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New Ham Radio Novel A major new novel with a ham radio flavor is due in bookstores this month (Dec). People in the radio or records business, or who happen to be ham radio operators, should closely identify with the characters and storyline of a major new novel to be published this month by New York-based St. Martin's Press. WIZARD OF THE WIND, written by 22-year broadcasting veteran Don Keith (ham radio call letters N4KC), tells the story of Jimmy Gill, a young man who falls in love with radio and rock and roll when he hears the first music of Elvis, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis on his grandmother's old upright Zenith. He is totally captured by the songs and the disk jockeys that take him magically away from his own miserable existence. Quite by accident, Jimmy, along with an inventive friend who happens to be an amateur radio operator, Detroit Simmons, get jobs at a local station. Gill becomes a successful deejay, then eventually buys an FM station. From there, he begins to build a vast media empire, built on creativity, foresight and Detroit's technical savvy, but also with seed money from a very dubious source. He also falls in love with Cleo Michaels, a beautiful country singer. But along the way, as he becomes more and more powerful, Gill gets lost in the business side of broadcasting, losing sight of the magic of the medium which so captivated him in the first place. It takes a tense showdown, a true life or death struggle which almost costs him all he has built as well as those he loves, to bring him back. A climactic scene in the book involves the use of ham radio and old fashioned "fox hunting" techniques to help track down the bad guys. The novel is filled with inside stories and radio details, and brings into the narrative many real-life radio personalities and music industry figures. The book is dedicated to over 350 past and present disk jockeys, people Keith dubs "true wizards...whose air castles are built with only voices, sound, and music riding on the wind." Many of them have already received advance copies of WIZARD OF THE WIND. "We have gotten some early interest from Hollywood," Keith says. "They are excited about the soundtrack possibilities...the whole book seems to leave music playing in your head as you read...and by the obvious radio cross-promotion any film could do. Of course, they also think it's a pretty good story, too." The novel should be in bookstores nationwide by the first of the year. Keith will be doing numerous interviews and media appearances in connection with the release. His first work, THE FOREVER SEASON, was released last year to critical and commercial success. Early review comments for WIZARD OF THE WIND: "All the ingredients for a great story..." PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY "Everything you would want in a story, including sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Don Keith has written a rare and exceptional novel...and one that gets the radio details exactly right." Sean Ross, BILLBOARD AIRPLAY MONITOR "WIZARD OF THE WIND is a compelling novel that anyone who listens to the radio should read." B. Eric Rhoads, RADIO INK MAGAZINE "Don Keith has created an absorbing elixir composed of the South, the 60s, the craziness of rock and roll radio, drug runners, and the raw ego drive of big-time, big-money broadcasting. And he got it right!" Alan Burns, Alan Burns & Associates consultants For publicity and promotion information, contact: Joe Rinaldi, St. Martin's Press Publicity, (212) 674-5151 extension 710 For subsidiary rights inquiries (film, audio, foreign, book club, etc.), contact: Robert Wyatt, A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press, (212) 674-5151 extension 460 To arrange interviews, contact: Don Keith, (205) 987-7456 extension 334

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