Screwing Up Babylon, release date

Assuming my proofreader makes it through the confluence of storms without being flooded out, Screwing Up Babylon should be available by next Tuesday! (Probably sooner.)

As soon as the book is live on Amazon, I'll post it here.

It's getting exciting. I've bought a bottle of champagne, smoked salmon, gourmet crackers, and Wensleydale cheese with cranberries. (And, of course, chocolate--dark chocolate with blackberries and Cabernet.) So we'll be celebrating soon. I'll post photos.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my office wall.

Monkey Madness Blog Hop and Excerpt

With the release of Screwing Up Babylon coming quickly, I’ve been trying think of ways to promote the book that support other writers too.

One idea that caught my attention is doing a themed blog hop. (I’ve seen this done once before, and fellow blogger Katie from Creepy Query Girl mentioned it in one of her posts.) In Screwing Up Babylon, Mark meets a monkey who becomes his friend and nemesis. (And in a hint to future things, Mark has a bizarre experience with a peacock in the Screwing Up Time short story, "Screwing Up Mongolia," which will be coming out in December.) So I thought it might be fun to share strange animal experiences--funny, scary, or odd. In the hop, everyone who participates would write a post about an unusual animal experience. 

If you’re interested in participating, contact me at connie (dot)m(dot) keller (at)gmail.com (or just leave me a comment). If there’s enough interest, I’ll set everything up and get the details to you.

Here's an excerpt from Mark's experience with Charlie the Chimp:

The monkey grabbed a lime off a platter and threw it. It grazed my temple. If I hadn’t ducked, it would’ve hit me smack in the face. If the Yankees needed a new starting pitcher, Charlie the Crazed Chimp would fit the bill.

He grabbed another lime.

I’d had enough of this. The Crazed Chimp was going down. I would—

Hailey put an arm in front of me.

“What?”

She pulled a strip of candied orange peel from a pocket in her tunic. Charlie lowered his arm. Slowly, Hailey waggled the candy back and forth. The lime rolled from Charlie’s hand. He stepped toward us. 

“Come on, Charlie,” I encouraged. “You know you want the candy.”

He scurried toward us. His nostrils twitched, and his hand reached for the orange peel. The note fell to the floor.

I snatched it, trying not to gloat. After all, he was only a monkey, and Hailey was the one who outsmarted him, not me. Still, I couldn’t resist saying, “Man over monkey any day.”

Screwing Up Babylon, Chapter One

For everyone who's been waiting, here's Screwing Up Babylon, Chapter One. Click here: Read Chapter One.

My amazing web guru has placed the excerpt on a separate page under "My Books" so that the excerpt is easy to find for anyone who visits the page whether it's today or next year. The link above will take you directly there. If you ever want to read it again, just look under "My Books" (it's one of the tabs in the blog header).

I have three chapters to proofread and then it will be time to format the book. I don't have a final publishing date, but it will be out this month baring any last minutes disasters like computer malfunctions. Next Tuesday, I hope to be able to give you a release date.

Cover Art Reveal for Screwing Up Babylon

My wonderful graphic designer Tara Rimondi finished the cover art for Screwing Up Babylon. It always amazes me that she can take my book blurb/description and come up with a design that completely captures the tone and feel of the novel.

Here's the blurb: Babylon, one of the most powerful and notorious empires ever, is the last place Mark wants to go. But when he discovers his girlfriend Miranda has been kidnapped and given to the king as a concubine, he travels through the colors of time to rescue her. It won’t be easy, not when the Hanging Gardens are a trap, his life is the prize in a game, and time is a prison. It will take all Mark’s cunning, the help of his friends, and a crazed chimp to free Miranda. When he does, time itself begins to unravel, and a life must be sacrificed or no one will survive.

And here's the cover.

The art on the bottom of the cover is an illustration of the Hanging Gardens done by Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574).

Next week Tuesday, I'll be posting the first chapter of the novel. 

Screwing Up Babylon blurb

For all of my wonderful readers, here's the blurb you've been waiting for!

Babylon, one of the most powerful and notorious empires ever, is the last place Mark wants to go. But when he discovers his girlfriend Miranda has been kidnapped and given to the king as a concubine, he travels through the colors of time to rescue her. It won’t be easy, not when the Hanging Gardens are a trap, his life is the prize in a game, and time is a prison. It will take all Mark’s cunning, the help of his friends, and a crazed chimp to free Miranda. When he does, time itself begins to unravel, and a life must be sacrificed or no one will survive.

One more bit of exciting news, my graphic artist Tara Rimondi is working on the cover art. She did such an amazing job on Screwing Up Time, I can't wait to see how she envisions Screwing Up Babylon.

If all goes well, Screwing Up Babylon should be published sometime near the end of the month. (Though I'm not making any promises because the past 14 months have been crazy--8 surgeries between me, my kids, and my parents.)