Okay, now that we've had an earthquake and a hurricane, let's get down to business:
Hot off the (e)-presses: The Aaron Tucker short story (and prequel to the book series) THE GUN ALSO RISES, which originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in the January/February issue this year (take note, Agatha nominators!) is now available as an e-book.
You can find the story for your Kindle, for your Nook, or for any other e-reader, and if it's not available today, it will be tomorrow (some formatting issues apply). I'm pricing it cheap, at 99 cents, so anyone who wants to keep up with Aaron--or become acquainted with him--can do so without breaking the bank.
It's the first time I'm personally publishing a work for e-readers, and I'm not sure whether it's the first of many or the last of a kind. I haven't decided yet, and the publishing market might dictate later decisions. And I won't lie to you, if lots and lots of the 99-cent story sell, it will certainly influence my thought process going forward. If not, maybe not.
THE GUN ALSO RISES gives us a glimpse of a younger Aaron, father of six-year-old Ethan and two-year-old Leah, still trying to figure out why his son is acting diff-erently than the other kids, and still trying to make a living with words (Aaron's a freelance reporter).
He starts off with a problem: Ethan has been framed for a dastardly crime--bringing a water pistol to his first-grade class--and Aaron needs to find the dirty little culprit who set up his son. But he has something else to investigate professionally: A baseball magazine has asked him to investigate the death of a minor league pitcher, who had just won the championship game and died under a pile of celebrating teammates.
Many of the series' popular characters appear, including Jeff Mahoney, Aaron's huge friend who lends him some muscle when the diminutive freelancer needs it, Anne Mignano, in this case the assistant principal of Ethan's school, and of course Aaron's beloved wife Abby, who offers him help and advice, when Aaron isn't actively lusting after her--which isn't often.
And Aaron as always narrates the story in his native New Jersey language: Sarcasm.
So if you didn't get a copy of AHMM in January or February (really November of 2010, but it says "January/February" on the cover) and you're interested in reading some more Aaron, this is your chance. Even if you don't own an e-reader, you can get Kindle for free on your Mac or PC and read it there.
Hey, it might be the beginning of a new venture. And if you like it enough, maybe Aaron will be back.
Take a look.
