The Middle East in the Middle of the Night

Gregory Levey’s newest book, How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment, is now available. He will be blogging all week for the JBC/MJL Author Blog.



It was just after four in the morning, and I was on the phone discussing the Middle East conflict with a man I assumed was a truck driver. I was more than a little groggy, and so I wasn’t totally following our conversation, even when I was the one talking.

Oh, and one more detail. There were thousands of people listening to us, because we were on the radio.

This happened just a few days ago, and I’m still not fully sure what I said, because I was half-asleep. I may have mentioned something about the threat of violence along the Israel-Korea border, or expressed anxiety about not having studied for the ninth grade math test I imagined I was about to take.

This is sometimes the reality of book promotion when you’re a no-name author aboard the sinking ship of publishing. You’ll do anything to sell a few more books, even if it means waking up in the middle of the night to talk about the Middle East, fielding calls from the type of people who not only listen to the radio at that awful hour, but also feel the need to phone in.

how to make peace gregory leveyMy new book is called How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment, so I guess I sort of brought this on myself. And who knows? Maybe that trucker who was driving down that lonesome highway with my inane banter his only company came up with a workable solution to the Middle East conflict.

I don’t know, because I was barely conscious. But if you were listening and we made any progress, please fill me in.

Gregory Levey’s Facebook group has over 750,000 fans. His second book, How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment, has just been released.

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