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HAPPY HOLIDAZE!!!

So have you got all your shopping done? Me, either. And I can't just reach up on my stock shelves for another handful of our super warm, super cool Embarcadero pullovers (which, by the way, I give myself an exceptionally good price on) since everybody in my family already has one. Plus we're sold clear out on several colors/sizes thanks to all of you fine folks (thankyouthankyouthankyou!) but we do have some Larges left (seems most of my friends/fans/followers fall into either the pipsqueak or "Jeez, I gotta start me on a diet come January first" size categories. Go figure. But we do have a couple left, and if you get your order in right away I'll do my level best to get it to you for Christmas (or the tail end of Hanukkah,, take yer pick). We also have signed/personalized books (there are folks who've never read them), our famous garage prints, etc... Or, as some have done, you could buy your beloved a sponsorship in the new book. And it certainly offers more in real return value than those "name a star after somebody" ads I keep hearing on the radio. And yet some people must be doing it, because otherwise they wouldn't still be advertising, right? What was it P.T. Barnum said about "there's a sucker born every minute?"

(Actually, that may not be true. But he did say "every crowd has a silver lining," and that's almost as good). But I digress. The purpose of this little epistle is wish one and all a happy, healthy, worthwhile and wonderful holiday season (and on through all of next year, of course) and to likewise give thanks for what has been a pretty great year in 2014. I got to do a lot of fun stuff, won some writing awards, sold & signed a lot of books, spent time with some special people and special cars in special places and made a lot of new friends. You can't beat that. But now my travels are ended for awhile and, like all writers, it's time to spend a little solitary time with the keyboard and get that new book finished (see below).

Although, in contrast to the obviously posed shot of a rugged-looking Ernest Hemingway against a breathtaking, out-in-nature Idaho sky shown above, I tend to work in my skivvies and a four-day growth of stubble, and usually at 0 Dark Thirty in the morning when it's nice and quiet and my head hasn't filled up with the crud and crapola of everyday life yet again.

Plus, when you're doing historical fiction (at least if you're trying, even just slightly, to be semi-accurate) your desk winds up looking more like this: 

Just ask my wife!

But the point is that you won't be hearing from me for awhile, as I'll be pounding keys and looking things up rather than traveling all over the place to chase stories, cover races and drive other people's really nice cars.

Look for me to come out of hibernation around April (finished manuscript in hand, God willing) although I will keep you posted now and then as to how it's all going.

Which reminds me: we are indeed running the "Be (or name and designate) a character in the new book raffle" literary scam, and a surprisingly large number of folks have responded. Thank you all. If you'd like to get in on it and grab a chance on an appetizer-sized slice of immortality (or just want more information) please see below. If not, well, just remember that sad, lonely grave that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showed old Ebenezer Scrooge....

THE GREATEST LITSCAM OF ALL TIME!!!

THE BE (or designate) A CHARACTER IN
BURT'S NEW BOOK RAFFLE! PRIZES:

PRIZES: The grand prize winner will have the privilege of naming, supplying physical/character traits, real or imagined history, endearing or irritating personal habits, etc. for a supporting character in the next "BS" Levy next novel:
THE 200mph STEAMROLLER Pt. II: The Italian Job

Scheduled to debut at THE HAWK Vintage Races at Road America July 16-19, 2015

There will be three (3) second-place winners, each of which will receive complete, $250.oo sponsorships in the new book.

There will be ten (10) third-place winners, each of which will receive signed/personalized, first-edition copies of the new book.

HOW TO ENTER:

Raffle tickets are 5 bucks each, 5 for $20, 15 for $50 and 40 for $100, and are already available for sale on the website (CLICK HERE!) and from the Think Fast Ink office at (708) 383-7203.

THE DRAWING:

The prize drawing will be held at precisely midnight during the running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, January 24-25, 2015. Results will be posted immediately and winners will also be notified by e-mail.

HALF THE PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACING RESEARCH CENTER in WATKINS GLEN!

BTW, those raffle tickets make GREAT (and cheap!) last-minute stocking stuffers for all your grizzled old gearhead friends!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah

And Best Wishes for the New Year!

TRIVIA  TIME

WE QUESTION YOUR ANSWERS!
Well, it serves me right for picking something so blessed easy. A whole bunch of you knew and answered correctly that the gent below with the famous gap between his front teeth is British actor/comedian Terry-Thomas, and that the movie is the very funny School for Scoundrels (if you haven't seen it, you probably should). And of course, if you knew that much, you also knew that the car was an Aston Martin DB3S racing car with a Marty Feldman-issue hump added to its rear deck ("what hump?") along with a few other cosmetic embellishments.

family resemblance?

The DB3S was called a "Bellini" (or was it "New Bellini"?) in the movie, and some of you went to great, pedantic lengths to let me know (or, more precisely, let me know that YOU knew!) the exact serial number and complete details of the car's history. Including the part about love-sick mechanic Alan Overton committing suicide in it (seems the car's owner had taken up with his girlfriend) by never lifting and driving it straight into the sea at the end of his timed run at the Gosport Speed Trials. And that's after setting Fastest Time in Class. I am not making any of this up. In fact, my Aston Martin-loving friend Nick Candee sent me essentially an entire doctoral thesis on the subject (albeit without footnotes) but he's a friend and a pretty good guy (not to mention a high mucky-muck with the stateside Aston bunch) so what do you expect? Besides, he let me co-drive his DB4 in an enduro at Watkins Glen many years back, so I suppose I'm still beholden to him. In any case, we had to pay off on a lot of right answers (but a lot of them bought raffle tickets, thanks very much) and I decided, what with the new book project and all, I'd pick something a little more obscure this time. Like the car shown below.
So c'mon, all you smart guys (and gals)...what the heck is it?

Send your answers to thinkfast@mindspring.com 

Catch the latest poop & pictures, the Jay Leno interview, Last Open Road swag & highly inappropriate attire from Finzio's Store and the lurid & occasionally embarrassing "ride with Burt" in-car racing videos on the hopefully now fully operational website at: