Latest news with #FatherofMine
NBC Sports
a day ago
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Big Shield, available now
Here's the thing about having a stack of unfinished manuscripts. At some point, each one needs to have its ass kicked out of the nest. Big Shield gets its big shove today. The pre-orders were surprisingly solid. I have no idea whether anyone will like it. I'm too close to it to know whether it's any good. I've read it at least twenty times. Refined it. Added to it. Subtracted from it. It's ultimately a word-by-word exercise in reading and re-reading and re-re-reading with no clear ending point other than deciding one day that it has to end. On the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, the first thing I thought when I woke up (other than, 'I need to piss') was that it's time for Big Shield to leave the logjam. It has officially exited, joining Father of Mine, Son of Mine, and On Our Way Home. You can get the Big Shield ebook for only 99 cents. It's stupid, I know, to sell it for so little. I don't care about the money. (I really don't.) PFT pays the bills. I like having a creative outlet to balance out the endless stream of (as Simms calls it) copy/paste/snarky comment about football. Big Shield is the first one about football. Pro football (but for legal reasons not the NFL). Football, gambling, the mob. The goal is to tell a good story, with circumstances that seem realistic and dialogue that rings true. Conflict. Tension. Twists. Turns. An ending that is surprising but, in hindsight, inevitable. Big Shield has all of that. I hope you'll give it a try. I hope you'll like it. If you do, I hope you'll check out one of the other three. I hope you'll anticipate the next one. And the next one. And the next one. Currently, there are six others stuck in the hopper, and a seventh one is under construction. (There's also a short story that scared the shit out of me as I was writing it; I'm still figuring out what to do with that one.) The goal is 20 novels. If I get to 20, I'll probably go for 30. At some point over the past five years, writing became part of the routine, the same as doing PFT Live every weekday morning and then looking for things to write about here until I unplug from the real world around nine o'clock and spend a couple of hours in the strange realm of make believe. I never have writer's block. I start typing, and the words roll out. When it gets going, there's a trance that's as potent as any liquor or drug. And probably as addictive. I'll keep writing because it's fun. Hopefully, it's fun for you to read what I've written. I hope you will. I enjoy hearing from people who found themselves whisked away to a different time, different place. Wanting to know what happens next. Caring about characters who don't exist but who seem very real. If you haven't read anything I've written (other than the stuff you read here), Big Shield is the perfect place to start. Especially since, at 99 cents, I'm basically giving it away.
NBC Sports
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
One-city Big Shield book tour is coming
Big Shield arrives in 10 days. Already, it has more preorders than the three prior novels (Father of Mine, Son of Mine, On Our Way Home) combined. It makes sense, since we're selling a football book on a football website. And it's going to do well, because it's an entertaining story (I believe) on an important topic (I know) in sports. Gambling. Organized crime. Inside information. Under the right (or wrong) combination, things will get interesting. The process of getting the word out for Big Shield includes mentioning the book here from time to time. And talking about it on radio shows and podcasts. (If you've got a show and you're interested in a season preview in exchange for a plug, I'm easy to find.) While I've never done a book tour for any of the five books (including Playmakers) and counting, Big Shield requires a big move in order to promote big sales. A one-city (for now) tour is coming. For one specific appearance. Stay tuned for more details. Until then, it's time to give away a third free, signed copy from the first box of Big Shield books. Send an email to florio@ with this subject line: '8/9/25 Big Shield Giveaway.' Also, preorder the book if you haven't. Even though they say sports novels don't sell, you're already proving them wrong. It probably helps that the ebook is only 99 cents. So do yourself a favor. Get a good book for less than a buck. And do me a favor. Drive the sales to the point where those who say sports novels don't sell will need to add an asterisk to their calculations.
NBC Sports
19-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Get one of the first copies of Big Shield, free and signed
It arrives one month from today. And you can get one of the first copies printed. This weekend's giveaway will give you the second copy of Big Shield that comes out of the first box of books I receive. (The first copy goes straight to the PFT barn.) To enter, you know the drill. Send an email to florio@ with this subject line: '7/19/25 Big Shield Giveaway.' Throw in an address for sending it, with a preferred inscription. For now, the process of proofreading the galleys continues. It's a careful, detailed, and at times excruciating process. Page by page. Line by line. Word by word. And it's more than a hunt for typos. There's something about seeing the words not in their raw, double-spaced word-processor form but in the final font. Last call. Tweak now or forever hold your piece. I'm more than a third of the way through. I'll get it done soon. And it will be ready to go on August 19. You can preorder the ebook for only 99 cents — which is a moronic decision by me. And that's not a bit. It is a stupidly low price point. Still, I made a New Year's resolution to hold the line for all ebook fiction at 99 cents. The goal is to encourage people to choose to read for enjoyment, after being conditioned to hate reading after being forced to do it in school. Whether it's Father of Mine, Son of Mine, On Our Way Home, or the upcoming Big Shield, you'll regard the 99 cents as the best 99 cents you've spent in a long time. Especially since, these days, there's nothing you spend only 99 cents on. Ninety-nine cents. Ninety-nine. Click it, buy it, and (starting a month from now) read it.
NBC Sports
12-07-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Father of Mine, Son of Mine are always free on Kindle Unlimited
Every one in a while, we'll set the price of Father of Mine and/or Son of Mine to free. There's a way to read both of them for free (or, technically, at no additional charge) any and every day. Kindle Unlimited gives you the unlimited (thus the title) ability to read more than four million books. It's $11.99 a month, with a free 30-day trial. You'll have unfettered access to Father of Mine (mob story set in the '70s), Son of Mine (sequel), On Our Way Home (Christmas/ghost story), and Big Shield (coming August 19). Recently, the total Kindle Unlimited page count for Father of Mine, Son of Mine, and On Our Way Home crossed surpassed 300,000. You also can buy the ebooks for 99 cents each. Including Big Shield, which can be pre-ordered here. (They're going like digital hotcakes.) There's been a clear uptick in book sales lately. Maybe it's positive word of mouth. Maybe the growing throng of positive reviews are moving the needle. Regardless, you'll find few books as cheap as 99 cents. And it gets no cheaper than free (or no additional charge) on Kindle Unlimited.
NBC Sports
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Pre-order Big Shield for only 99 cents
I'm taking a break from the Father of Mine series. (The third book is ready to go, at the right time.) I'm not taking a break from the overall mob genre. This time around, organized crime meets professional football (NOT the NFL), with a cautionary tale about how the two could come together in a way that creates a very specific problem for the most popular sport in America. (Professional football. Not the NFL.) Big Shield arrives August 19. About the mob, gambling, and pro football. (Not the NFL.) The tale, set in Las Vegas and beyond, is told in the same style as Father of Mine and Son of Mine, with three different characters providing a chapter at a time. Twenty-seven short (usually) chapters each. It's all about inside information. The value it has. The cash providing it can generate, before — and during — games. Professional football games. (Not the NFL.) For the players who play along, it's easy money. Or they think it is. Until they find out otherwise. Keeping with my New Year's resolution for 2025, all novels are only 99 cents in ebook form. It's stupid, I know. You'll be getting much greater value than 99 cents, given that it will take at least eight to 10 hours to read it. Let's split the difference at nine. That's 11 cents per hour. We're working on making the print version available for pre-order, too. For now, click the link and drop your 99 cents and you'll have the Big Shield ebook delivered electronically on August 19. Which will give you just enough time to read it before the 2025 regular season in professional football begins. Not the NFL. Oh, wait. Yes, the NFL.
