The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!
=This book is available for pre-order beginning today (click here). It will ship out the first week of December, in plenty of time for the holidays.
=The author, Frank Mathie, is a legendary television reporter in Chicago, an inductee of the famed Chicago Silver Circle. He worked at ABC-7 for exactly 50 years (1967-2017), primarily as a feature reporter. In that role he interviewed some of the most interesting and amazing people in Chicago. This memoir tells their stories, as well as Frank's own. Frank saw it all, from race riots to tornadoes to political conventions to love stories to some of Chicago's most memorable oddballs. A truly wild ride.
Eckhartz in the News
=Here's a new one for Eckhartz Press: One of our authors filed signatures to run for Mayor of Chicago.
=This is one of her campaign slogans on a T-shirt, an obvious poke at fellow Greek candidate Alexi Giannoulias...
=Last week we officially launched our latest book, The CEO's Symphony, by Henry Fogel. The book is available for pre-order right now, and ships at the end of November. (And orders are flying! Thanks so much for the great response from all over the world) The book launch party will be one for the ages--a first class operation. It will be December 16, from 7-9pm in the Grainger Ballroom at Chicago Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.
=Here's a little more about the book...
=One of the biggest stars at the Loop during the radio station's heyday was Kevin Matthews. Kevin was also very kind to us when we were putting together our best-selling book The Loop Files. He was a major contributor.
=Well, Kevin had a big week last week. His film "Broken Mary" won an Emmy Award! Congratulations to Kevin and the whole crew who put that film together.
=Kevin's film wasn't the only award-winner in the Eckhartz universe last week. Jim Elsener and his book Sirens in the Loop was also recognized. Jim dropped us this note...
"I was in Orlando this past weekend for the annual conference of the Military Writers Society of America and the celebration of the MWSA 2026 Awards for Literary Excellence. "Sirens in the Loop" was awarded a Bronze Medal in the History (Non-Fiction) Category. MWSA is a nationwide association of authors, poets, and artists drawn together by the common bond of military service. Three reviewers evaluate each entry in the MWSA awards program scoring 21 factors that determine which books earn medal recognition. The MWSA review of "Sirens" was: "Sirens in the Loop records a unique chapter in American journalism history—and thereby the history of one of our country’s most dynamic and noteworthy cities. Readers with an interest in the roots of modern-day news coverage and the standards of professional journalism will be rewarded by the first-hand accounts of the many men and women who earned their spurs in the demanding environment of the Chicago City News Bureau."
=Nick Digilio was on WLS-TV last week...
=There was also a great piece about him at RogerEbert.com. You can read it here.
=There was an insightful article last week about "second acts" that featured our very own Richard Reeder. You can read it here.
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=Author Vicki Atkinson posted a free excerpt from her first book, Surviving Sue, on her blog Victoria Ponders. You can read it here.
Upcoming November Eckhartz Press Author Appearances...
*Sunday, November 8
=Maria Pappas at the G-Man Tavern, 3740 N. Clark St., Chicago. 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.
*Monday, November 9
=Jim Elsener (Sirens in the Loop) has an "Author Talk" at the Prairie Creek Library in Dwight, IL (501 Carriage House Lane).
*Wednesday, November 11
=Nick Digilio (40 Years, 40 Horror Films) will be screening the film One False Move at the Lake Theater in Oak Park. Show starts at 7pm. He will also be signing and selling copies of his books.
*Friday, November 13
=Nick Digilio will be interviewed on stage at the Music Box Theater before a late night (11:45 PM) screening of Evil Dead II. More info here.
*Saturday, November 14
=Russ Fahrner is hosting a book launch party for Face Your Monster. It will be at Salerno's Pizza (1201 W. 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 from 3:00PM – 5:30 PM.
*Wednesday, November 18 & Thursday, November 19
=A tribute to Tony
Fitzpatrick (The Sun at the End of the Road) hosted by Rick Kogan and Jon Langford will
be at Constellation
Chicago (3111 N. Western Avenue) for two consecutive nights. They are doing a show they
called "Something Beautiful: Words, Songs, and Poems of Tony Fitzpatrick."
Tickets are available here (18th) and here (19th).
*Thursday, November 19
=Maria Pappas will be at The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, doing a
reading and signing, at 7PM.
=Roger Badesch (The Unplanned Life) has been turning his post-retirement attention to radio theater. For instance...
Eckhartz-Related Birthdays
*Art Carney (November 4, 1918)
=One of the joys of the book Mob Adjacent is the way it intersects the world of the mafia with the world of Hollywood. One of the big stars of the era who is discussed in the book is Art Carney.
*Devin Hester (November 4)
=The Hall of Fame returner for the Bears appears in two Eckhartz Press books, I Bear Witness by Dan McNeil, and Beyond the Glass by Randy Merkin. This photo is in Randy's book.
*Bill Walton (November 5, 1952)
=Born this week in 1952, the late, great basketball titan, Bill Walton. Chuck Swirsky wrote about him in his book Always a Pleasure.
In Case You Missed It...
=Maria appeared on "Welcome to the Show" with Derek Bish last week. It was memorable...
=Nick Digilio had two big events last week. He showed the film "Poltergeist" at the Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge on Wednesday night.
=On Friday night he held a Halloween-themed book launch party at Kaiser Tiger in Chicago...
Notable Eckhartz-Related Anniversaries...
=This week in 2025 marked the official release of Nick Digilio's first book, 40 Years, 40 Films.
