Thumbs-up review published of 'The Devil's Pipeline'

   GENEVA, New York - The Devil's Pipeline got a solid thumbs-up review today in the A section of the Geneva, NY Finger Lakes Times newspaper.
     On page 2 - not buried in the classified section.
     In a review headlined,"Fitzgerald's 3rd book a 'devil' of a good read," staff writer David Shaw said ..."This book is a page turner. Fitzgerald uses humor in the right places to make what could be a very dark story a fun read."
  The review includes a sidebar story in which Fitzgerald talks about what led him to write The Devil's Pipeline and hints at what the next book in the Jack Stafford series of novels will bring.

'The Devil's Pipeline' SF book launch a success

   SAN FRANCISCO - A book launch party at Book Passage in the city - organized by Left Coast Writers - went off without a hitch Monday evening.
     About 20 people came to the Ferry Building bookstore to hear Michael J. Fitzgerald talk about his three eco-thriller novels, with the main focus on the newest, The Devil's Pipeline.
     "It was a pretty lively group all asking good questions," Fitzgerald said.
     As part of his comments, Fitzgerald explained the link among The Devil's Pipeline and its two predecessor novels, The Fracking War (2014) and Fracking Justice (2015). All three focus on threats to the environment posed by misdeeds and ruthless policies of corporate energy conglomerates.
     They also all chronicle the crusading journalism of a newspaper and citizen activists trying to defend their communities.

 "The next book is going to have a corporate energy connection," Fitzgerald said. "But it will also be looking at the increasing threats to civil liberties faced in the U.S. There are plenty."
    The tentative title of the next novel is The Wolverine Rebellion.
    The Book Passage event was the second book launch since The Devil's Pipeline was published at the end of November 2018. The first was a local Point Richmond gathering in December at Kaleidoscope Coffee.
     "I'm hoping to do a couple of book events in upstate NY - or even Pennsylvania - where the first two novels are set," Fitzgerald said. 'We won't call them book launches. They will be plain old book parties."
     The Devil's Pipeline is available through Amazon.com, at Book Passage bookstores, in select locations in the Finger Lakes, NY region - and directly from the author here: MICHAEL J FITZGERALD.
   

Author interview posted - book launch Monday in SF

   POINT RICHMOND - A New York radio interview with the author of The Devil's Pipeline done in late January is now available to listen to online.

     The half-hour conversation with radio talk show host Michael Warren Thomas of station WYSL (1040 AM) in Rochester, New York covered Fitzgerald's latest novel but also touched on the novelist's two earlier works, The Fracking War and Fracking Justice.

     Michael Warren Thomas hosts four programs each Saturday. Fitzgerald's interview was on Discover The Finger Lakes which focuses on events and people the Finger Lakes region. This was Fitzgerald's fourth appearance on the program.
     In the interview Thomas noted how Fitzgerald's fictional works reflect real-world, real-time events interspersed with the actions of the journalist characters, as well as cast of villains.
     Thomas also asked about the current anti-press climate being pushed by President Donald Trump in which he labels the press "the enemy of the people."
     Fitzgerald noted that Trump's barrage has been damaging. But Fitzgerald said he is equally concerned about how much the decline of newspapers and journalism - particularly in small towns - continues to be devastating to civic life.
     "People need a source of information that they trust," he said.
     The full interview can be heard here: MWT interview with Michael Fitzgerald.

Book Launch Monday at Book Passage in SF

Michael J. Fitzgerald

   San Francisco - The Devil's Pipeline and its two predecessor novels, The Fracking War and Fracking Justice will be featured Monday at 6 p.m. at Book Passage in San Francisco's Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.
     The event is an official book launch party of Left Coast Writers and is open to the public.
     The Book Passage event will include a talk by Fitzgerald, a question-and-answer session with the audience and a book signing.
     Copies of The Devil's Pipeline will be available for purchase at the bookstore.
     The latest novel has drawn praise from three Bay Area writers, Rita Gardner (author of The Coconut Latitudes), Steve Early (Refinery Town and The Remaking of an American City) and Elizabeth Claman (The Prodigal Wife and other novels).
     "Fitzgerald's third novel might be his best," Claman said.