Brendan DuBois here, also known by my not-so-mysterious handle "BADuBois." I'm a suspense and mystery writer who became "Jeopardy!" champion on Friday, September 28th, and who was quickly dethroned the following game, by Joanna Mang who started out shaky and roared back to hand my proverbial butt to me on Monday, October 1st.
While I was doing the on-line test, going through the audition and the tapings, I knew at sometime I would write about my "Jeopardy!" experience, and now I have. It's called "My Short, Happy Life in 'Jeopardy!'" and it's available on the Kindle, Nook and Smashwords e-book platforms. It's based on my notes, memories, taped programs and "Jeopardy!" paperwork. Any mistakes contained within are entirely my own, and I'm sure there are a few here and there.
For those looking for a gritty, tell-all and hard-hitting investigative piece of work can look elsewhere. This is an affectionate, humorous and --- I hope! --- somewhat informative piece about what it's like to be thrust into the wonderful world of "Jeopardy!" I make no claims to be another Ken Jennings or Bob Harris --- this is just one person's view of what went on. As others say, "your mileage may vary."
I also have to point out that this work is not authorized by "Jeopardy!", CBS, Sony or any other company associated with "Jeopardy!" All of those companies are trademarked organizations, and I have no intention to infringe upon their copyright or trademark.
Having said that, writing this e-book was more of a chore than I had anticipated. Once my second program aired on October 1st, I thought I could whip something out by the end of the month, maybe 70 or 80 pages if I wrote with really, really big fonts. Alas, it's nearly 145 pages, and I just finished it last week. Plus, comparatively speaking writing non-fiction is hard! It's so much easier --- and fun! --- to make things up.
I would also like to thank the incredible people at "Jeopardy!" who take a bunch of over-educated strangers and manage to mold them into contestants in a matter of hours. And I'd also like to thank my fellow contestants --- and board members, perhaps --- who I met during my show's tapings, and who appear within the book. At first I thought of leaving names out, or using just first names, but then that just seemed ridiculous, based upon how easy it is to track down who played what when, mostly thanks to this board.
And in conclusion --- jeepers, DuBois, you're one long-winded son-of-a-gun, aren't you --- my deepest thanks to this board, its administrators and moderators. I felt truly welcome the first time I arrived ---- jibber-jabber notwithstanding --- and I only wish I had come here earlier. It might have made all the difference... but maybe not. That's why it's called a gameshow, right?
Here are the links to my e-book:
Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Short-Happy-Life- ... ardy%21%22
Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-shor ... 0016548845
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/306265
And thanks once again to everyone in the "Jeopardy!" universe; besides having lots of fun and meeting some wonderful people, I do feel incredibly blessed,
Brendan
http://www.BrendanDuBois.com
