Today is Tracks Day

Today is the day—Tracks has arrived via Atticus books. Tracks is on the bookshelves of bookstores (brick and mortar as well as online) across the nation.

Want a taste before you order your copy? Tune into Baltimore’s NPR station, WYPR, on the radio or online tomorrow. That’s 88.1 FM and www.wypr.org. I’m reading from Tracks on NPR’s The Signal at 12 noon and again at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 1. The broadcast will air again on Saturday, June 2.

With the release of Tracks, I’m sighing a breath of relief. It’s a big moment for me as a fiction writer—decades in the making. It may have only been five or six years from first draft to agent to bookstore shelf … but prior to writing the first lines of Tracks, I spent decades writing fiction. From the moment in the third grade when I got hooked by a short story assignment, I dreamed of the day I’d have a literary agent and an independent publisher share my novel with the world. All of the prior novel drafts, comments from publishers, agents, and editors, and hard knocks lead me to what has become my debut novel in stories.

As surely as I’m breathing that sigh of relief, I’m also holding my breath. I’m a debut fiction writer with a small indie press facing an army of goliaths. You may have notice I’ve punched up the publicity for Tracks, in recent weeks, and that’s why. It’s hard for a debut book to be heard in the chorus of established bestsellers.

So please consider sharing Tracks. Whether you tweet it, post about it on Facebook, send an email to your list, mention it in your newsletter, suggest it to your book club, share it with a friend, ask about it at a bookstore that doesn’t have it in stock, or just mention one of the stories that may have hit home with you in a conversation—anything you can do to spread the word about Tracks is very much appreciated. Each advocate is an extra arrow to still my quiver, to continue battle with an army of goliaths analogy.

Today has been a whirlwind with all of the activity on Facebook, online, postcards, phone calls, and all of the congratulations. Thanks to all.

It’s been a long and winding line of track. Now it’s time to enjoy the ride.

Learn more about Tracks at www.TracksNovel.com where you can read excerpts (long and short), listen to past NPR radio readings, find out what others are saying about Tracks, get a timetable of readings and events, and order your copy.

Victoria Patterson—Melodious

I discovered Victoria Patterson a few years ago when I read an early copy of her collection of linked stories, Drift. It was a great read, and it went on to be nominated for several big prizes. Her latest novel, This Vacant Paradise, has been well and widely reviewed. So it came as an honor when she had this to say about Tracks:

"Eric D. Goodman’s novel in stories, Tracks, allows the reader to journey with his characters in their moving and transforming destinies. Sincere and empathetic, Goodman delivers. These intertwined stories are melodious and brim with soulful compassion."

~Victoria Patterson,
Author of Drift and
This Vacant Paradise

Find out about Victoria Patterson and her books at her website.

http://www.victoriapatterson.net/

Guess What Arrived?

Tracks: The Final Countdown

For some, The Final Countdown brings thoughts of Europe, for others, images of GOB and his magic show—illusions, not tricks!

But it’s also the music playing in the background as we enter the final countdown for the release of Tracks, a novel in stories! Only two days and a matter of hours to go. You can watch the counter tick away at the following link:

http://www.tracksnovel.com/news.html

There’s still time left to enter the contest for a free copy! All you have to do is share Tracks on Facebook, Twitter, or to your email list.

There are 5 easy ways to enter the contest. You can enter as many times as you’d like in the next couple days, and each entry will increase your chances of winning one of the free books.

1. Share Tracks on Facebook. Write a post and share the link to www.TracksNovel.com, or repost / share one of my Tracks-related posts (like this one). Be creative!

2. Share Tracks on Twitter. Tweet all about Tracks and include a link to www.TracksNovel.com. Condense your wit to 180 characters!

3. Share Tracks with your contacts. Send an email blast to your list of friends and colleagues about Tracks and be sure to include the www.TracksNovel.com link.

4. “Like” the Lounge at http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Tracks-the-lounge-car/182330691789512

5. “Friend” Franklin, the Conductor, at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001923080723


Each time you do one of the above, just send an email to TracksNovel@gmail.com notifying us of your post/tweet/like/friend and you’ll be entered into the contest.

Two lucky winners will each receive a free copy of Tracks, postage included for winners within the United States. In the case of a winner outside the United States, you can select the eBook version or pay the postage for your free printed book.

The results will be announced and books sent during the month of July.

What are you waiting for? Remember that you can enter as often as you like during the month of June—so enter early and enter often!

It’s the final countdown!

www.TracksNovel.com

Yona Zeldis McDonough—Comic and Poignant

Today’s the birthday of the great literary writer Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of Breaking the Bank, In Dahlia’s Wake, and The Four Temperaments. What better day than today for a few words from her on Tracks? Here’s Yona’s Tracks Blurb.

