2-15-08

Friend,

First (so that it reaches those who don’t intend to read on), I’ll give my take on the current plight of us authors.

A few of us make outrageous money. The rest of us make hardly any. One reason is, the publishers promote the chosen few. People hear about the chosen books. The rest of us are left to work day jobs while writing the next book and stealing time to attempt promoting the last one on our own, in hopes that we will gradually find those readers who might even choose our books over the chosen ones, if they knew about them.

So here’s a proposition. If you encounter an un-chosen author (such as me), go to a store, or online, or to a library, and browse a book of his or hers. If you consider it worthy, take it home, and also take a minute to think who else might enjoy it. Then shoot them an email. If the author happens to be me, you could forward this letter.

Now, here’s the news:

The Vagabond Virgins, the fifth Hickey family mystery, should be in your favorite bookstore or library. If it’s not, demand they order it or go to my web site (www.kenkuhlken.net) for a list of booksellers with more class.

Here’s the story:

A Holy Virgin who appears in Mexico is dedicated to the overthrow of the corrupt and tyrannical PRI. And a woman who claims to be the Virgin’s sister brings San Diego private investigator Alvaro Hickey a chance to help reform the country of his birth.

Gene Riehl, author of Quantico Rules and Sleeper, writes,  “The Vagabond Virgins delivers  a story in the tradition of Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory and B. Traven’s Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Kuhlken knows the brutal reality of border Mexico, and makes you believe that amidst the violence and corruption, a miraculous woman can still make a difference."

Booklist calls it “another winner. . . a fast-moving adventure that effectively combines mainstream historical fiction with the conventions of the hard-boiled detective novel.”

Don Winslow, author of The Winter of Frankie Machine, adds, “Elegant, eloquent, and elegaic, Kuhlken’s novels sing an old melody, at the same time haunting and beautiful.”

In other news:

I only yesterday finished rebuilding my website, after months of learning tech stuff I didn’t much want to learn.

On the new web site you’ll find articles about:
author (of The Grifters) Jim Thompson’s life in SD during WW II;
the creation of Alvaro Hickey, leading man in The Vagabond Virgins;
my fathering Zoë just before I turned 57;
Darren’s (my son-in-law) Ford Bronco curse;
a meeting with Mother Teresa;
and a tragedy about an author and his literary agents.

You’ll also find two Hickey family short stories and links to:
other authors;
folk musicians;
resources for writers;
dates when I’ll be making a fool of myself;
some favorite booksellers of mine;

and a blog, the title of which I recently changed to “Christian Noir” and which I intend to use for expressing my own and other folks’ disenchantment with the whitewashed vision of the church and its people perpetrated by too many Christian authors, publishers and booksellers.

The first post asks, “What is Christian Noir?”

I hope you'll visit.

Onward,

Ken