The Worlds of Nathan Marchand

I haven’t been talking about it much here, but about a year ago, some fellow TUFW writers/graduates decided to start our own writing business called Breakthrough Writing Services. One of the things we do is English/writing tutoring. I’ve been working with a homeschooled high sophomore named Alec for several months. Recently, he sent me a paper about what he did for Christmas break. He and his friends decided to make a video inspired by the new video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It was posted on YouTube. I thought it was so good, I decided to share it with all of you. You can watch it below. Enjoy!

Nice work, Alec!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY READERS!

My brother Jarod has contributed yet another piece of excellent artwork for one of my short stories. This time it was for “The Hammer,” a science fiction story you can read here. The artwork portrays the hero, Matthias Maccabeus, punching out a disguised robot assassin. Check it out:

'The Finishing Blow' by Jarod Marchand

So, if you haven’t read the story yet, I hope you will now. Why would you pass up on excitement like this?

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, so please forgive me for my delay.

I’m having a book signing this Saturday from 10AM-noon at Pete & Freddy’s Pages Aplenty, a small used bookstore in Mentone, Indiana. I’ll be signing all of my books, including Pandora’s Box, Destroyer, and The Day After. I was referred to this place by a co-worker at my part-time job, who told me his daughter runs the place.

Be there, or be square!

Hello, readers! I wanted to remind you to come out to the North Webster Community Public Library this Saturday from 10AM-noon because I;ll be having a book signing! The signing is advertised as being for Destroyer, but I will also be signing and selling copies of The Day After and a few leftover copies of Pandora’s Box (since my story in The Day After is a companion piece to my novel, it is only fitting).

Cover art by Tyler Sowles

Cover Art by Zach Hayden

Cover art by Tomislav Tikulin

Be there, or be square!

In celebration of their podcast’s first anniversary, my friends and co-authors Nick Hayden and Timothy Deal invited me to return to “Derailed Trains of Thought.” They review each of the previous 19 episodes in reverse order, having each of their previous guests–including myself, Natasha Hayden, Laura Fischer, and Brian Scherschel–pipe in to give updates on the topics they talked about when they were previously on the show. In my segment, I told everyone about my short story “Suicide Soldier,” a companion piece to my novel, Pandora’s Box, which is included in Novel Concept’s latest publication, The Day After. But the biggest announcement comes during the second half of my segment–I officially announce that I will write a sequel to Pandora’s Box!

Listen to the podcast here for the details, or you can download it on iTunes.

This past Saturday, I and my co-authors Timothy Deal and Nick and Natasha Hayden returned to the former campus of our alma mater, Taylor University Fort Wayne. We sold and signed copies of our books in the marketplace during the Fort Wayne Celebrates event, which serves as a replacement for the school’s homecoming.

The Eicher Student Commons, where most of Fort Wayne Celebrates took place. (Photo by Nathan Marchand)

I arrived at 11:30 AM or so, thinking it started at noon. I quickly learned it didn’t start until 1:00 PM. Timothy arrived around noon, and the Haydens arrived with their toddler son, Fyodor, at 12:30, so all of us were gathered and ready in time. Within minutes, dozens of alumni swarmed the marketplace area and perused our books, which included Pandora’s Box, Destroyer, and The Day After.

We sell and sign books at Fort Wayne Celebrates for our fellow alumni. (Top to bottom: Natasha, Timothy, myself). (Photo by Michael Mortensen)

Timothy, Natasha, and I at Fort Wayne Celebrates. (L to R: Myself, Timothy, Natasha).

A group shot of myself and the Haydens. (L to R: Natasha, myself, Nick, Fyodor).

The Haydens sold copies of Destroyer and The Day After like hotcakes, probably because we offered to sell them together for $12 when they sell for $7 each. I, on the other hand, practiced well the art of hawking and sold all but two of the seven or eight copies of Pandora’s Box I brought. My favorite customer was Parker, a 14-year-old boy whose mother from the class of 1989 bought him a copy of the novel. He read it intently for the rest of the night, as you see here:

This will be the first of many such pictures in the future. Writers do love seeing photos of their fans. (Photo by Nathan Marchand)

So, overall, it was one of the most fun signings I’ve had so far. I’ll try to post a full gallery of pictures later. (I know, I know. I’m way behind on my photo galleries here).

Next up: The North Webster Community Public Library, October 15.

The authors of 'Destroyer' and 'The Day After' sign copies of their books. L to R: Timothy Deal, myself, Natasha Hayden. (Not pictured: Nick Hayden).

If you came to the book signing my partners in crime Tim and Nick and Natasha and I held at Summer’s Stories this past Saturday, thank you for making it a rousing success. If you didn’t come…why?

While the signing was originally just for Destroyer, we received copies of The Day After right before it, so it was included. I sold nearly twice as many books there as I did the first time I had a signing at the store (of course, it helped that I was selling two titles).

Don’t forget that this Saturday I will be at Fort Wayne Celebrates on the former Taylor University Fort Wayne campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from 12pm-5pm!

Be there, or be square!

I wrote about some of my experiences on September 11, 2001, and the lessons it taught us as a nation in the latest blog on Breakthrough Writing Services‘ blog. You can read it here.

After you read it, please be sure to check out what services Breakthrough has to offer. “Don’t worry, we’ve got the words you’re looking for.”