I wanted to be publish exactly four books next year, no exceptions. We’re going to publish exactly six books next year, no exceptions. One of them is Roger Vallaincourt’s novel, The Inaccessible Rail, which is supposed to be out now, except we’ve had to push it to February because I’m running behind on stuff. The other is a novel called Pretty Joey Ross, which Patrick Nevins sent to me after I had set that firm limit. The reason for the limit is I just felt exhausted and overextended. It is difficult to balance school and family and Malarkey, and the way it tends to work is I devote breaks to Malarkey. Four books seemed like the most I could do working only on summer and winter break while also planning for school, being present with my family, having a life. Pretty Joey Ross is the book that made me break the no-more-than-four-books-a-year rule. (We’ve got another one coming out in 2028 that we haven’t announced yet.) 2029, though, no more than four books!

I said yes to Pretty Joey Ross because I believe in it. I agreed to spend extra money to pay for original illustrations by Jason Novak because I believe in it. (The illustrations are fantastic too.) It’s funny and searching and engrossing (a little bit gross at times too), a big book with big ideas and a bigger heart.

"A glorious adventure."

—Alex Miller, author of White People on Vacation

Patrick was so impressed with the cover of Boxcutters that he asked John Chrostek to design the cover for Pretty Joey Ross. We’ve been sitting on this for a while and I’m excited to share it today.

In under a year the above design will be on a book that anyone can hold in their hands! Pretty Joey Ross comes out in October of 2027. Preorders are open now and you can get 20% off with code PRETTYJOEY.

Preorder Pretty Joey Ross by Patrick Nevins

Joey Bumpus has gold fever, but before he can join the rush, he’s got to follow his late father into the whale fishery, entertain passengers on a California-bound steamer with the latest Stephen Foster tune, and sell a menagerie of tropical birds. Edgar Ross sees the rush as an opportunity to grow his medical practice, but getting there means enduring the privations of the Panama crossing. His wife, Jennie, however, would prefer to seek free love in the tropics. And a Maidu woman, whose family has been torn apart by the rush, wants only to find her stolen child. They all cross paths in San Francisco in the summer of 1850, hoping to find what they’re looking for before the city burns again.

The subject line of this email, by the way, is a quote from Alex Miller, who posted “A beautiful cover for a beautiful book” on bluesky when he saw the cover.

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