The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Three chances to meet an Eckhartz Press author this week...
*Monday, October 26
=Maria Pappas will be at Three Top Lounge (above the Salt Shed), 1357 N. Elston in Chicago, for an appearance & book signing of Maria the Pappas – at 7 PM. Doors open at 6.
*Wednesday, October 28
=Nick Digilio will be at the Pickwick Theater (5 S. Prospect, Park Ridge) presenting the film "Poltergeist" at 7pm, and signing and selling his book 40 Years, 40 Horror Films
=Check out the ABC-TV/Chicago morning show in Chicago that day. Nick will be on the show promoting the Poltergeist showing and his book.
=He was also on Fox-32 late last week...
*Friday, October 30
=Nick Digilio will also be at Kaiser
Tiger restaurant near the United Center (1415 W. Randolph) from 6-8pm on Friday night, signing
and selling his new book 40 Years, 40
Horror Films.
Eckhartz in the News
National First Responders Day
=October 28 is National First Responders Day. Our late author Alex Burkholder was passionate about the work of first responders. His book Death of the Angels was about the famous 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels school, and the firefighters who were there that day were his heroes. When the book was released, on the 60th anniversary of the fire, we released it at a Chicago firehouse.
=Nick Digilio got a great endorsement this week for his book 40 Years, 40 Horror Films. Recognize this fellow?
Weird Al loves my new book about horror movies! #Horror #Movies #Books #Scary #WeirdAl #HorrorMovies #Film Buy your copy HERE: https://t.co/dsUJZ9DgMq https://t.co/nmTnVHKJta
— Nick Digilio (@nick_digilio) October 20, 2026
=He also got some nice coverage on WBBM News Radio. Listen here.
International Authors Day
=November 1 is International Authors Day. You'd think that a boutique Chicago press like Eckhartz Press wouldn't have any international authors. You would be wrong. Brent Petersen (Truffle Hunt) lives in Portugal right now. Rick Kaempfer (Back in the DDR) and Felitzitas Sudendorf (A Reluctant Immigrant) grew up in Germany. Bob Boone (City U) was a teacher in Germany. Ann Wilson (In Small Boxes) grew up in Hong Kong. Chuck Swirsky (Always a Pleasure) is a citizen of Canada. Leonid Osseny, the illustrator of 1001 Train Rides in Chicago, grew up in Russia, and Everything I Know I Learned from Rock Stars author Bill Paige lives in Thailand.
The Front Page
=The right guy was in the audience for the latest production of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur classic, The Front Page: The man who wrote Sirens in the Loop about the history of the City News Bureau, Jim Elsener. The City News Bureau plays a big part in the plot of the play.
Perspectives in Black and White
=This week the Trump Justice Department announced an investigation into the Evanston Reparations Fund, which was passed by Evanston City Council on a 8-1 vote in 2019. Seven years later, the DOJ now says it is: “odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.”
=Believe it or not, we have a whole book about the Evanston Reparations Fund and the reason it exists in the first place. Notably, the book strongly disagrees with the view of the DOJ. It was written by Michael Frank Miles, and it's called Perspectives in Black and White.
Slivers now available as e-book on Amazon
=The spooky novel by Vicki Atkinson is now also available on Amazon as an e-book. Do we have the link? Why yes we do. Click here.
=Great coverage of Robert Conlon's historical novel this week in the Irish American News. You can read all about it here.
Eckhartz Press birthdays...
*Eckhartz Press (November 1)
*Jack Mabley (October 26, 1915)
=The famed Chicago newspaper columnist, and alum of the City News Bureau is featured in Sirens in the Loop.
*Ralph Kiner (October 27, 1922)
=The Cubs Hall of Famer is featured in EveryCubEver. Here's his entry in the book...
*Dennis Franz (October 28)
=The famous Chicago-born actor shared his Cubs love in the book Cubsessions (written by Becky Sarwate and Randy Richardson).
=Vesna is one of the enthusiastic supporters of Brent Petersen's foodie novel Truffle Hunt. Here's what she had to say about it...