=Big night on November 2, 2025, for Green White Soccer Club, the subject of our book Grun Weiss Vor! One of the club's longtime members, Kurt Melcher, was inducted into the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame for his meritorious service. Kurt won state titles with Green White as a youth player and an adult player (he was a goalkeeper), played Division 1 soccer, and coached Division 1 Soccer for over 20 years, including dozens of World Cup players. He's the 4th winningest coach in history. Congratulations Kurt!
=On October 31, 2024, we released The Flip Side. That book was one of our biggest hits of the year. By the way, you can find it now in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Joliet), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland) and the Museum of Broadcast Communications (Chicago). In the photo below, the famous Rosenbaum brothers, Larry & Carl.
=Eric Litt is a movie writer for Eckhartz Press. He sat down this week in 2024 to do a Q&A about his new book. You can read that here.
Joe Jackson vs. Chicago American League Baseball Club
=This week in 2023, Dr. David Fletcher appeared on the podcast Byers & Company to talk about his new book about the Shoeless Joe Jackson trial.
=He was also featured (November 2) along with co-author Jacob Pomrenke in this report on Fox-32 WFLD-TV Chicago.
=This week in 2022, Chuck Swirsky was making the rounds promoting his book Always a Pleasure. He did two hours on the radio with Steve Rosenbloom on the Score (November 5), and he also appeared on WGN-TV (November 8).
=On November 4, 2022, Rick Kaempfer kicked off the publicity campaign for his coming-of-age spy novel Back in the DDR with an interview on WGN Radio. That interview is here.
=It's not a coincidence that the book came out the same week the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 (November 9). Rick took this first photo of the wall in 1976, the year the book takes place. It appears on the back cover. The second photo was taken just a few weeks after the wall came down. That's Rick and his brother Peter. Lots of stretches like this still existed. It's completely gone now. The third photo is from last summer. Rick is standing outside the East German secret police headquarters (STASI), which has been turned into a museum.
=This week in 2022 (November 2), Treatment Magazine featured a nice article about Will Wagner's book Talking 'Bout My Generation. You can read it here.
=This week in 2021 (November 5), Randy Merkin announced the release of his book Behind the Glass live on the air on ESPN Radio in Chicago.
=Robert Feder also wrote about Randy's book in the Daily Herald (November 8).
=This week in 2021, Grammar Moses author Jim Baumann was making the rounds promoting his book. He appeared on this podcast with Steve Cochran (November 3), and the Minutia Men Celebrity Interview the next day (November 4). Two days later he was in Elgin, signing and selling copies of Grammar Moses. The pandemic was still raging, and our intrepid author was out there fully masked.
=This week (November 8) in 2021, during the height of the pandemic, Bob Boone gave a talk about his collection of short stories, City U, via zoom. The virtual author event actually took place in Glencoe, but this was around the time we started figuring out that we were no longer confined by our location.
=The Eckhartz Press book Righteous Might takes place on the USS Gerald R. Ford. Now, if you happen to go on that ship, you can read Righteous Might in the ship's library. We got a letter this week (November 6) in 2020 from the ship's captain. What an honor. Congrats to author Keith Conrad!
=This week in 2018 (November 5), Chet Coppock had the single-biggest-selling day in the life of his book. He spoke at the Polish American Alliance in Westmont, and every single attendee (over 200) bought a copy of the book. Chet was in rare form that day.
=This week in 2018 (November 9), Windy City Reviews came out with a review of the Eckhartz Press book Cameo. Here's what they had to say about the book....
Cameo, by Beth Jacobellis, is an interweaving of the past, its impact on the present, and how our feelings can get in the way of understanding what is pulling us through to the future. The book begins in the present, but we are quickly transported to the cameo’s present life in 1994 and then again through vignettes from 1885, 1976 and 1989. Cameo is a charming story to read. It is not a long book, but this type of love story, with layers of the past all playing out at the same time, draws us into Samantha’s quest and carries us through a briskly-paced read. I enjoyed this book for its clear storytelling and mysterious overtones. I also found it refreshing that the past is not always looking to punish but merely to resolve.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This was a big week for John Records Landecker in 2017 (November 2). He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. The late Mike Dempsey was on hand to film it.
=That same week John was on the air at WBEZ Radio, and WGN-TV talking about the new Hall of Fame edition of the book. His daughter Amy joined him on the WGN TV set.
=Exactly four years earlier, John was on Chicago Tonight with Phil Ponce talking about his book on WTTW.
Ike & Me and EveryCubEver
=On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Rich King was on set at WGN-TV...
=Rick Kaempfer was in his basement in Mt. Prospect, giggling, smiling, weeping, and exulting. Shown here in 1975, already wearing his Cubs colors...
=This week in 2016, Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas was featured on a local television station in Atlanta (WSB-TV). Mark passed away a few years later, but this interview, and the book live on. Mark's story will always remain an inspiration.
=This week in 2014 (November 4), Rick Kaempfer was out and about promoting his humor book Father Knows Nothing. As a bonus for the readers of the book, he released these audio tracks on our website. Two of the boys featured in the book (Tommy & Johnny) come to life via these timeless audio clips.
=It's exactly 20 years ago this week (November 1, 2006) that Jeff Reiter wrote one of the columns that propelled him into the limelight. It was about being in the right place at the right time to see a rare bird, and yes, naturally, we included that piece in The Best of Words on Birds.
=Two big anniversaries for Maria Pappas this week. On November 6, 1990, she won her first election as a Cook County Commissioner. On November 3, 1998, she won her first election as Cook County Treasurer. She still holds that title today (although in the top item of this column, you'll see she has another title in mind as well).
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 1882, the Dow Jones was founded. Not many people know this, but early in his career, John Landecker actually went by the name Dow Jones on the air. This is the only known picture of Dow Jones, taken outside the radio station in Michigan.
