge.

Or read an excerpt of Badge.