“Truffle Hunt” serves up a five-star gourmet feast of murder, hidden historical gems, deep family pride, a dash of humor and romance, topped with delicate slices of heavenly, golden truffles and a glass of nectar from the deepest Eastern European wine cellars. As a gourmand, mushroom hunter, animal lover and world traveler, I ate the delicious book up in just a couple of sittings. Now, all I need is a truffle hunting dog, a simian bartender, and I can I can bring the pages of this book to life in my kitchen!
=The man who has personally met seemingly every person to step foot in Chicago, Ronnie Woo Woo Vickers (October 31) is featured in Cubsessions. Ronnie even came out to a few of the Cubsessions book signings. His health hasn't been great lately. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ronnie.
Fred McGriff 1963-- (Cubs 2001-2002)
He was nicknamed the Crime Dog because of his last name’s similarity to the “actual” crime dog McGruff. Our crime dog, it’s safe to say, was at best a reluctant Cub. He refused to be traded to the Cubs at first, and then when he finally agreed to the trade, he seemed to be a bad luck charm as the surging Cubs faded out of contention shortly after he arrived in 2001. He had a great season in 2002 (30 HR, 103 RBI), but that team was headed nowhere. He played two more seasons after he left Chicago and ended his career with 493 home runs. During his big-league career he was one of the premier sluggers in the game. That’s why he was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2022.
More events coming in November
Sunday, November 8
=Maria Pappas at the G-Man Tavern, 3740 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60613, Matinee,
Interview and reading by Maria and book signing. We're calling this one the
official launch party. 1-4pm.
Monday, November 9
=Richard Reeder is doing a book talk and signing at the Mather Senior Community in Evanston (425 Davis Street) at 2pm. His novel Sarasota will be the topic of discussion
Saturday, November 14
=Book launch party for Russ Fahrner for his book Face Your Monster. It will be at Salerno's Pizza on Grand Avenue in Chicago from 1-3 PM. Russ will do a brief presentation before signing and selling his book. Pizza and snacks will be available there.
Sunday, November 15
=Maria Pappas and her co-author Mark Eleveld will be at the Green Mill Jazz Lounge, 4802 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640. There will be a 30-minute program starring Maria on the famous jazz stage, followed by a book signing – 3 – 5:30 PM.
Wednesday, November 18 &
Thursday, November 19
=A tribute to Tony Fitzpatrick (The Sun at the End of the Road). Tony's friends Rick Kogan and Jon Langford (and a host of others) will be paying tribute to the gifted artist, actor, and writer at Constellation Chicago (3111 N. Western Avenue) for two consecutive nights doing a show they called "Something beautiful: Words, songs, and Poems of Tony Fitzpatrick." Tickets are available here (18th) and here (19th).
=No promises that it doesn't end like this memorial parade for Tony in New Orleans last year. What a moment.
Thursday, November 19
=Maria Pappas will also be at The
Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, doing a reading and signing, at 7PM.
+In 2024 Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave ran into the co-author of Chili Dog MVP, Dr. David Fletcher. It wasn't a chance meeting. Doc was kind enough to score these seats. It was Rick's first Illini game in 40 years. That Illini Dad shirt Dave is wearing was once the property of Rick's dad Eckhard.
+In 2025 (October 30), we released Gloria Golec's South Side Memories.
And...
=The Loop Exhibit at Museum of Broadcast Communications was unveiled to the public this week in 2025. Dean Richards did a great tour of it in this segment on the WGN-TV Morning News.
=Dane Placko did a report on the entire museum for WFLD-Channel 32. Here's a peek at it. NBC-5 was there as well. So was Axios Chicago. We also like this Facebook reel of WLS Radio's Cara Carriveau discovering live on camera that she was in the display.
=An enlarged framed photo of The Loop Files cover autographed by dozens of Loop stars from over the years is displayed. The book is even for sale there at the museum gift shop.
And from the way, way-back machine...
November 1, 2004, Bill Zwecker interviewed Rick Kaempfer and John "Swany" Swanson in the Chicago Sun Times. You can still read that interview here.
