I am thrilled to announce that my debut novel Columbia has been signed to a publishing contract with Sunbury Press. Sunbury is a Pennsylvania-based independent publishing house with a long history distributing thrillers into sixteen English-speaking countries through their Milford House imprint. The tentative release date for the book is August 8, 2019. From my first interaction with their website ("Continue the Enlightenment"), to all of my discussions with their team during negotiations, Sunbury was a clear first choice to launch Columbia. I look forward to working with the team at Sunbury to get the book ready for the market. Stay tuned for more updates to follow, including the launch of the book's dedicated website, confirmation of the release date, and updates on book reading and signing events nationwide.
Columbia is over 350 pre-orders, and I hope that it goes a lot higher! I think most creators want their work to be well-received, but many of us also want to provoke a reaction: we have something to communicate and we want lots of people to hear the message and think about it. I want readers to meet Sami Lakhani, a different kind of spy hero. One of the most frequently asked questions about Columbia is why I wrote a book about a gay, Muslim spy? I think that question can be broken down into many sub-questions: Why did I write a book about a gay , Muslim-American spy ? Why did I write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy? Why did I write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy ? Why did I write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy? The decision to make the protagonist of the story a Muslim-American and part of the LGBT community arose from three choices. First, the artistic choice to do everything possible to represent historically underrepresent