The first draft of the novel was written in 2011 before The Devil & Daniel Boone and privately circulated among friends, but has not seen the light of day with an official release until now.
"The book was specifically written for a publisher that specializes in dark, grim, harsh post-noir-ish material. And brother, is it dark. Unfortunately, the publisher and I couldn't see eye-to-eye on our marketing philosophy, so I'm giving it to my friends at Wakeling & Harbour and the JSH Book Club.It's a detective novel but the protagonist, Jack, is really not much of a detective. Hurtling in a post-divorce limbo, he lives in his office and mostly scratches by, doing small-time cases and clerical work for local attorneys. For the most part, he just seems to want to be left alone, but the world out there is filled with degenerates and sinister forces that want to involve him in their own drama. His only real friend is an alcoholic mooch and womanizer known only as 'Sappy', and he and Sappy go through some heavy storms together. Sappy's impetuous and adventurous outlook on life - he tends to go through life as if he's in a movie - clashes with Jack's quiet, private, no-nonsense way of doing things.
I came to the decision, however, that The Moleskin Checklist was far too ugly a story to lead off with in the JSH Book Club, and so I set it aside and wrote The Devil & Daniel Boone to be released first. The Moleskin Checklist contains the most violence, foul language, low-tone characters and situations you'll probably ever see out of me. My next novel, The Bartender [which is slated for an April release] is also something of a downer in a beatnik sort of way but contains no violence, gunfire, or cursing, and my as-yet-untitled science fiction novel will seek not to depress, but to uplift in a way unparalled since the glory days of 1930s-1950s pulps."
We're watching Amazon and looking forward to its release, and to see whether, like The Devil & Daniel Boone, this one gets a release earlier than scheduled! It's expected that all four of the books mentioned here will be repackaged in a "box set" in the summer, with a major book tour to promote all four releases. The books will also be translated into Spanish and French.
