The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
=The entire Mob Adjacent creative team (authors, marketers, publishers, and filmakers) gathered this weekend to discuss our future's together, and we now have three big announcements to make.
=First of all, there's a brand new version of the Mob Adjacent book available now!
=Mob Adjacent the Audio Book is now available too!
=Jim Slusher (To Nudge the World) had a big week...
=The book has only been in the hands of readers for a few days, and already the reviews are coming in...Just finished Celtic Knot - started today around 3pm & could not put it down! Amazing work.
=A surprise appearance in the Chicago Tribune last week...
=Another Five Star Review. This one comes from Literary Titan. A short excerpt...
What struck me immediately was the writing. It’s clean, stylish, and unpretentious. Mark Wukas writes like someone who has seen things—journalism that feels lived-in, dialogue that crackles, characters who breathe. The voice is witty but vulnerable. I loved how the narrator doesn’t pretend to be a hero. He fumbles, he overreaches, he regrets. And I could relate to that. Wukas builds the suspense slowly, not with cheap thrills, but with memory, conscience, and the weight of choices. That’s what hooked me: not the mystery, but the man trying to live with it.
=The seventh edition is available now! Author Rick Kaempfer has daily EveryCubEver posts on his Just One Bad Century facebook page. Here's one from last week...
=This week in 2019 (June 11), EveryCubEver debuted this video ad...
=Former Cubs reliever Pedro Strop is in the book (born 6/13). Author Rick Kaempfer met Pedro that year and was able to give him a copy of the book.
=Another great review of Surviving Sue. This one refers to the book's Women Power!
=Don't forget about this upcoming appearance in Wauconda by Surviving Sue author Vicki Atkinson. June 19th. Mark your calendar. Don't miss it!
=Two football legends are celebrating birthdays this week, and both of them are featured in Dan McNeil's book I Bear Witness. Happy birthday to former Bears great Gary Fencik (June 11) and former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren (June 15)
=Also, this week in 2016 (June 11), former Bear Bryan Robinson died. In the last chapter of I Bear Witness Dan eulogizes all of the Bears who have left us in the last few decades. Robinson is no exception.
The Flip Side & Doin the Cruise
=Ken Churilla is celebrating a birthday this week (June 12). He has co-written two books for us. Most recently The Flip Side with Carl & Larry Rosenbaum.
=He also co-wrote Doin the Cruise with Mitch Michaels. This week in 2017, Eckhartz Press publishers Rick Kaempfer and Dave Stern met at the London House in downtown Chicago to finalize the publishing agreement with Mitch Michaels and Ken Churilla. Luckily esteemed Chicago photographer Barry Butler was there to photograph the moment.
Father Knows Nothing and
=This week in 2023, author Rick Kaempfer attended a book club in Rolling Meadows that was reading his book Father Knows Nothing. Here is a photo from that night...
=The same week in 2023 he appeared at a Book Club in Inverness to talk about and promote his coming-of-age novel, Back in the DDR.
Embrace Retirement & Chicago: The Great Retirement Resource
=The co-author of two Eckhartz Press books, Russ Fahrner, celebrated a birthday this week (June 8). We hope that Russ was in a boat somewhere on his birthday. If you read his books, you know that's his passion.
=The launch party for Embrace Retirement was this week in 2019 (June 9) in the Northwest suburbs. A great time was had by all...
=This week in 2014, Bruce Bohrer's book was released by Eckhartz Press. This diary of a Wrigley Field usher was the first book by Eckhartz Press to be sold at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Bruce is also the co-author of Embrace Retirement and Chicago: The Great Retirement Resource.
Grun Weiss Vor and Inside Melania
=Todd "Fritz" Schneider (June 9) and Lauren LoGuidice (June 14) are both celebrating birthdays this week as well. Todd co-wrote Grun Weiss Vor and Lauren wrote Inside Melania. For Todd, it's a big one. #60. (Photos: Todd with co-author Rick Kaempfer, Lauren with her book.)
=This week in 2022 (June 10), Duane Scott Cerny released his second book Vintage Confidential. He told the story of what inspired this memorable book on this podcast.
Printer's Row Lit Fest
=Before the pandemic, the Printer's Row Lit Fest was held every year in June (it's now in September). Here are a few photos from 2014, featuring Eckhartz Press authors Joel Daly, Chuck Quinzio, and Dan Burns.
=Bruce Elliott is a local treasure celebrating a birthday this week (June 10). He's a writer and artist, a saloon owner, and a big fan of Pat Colander's book. Here's what he said it about it...
Pat is a very talented writer. Unfortunately she cut back on her serious writing to run magazines. She was a girl-wonder when she worked at the Chicago Tribune in the late seventies. The veteran male reporters hated her because she could out-write and out produce them with one hand tied behind her back and her eyes closed. She did feature articles, reviews and celebrity interviews. Now she has put together a collection of her very best work from the 1970s and early 1980s. The stories age well.
Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind
=This week in 2011, The Chicago Reader wrote a review of Vicki Quade's play Late Night Catechism that helped vault her play into the spotlight ( Review of Late Nite Catechism by The Reader ) She has done many more plays since then, and also penned a book for Eckhartz Press about her everyday encounters with her fellow Chicagoans. It's called Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 2013 (June 12), one of the WLS colleagues John Landecker writes about in his memoir passed away. Bill Bailey appeared on the air after Landecker most nights. This is a free excerpt from the book about Bill.
=This week in 1992, the Chicago Bulls won the NBA Championship. Chet Coppock was there and told a few great stories about it in his book Your Dime My Dance Floor.
=Hall of Fame basketball announcer Marv Albert is celebrating a birthday this week (June 12). Marv appears in Chuck Swirsky's book, Always a Pleasure.
=This week in 2007 (June 12), Rick Kaempfer's first novel $everance received an incredible array of reviews from people in the broadcasting industry. You can read all of them here, or just glance at these examples below...
“Brilliant satire! I got a paper cut from the sarcasm. I wish I could say it was great fiction, but having worked in radio, I think it’s just really funny non-fiction. The reality in between the laughs will scare the hell out of you.”
“I thought this novel was just going to be an amusing story about radio. But the way Kaempfer has woven in elements of all media and politics is masterful, to say nothing of insightful, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny!”
“Rick Kaempfer’s “$everence” is whiplash-fast, choke-on-your-coffee funny, and ultimately frightening. Kaempfer has seen it all in the radio business, and has some dire predictions for the rest of the media, too. It’s the summer’s must-discuss beach read – and probably a sign of the apocalypse.”
=Since the book Chili Dog MVP chronicles the story of the 1972 White Sox, naturally it also covers the story of 1972 White Sox player Tom Egan, who is celebrating a birthday this week (June 9)
