The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Hospital Heal Thyself!
=Congratulations to Hospital Heal Thyself author Mark Taylor for winning Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year in the Indie Non-Fiction category. We are proud to have given birth to this award winner. When the book was submitted for the award, it was an Eckhartz Press book. In the subsequent months Mark's book was bought by international publisher Wiley, and we encouraged him to take the offer to get international exposure. That's how good this book is. It definitely deserves recognition as Book of the Year.
=Taylor is a veteran healthcare journalist who has covered health and medicine for newspapers and business publications for decades. He is a recipient of Kaiser and Knight fellowships and is a co-founder of the Association of Health Care Journalists. Taylor is a former steelworker, taxicab driver, waiter and lifeguard who lives in a Northwest Indiana suburb of Chicago. We applaud Mark on his accomplishment!
=Our other nominated book Last Comiskey was unfortunately in the same category as Hospital Heal Thyself. In virtually any other year, Ken Smoller would have won. His book about the last season at the original Comiskey Park has gotten great reviews, and brought him lots of attention. Just recently he appeared on Ed Lynch's podcast, Surfing Baseball with Ed Lynch. You can listen to that here.
=Last week we got the news that Dick Allen finally made baseball's Hall of Fame. Thanks to everyone who has been writing to tell us that the publication of Chili Dog MVP was actually a factor in propelling Dick into the Hall. That's nice of you to say, but I think Dick's bat had a little more to do with it. The publishers can't even take credit for the book--that credit goes to the incredible authors John Owens and Dr. David Fletcher, and to the editors George Castle and Tom Shaer. Can't wait until July. The whole Eckhartz Press crew is going to Cooperstown to be there for the induction.
=Thanks to everyone who came out to Moretti's last night in Edison Park to see Dan McNeil and buy his great book about the Bears I Bear Witness. Here are a few photos from the event.
=He has a few more signings on the schedule. Back to Bridges in Griffith Indiana this Friday (12/20) for the Indiana game. On Sunday (12/22) he'll be at Hunley's in Cedar Lake, Indiana. On Thursday (12/26) he'll be at Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora.
=Flip Side's very own Mr. Cheap, Jeff Schwartz, was on the air on WGN radio yesterday with Bob Sirott. You can listen to that fun interview here.
=This week in 2023 was another big week for The Loop Files.
=On December 15, this incredible review of the book was posted.
=On December 17, the South Side Pod interviewed Rick about the book.
=That interview happened at a live event in Blue Island, at the Blue Island Beer Company. Here are a few photos from that day...
=The following day (December 18) Rick appeared on this podcast hosted by Rob Hahn.
=And he appeared in this television interview with Rabbi Doug.
=And finally it was the 35th anniversary (December 20) of an event that Rick produced when he actually worked at the Loop, Steve & Garry's A Christmas Carol. The star-studded event was covered by every news outlet in town and garnered a full page story in the Chicago Tribune. This is how Loop General Manager Jimmy de Castro described it at the time...
=This was also one of the saddest weeks in Eckhartz Press history. This week in 2018 (December 16), Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas passed away after a valiant struggle against pancreatic cancer.
=Here is what Eckhartz Press publisher Rick Kaempfer posted after he heard the news...
My heart is heavy today. Just got the news that my good friend Mark Gelinas passed away. This photo is from his book launch just two years ago, with his wife Donna. My heart goes out to Donna and the incredible Gelinas family, particularly his son Alexander Briggs Gelinas, and Mark's parents and siblings. Mark was my roommate for a few years after college, and a friend I could always count on. I was texting with him up until just a few days ago. When he didn't respond to the last text, I feared this day was near. Miss you, buddy. I'm so happy your pain is gone.
=This week in 2022 (December 15), Chuck Swirsky appeared on Chicago Tonight (WTTW-Channel 11) to talk about his book Always a Pleasure and his 50 years of broadcasting. You can watch that here. There's also, by the way, a free excerpt of the book at that link.
=Two of the people featured in the book, Ray Meyer (December 18) and Adam Amin (December 19) were born this week as well. Chuck was one of the smart broadcasters who always remembered to get a photo, including with both of those gentlemen.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name and Doin The Cruise
=This week in 2017 (December 17), two of our more prominent authors appeared at a book signing together, side by side, at the Orland Park Sports Collectors Show: John Records Landecker and Mitch Michaels. Here they are holding each other's books.
=This week in 2013 (December 18), a good friend of both authors, Superjock Larry Lujack passed away. Landecker devoted a good chunk of his book to writing about the legendary morning disc jockey. We published this free excerpt on our site the week Larry died.
=One of the reasons the Bears have been so continously bad for the past four decades is that the man who was groomed to take over for his father George, Mugs Halas, passed away before his dad did. That happened this week (December 16) in 1979. Chet Coppock devotes an entire chapter to Mugs in Your Dime My Dance Floor.
=This week in 1943, Walt "No Neck" Williams was born in Brownwood, Texas. He not only gets a mention in Chet's book, he gets this classic photo. Walt passed away in 2016. Chet passed in 2019.
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=This week in 2017 (December 16), Tom Weinberg hosted a Sunday breakfast at the Book Stall in Winnetka to promote his book Chasing the Lost City. The Daily North Shore was there to chronicle the event.
=This week (December 16) is screenwriter Denise DeClue's birthday. Denise was a big supporter of Book of the Year winner Pat Colander and her Eckhartz Press book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral. Here's what she said about it...
Pat Colander toiled with me in the belly of the Chicago journalism beast in the 1970s and 1980s. When major stories were reported, she asked questions. When the questions were poorly answered or evaded, she asked even more questions of even more people. Then in a clear, true voice, she wrote it all down. She found the real stories behind the stories and this collection of her work is just great. She ought to be long-listed for the Man Booker prize, If I can figure out how to do it I will.
=Legendary ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons is celebrating a birthday this week (December 16). Here he is with Bobby Skafish (and the other two Toppers, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill). This photo and the story of that interview is featured in Bobby's book We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters.
“Transatlantic Passage richly details the Premier League’s wide-ranging and often complicated influence on American soccer. While others saw mostly novelty in high-profile European clubs’ US-based preseason tours, Paul M. Banks uses them as a platform to tell the stories of the game’s most captivating and accomplished stars. Mixed with memorable and hilarious anecdotes, Banks’ incisive commentary expertly illustrates the many missteps of an often soccer-ignorant American media.”
Ken Korber
=The first day of Winter is this week (December 21). Whenever we think of the first day of a new season, we think of our children's book author Ken Korber. He's literally a man for every season. That's Ken in the middle with his spring book. Rick Kaempfer is holding Ken's Winter book, and David Stern is holding Ken's Summer book. The Fall book is sitting on a table nearby.
