Always thrilling when someone reads your work, but…

Always thrilling when someone reads your work, but…

Posted inWorks by Eric, Writing
... nothing has been as personally gratifying as the response to my book on Lakehurst. I've written about legendary film directors, relationships, geek culture and more, but this is something special to me -- and it's made even more special by the fact that old friends, teachers, people I knew in my youth, their parents, and many others are getting it and are interested in it and are reading it. I've gotten random calls at home, emails from people I've never met, invitations to do presentations and interviews, requests to sign books for the holidays, and more. Considering I just…
My Lakehurst book is here, so that’s pretty cool

My Lakehurst book is here, so that’s pretty cool

Posted inWorks by Eric, Writing
Even though the real work now begins -- I frickin' hate promotion -- I feel like I've come to the end of a long road. See, Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons, my book on the history of the Pine Barrens town best known for the Hindenburg disaster, is finally ready for public consumption. I've been pecking away at this book since 2002, first as a short series of articles for a local newspaper, later as an expanded series of more in-depth stories on local history, and finally as this book. It is not only comprehensive and (I hope) engaging to…

Thinking about doing some self-publishing, part 1

Posted inRandom Musings, Writing
The world of self-publishing, especially in the digital realm, is an exciting one. Not for what it currently is, but for what it could be. There are some established authors who are doing well in self-publishing. So good, in fact, they hope to get the publishing rights back to some of their traditionally published books because they can make more money doing it on their own. Other established authors are getting together to do the same. In theory there is a very exciting future ahead for self-publishing, ebooks in particular. I say "in theory" because I also have some strong…
Citizen 13660 – forgotten gem of graphic literature

Citizen 13660 – forgotten gem of graphic literature

Posted inBooks & Authors, Comics & Graphic Novels
Every now and then you stumble across something and think, "Why isn't this considered a landmark in its field?" Citizen 13660, published in 1946, is one of those things. It's not quite a comic, but should be hailed among the important works of graphic literature. Somehow, though, despite being an avid comic/graphic novel reader, this has slipped under my radar and the radar of every other fan of the comic medium I know. That's too bad. This deserves to be widely known in such circles.   In 1946, just after spending time in two internment camps, Japanese-American Miné Okubo published…