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Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh

Davidson, North Carolina

A former intelligence officer, Joe holds degrees from the Defense Language Institute and Suffolk University Law School. His freelance writing has featured in WSJ and been syndicated by Reuters.

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About the author

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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Pre-orders

452

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$7,230.00

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452copies
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Success! Columbia has already sold 452 pre-orders , was pitched to 102 publishers , and will be published by Sunbury Press .
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$20 FIRST EDITION

38 readers

One First Edition copy of Columbia.

1 copy + ebook included

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462 of 500 left

$25 SIGNED FIRST EDITION

52 readers

One First Edition copy of Columbia, hand signed by the author.

1 copy + ebook included

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48 of 100 left

$45 SIGNED FIRST EDITION BUNDLE

26 readers

Two First Edition copies of Columbia, hand signed by the author, and recognition in the acknowledgments.

2 copies + ebook included

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$125 COLUMBIA BOOK CLUB PACKAGE

2 readers

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

15 readers

Twenty First Edition copies of Columbia + author appearance at your party or book store event for a reading and signing of the book.

20 copies + ebook included

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Update #3 - DON'T Keep it 100! Jan. 31, 2019

Learn why I won't be recreating an iconic photo in today's update: https://twotreestwomoremiles.b...

Last night, Columbia hit 100 pre-orders and sailed on past. As of this morning the book has more than 125 pre-orders on Publishizer.

THANK YOU for helping me send the message to publishers that there is a market for this book and for a series about a spy who represents the best of America's diversity.The top-selling thriller title in Publishizer's history sold 434 copies, so you know where this is headed: the goal is to break 500!

Please help me spread the word!