DISPATCH :: LITERARY THREADS, or why Nathaniel and Wesley look so good.

This is a post that's been a long time coming and it has to begin with a public apology to two wonderful ladies, Sherri and Amanda. Together they are partners in Literary Threads, a designer T-shirt company specializing in, you guessed it, book themes. My family and I met them in Jacksonville at the Book Festival and they were so friendly and their shirts were very cool. That's a combination of their mother's good genes and shirts from Literary Threads.

So why the apology?

Because we met Sherri and Amanda all the way back in March. Here it is the end of July and I'm just getting around to publicly thanking them. They make great shirts for kids, adults, and everyone in between. Trust me, I've seen a lot of book-themed clothes in my travels. These are the best.

Visit them on the web at literarythreads.com. You can even find them on Facebook by searching for, you guessed it, Literary Threads. In case you were thinking of getting the book lover in your life a kindle, get them one of these instead.

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library thanks Chris Ryan

There's a great passage in Neal Stephenson's SNOW CRASH where the protagonist realizes that even if he spends the next ten years living in a Shaolin Temple in China training to kill every single day that he will never be the bad-ass that another character naturally is.

You will never be the bad-ass that Chris Ryan is. The man is an SAS Gulf War Veteran who had to escape on foot through Iraq into Syria after a mission got hit hard by Murphy's Law. After telling that story in THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: MY SAS MISSION BEHIND ENEMY LINES, Chris turned to fiction. And if you have any problems with that, take it up with Chris.

ULTIMATE WEAPON is a big hit in England and deserves to be here as well. Taking place during the current Iraq war, the book is terrifically entertaining as well as pertinent.


Thanks to Chris, we've been able to ship four boxes of ULTIMATE WEAPON to troops serving in Afghanistan. You can support Chris by picking up a copy of his book. Remember, any purchases made in the OWL STORE go to continuing to help us deliver great books to our troops.

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library thanks Valerie Malmont

Hey, wait a minute, you might be saying to yourself. Is that some kind of strange coincidence? I know. I know. You can't make this stuff up:

It's really eerie how both my mom and I used the word DEATH in the titles of our first books.

Didn't know moms was a writer? Well, now you do. That's right. While the paper that would eventually become my first print run was still a tree swaying gracefully in some peaceful, undisturbed Canadian forest, my mother was busy creating the very popular Tori Miracle series of cozy mysteries. The character of the region of Pennsylvania that she and my dad found in the 70's reminded her of the English countryside she adored in Agatha Christie 's work. You can find her whole series in the OWL STORE but you should start with DEATH PAYS THE ROSE RENT.

Thanks Mom, for the books for the troops. Remember, the proceeds from any purchase you make on the site goes to helping us continue to send great books to our troops.

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library salutes Jon Guenther

Jon Guenther's a really great guy who introduced himself to me soon after I published THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL. He's been writing the continuing adventures of Don Pendleton's THE EXECUTIONER series - one of the last real pulp lines out there.

As a former soldier, Jon was only too happy to be able to donate some copies of HOSTILE ODDS and HARD PASSAGE. I can't imagine that these are going to be anything less than hugely popular with our troops in Afghanistan.

You can support Jon for making his donation by buying a copy of his book. Remember, any purchase you make in the Operation Warrior Library Store goes to helping us continue to deliver great books to our troops.

Thanks Jon!

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library salutes Tiffany Baker

The worst cliche in blogging is the writer who has to start their latest post with an apology for not writing in such a long time. It's about as lazy as a journalist starting a comeback story by pointing out how wrong Fitzgerald was when he wrote that there are no second acts in American lives. And that's the grown-up equivalent of a school-kid starting out a report with a definition from a dictionary.

But I have been awfully busy. You can check all my twitter updates, if you don't believe me. Those thing don't just write themselves.

(BTW: twitter.com/pmalmont )

So since the next shipment of books for troops in Afghanistan are already starting to pile up in the garage, I thought I'd quickly round out the people from the last shipment that I haven't posted about yet.

First up, THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY by Tiffany Baker. I've been looking forward to reading this since I first heard about it earlier this year. I'm in the middle of reading it now and it really is wonderful. Check it out.

Thanks to Tiffany, her book is now being read by troops overseas. You can support Tiffany by buying her book. Remember, the proceeds from any book you purchase in the OWL store goes to keeping the books going.

Who knew Michael Jackson was a Jack London fan

Though probably not in the most positive way.

TMZ is reporting that poor MJ used to use the name Jack London as an alias to buy drugs.

I wonder why he chose that name?