It’s less than a week before The Caledonian Gambit is out there in the wild 1, so it seemed like a good time to let you know what’s going on in the run-up to the book’s official release.

Ratings and Reviews

First of all, a huge thanks to everybody who has preordered the book. You folks are all champs, and I really appreciate the support. This is something I’ve been working hard on for years, and I’m about as excited as a cat chasing a laser pointer that it’s about to happen.

If I may ask one last favor of you fine people: once you’ve read the book, if you like it, please tell the world.2 Tweet about it, tell your friends, climb up to the local rooftops and scream about it3, whatever.

If you’re looking for a slightly easier way to share your fondness for the book, Goodreads and Amazon both make it pretty easy to rate books, and if you have time to leave a review—even a short one such as “I really enjoyed this book!”—that’s a huge help. If you’d like to write more, by all means, go nuts. But reviews might help other people decide to check it out, and that means I get to keep writing books, which, I think we’ll all agree, is the best thing for everybody right now: you, me, America.

Goodreads Giveaway

Speaking of Goodreads, just in case you’ve been holding off on pre-ordering the book, you have an opportunity to win your very own paperback edition from Goodreads. My publisher is giving away copies of The Caledonian Gambit to five lucky entrants! (As of this writing, amazingly, 193 people have entered. So you still have better than a 1-in-40 chance, which is way more likely than winning the lottery, and, honestly, comes with fewer long-term downsides.) The contest runs through May 25, so you’ve still got time to drop your name in the hat.

Qwillery Poll

Looking for other fun ways to support the book? The Caledonian Gambit is facing off in the Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for May over at The Qwillery. We’ve got a pretty solid lead currently, but I don’t want to get cocky. If you haven’t yet taken a few seconds to register your vote, hit that link above and tell them how pretty you think the cover is.

Reading/Q&A/signing on 6/1

Boston-area people, if you’re looking for a chance to hear me read from the book, get your copy signed, and may even have your questions answered, good news! Thursday, June 1, at 7pm I’ll be at Newtonville Books in Newton Center, just a stone’s throw away from where I grew up. There’s a Facebook event to register your interest, if that’s your jam, but it’s not required, so feel free to drop by and say hi.

Signed copies

As long as we’re on the topic of signed copies, I’ve had a lot of people asking about how to have me scribble in their copy. At present, the only surefire way is to be in the Boston area, which is where I’m likely to hold most events. I’ll also be attending Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose early next month, so if you’re at the Relay FM meetup or some of the other events happening that week, just find me. (Or if you’re in the area but not at those events, shoot me a tweet and we’ll figure something out.)

I’m working on a way to accommodate those of you who aren’t in the Boston area, but I’m not quite ready to share that yet. When I am, you can be sure that I’ll let you know. If you want to be among the first to get the details, remember you can always sign up for my super low volume mailing list from the front page.

Thanks again for all your support. We’re in the home stretch here, so hold on tight.