As we enter Christmas week, there is no better time to pause, count our blessings, and give thanks. I recently did so in my “author e-blast,” which I will also share here:
Dear readers — I begin this update as I always do — by thanking you for your ongoing interest, encouragement, and support. If you’re receiving this message, it means you’ve either attended or organized one of my presentations; purchased or reviewed one or more of my books; sent me a letter or an e-mail; been a faithful bookseller or a member of a loyal book club; or in some other way connected with me about books, writing, research, or history. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I’m forever grateful for and humbled by your support.
With that as an important preamble (from my standpoint), I know it’s a busy time of year, so let’s get right to it:
- I’ve been very busy this fall working on my sixth book, which will be published by St. Martin’s Press and is scheduled for release in 2016. It sounds far away, but it’s really not — because of long publishing lead times, my manuscript is due in May of 2015, which is right around the corner! I appreciate your continued inquiries and interest in the new book, and ask your continued patience until I’m ready to reveal the topic. Suffice to say it will be narrative history and I think you will really enjoy it. Again, the blessing of being able to write another book is only made possible thanks to your constant support – so thank you. As long as you’re interested in reading, I’m only too happy to keep writing!
- I just finished up a busy speaking season (with author appearance 442!), which included appearances on Dark Tide and The Caning, as well as several tours of Boston’s historic North End for book clubs and community groups. My thanks to all the groups that hosted and I’d like to express my particular gratitude for the City of Somerville (MA), which selected Dark Tide as its community-wide read. In the spring of 2015, the speaking circuit will also be busy. First, I’m pleased to say that the Massachusetts communities of Millis and Whitman have each selected Dark Tide as their community-wide reads, the 20th and 21st towns to do so. I’ll be making two appearances in each town as part of their program (please see my events page for details. I’ll be making a bit of New England swing as well, visiting Woodstock, Connecticut (Woodstock Academy) and Amherst, New Hampshire for presentations on Dark Tide; and Portland, Maine for a presentation on The Boston Italians. Finally, I’ve been asked to appear on Brian Lamb’s C-SPAN show to discuss The Caning in Washington, D.C. We are trying to find a mutual time to schedule this — please watch this site or my Facebook page for news.
- Also, as part of my visit to Woodstock Academy, I’m excited to announce that I’ve been asked to conduct a nonfiction writing seminar for interested students at the school. I’ve done many of these and always enjoy interacting with aspiring writers, or just people who are interested in the writing/editing process. I’ve had several inquiries on writing seminars/workshops, as well as my speech/presentation coaching seminars; if you have a group with these interests, just contact me at steve@stephenpuleo.com and we can have a further discussion.
- Thanks so much for your outstanding response to my WWII 1944 “70th Anniversary” posts on my Facebook page. It was such a remarkable year during the war and I feel so strongly that we need to commemorate these events. My most recent post was on the Battle of the Bulge, so I hope you’ll check it out. The response has been so good that I plan to continue the “70th Anniversary” posts in 2015, an enormously important year that saw — among other events — the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the fall of Berlin and the German surrender, and of course, the dropping of the atomic bombs, the subsequent Japanese surrender, and the end to the most cataclysmic war in world history. Remember, even if you don’t “do” Facebook, you don’t need to “sign on” to read the posts – although I’d really like it if you did sign on and “like” them.
- Finally, as I count my blessings and give thanks, I start with my amazing wife and best friend, Kate, who supports and loves me through everything, and who is the brightest star in my world; dear and loving family members who are always there for me; wonderful and loyal friends who help me realize all the time how rare true friendship really is; and thoughtful and professional colleagues who make my communications work and writing life enjoyable. And as I mentioned in the opening, I’m truly honored by your support. You have given me the opportunity to fulfill a dream and contribute in an area — my love of history and a desire to share history’s stories — about which I’m passionate and which I believe is so critically important to our identity and character as a nation. You have my deep and lasting thanks for that.