“Goodman limns the lives of his characters—all travelers on the same train—with a light and sensitive touch, yet he manages to delve deep, right to their very hearts. By turns comic and poignant, these pilgrims are united in one significant way: they all seek to make sense of life’s unpredictable journey.”

~Yona Zeldis McDonough,
Author of Breaking the Bank,
In Dahlia's Wake and The Four Temperaments

Learn more about Yona’s books at her website.

http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/

Full Cover Layout of Tracks, a Novel in Stories (Front and Back)

If You’ve Only Seen the Front, You’ve Only Seen Half

The full cover for Tracks, a novel in stories, has been revealed! Take a look at the picture above. The front cover has been out on the Internet and in catalogs for months. This is the first time the full front and back cover layout has been released to the public.

The warm, earth-toned cover was designed by London-based designer Jamie Keenan. In designing the cover for Tracks, Keenan said, “The basic idea was to find an image of tracks that mirrored the ideas in the book — beginnings, endings, uncertainty, transformation, possibilities ...”

And if you think Keenan’s blurb is cool, check out the ones on the back cover!

Keenan knows his book jackets; he’s even filled auditoriums with his “Twenty Immutable Theories of Cover Design.” And he’s certainly put them to work with covers for authors such as:

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stephen King

H.G. Wells

George Orwell

Junot Diaz

David Foster Wallace

Philip K Dick

Anthony Burgess

Tennessee Williams

Jean-Paul Sarte

Rudyard Kipling

Garrison Kellior

Nick Hornby, and

A.M. Homes.

Learn more about Jamie Keenan and see some of his favorite cover designs at his website.

www.keenandesign.com

Visit the Tracks website for more about Tracks.

www.TracksNovel.com

The Writer Magazine—Irresistible

The Senior Editor of The Writer Magazine called the premise (let alone the title) of Tracks “irresistible.” Here’s what Ron Kovach wrote on The Writer Magazine's book blog, Backstory:

“Sometimes the basic premise of a novel (let alone the title) seems irresistible, before you’ve even read a word of the story. That was my reaction this week when some publicity came in on Eric D. Goodman's debut novel in stories, Tracks, releasing June 30 from Atticus Books.”

Mr. Kovach went on to say, “Hey, I haven’t read a word of this novel yet, but count me in.”

The Senior Editor of The Writer Magazine is in; how about you?

Read his “All aboard” at the following link.

http://cs.writermag.com/WRTCS/blogs/staff_blog/archive/2011/06/22/all-aboard.aspx

Pat Valdata—Entertaining and Thought-Provoking

Today’s Tracks endorsement comes from poet and novelist Pat Valdata.


“Who doesn’t love a train ride? And what a ride you’ll get with Eric D. Goodman’s Tracks. Hand your ticket to the conductor, join the other passengers in the lounge car, and listen to their stories as the landscape speeds by. You’ll enjoy meeting each of these characters, sharing their fears, their desires and their dreams, in this entertaining and thought-provoking novel-in-stories.”

~Pat Valdata,
author of Inherent Vice and
The Other Sister

Learn more about Pat Valdata and her books at www.bookthatpoet.com/poets/valdatap.html.

Barnes and Noble Carries Tracks

If Barnes & Noble is your bookshop of choice, be sure to get your copy of Tracks through the nation’s most successful bookstore chain. Tracks is now available at Barnes & Noble nationwide.

The easiest way to get it is on the Barnes & Noble website, where you can get free shipping and handling on orders of $25 or more. You can also pick up a copy at your local store. If they don’t have it on the shelf, ask them to order a copy for you and one for the shelf; it’s available through their usual distribution process.

Get your copy at the link below.

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tracks-eric-d-goodman/1030813204?ean=9780984510573&itm=1&usri=tracks%2bnovel%2bstories

Bathsheba Monk: Tight, Colorful, Breathtaking Tapestry

Bathsheba Monk has been making a splash in New York City lately with street productions enacting scenes from her novel, Nude Walker. She is also the author of a collection of linked stories called Now You See It … Stories from Cokesville, PA.

Tim O’Brien said “Bathsheba Monk is a writer I'll be talking about when I talk about brilliant new writers.”

Here’s what the brilliant Bathsheba Monk had so say about Tracks.


“From the first story in Eric D. Goodman’s novel in stories, Tracks, I knew I was in for an enjoyable ride. Goodman is a keen, compassionate and refreshingly un-ironic observer of the human condition. In Tracks, Goodman skillfully weaves stories of chance encounters, lost opportunities and new beginnings into a tight, colorful, breathtaking tapestry which he says is a train ride, but seems an awful lot like life.”

~Bathsheba Monk,
Author of Nude Walker and
Now You See It ... Stories from Cokesville, PA

Learn more about Bathsheba and her books at her website.

www.bathshebamonk.com