A Comonplace Book

It was surreal to watch Sandy make landfall near Atlantic City even as my new novel, much of which takes place in that town, was released.

Whenever a natural disaster occurs, I get a sick feeling of helplessness. I’ve learned to counter that by doing something, even something small, to offset the overwhelming feelings.

So I’ve picked out a charity near Atlantic City, the Food Bank of South Jersey, and for every sale of Dead Man’s Hand at BVC during November, I’ll donate $2 to them.

I’m starting off with a $50 donation now, because I know they need the funds now. If the book sells more than 25 copies at BVC this month, I’ll send more.

So tell your friends. If you’d like to read a nice poker zombie story, and want to do a little something to help the folks who got hit hard by Sandy, this is a way to do both.

Dead Man’s Hand by Pati Nagle

Wild Bill Hickok awakens to the feel of flesh crawling onto his bones. Alive again, in the graveyard in Deadwood on a cold October night, he has an irresistible compulsion to go to Atlantic City.

There, in the mysterious and magical Black Queen casino, he joins a rogue’s gallery of resurrected scoundrels, all gamblers who were murdered like himself. Will the father of organized crime revert to his bad habits and attempt to take over the Queen? Will Wild Bill finally find out if those aces and eights are winners? Five murdered men sit down to a poker tournament for the highest possible stakes: the right to stay alive.