MAY 2026

The Nicest Thing

Here’s the thing: If you’re a reader—and I expect most of you who still receive this newsletter are—you should always feel free to reach out to an author whose book you’ve read and admired, because receiving messages of appreciation are absolutely the nicest thing that can happen to an author. Last month, I received just such a message out of the blue on Facebook. It came from a connection from the distant past, a fellow student at Branham High School in the 1970s, a friend of a friend, and it absolutely made my month, and possibly my year.

The thing about messages like this is not just the appreciation they show for the hard work we authors put in to get our novels done and out into the world, but the affirmation of knowing that someone has actually read our books. This may sound silly, but many authors harbor the basic assumption that no one reads anything we write. This is particularly acute for emerging authors like me who may have only sold a few hundred books. Knowing those books have been sold and are out there still doesn’t convince us that the books are being read. It is only through thoughtful messages like this that we really get that charge that comes with knowing we have a reader, a real flesh-and-blood reader who, incidentally, has nice things to say and has actually taken the time to say them.

So, if you have a minute, take a minute. Drop a message on social media like this person did, or go to the person’s website and fill out the contact form, or send a direct email if the address is available, whatever. Because with every book you read, you have an opportunity to absolutely make that author’s month, or year, or… And, if you happen to have an account on either Amazon or Goodreads or both, definitely drop a quick review. Every. Single. Review. will help that author’s book sales. Every. Single. One. [Off soapbox]

Friendship, Trust, and Pinky Swear

My last newsletter included a call-out to my fellow Bay Area denizens about my good friend Danielle Girard’s appearance at Book Passage Corte Madera, where she promoted her new novel Pinky Swear. Seeing Danielle in person for the first time in several years, hearing her drop serious knowledge about penetrating topics like motherhood, friendship, and trust—all of which she explores deftly in her new novel—and then engaging that conversation, along with Caroline, over dinner with her local friends and family, well, this is the stuff life is made of. I am truly blessed.

And people, buy this book or check it out from your library. There may be a waiting list, but I can tell you, it’ll be worth it. In this, her 17th novel, Danielle has hit it out of the park.

These Are My People

I’m going to be honest with you, when I signed up to participate in the Rinconada Library Book Fair on April 4th, I had pretty low expectations. In my mind’s eye, I’d sit at a table with my copies of The Cyclone Release ready to sell and my Tristan 4 America information sheets there for the taking. I’d hit anyone who happened to stop by with the quick pitch I’d just thought up (“Ever read a Silicon Valley love story before?”), and at some point, I’d share bits of wisdom with a sparse crowd of local seniors during a half-hour authors’ panel. This is what I expected.

What I got instead was a mind-boggle. Lo and behold, here were my people. A panel of publishers first on the program included a former technical writer and a former technical publications manager, both jobs I had had during my Silicon Valley career. The people who stopped by my table were not just readers, but writers, and not just any writers, but writers who were writing novels set in Silicon Valley. And the authors’ panel included a graphic novelist, Danièle Archambault, a poet, Hilary King, and a fellow novelist, Raj Ota, each of whom shared truly eye-opening insights. What’s more, Raj had studied with Angela Pneuman at Stanford, just as I had, allowing both of us to read Angela’s praise for our books from the book fair stage. A conversation with another Angela Pneuman acolyte, Shari Clare, the Vice-President of the California Writers Club South Bay Chapter, led to a guest speaking engagement at the club this coming August. Another conversation, with Steve Radecki, Publisher at Paper Angel Press, led to a future podcast appearance on the Small Publishing in a Big Universe podcast, which we’ll tape in September.

Surprises, indeed, will never cease.

Tristan 4 America Update

The launch date for my new novel, Tristan 4 America, has been set for October 6th of this year, and it’ll be available for pre-order in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more on that, and for news on publicity and promotions, in future newsletters.

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

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