More news about FRIENDS OF MINE

I am thrilled to make two announcements connected to my upcoming memoir Friends of Mine: Thirty Years in the Life of a Duran Duran Fan. The first is that friend and fellow Amazon Publishing author RJ Keller will write the Foreward. Not only is she a great writer (check out her novel Waiting For Spring), but also a Gen-Xer and former teenage fedora-clad Duranie (I've seen pictures). I knew early on that she'd offer something of value to the project. She was one of the first to see the manuscript in draft form, and understood where I was coming from not only from experience, but also rhetorically.

The second is even more exciting. One of the advantages of self-publishing is having sole control of the editorial and design process (although, in fairness, I must acknowledge that Amazon Publishing gives me a lot of input when it comes to my novels, and I'm so grateful). When it came to the cover design of this book, only one name came to mind: Patty Palazzo. I first heard her name years ago in conjunction with Duran Duran; she designed the calendars and other merchandise. And then I saw this:

Um, yeah. I know.

While promoting his memoir, John Taylor tweeted a link to a story about Patty and her cover design process. As a lover of all things process, naturally I clicked on the link and commented on it, which, to my pleasant surprise, resulted in a brief but fruitful Twitter conversation with Patty, and mutual follows. (I may have also tweeted something like, "I want to wallpaper my writing studio with that cover. Just sayin'.")

Thus, when it came to my memoir cover, the designer had to be Patty. Not only because I knew she'd rock the design (you can see more of her work here), but also because bringing her on board would make the project even more  personal. And it's already quite personal to me. In fact, everyone I've worked with throughout this project has been someone close, someone trusted, someone I knew would take special care. Bringing Patty Palazzo into a Duran Duran-related project is like coming full circle, in a way. I knew she too would take special care.

But would she want to work with little ol' me? Would she be available?

Fortunately for me, YES. And judging by our interaction so far, I know she's going to be a pleasure to work with.

I am more psyched than ever to release this book. I hope you'll be just as psyched to read it.