THE SHADOWS WE HIDE - THE SEQUEL

The Shadows We Hide, the sequel to The Life We Bury is on store shelves now and I'm proud of how it is being received. The Minneapolis TV station KARE 11 chose it for their January Book Club pick and we did a live Facebook discussion. KARE 11 was kind enough to put together a little clip - eleven things to know about yours truly - attached below, if you want to check it out.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare11-sunrise/11-things-to-know-about-mn-author-allen-eskens/89-ebac1427-8d6c-4b9c-a029-e57d80d0df8c?fbclid=IwAR1rQe14v-l4lmaG2lPfSMcOHYCuwEHchgzCWyotEk2u1Tfn4K4UoTZYt98

I also am honored to say that The Shadows We Hide is a finalist for both the Barry Award and the Minnesota Book Award. The Life We Bury was also nominated for both of these awards, winning the Barry that year. The Shadows We Hide was also chosen by Amazon and Barns and Noble as being a Best Book for November when it was launched.

It was great revisiting Joe, Lila, Jeremy and Kathy. It is also wonderful to hear from readers on Goodreads and Amazon who say they are loving the book. I just want to thank all of you who have read my work and took the time to reach out to me. I'll continue to do my best to keep writing novels that bring enjoyment to readers.

MY FIRST LIVE MORNING SHOW

I just survived my first, live morning show--Global News Toronto! Thank you Jeff McArthur for making this experience painless. And thank you Penguin Random House (and Samantha Ruinsky) for all your help.  interview

THE DEEP DARK DESCENDING

Today is the launch of THE DEEP DARK DESCENDING, my fourth novel. I'm excited to see it head out into the big world, and am grateful for the buzz it's getting. Entertainment Weekly has it on the top of their list for Best New Books (Oct. 6 ed.), and Amazon has chosen it as one of their Best Books of the Month, next to such names as Stephen King, Dan Brown, Harlan Coben, John Grisham, and more. I am also grateful to all the blog reviewers who take the time to read my work and comment on it. Your support is instrumental and greatly appreciated.

I am particularly grateful to Wendy Tyson who wrote a wonderful feature article about me and my books for The Big Thrill magazine. Today I begin the publicity tour and couldn't be more pleased. I look forward to meeting readers, so if you have a chance, stop by one of my events if you can. Now, back to writing!

Just a quick note--

One of the best lessons that I've learned is on what John Gardner called profluence. Profluence is that sense of compulsion that a writer instills in a reader which makes the reader want to (need to) keep reading. Gardner sums it up as follows:


 Page 1, even if it’s a page of description, must raise questions, suspicions and expectations; the mind casts forward to later pages, wondering what will come about and how. It is this casting forward that draws us from paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter. The moment we stop caring where the story will go next, the writer has failed and we stop reading.

--  John Gardner The Art of Fiction (writing on profluence)

THREE BOOKS -- A Great summary by TheShadesofOrange

I've been meaning to do a video blog to talk about having three books published:  
THE LIFE WE BURY,   
THE GUISE OF ANOTHER      &
THE HEAVENS MAY FALL
I wanted to discuss how each book is different and how readers with a particular preference may enjoy one book over another. Then low and behold, I came across this terrific video blog by TheShadesofOrange, where this brilliant young woman named Rachel did exactly that. Thank you Rachel for the great  post. 
Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snn5YYsMxYg

PBS Interview

On the eve (figuratively) of the launch of my third novel
THE HEAVENS MAY FALL (October 4, 2016), I continue to bask in the glow of the success of THE LIFE WE BURY. 

Today I would like to thank Kevin Hanson and the rest of his people at KSMQ/Off 90 for the wonderful PBS piece that they put together spotlighting my adventure as a writer. I love how it turned out and it captures the spirit of what I most enjoy about being a writer.


Take a look at the interview at the link below:
 KSMQ - Off 90 interview of Allen Eskens

A little video in honor of National Autism Month

To see the Erin Toland review that prompted this post click on the blog link below.

https://booksmusicallthingswritten.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/the-life-we-bury-by-allen-eskers-review/