NEWS UPDATES

Nov 30th 
Finally got around to adding more reader comments. Go check it out.

Oct 20th 
Just returned from another trip down the Colorado. We stopped at Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon Dam, and the Grand Canyon on the way to book signings in Lake Havasu City, and at Hoover Dam. Below is a picture of my wife and I at Horseshoe Bend (just below the Glen Canyon Dam.)

May 30th 
We are now selling the 2nd printings of Wet Desert. We fixed the typos you told us about. Hold on to those first editions. They could be collectors items some day. You can tell the 2nd edition by map on page 2.

Apr 19th 
We are minutes away from engaging the printer for the second printing of Wet Desert. Beside fixing some typos, we are adding a map, which was requested by many readers. Below is the map, you can download it by right clicking it.

Mar 15th 
Good news, we just found out that the gift shops and marinas around Lake Powell have picked up Wet Desert. Additionally, the High Scaler Cafe at Hoover Dam is selling the book.

Feb 11th 
We just arrived home from a trip down the Colorado River where we signed books at Hastings - Bullhead City, Desert River Outfitters - Bullhead City, Hastings - Lake Havasu City, Reader's Oasis - Quartzsite, and Desert Adventures - Boulder City.

This is the welcome I received at the Hastings in Lake Havasu City. 

Here is my mom and wife Becca at Davis Dam which holds back Lake Mojave.

If you ever get to Quartzsite , AZ, you should definitely drop in and say hello to Paul, the owner of Reader's Oasis bookstore. After an afternoon signing books at Paul's store, I asked Paul whether he got more customers looking for books, or just looking. he said about half and half.

Paddling above is my favorite fan, Helen. She owns Desert River Outfitters in Bullhead City, AZ. She took us down the river below Laughlin for a quick trip. If you get any where near Laughlin, go see Helen and take a trip with her. Our next trip with Helen will be this summer in Black Canyon (just downstream of Hoover Dam). Let me know if you want to join us.

Desert River Outfitters, 1034 Hwy 95, Bullhead City, 888-529-2533

Here is yours truly on our Kayak trip.

Last, here is a picture of the new Hoover Bridge being build to avoid routing traffic over Hoover Dam. It is way up in the air. If you get to Vegas, go check it out.

Jan 17th 
The Whitney Awards announced their finalists for best fiction of 2007. Wet Desert is a finalist for Best Novel by New Author.

Dec 11th 
Wow! It has been almost two months since I updated the news. Our latest news is Costco is trying out Wet Desert in their Ogden store. If things go well, they could expand it to others.

With all our successes in 2007 we are running out of books so we are getting ready for a second printing in early 2008. We will be fixing a few typos, so if you found any, let us know at becca@wetdesert.net.

Oct 17th 
Amazing. Last night I saw an announcement on Google about a radio review for Wet Desert on 89.1 FM in Provo. Nobody had told me anything. Anyway, I was able to capture the audio, so here it is. Click here to listen

Oct 12th 
Sam Weller's sponsored an author event in downtown Salt Lake City last night. There were three authors invited, all from small publishers. Before the signings, they invited each of us to introduce our book and read. They even had a podium setup. It was my first reading and I was a little nervous. But, it went very well and we sold some books for Sam Weller. The authors are: Myself, Linda Dunning & Lannie Scopes.

Oct 4th 
Last weekend we were in Denver for the Mountains and Plains Bookseller's conference. It was a great opportunity to talk face to face with bookstores from around the west. The bookstores in Colorado were especially excited about Wet Desert. I look forward to hearing from them as they read the book.

Sep 17th 
I just returned from the League of Utah Writers 2007 Roundup in St. George. It was a lot of fun. Wet desert was definitely one of the best selling books in the small book fair at the show. I met lots of interesting people including a NY editor from Putnam books. Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) was the keynote speaker. What an incredibly interesting guy he is. Here is a quote from Orson: "Voice and Style can not be taught, only killed." Here is a picture of Orson with yours truly.

Sep 13th 
Another bookstore called, this one in Minnesota. They said they finally got around to reading Wet Desert, and they loved it. The Las Vegas (all 4) and the St. George Deseret Books are stocking up for October when Deseret Saints Magazine will publish a review. We will try to arrange a Saturday of signings for Oct in Vegas. 

Aug 24th 
Good news keeps coming in. A bookstore in Colorado told us today that they finally got around to reading Wet Desert and they loved it. Many of the bookstores we stopped at on the Colorado River have decided to carry the book. Hastings in Bullhead (Laughlin, NV) told us they are stocking up for Labor Day. Deseret Book in St. George and Las Vegas have sold out. Desert Saints, a magazine based in Las Vegas, has agreed to publish a review in Oct. It seems Wet Desert is becoming popular at locations near the Colorado River. Who would have thought?

Aug 22nd 
BYU invited me to do a signing during education week. The bookstore was incredibly busy which made for a fun signing. I was signing right next to Bob Lonsberry, the morning talk-show host on 570 AM Radio. See Bob and me below. Now if we could just convince Bob to talk about Wet Desert on his show.

Aug 13th 
We just returned from 9 days in Southern California. On the way down, we stopped and signed books at the Deseret Book in St. George and the Deseret book in Las Vegas (Bonanza). In California, Ed at Book Carnival (a well known Mystery Store) gave us a review, and we signed some books. On the way home, we spent a couple days visiting book shops along the Colorado River from Blythe, California to Laughlin, Nevada. We've been looking forward to visiting these stores, since Wet Desert is written about that area. The picture is of Becca, Allison & Kelly at Parker Dam (Lake Havasu).

Aug 2nd 
The Book Sleuth in Colorado Springs has recommended Wet Desert in their monthly newsletter. Check "Reviews" to read their review. Tomorrow we are heading to Southern California for a week. We will be visiting many bookstores there and along the way. 

