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06/20/2006 - In Chapter 13 I write about a bar where the proprietor refuses to sell light beer.  I used to sit in the corner and listen to writers talk about writing.  It's called The Joynt, and here it is from the outside.  Here's what it's like to be inside.  Here is a beer in the Joynt, on the famous coaster.  And this is looking out from the back.  The writers used to hang out at a table under the stained glass on the left.

And that's Harry's chair.

06/26/2006 - In Chapter 11 you meet my friend Ozzie.  Ozzie has been rebuilding a '68 Dodge Charger.  It's pretty much done now.  Here's a set of Before and After photos.

07/15/2006 - The first line of the Introduction to Truck: A Love Story (release date: October 17, 2006):

"The story begins on a pile of sheep manure the size of a yurt."

Yep.  A yurt.

08/03/2006 - Here's how a HarperCollins press release describes the new book:

“All I wanted to do,” says Michael Perry, “was get my old pickup truck running.  That, and plant a little vegetable garden.  Then I got distracted by this woman…”  

The utterly unexpected results of that distraction are documented between the covers of TRUCK: A Love Story (HarperCollins Publishers: October 17, 2006).  From the opening sentence – The story begins on a pile of sheep manure the size of a yurt – Perry turns TRUCK into an offbeat jaunt in which the author struggles to grow his own food (“Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined”), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley; another’s best Sunday shirt reads 100 PERCENT WHUP-ASS) and sort out his love life.  Along the way, he starts his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans .  

As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck lives in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor; a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so his quadriplegic pal can ride along; a bartender who refuses to sell light beer; an enchanting woman who existed only on the inside flap of a cookbook, and half the staff of National Public Radio.  

Hilarious and heartfelt by turns, TRUCK is above all a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love.  “We plunge into love with a naivete that ignores all prior humiliations,” writes Perry.  “Thank goodness, I guess.”

08/04/2006 - John Shimon and Julie Lindemann shot the cover for Truck: A Love Story.  Here's a picture from the actual photo shoot.

08/12/2006 - HarperCollins has a program called "First Look" in which they select readers at random to review advance copies of new books. I don't know how long this will last, but right now they've got my new book Truck: A Love Story on the list.  Program information and a short Truck synopsis here.  And an expanded version of the page here. 

08/25/2006 - Well this was fun: The star of my next book got to be the star (for ten seconds or so, anyway) of a movie.  Thank you Wut Wut Alma for the invite.  (See the August 24, 2006, entry -- I'm not sure how the link will work once they update.)  Oh, and that's my elbow sticking out the window.  Ayep.  No stunt elbows for me, I do it all.

08/30/2006 - The new book is reviewed by Publishers Weekly.  Can't complain.

09/01/2006 - Truck: A Love Story will be officially released October 17.  But you can read the introduction here, today, now.  Yep.

09/06/2006 - My friends John & Julie came to shoot some pictures of the old International pickup I write about in Truck: A Love Story.  The mosquitoes were bad and I kept waving my hands around my head right up until it was time to shoot, which is why, in this picture it looks like I am dancing.

09/21/2006 - Both Kirkus Reviews and Booklist have had their say about Truck: A Love Story.  You need a subscription to get the reviews direct, but the Kirkus review is posted here (scroll down), and the Booklist review is posted here (again, you may have to scroll down).

10/08/2006 - There's a nice mention of Truck: A Love Story over at Woodburners We Recommend.  You have to scroll down some.  In, as they say, the interest of full disclosure, I should quite happily reveal I am currently reading Bob Arnold's Sunswumthru A Building, and it is full of good meditation.  Gentle, thoughtful and real, plus with calluses.

10/09/2006 - Wow.  I'm sitting here a little misty.  In Truck: A Love Story, I write about a guy I call Ozzie (that's not his real name, but he's a real guy).  Ozzie was injured many years ago and is a quadriplegic.  But he's always been a speed freak and a gearhead, and that didn't change after his injury.  In the book I tell about how his buddy (a paraplegic) took Ozzie for a motorcycle ride (that's a different story for a different time).  Way back in 1984, Ozz started restoring a '68 Dodge Charger.  Then he served in the Army.  Then he got injured.  But he has never given up on riding in that Charger, and has been overseeing its restoration ever since I've known him.  Now, over twenty years and one high-level spinal fracture later, he finished the job.  Here's footage of his first ride: Video: Medium Resolution (6 MB) or High Resolution (18 MB).  Ozzie, I couldn't be prouder of you (even if you did shave your beard this once, which makes you look far too respectable).  For you motor enthusiasts, that's a 426 fuel-injected blown Hemi whining along there.

TRUCK: A LOVE STORY (now available in paperback)

Contact and place an order at a bookstore near you: BookSense Bookstore Locator.

Order from Amazon.

Order at Barnes & Noble.

Order at Books-A-Million.

Place PayPal order for a signed copy direct from author (delivery may be delayed if Mike is out on the road):

Paying for signed copy with check or money order?  Order here.