Chicken Ranch report no. 73: So... this happened

So, today was quite eventful. I accomplished quite a bit--some pretty cool things are breaking in my favor--and I was all set to blog about them when I got home this evening. Then this happened:

The box was sitting in my office when I got home and HOLY GEEZE GUYS! I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! Okay, hang on, let me catch my breath... I MEAN IT'S ALMOST SIX WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE RELEASE DATE AND I KNEW THEY WERE GETTING CLOSE TO PRINTING BUT THOUGHT MAYBE I'D GET COPIES MID-JULY OR SOMETIME!

Oh my. I'm giddy. This is seven years of my life here, a project that I originally thought would demand maybe six months of effort, tops. Instead it turned into my own personal albatross, a Sisyphean stone that took on rectangular form with pages that flapped in between the stony covers. There were times I thought it might never see print. But now it's a real, tangible thing in my hands. And let me tell you, it's a handsome book. It's a hefty book. I mean, it is substantial. Until now I hadn't realized how much of a presence 110,000 words were, plus two appendices, plus 741 endnotes, plus an index... Nobody will mistake it for one of George R.R. Martin's books, true, but that doesn't mean you couldn't inflict serious injury on someone if you flung it at them hard enough. The pages are of semi-glossy stock, slick and smooth and very kind to the 100 illustrations included therein. Physically, it's dense. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

And yes, I've already found typos. Thanks for asking.

Since I have a for-true book now, I suppose it apropos that I share the for-true book signings I have on the calendar for the coming months:

I will be at BookPeople in Austin on August 15 at 7 p.m.

I will be at the Twig in San Antonio on August 19 at 7 p.m.

I will be at the Memorial Student Center Bookstore on the Texas A&M University campus prior to the A&M-UCLA football game September 3, and again October 8 prior to the A&M-Tennessee football game. Signing times are yet to be determined.

That's not all, folks. I've got more groovy events in the works that I'll be sharing in the coming weeks. This is going to be an exciting autumn for me!

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse is now listed on both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com for pre-order.

Title: Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse
Author: Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
ISBN: 978.1.46713.563.4

Ghosts of the Chicken Ranch is still available:

Ghosts of the Chicken Ranch by Jayme Blaschke & Lisa Blaschke

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