Join the Team!

Last week, I told you about my forthcoming novel, The Last Con. If you liked Playing Saint, you’ll love this one. If you hated Playing Saint . . . I have to wonder why you’re reading this blog. That’s just weird, man.

Anyway, last week, I also teased my short story Microbes to entice you into sign up for my mailing list. And I promised that I wouldn’t e-mail you more than, like, once every two or three months. That’s still the case and you can sign up by clicking here or going to my website, www.zacharybartels.com.

But if you want to join my Street Team, you'll want to send me an e-mail at streetteam@zacharybartels.com, letting me know that you're willing to help spread the word about the book when it comes out (via facebook, twitter, goodreads, good old fashioned word-of-mouth, etc.).

Over the past four months, a number of people have e-mailed me, telling me they'd be happy to help promote my books however they can. And I've said, “Wow, that's nice of you. Thanks.” But according to the publicist at HarperCollins, I should have been saying, “Well, then join my street team.”Also, I should have a "street team."

(Aside: I kind of hate the term “street team” because it makes me think of Breakway Magazine in the early ’90s with some “radical” neon design on the cover... but apparently, it's an industry standard term, so why mess with it?)

So, what’s in it for you if you sign on? First, you’ll feel a distinctive warm sensation in the cockles of your heart, as you help out a young author with the release of his sophomore book. Also, you’ll get some exclusive content in your inbox from time to time (starting with the first couple chapters of The Last Con and the sample Chapter I wrote for the as-of-yet untitled Playing Saint sequel). But wait—there’s more! Ginsui knives! I’m giving away ginsu knives!

No, I’m not.

But I do have in my possession two Advanced Reader Copies of The Last Con (which comes out July 7) that I am planning to give away in a couple weeks. And they’ll be going members of the Street Team. Click here to e-mail me about joining the street team (clearly I can’t stop saying "street team," despite hating the term, and can't decide if “street team” should be capitalized or not), or just do whatever you do to compose an e-mail and address it to streetteam@zacharybartels.com.

Also, it’s my birthday today. And all I want for my birthday is your unswerving dedication to promoting my books. Or, ya know, some K-cups and a Monte Cristo.
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The Con is On in Sixty Days

It’s the seventh of May. In two months, my next book The Last Con hits bookstore shelves. I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait for you to read it.

When people hear I have another book coming out, “Is it a sequel?” is the most common question. The answer is, no, it doesn't involve Parker Saint or the Jesuits Militant (although, literally ten minutes ago, I was finishing up a book proposal for a second Parker Saint book). It does, however, contain a lot of the same elements: snarky humor, shadowy societies and religious orders, a conflicted protagonist, and an ancient Christian relic. Add to all that mob enforcers, elaborate heists, con men, kidnappers, and computer hackers.

Here’s the back cover copy:

The Knights of Malta were there when Jerusalem fell, they were there when the Templars disintegrated, and they’re there now . . . waiting in Detroit for a born-again con man trying to save his family.

Former con man Fletcher Doyle is finally home after six years in the pen. He’s working a menial job, regaining his bearings in the world, and trying to revive his relationships with his wife and twelve-year-old daughter. No easy feat.

But when Fletcher and his family go on a mission trip to Detroit—in the company of the condescending church leader who also happens to be his landlord—Fletcher finds his old life waiting for him. Within hours of arriving in the city, he’s been blackmailed into doing a job for a mysterious criminal who calls himself The Alchemist.

A series of relics hidden by the Knights of Malta, as ancient as they are priceless, are in the sights of The Alchemist. What he needs is a gifted grifter with a background in ecclesiastical history . . . what he needs is Fletcher Doyle.

Between hiding his reawakened criminal life from his wife, and trying to hide her from their relentless landlord, Fletcher is ready to give up. But when his family is drawn into the dangerous world he can’t shake, Fletcher is forced to rely on his years in the game to save the only people who mean more to him than the biggest con in history.

If you’d like to receive the first couple chapters in your inbox, and have a chance to win an advanced copy, six weeks before it comes out, check back here on Monday!
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