Author Mike Conklin

We welcome local author Mike Conklin as he presents his book:

HE BET THE FARM 

Tuesday, May 14th, 2024 6pm-7pm

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

Seeing is believing. Or is it? We've witnessed college and professional sports become multibillion-dollar industries, but with a Pandora Box full of problems. The contests themselves often raise questions. How could he miss that layup? How could he drop such an easy pass? How could the ref rule it that way? Did the gamblers get to the referee? The questions stretch all the way to a small town, Harrison, deep in southern Indiana. The local college may not have a sports team in the big time, but the town's proximity to a casino boat on the borderline Ohio River provides plenty of action for gamblers. The local Gamblers Anonymous chapter is the state's newest and busiest. Surely, it's the only one to have Abraham Lincoln rescue a member! This is the third novel in Mike Conklin's Town & Gown series. The others, each set in mythical Harrison, are "Transfer U." and "Class Dismissed."

Mike Conklin is a storyteller. He's written professionally for audiences since high school, where his media career started with a small-town weekly. He graduated to local and regional dailies, and, following a cup of coffee in TV & Radio broadcasting, made a long stop at The Chicago Tribune. There, he was a beat reporter, daily columnist, and feature writer with work nationally syndicated. Mike's also written for the New York Times, a variety of magazines, reviewed books, and, after leaving The Tribune, taught full-time at Chicago's DePaul University, where he took leaves to teach at other universities and colleges in the U.S. and China. Now, drawing on a kitbag full of experiences and characters, an eye for an entertaining narrative, and equal parts imagination, he writes novels. "He Bet The Farm" is his fourth.