The Tallest Poppy

Why is self-promotion so difficult? And a minor announcement of some magnitude.

I don’t know exactly how and when I learned it. Probably in grade school. Maybe a family reunion. Maybe I just picked up the vibe from television. Maybe, being very Irish, it’s just ingrained in my brain due to a generational curse. I don’t know how, when, or where it happened, but as far back as my memory goes, I have always known it was considered bad form to celebrate yourself.

The worst part of any job interview: “What are your strengths?”

I will fail that part of any interview. I will flounder. I will low-ball myself. I will shrug and say, “That’s a good question.”

When it comes to weaknesses, clear your schedule. Those I can speak on at length.

For me, the hardest part of anything publishing-related is when I have to speak well of myself, my abilities, or my books. I’d rather talk about other people’s books than try to convince someone that my books are any good.

My pal Dana Storino beats the marketing drum hard. She has no problems waving her books on TikTok, trying anything corny or clever to garner views and sales. What impresses me most about Dana is her ability to say, “My stories are good.” She believes in her core that her books are as good as anything Lyla Sage or Falon Ballard are doing. It’s one of her finest qualities, one I envy.

I can’t do that.

My stuff is okay.
It’s all right.
It’s competently written.
It might appeal to you, I guess.
I mean, if you’ve got nothing better to do.
Don’t worry about it, though.
You don’t have to read it.
It’s fine.
Tons of better books out there, I’m sure.
No worries!

At best, I’ll say that what I write is better-than-average. That’s it. I cannot bring myself to say it’s good. Can’t do it.

I think it’s because somewhere along the lines I learned about the tall poppies. Tall poppy syndrome occurs when someone is successful and then falls under intense scrutiny and criticism. It’s a ploy done by competitors to minimize achievements and make people feel guilty for their success.

We have a similar thing in America, particularly in Boston, where some foul-mouthed Southie mick in a scally cap will be quick to get up in your mug and say, “You’re not better than me.”

It helps to have cheerleaders, though. It’s always helpful to have people who are willing to talk you off your proverbial ledge or whisper some encouragement when you need it most.

I’m lucky in that I have several people who believe in my books and abilities more than I do, but I was delivered a solid line from my dad yesterday. I had recently had some coasters made as swag to throw in envelopes when people ordered personalized books from me. (Hey, set your drink on me!)

The coasters came out pretty swish, if I do say so myself, and I sent a picture of them to my parents.

When speaking to my dad on the phone about an unrelated matter, he brought up the coasters and said, “Are you working on a new Abe & Duff book?”

I said, “I’m always working on another book.”

To which he replied, “I think the world is ready for another Abe & Duff book.”

The world? Really?

I’m glad my dad thinks so highly of them.

And to put this in perspective, my dad is the first person to tell me when I’m not good enough. After he read Welcome to Meskousing, he said, “I liked it…didn’t love it.”

That’s fair—he doesn’t like paranormal stuff. Never has.

After he read Strange Angels, he said—

Nothing. He didn’t read Strange Angels. He hates science fiction. Frankly, he should have been born at the close of the Civil War, and he should have grown up with a six-gun on his hip, riding the unfettered western plains. He was born in 1947 in New Jersey, but his heart has always lain in Montana or Wyoming. Particularly any point in history before internal combustion engines.

The dude should have been a cowboy, is what I’m saying.

But my dad really liked Abe & Duff.

And to be fair, so do I.

But is the world ready for another Abe & Duff novel?

CJ Box had 450 people show up to his first tour stop for Battle Mountain back in February.

That’s not a typo. More than four hundred people crammed into a room to listen to ol’ Chuck talk about the newest Joe Pickett adventure.

The last time I gave a solo talk about my books, four people showed up. And one of them was a friend who got her library to bring me in to speak. So, she didn’t count.

I don’t think I could imagine four hundred people wanting to hear me talk. Hell, I live in a house with two people who frequently tell me to be quiet.

So, maybe the world isn’t ready, but I hope the handful of people who have gotten fully on board the Abe and Duff train are ready.

Bring the Heat

I’m proud to announce the fifth Abe and Duff novel, Bring the Heat, will be coming to Kindle and paperback very, very soon. The Kindle version will be out by the end of June, and the paperbacks might be available before then.

Synopsis:

It was supposed to be a simple case: track a man suspected of having an affair and get proof of the affair for the man’s wife. It was the sort of case Abe and Duff had worked a thousand times throughout their careers.

When the husband catches a bullet while Duff is watching, a whole new mystery emerges. To find out who killed Robert Bloch, Abe and Duff will have to call in some favors, venture into the labyrinth of Chicago’s underworld, and deal with some of the questionable men who run criminal empires.

As with anything in which the less-than-dynamic duo find themselves mired, there are always more questions than answers, more problems than solutions, and a good chance to ruffle the wrong feathers while they search for the truth.

Nothing in Abe and Duff’s lives is ever easy, and this case will make the boys sweat more than an unforgiving Midwest summer heat wave.

In anticipation, we here at Spilled Inc. Press have been hard at work on some minor swag, including coasters, stickers, and new bookmarks.

Maybe some other surprises will emerge if I can ever figure out what they will be.

I love writing these books, I love these two characters, and I love the world and lore I’ve built throughout these five novels.

It was a simple concept at its heart: What if Holmes & Watson were two lower-middle-class schlubs from Chicago?

From that, I managed to dream up tortured backstories, a cast of supporting characters, and a collection of silly Duff-isms that people have actually quoted back to me as their favorite lines from the books.

I think I felt like Abe & Duff were hitting their stride in the third book, Where Art Thou, because that’s where I felt like I had fleshed out their world to the point where it was taking on a life of its own. I know it struck a chord because I set up something for Abe at the end of the book, and then cruelly took it away from him, and I got hate mail for it. (Sorry if that’s a spoiler, but it’s been out for three years now, and if you haven’t gotten to it yet, that’s on you.)

I had several readers write very nice emails begging me to be nicer to Abe, because they hated to see him suffer.

That, to me, tells me I’m doing something right. I might not feel like I’m doing something right, but if people were moved enough to call me an asshole for being mean to a fictional character I created, that means something.

It’s hard for me to speak well of my work, but I really do like Bring the Heat. It’s another adventure in this series I truly love writing. I continue to attempt to subvert the common macho hero tropes while adhering to the Christie/Doyle-type formulas where the detectives remain as established after the adventure, and it has three of the best lines I’ve ever written in it, so you’ve got that to look forward to.

I’ll let you decide for yourself which ones they are.

Stay tuned for further details.

And, as always, thanks for reading.

Coming June 2025

A Beginner’s Guide to Abe and Duff

I wrote The Beginner’s Guide to Abe and Duff last year. I printed off these full-page fliers with the full intention of taking them to Bouchercon for distribution on the promo tables…and then forgot them in my desk drawer.

So, better late than never, I suppose.