Moving Foreword: Real Introductions to Totally Made-Up Books

Description

A great foreword is more than just a few pages of self-indulgent frippery that comes before a book. A great foreword adds zest. It sets the stage for the page turner you're about to open, and perhaps even puts you in the locked room where a mystery happens or in the high-button shoes of a year gone by. A great foreword - sometimes - is even better than the book it precedes. So why not skip the boring actual-book part? Moving Foreword is a collection of introductions to imaginary books, written by real celebrities, comedians, musicians, and other writers with something to say. With a real foreword by Rainn Wilson, this book offers a no-holds-barred cacophony of laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, and thought-provoking writing that tackles everything from politics to pop culture, true crime to trout fishing, and Star Wars to skin flicks.

Jon Chattman has jokingly told Tom Cruise to stop hitting on his wife, enjoyed a Reuben sandwich with Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and somehow ignited Snoop Dogg to sing Dean Martin's "That's Amore." Those are just some highlights in this writer/author, marketing expert, online entertainment host, talent buyer, blogger, and man-of-many-hats's career. Chattman, who is currently chief creative officer and president of Moving Forward Consulting, has an extensive background in the entertainment field, specializing in interviewing and writing about those in the music, film, and television worlds. He has covered various red carpets-from the Academy Awards to the Indie Spirits to the Tony Awards-and interviewed an eclectic mix of celebrities, including Courtney Love, Alice Cooper, Javier Bardem, Aaron Sorkin, Hulk Hogan, and Tracy Morgan. In August 2011, he launched an online music and entertainment series, A-Sides, which featured established and on-the-rise musicians performing a song or two and taking part in an informal conversation afterwards. It debuted on thisisasides.com and has appeared on the Huffington Post, Inked magazine, and USAtoday.com. Chattman has authored many pop culture, sports, and wrestling centric books, including How the Red Sox Explain New England (Triumph Books, 2013), Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story (Triumph, 2012), and Sweet Stache (Adams Media, 2009.) He resides in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Alison, and three young children. His hobbies include binge watching Netflix shows, going to the movies, Star Wars, the beach, listening to Bon Iver and pre-Everything Now Arcade Fire, and he is trying desperately to sever his phone from his hand.

"A no-holds-barred cacophony of funny, poignant and even thought-provoking writing that tackles everything from politics to pop culture, true crime to trout fishing, and Star Wars to skin flicks." -BookTrib "Most of these are hilarious and absurd, but some of them are unexpectedly unsettling and others tremendously engaging. One is absolutely beautiful - the one about a woman traveling the world to experience all different forms of love, in the hopes of finding one that will last. It's a heartbreakingly gorgeous idea, one that you wish was real." -Seattle Book Review "This is the most clever book I've ever read or my name isn't Steve Martin." -Brian Kiley, comedian and writer for Conan "Very smartly done. This is possibly the best collection of funny, insightful, and entertaining forewords to books you wish were real!" -Greg Sestero, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Disaster Artist "Now that Jon has come up with an idea this simple and great, he's after my investors for a chain of movie theatres that only show trailers." -Rob Barnett, former senior executive at MTV and VH1 and former president of programming for CBS Radio "This book is not for the illiterate." -Alan Zweibel, former Saturday Night Live writer and Thurber Prize-winning author of The Other Shulman "Ah, the all-important foreword. They always remind me of the utter import of every introduction I hear the emcee make just before I take the stage as a stand-up comedian . . . The objective is to impress them before I take the stage-just the same as with a foreword. Remind the reader that they were correct to have made the effort to buy the book. That they are smart to have chosen this book among the sea of literary options. Fill them with the confidence of the best version of themselves. It's a total affirmation that they made the right choice . . . this time. Well, this is a whole book of perfect introductions to acts you'll never hear." -Kevin Pollak, actor and comedian "If one thing is certain in the book business, it's that nothing tops a good foreword. Especially if it's from someone famous. And I don't mean the sh*tty kind of famous, where only teenagers at the mall recognize you because they saw your face on a YouTube end credits screen once. I mean really famous. Famous Famous. The kind of fame where you can have people follow you around the world, throwing peanuts at your enemies, which is the kind of thing I hear Angelina Jolie does. Anyway, what was this for again?" -B.J. Mendelson, author of Social Media is Bullsh*t