CHRIS HOLM

CHILD ZERO 's very first review, courtesy of Brandon Sears at Every Read Thing , is an unqualified rave! Here's a taste (click through to read the rest): When this book hits shelves in May, you need to race to your local bookstore and grab a copy... CHILD ZERO reads like the literary equivalent of a standalone big budget summer blockbuster... CHILD ZERO is not only a thrilling novel, but an urgent warning about our future and the dire consequences we all face if nothing is done to alter the course.  Many thanks, Brandon! I'm elated (and not just a little relieved) that you enjoyed it.

I'm thrilled to report that my thirty-first short story—a seasonally appropriate crime tale called "Christmas, 1983"—is now  live for your reading pleasure at Beat to a Pulp ! Editor David Cranmer and I go way back, so I'm delighted to once more grace the pages of his publication. Oddly, this is my third Christmas story, after 2011's "The Final Bough" (for my former publisher's website) and 2018's "Con Season" (for the gun-control charity anthology UNLOADED 2). Nine more, and I'll have enough for a TWELVE CRIMES OF CHRISTMAS themed collection!

Though CHILD ZERO 's release date is still five months away, advance reading copies have begun making their way into the world. I'm elated comma terrified. Don't get me wrong; I think the book is good. I worked hard to make it so, and early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. But, after five years of obsessing over every plot point and punctuation mark, I'm finding it a challenge to cede control—particularly knowing that the version many peers, reviewers, and book bloggers are going to see is not final. For the uninitiated, ARCs are typically printed from uncorrected proofs, meaning the text has been copyedited, but not yet reread—and, having since reviewed my proof pages, I know  CHILD ZERO 's ARCs contain errors. Intellectually speaking, I'm aware  all books contain errors, and CHILD ZERO 's are relatively minor. Hell, of the twenty items I flagged for correction, at least seven aren't technically errors , so much as clumsy writing—and another

Greetings, Earthlings! I come bearing a veritable cornucopia of CHILD ZERO news. First, as you can plainly see, the book now has a cover—and a mighty fine one, at that. (Three cheers for  Mulholland 's art department!) It's also got an official release date—May 10, 2022—so kindly mark your calendars. Hmm... what else? Well, after five excruciating years of secrecy, I'm finally ready to give y'all a taste of what CHILD ZERO is about . Lastly, I'm happy to report that CHILD ZERO is now available for preorder! If you'd like to make my day by picking up a copy or twelve, you can do so via the links below. Amazon  /  Apple Books  /  Barnes & Noble  /  Google Play  /  Indiebound

Say, do you have plans on Thursday, March 25, at 9PM Eastern (6PM Pacific)? No? Then why not join my wife and I (virtually, of course) for a little booklife chat? For those of you who don't know, Katrina Niidas Holm is a prolific writer, editor, and critic. Her work has appeared in such publications as Kirkus , Publishers Weekly , The Life Sentence, and the Los Angeles Review of Books . As if that weren't enough, she's also the small and independent press columnist for Mystery Scene Magazine —so, between the two of us, we know a thing or two about the world of publishing, and crime fiction specifically. The Zoom event , which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Portland, Oregon nonprofit Friends of Mystery . Care to attend? You can sign up here.  The event kicks off with a casual hangout at 8:30PM Eastern (5:30PM Pacific). Our song and dance routine* kicks off 9PM Eastern (6PM Pacific), and we'll leave time to answer questions, so be thinking. Hope to