I’m very excited to share with you all the cover for my new novel In Our Other Lives!

The cover turned out so great, especially the layers and texture at the top. Thanks so much to Hafizah Geter, Carmen Johnson, Stephanie Delman, and Vivian Lee for their work in shepherding this along, and for designer David Drummond for all his hard work.

The book is now available for pre-order in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio editions. If you’re inclined, please put in your order now and have the book arrive on March 3, 2020.

We’re getting so close to launch!

A provocative novel about abandoned faith, heartbreaking loss, and inescapable government scrutiny in the heartland of a post-9/11 nation.

American missionary and ROTC cadet Tyler Ahls, long missing in Pakistan, has just surfaced, proselytizing in an Afghani terrorist propaganda video. For Omaha nurse Elisabeth Holland, it’s a shock that her brother is even alive. Now she must ask herself a more grave question: Is he a hostage or a traitor?

Seasoned FBI special agent Frank Schwaller is asking this too. He’s come to Nebraska armed with countless hours of video, audio, and email surveillance. The object of his unyielding gaze is Elisabeth. But the more Schwaller uncovers about her—from her and Tyler’s evangelical Christian upbringing to her shattered youthful dreams to her broken marriage to a drifter—the more mystifying Elisabeth and the two men in her life become.

To find out the truth about these entwined lives—and the desperation that comes from love, fear, and the need to disappear—Agent Schwaller will discover how even the most lonesome corners of the Plains can be darkened by the long shadow of war.

From Kings of Broken Things author Theodore Wheeler comes an exploration of love lost, the failure of humanism, and the revelations of how deeply the US government spies on the personal lives of its citizens.

“A captivating, thought-provoking, and sweeping novel filled with power and depth. Set against the backdrop of America’s near-decade long war on terrorism, this is a novel to be read and re-read, to be treasured and remembered.”
-Kassandra Montag, author of After the Flood

“Powerful, provocative, fascinating and deeply unsettling: this novel about the threads that connect our lives and those who would hold to account this haywire of memory, love, faith, reason and understanding.”
-Robert Olmstead, author of Savage Country

“Taut, knuckle-whitening, and full of intriguing questions. An FBI agent visits Omaha, Nebraska, to gather information about a radicalized young man who was either captured while on a mission trip to Pakistan, or who voluntarily joined up with a group of terrorists, only to find that in this Midwestern city everyone keeps a secret; that disappearances and deaths pervade their lives as surely as it does for those in the Mideast; that the war abroad is nearer than anyone imagined.”
-Phong Nguyen, author of The Adventures of Joe Harper

I’m proud to report that I’m being featured this month in Association of Writers and Writing Program’s In the Spotlight feature! Basically it’s an interview to highlight writers who “are making exceptional contributions to the literary community.” So that’s cool.

Mostly we talk about my work with Dundee Book Company, PTL Literary Pub Quiz, working as an adjunct creative writing professor, the literary scene in Omaha, and, of course, my own writing. I’ve done more than a few interviews over the last couple years, and I’d have to say this is my favorite so far. Being able to address so many different parts of my life in one forum is gratifying. Especially as the promo cycle for Kings of Broken Things is pretty much over, it’s nice to sit back a little bit to appreciate how much we’ve done of the last year. And then, surely, get back to work…

Read more here.

What is your organization’s vision? How do you see it growing ten years from now?
Many times I’ve imagined a future where the projects I work on could come together more seamlessly under a single roof, under the auspices of a bookstore-bar and community space that’s somewhat similar to The Wild Detectives in Dallas. Our bookstore has only been an entity for eight months, but I’ve been creating literary programming for years, most notably the three-years-and-counting run of Pageturners Literary Pub Quiz at our neighborhood bar, which just so happens to be in the spot of a former used bookstore and has a loose literature theme. Combining these efforts into a neighborhood retail bookstore that goes heavy on events and features a bar space that caters to readers and writers would be a dream come true. Book and bottle pairings, a basement or back-room pub that serves as a meeting place for the writing community: what’s not to love? Realistically, for now, we’re still trying to get our feet wet as booksellers. And waiting a couple years to see how this whole retail apocalypse thing plays out is probably wise as well.

When do you find time to write? 
Despite working full-time as a legal reporter, teaching adjunct, owning a pop-up store with my wife, and raising two kids, I find at least a couple hours a day to write. A big part of this is that I work from home for my day job. It’s much easier to sneak away to my other laptop at home than if I was in an office. (Or to skip a shower, for that matter, if that’s the only time left.) It’s also how I was raised. My parents were always busy with some home project or an amateur construction job or volunteering at their church. I’ve heard Joyce Carol Oates talk about how she’s so prolific because she grew up on a farm and learned to use every waking moment for labor. Not that I’m remotely in her orbit, but the idea resonates with me. I live a very different life than my ancestors, but I guess the essential avoidance of idle hands has made it through the generations.

I was so stoked yesterday when Largehearted Boy posted the playlist I made for Kings of Broken Things. I’ve followed the Book Notes series for years now. It’s often a fun way to think about authors based on what music they see as an addendum to their books. The lists can be kind of hit-or-miss, honestly, depending on how much effort the author puts into the playlist and explanatory summaries, or if they have comically bad taste in music.

Given that I’ve long dreamed of having a playlist of my own featured, and that I didn’t want to embarrass myself, I spent many hours picking out songs that were important to me while writing the novel and arranging them in what’s hopefully a pleasing way. The list is somewhat eclectic, ranging from Scott Joplin to Rachmaninoff to Jenny Lewis. A DJ I am not (in fact, I was never a mix-tape kind of guy either) but I like what resulted.

Check out my playlist and let me know what you think!