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 Sun at the End of the Road
=Big turnout on Sunday for Tony Fitzpatrick's Celebration of Life at the Metro. Over 1100 people came out to pay their respects. A three hour celebration featured speeches from the likes of Rick Kogan, Alex Kotlowitz, and Illinois Poet Laurete Mark Turcotte, and a few live musical performances including Ike Reilly. Tony's son Max served as the emcee of the night, and his daughter Gabby gave the speech of the night. After the event, a band led the crowd into a New Orleans-style funeral procession/celebration. Thanks to everyone who came out to this truly memorable night. Tony would have loved it.
=Two big events in the coming weeks for Nick Digilio and his book 40 Years, 40 Films. First, he'll be returning to the Lake Theater in Oak Park to present another film. This time it's the under-rated Batman classic, Batman Returns (the one featuring Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman). Of course he will also be signing and selling copies of the book before and after the film.
=Then, just two days later, it's the official Book Launch party at Kaiser Tiger (1415 W. Randolph) in Chicago. December 12, from 6-8pm. Come one, come all. Nick will be signing and selling copies of 40 Years, 40 Films. Here's the link to Event Page on Facebook with all the details.
=Great Doug Jones interview on Bill Turck's substack. Check it out here.
=Doug E. Jones grew up in Chicago, which is obvious when you read the great novel that just came out, Doug's Take Me Back to Chicago. It takes place in 1974, and the old neighborhoods really come to life. Doug lives in Oregon now, but he's coming back to the old hood on December 6th. He'll be here to do a signing at Sketchbook in Skokie from 5-7pm. This could be your only chance to meet Doug and get him to sign a copy of your book before Christmas, so don't miss it. The book is far out, man.
=By the way, that awesome Monte Carlo on the front cover is the exact same make/model/color that Eckhartz Press publisher David Stern drove in college. Don't ask what happened to it.
=Bob Conlon was in his element this weekend at the Irish Books, Music, and Arts festival at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Avenue in Chicago. They even served beverages. (How do you think he enticed publishers Rick and Dave to attend? Or the man who provided a blurb for the back cover, Brendan Sullivan) Here are a few photos...
=December 1st Bob will making his television debut on Fox-32 in Chicago during their midday show (10:20am). Be sure to tune in if you can. If not, we will try to get a video of the interview that we can share in a future column.
=Jeff Reiter has been keeping busy promoting his book. Last weekend he gave a talk at his church (good turnout, sold a bunch of books), and he's also doing another talk in December for the Dupage Birding Club (members only, unfortunately). Last week he also spoke to This Week in Birding with Bob Dolgan.
=In the coming weeks, look for The Best of Words on Birds to be featured in the December issue of Naperville Magazine (in their gift-giving guide), and in the December issue of Birding Magazine (from the prestigious American Birding Association.) They will have a full review of the book. When we get the on-line links, we will share these articles with you.
=What a wonderful presentation by Jim Slusher last week at the Vernon Area Library in Lincolnshire. Jim is the managing editor of the opinion section of the Daily Herald and he explained to the assembled crowd how decisions are made about what gets into the paper and what doesn't. Most importantly he talked about media bias, and how to become a better informed news consumer. If he is coming to a library near you, highly recommend you see it. Of course he also talks about his book, To Nudge The World, which is nominated as one of the four finalists for Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association in the Indy Non-Fiction category.
=Ken Smoller was in town last week, and the transplanted Chicagoan always takes the opportunity to set up a chance for his fellow Chicagoans to come out and get a copy of his book, Last Comiskey. Thanks to everyone who came out to say hello.
=Last year this week Jim O'Donnell of the Daily Herald broke the news that Last Comiskey was a finalist for CWA Book of the Year.
=While the film producers were out in Hollywood pitching the film to big-time muckety-mucks, Mike and Jeffrey Gentile were here in the Chicago area filming another promo.
Happy Birthday!
=Eckhartz Press children's author Ken Korber is celebrating a birthday this week (November 30). Ken has written eight books for us over the years, our most prolific author. Here he is with publishers Rick and Dave holding up a few of his covers....
=This week last year, the authors (Carl & Larry Rosenbaum, and Ken Churilla) of The Flip Side received their copies of the book.
=Two years ago at this time, Loop Files author Rick Kaempfer was all over the place. His first appearance (November 24) was at Blue Village Vinyl in Westmont. A bunch of former Loopers joined him there. (Mitch Michaels, Leslie Harris, Scott Childers, and Jeff Hoover)
=That same day Rick appeared on the WGN-TV Morning News. You can still see that here.
=Ryan Baker is celebrating a birthday this week (November 25). The Channel 2 sportscaster was kind enough to come out to Rich King's book launch party at Guaranteed Rate Field and interview Rich and Ike. The interview aired on Channel 2's morning show.
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=This week in 2021 (November 30) Chili Dog MVP authors Dr. David Fletcher and John Owens were interviewed by the Hall of Very Good.
=Because the book is about the 1972 White Sox, every single member of that team gets a mention in the book, including Jorge Orta, born this week (November 26) in Mexico. Jorge was very young in 1972, but went on to become a World Series champion (with KC).
=This week in 2022 (November 25), Podcaster (Destination Eat Drink) Brent Petersen interviewed Back in the DDR author Rick Kaempfer about the many foodie moments in his novel. You can listen to that here.
=This week (November 30) in 2016, Rick Kaempfer released this video to promote Father Knows Nothing. The song lyrics appear in the book. The video makes it come to life. Ironically, the video is edited by Rick's son Tommy, the original target of the song. Vince Argento is the singer.
=This week in 2018, Beth Jacobellis's Eckhartz Press novel Cameo became an e-book. Guess what? You can still get the e-book version here.
=This week in 2011 (November 30), we released our first ever book, The Living Wills. We weren't expecting it to get such an outpouring of good reviews. Here are a few from readers...
--Chocoholic mom
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