COLUMBIA is based on Joe's experience as a US Army intelligence officer and interrogator working on counter-terrorism between 2001 and 2006.
COLUMBIA is a crackling story that draws its inspiration from inside the mind of an intel officer who is familiar with the most grave threats to our country and the nefarious ways in which divisive groups plot to exploit weaknesses in our nation and its security infrastructure.
The story has its genesis in Joe's desire to tell an espionage story that moves like the genre's best page-turners but challenges the trope that the spy hero is always a ruggedly handsome man who can kill ten bad guys with a toothpick.
Sami Lakhani is a different kind of spy hero. The decision to make the protagonist of the story a Muslim-American and part of the LGBT community arose from three choices.
First, the artistic choice to do everything possible to represent historically underrepresented groups in mainstream fiction.
Second, Sami's sexual identity plays and important part in shaping the early plot as the presumed driver of the estrangement between him and his conservative grandfather. As readers soon discover, there is a dark family secret that Sami has long suspected that truly lies at the heart of their separation.
Third, in spite of every movie and book portrayal, the people of the IC are not all square-jawed muscle men or women with cunning to match their knockout looks. Sami represents the cerebral and immensely talented people who serve in our IC, many of whom are newly-arrived Americans with strong cultural, linguistic and family ties throughout the world.
A first-time novelist, Joe holds undergraduate degrees from Boston University (BA, English) and the Defense Language Institute (AA, Russian), and a JD from Suffolk University Law School. As a lawyer, he was writing assistant on one of the definitive legal reference manuals for energy and environmental law. Joe's freelance writing has featured in the Wall Street Journal and been syndicated by Reuters.
COLUMBIA is Joe's first novel. If it is wildly successful and publishers are willing to let him write anything he wants next, he has already prepared a nonfiction proposal for SOCCER, SAVE MY SOUL, a soccer travelogue and guide to the beautiful game for Americans.
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$20 FIRST EDITION
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One First Edition copy of Columbia.
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$25 SIGNED FIRST EDITION
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One First Edition copy of Columbia, hand signed by the author.
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$45 SIGNED FIRST EDITION BUNDLE
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Two First Edition copies of Columbia, hand signed by the author, and recognition in the acknowledgments.
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$125 COLUMBIA BOOK CLUB PACKAGE
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5 copies of the autographed first edition of the book "Columbia" + book club discussion materials package custom-designed for your club by the author.
5 copies + ebook included
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$250 BOOK STORE AND HOUSE PARTY PACKAGE Sold out
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Twenty First Edition copies of Columbia + author appearance at your party or book store event for a reading and signing of the book.
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Good Morning -
This is it! Fifteen hours remain on the Columbia pre-order campaign. The book has sold 425 copies, NINE AWAY FROM SETTING A THRILLER RECORD on Publishizer.
I am hoping someone may want to snap up the final book party package that is available. Pre-order link is: https://pszr.co/rLFfm
For that final book party, I will offer a special incentive: whoever buys this final package will have the right to host the book launch.
That's right, even after I sign a deal with a Big 5 publisher and they want me at Politics and Prose in DC or - more likely - to fly first class to Paris and do the launch at Shakespeare and Company <YAWN!>, I'll say, "Sorry folks, my very good friend and favorite pre-order reader has rights on the launch!"
"Fresh Air with Terry Gross will have to wait," I'll tell them. Because I'll be at your house!
So, please consider upgrading to a book party package. Even if that is not in the cards, I would love it if you would share the book one more time on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Periscope, and so on...
The link to share is https://pszr.co/rLFfm
Thank you again for all of your support.
Best,
Joe