I know, I know. Holiday shopping is a pain. If you’re like me, you don’t want to set foot in a mall unless it’s to watch a movie. (Speaking of which, I saw Big Hero 6 other day, and it was not bad. My younger son choked up when he saw the part [spoiler alert] where the hero watches the video of his older brother, who earlier in the movie was killed in an explosion. It was so sweet! My little one’s love for his older brother is a powerful force. He denied it all, of course, claiming afterward that the only thing that made him sad was that not enough of the main characters died. Well, somewhere under that bravado is a soft sensibility. He’ll be like me someday! The big softie. I wanted so badly to see The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. I was outvoted.)

Cyber Monday is kind of a pain. It starts out fun, clicking away, shopping, shopping, adding to cart, adding to cart, and purchase! Christmas joy is on its way! And then it gets to be kind of a drag. American Giant, I love you man, but your emails are starting to overwhelm me. And Jen Bekman…we may have a problem. Don’t make me unsubscribe you. Please. We did some beautiful transacting together, once upon a time. I don’t want this ugliness to color the past.

Anyway! If you’re like me, you are tired of people selling things at you all the time. How much advertising? How many logos? How many requests? How many shiny emails? And yet…it’s inevitable! Because this is the season for giving. And, let’s be honest, getting. It’s just no fun to deal with crowds and payments and choices. When you don’t know what to buy someone, it feels bad. We love these people! Why can we not find one thing we think will make them happy?

Well, your troubles are over. You must have someone hard to shop for on your list. A cranky embittered uncle. A crusading hippie aunt. A wacky right-wing brother-in-law. Or a wacky left-wing brother-in-law. A grandfather who has given up deep thinking altogether in favor of golf. A brother on another planet.

How about a sister who wants to go to law school. Or who doesn’t want to go to law school. Or who wishes she went to law school. Or who’s glad she didn’t! (Or a brother, or a niece or a nephew, or your mother or father…)

That’s what’s so great! My books work for everyone. They’re like magic that way.

Well, that’s not true. You probably have to have a sense of humor. And it has to be dry humor. It has to be Christopher Guest not breaking character humor. Corky dancing. Harlan Pepper naming nuts:

Or Harry Shearer humor! Friend of the blog Harry Shearer! (Wow, it’s going to be hard for me to top that one this year. Burns and Smithers and Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner and Otto the Bus Driver and Derek Smalls tweeting me. My Christmas came early!)

So here they are: the book about politics that’s about the humanity in politics, or maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s about a search for humanity in politics. And not a look at politics in some grand, textbook way. In the figure of one small person, one politician who’s scrabbling away, trying to make a comeback. And the baffled observer who’s watching this once-mighty figure ignite the hatred and mockery of a nation. That’s The Race. And here’s my news:

The Race is now available for one dollar at Amazon!

Download a free sample, check it out, see if it works for you. Then threw a buck in the kitty and finish the thing off. Happy Holidays! It’s my gift to you, as NBC used to say when they ran The Sound of Music with a full hour’s worth of ads mixed into the movie. You’re welcome!

The Hills Are Alive! For a dollar!

For you.

Or you can gift it to someone else. If they don’t want to read it, they can get it a refund. With that dollar they can buy a song. Or they can apply that dollar to something else. Hey, you tried.

The Promotion is different. The Promotion is a foot-on-the-accelerator-pedal race to Crazytown. Still dry humor, still witty and full of knowledge. But it’s wackier. Edgar Allen Poe turned loose in a modern day big law firm. If you hate D.C. or if you love D.C., if you hate lawyers or are fascinated by them, or if you’re indifferent to all that but want to watch a man on a mission (and getting more than either he or the readers expect), well, I hope you will all find something in this book to enjoy.

The Promotion is also available for only a dollar!

And you’ll be supporting an indie author, for those of you who care about such things. I do my best. I’m very, very grateful for all my readers, whether they’re paying customers or not. If I could give these things away for free, I would. (And I do! Review copies still available – shoot me an email or leave a comment if you’d like a free copy.)

I started by saying that holiday shopping is a pain. So is self-promoting, or at least it is for me. I’ll try not to point you toward Amazon the whole month. I have an Object almost ready to go, with a couple more on the way, and a whole list of Objectinos clamoring for attention.

But here’s what I do like about the season: all this generosity. And a lot of reading. And if there’s anything good about the holidays, it’s that there’s time for both. If you can connect with someone, even a little, it makes the season go faster. So along with this year’s flannel socks or set of dish towels or Apple gizmo, why not throw in a copy of The Race or The Promotion?  Or any book from an indie author that you’ve heard about and are looking to try? Or a non-indie author, for that matter. Anyone who is trying to entertain, to inspire, to educate, or to uplift? We’ll all have a better season with a bit of extra laughter, a few more knowing nods, some smiles of recognition, some pauses for thought.

Let me know how it goes – I love to hear from you! And onward and upward, people!