SEPTEMBER 2026

Lift-Off!

Tristan 4 America Launches Today

Today’s the day, which is frankly a bit of a mirage because—as many of you know—books started shipping a week or two ago. No matter, life requires milestones, and this is a milestone for me: the release of my second novel, just four short years after the release of my first.

Fittingly, this milestone falls during Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of books the powers that be don’t want you to read—which, of course, gives you just one more reason to go out and read them. In my March Newsletter, I wrote about the genesis of Tristan 4 America: a global peace march in 1969, hours spent with my mother watching the Watergate hearings in 1972, and the deep political awareness and curiosity that those youthful experiences engendered. Fairness and compassion were lodged in my very bones during those early years, and I feel pretty confident that the current powers that be—the powers of avarice, greed, and corruption—absolutely do not want you to read the “unabashedly progressive manifesto” that is Tristan 4 America. So be it. They’ll never find me. I’m way too small-time for them.

Your Chance at a Free Copy of Tristan 4 America

Only 23 days left to enter the Goodreads Giveaway for Tristan 4 America that will run through Oct. 29th. You can join, on latest count, almost 1,200 people vying for one of five free copies. And while you’re there, feel free to click through to my Goodreads author page and ask me a question! (Or you could just respond to this email. That would work, too.)

Launch Celebration

As a reminder to my friends in the Bay Area (and those who might be traveling through on Oct. 22nd), we’ll celebrate the launch of Tristan 4 America! on that Thursday evening, and I hope to see you there.

Thursday, Oct. 22nd, 6:30 p.m.
Rinconada Library
1213 Newell Rd., Palo Alto

And please RSVP! It’ll really help us to have some idea of the headcount. Here are more details, and it’s a picture, and you can click it to go to the event listing on the Rinconada Library website! Technology at its finest!

Coming Attractions

On top of the Oct. 22nd Launch Celebration, you’ll find me on several podcasts over the next few months, including:

• Beer, Bestie, Banish, Lori Duff’s hilarious, but also insightful YouTube show that asks authors the question, which character in your novel would you want to have a beer with, which would be your bestie, and which would you banish from your life altogether. I taped this on last month and had great fun with it. Lori will release the episode in early November.

• Small Publishing in a Big Universe (SPBU), the podcast from the SPBU Marketplace, which aims to promote small, independent publishers and their authors (like me!) I had a great conversation with host Lisa Jacob last month, and they also plan to release the episode in November.

• The Creative Writing Life, hosted by Paul Zeidman, whose interviews tend to go deep on both the work and the individual author. I won’t tape this one until January 2027, but I’ve listened to several past episodes, and Paul is a real pro. I am very much looking forward to this one.

And no need to worry about keeping track of those. I will most definitely be keeping you up-to-date in future newsletters.

Publication News

I’ve written nonfiction for years, posting dozens of essays and short pieces online for free. In 2024, I decided to take it up a notch, writing a personal essay, “Winds of the Great Shame,” about my mother’s death and Irish Catholic heritage, and lo and behold, the essay was published in an excellent online magazine, Merion West. Sadly, Merion West has since constructed a paywall, so you can’t read my full essay without becoming a subscriber. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to learn that “Winds of the Great Shame” had been chosen by the editors for the magazine’s decennial collection, The Best of Merion West: 2016–2026. Suffice to say, you might see more nonfiction from me in the future, so stay tuned!

In case you missed them, previous editions of the Bruce Overby newsletter can be viewed online here.

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