July 28th 
16 Deseret Bookstores just received inventory. Check on Where to Buy to see where. I went to the two Ogden stores on Saturday and signed their inventory. Both stores had the book prominently displayed on the New Arrivals shelf. Riverdale had already sold one.

July 21st 
Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego has just posted a review. Check out my Reviews link.

July 19th 
We just received the first bad news since we published Wet Desert. Yesterday we heard the someone in California had received a copy of Wet Desert with a few blank pages in the 90- 100 range. We called around and found two more books with a similar problem. So far all of these bad books came out of the same box. We are inspecting our remaining inventory. Hopefully this problem is isolated to less than a dozen books. If you get one, email us immediately and we will ship you a replacement. On the other hand, if this book eventually becomes a bestseller, these first edition exceptions could be worth $$$$.

July 13th 
Big Day!!! Maybe the biggest day so far. We received word today that Deseret Book (40 stores) has ordered a stocking order of Wet Desert. Additionally, Deseret's partner Seagull Books (26 stores) , will place their stocking order within the next couple days. Between Deseret Book & Seagull, Wet Desert will be available in: Arizona (Chandler, Mesa (3), Glendale), Washington (Seattle), Nevada (Las Vegas (4), Reno), Idaho (Boise (2), Meridian, Idaho Falls (3), Rexburg, Pocatello), Colorado (Denver), California (Orange, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Oregon (Lake Oswego), Utah (41). The books should be available in stores in a week or two.

July 12th 
Check out the reader comments page. I finally updated it with some of the feedback we have been getting. 

Additionally, as you know, we have nationwide distribution now which means it is available to any bookstore in the country. So, I decided to put myself in your shoes to test the market. I walked up to the register at the Bountiful Barnes & Noble and asked them if they could get me a book they didn't stock. The girl asked me the name of the book. I told her "Wet Desert". She typed it in and immediately asked, "by Gary Hansen?" I nodded. She told me it would take between a week to 10 days. I handed her my credit card, but she told me I wouldn't need to pay until it arrived. She took my phone number to notify me. Piece of Cake!

June 27th 
Another success story. Simply Books, the bookstore in the SLC airport has decided to sell Wet Desert. Not only that, they want to prominently display it in the store window and promote it inside the store. They wanted 35 books to get started. They also supply books to all the newsstands throughout the airport. As you know, SLC is a very busy hub for Delta, and many travelers are on layover in SLC. Assuming Wet Desert does well in the airport, then this deal will get Wet Desert in the hands of travelers all over the USA.

June 25th 
We just arrived home from a week in Southern California. I worked a trade show for three days while Becca drove all over visiting bookstores. The last couple days, we hit stores together. During the week, we traveled from Ventura to San Diego and put 850 miles on the rental car. Our key targets were crime fiction specialists: Book Carnival in Orange, Mysteries to Die For in Thousand Oaks, Book'em Mysteries in S. Pasadena, Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, & The Mystery Bookstore in LA. But, during the week we stopped at many other independents including UCLA Bookstore and UC Irvine Bookstore. Becca ran into best-selling author John Connelly in Pasadena, gave him a book, and ask him to send us a blurb. Go John! In the next couple weeks look for many of these stores to start selling Wet Desert.

June 21st 
Another great review. This one from Meridian Magazine. Wet Desert was compared to a Tom Clancy Novel. Thanks Jennie!

June 8th 
The Herald Journal in Logan just published the first media review of Wet Desert! Go read it on the reviews page and see what they said. Additionally, we have added a new page on the site for Book Club discussions.

May 30th 
The BYU bookstore has been reviewing Wet Desert. They called today and told us they want the book. They will have stock by tomorrow.

May 27th 
The first media review of Wet Desert is planned for the morning edition of The Herald Journal on Friday June 8th. Two signings are planned the next day in Cache Valley. See the signings page for details. Then in late June, Meridian Magazine will do a book review and post it to their web site.

May 15th 
New book signing announced for June 16th at the Bookshelf, see the signing page for details. We are starting to hear back from some of the initial readers, and the reviews are good. A trend is lack of sleep until the book is finished. Additionally, we added three more bookstores today: Eborn Books, Sam Weller's Books, and our first location in Idaho, the Preston Citizen. 

May 12th 
What a book signing we had in my home town Trenton. Check the signings page for pictures.

May 10th 
We added two more bookstores today: The Bookshelf in Ogden, UT, and U.S.U. Bookstore in Logan, UT. Go get em!

May 9th 
We added two more bookstores today: ABC Books in Kaysville, UT, and A Wisebird Bookery in Ogden, UT. Readers in Kaysville and Ogden can now buy a book.

May 8th 
Wet Desert is available NOW! We have books! I took the day off work and we watched the books being bound. I signed a bunch for customers who had pre-ordered, and Becca packed and shipped them. I hand delivered books to a few bookstores and to a potential distributor. We delivered to our first bookstore, The Book Table in Logan, Utah. If you live near Logan, you can walk in and buy a book today. Everybody else will need to buy from our website for a few more days. Additionally, Amazon is now listing the book and taking orders, but does not have inventory yet. Give them another week. Thanks to all those who already purchased. We appreciate your support. Be sure to email us your comments when you finish reading. Stay tuned for more bookstores.

May 3rd 
We have an official publication day. Tuesday, May 8th. For the anxious, I am now taking pre-orders. Pre-orders will ship the first day the books are available. To pre-order, click here.

Apr 25th 
The printer called and they were printing covers. We went over and watched as they printed a stack. They are estimating books by May 8th or sooner. 

Jan 15th - Wet Desert Is Finally getting published! Originally titled The Environmentalist, Wet Desert should be published in early 2007. Watch this web site for updates.