Well, I just wanted to give an update on where we are with Light of the Diddicoy (pre order now, if you like), the first book in the Auld Irishtown trilogy. I’d like to plan on sending these at least once per month until the big day, March 14, 2014.

For all those people that are giving this a book a chance, I just wanted to give a great big ‘THANK YOU.’ It is truly amazing what has been going on. I’ve basically been plucked from nowhereville, to having a publisher with a huge distributor, a public relations company and riding the wave of a previous author who has already proven himself as a success writer.

Three Rooms Press has invested in this project, and for that I amtruly humbled and owe a great debt of gratitude. I have always thought of myself as being true to my word, so hopefully I will get a chance to show my gratitude in the future with Three Rooms Press. I have always been skeptical of the motives of publishers, but TRP has literally undermined that notion with their actions, the best way to show intentions.

Here are a couple reasons why I feel this way:

I was very surprised when it was announced that they had hired Perseus as the distributor for my book. Perseus is a top distributor in the industry with connections to every library, bookstore, website, anywhere you can think of a place you would want your book to get noticed, Perseus is there.

Second, a public relations company was hired in a two-for-one deal for both Light of the Diddicoy andRichard Vetere‘s next book, The Writers Afterlife. So, not only do I get signed on to a public relations company, but on the back of a proven author, playwright and screen writer who has worked with some of my all time favorites like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Walter Matthau, Ed Harrisand has even been reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in the NY Times Book Review!

Somewhere above 200 galley copies (advanced review copies) of the book are going to be sent out everywhere and if I’m lucky, it’ll get reviewed by the big kids on the block and picked up by major bookstores and hopefully book readings all over the place, including Ireland! In short, getting the word out!

Guy Denning (right) is an English artist (with Irish roots) who lives in France and regularly has shows in Paris galleries.

Many of you already know that Guy Denning, a very popular artist living in France, did the cover art for Light of the Diddicoy. Well, I was finally able to see what the artwork looks like on the book and let me tell you, it is amazing. I was planning on keeping the artwork a secret for another month or two, but it’s already up on amazon.com, so I posted it above. There have been loads of compliments and I am very proud of the work Mr. Denning created. He latched onto this project even before I had a publisher and read a rough draft copy of the book when he decided to do the artwork. How many artists would do such a thing is that? so I have a big debt of gratitude to Mr. Denning as well for seeing into the future (I guess that’s what artists do though).

On the back cover, where other authors write about the book in a “blurb,” there is a 19th Century Brooklyn street map surrounding the Brooklyn waterfront close to the Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill, where the book takes place.

It’s all like a dream coming true. I am very excited and I hope you are too.

The email list for this blog has recently taken a big leap and we are now close to 3,000. Many of you requested to be added, others are family members and friends that will watch this project grow and, hopefully, on St. Patrick’s Day next year when the book is released, see it blossom into its own beauty.

Thank you so much,

Eamon