Last week, when I announced that my new book is available for sale at Amazon.com, a number of readers wrote in to tell me that they’d also found copies of it in the travel sections of their local bookstores. The book was initially scheduled to launch on September 15th, but — hey — since it’s already for sale everywhere, why not just say it’s launching today?

So there you have it: Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is officially released!

The subtitle to the book is “Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer,” and the story collection is just that — a look back at my boldest, funniest, and most revealing travel-writing adventures from the past 10 years. Unlike, say, essay collections from David Sedaris, Anne Lamott or Chuck Klosterman (or even Tim Cahill), however, each of my stories also contains a “commentary track” — endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale. The result, I believe, is more than just an entertaining literary journey into fascinating corners of the world — it’s also an offbeat travel-writing textbook, as each story is offset by an annotated peak into its own creation. The intro chapter (which explains, for example, why I use a word like “postmodern” in the subtitle) can be accessed online from the Travelers’ Tales promo page for the book.

By next week I hope to add a unique Marco Polo Didn’t Go There page at RolfPotts.com, complete with reviews, sample chapters, and a finalized book-tour event listing. For now, I’m posting my tentative book tour schedule below, covering the metro areas of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, and Salina. [Montreal, San Diego, Baltimore, and DC might be added later, depending on scheduling issues.] As was the case for Vagabonding in 2003, Bootnsall Travel Network will be co-sponsoring many of the events on this book tour.

I also hope to visit some book clubs during my tour, though I don’t have a specific plan on just how I’m going to do this. So if you have a book club (or if you want to create one to coincide with my tour) and it looks like I’ll be in your general area, send me an email and let’s see if we can’t set something up.

My online “virtual book tour” will start next Monday, September 15th, and will feature book-related reviews, Q&As, and short essays on select travel blogs. After the virtual tour finishes, I’ll be writing regular road-dispatches for Gadling as my real-world book tour makes its way around North America.

For now, my tentative 2008 Marco Polo Didn’t Go There book tour information is as follows:

• Thursday, September 18th, Salina, 7:00pm, Online info
  Salina Public Library, 301 West Elm Street, (785) 825-4624
• Friday, September 19th, Wichita, 7:00pm, Online info
  Watermark Books, 4701 East Douglas, (316) 682-1181
• Saturday, September 20th, Salina, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
  Waldenbooks, Salina Central Mall, 2259 S. 9th St, (785) 825-2232
• Monday, September 22nd, Manhattan, 1:20pm - 2:30pm, Online info
  Kansas State University Student Union (Room 20)
• Tuesday, September 23rd, Topeka, 7:00pm, Online info
  Washburn University, Vogel Room, Memorial Union, (785) 670-1441
• Wednesday, September 24th, Kansas City, Noon - 1:00pm, Online info
  Johnson County CC, General Education Building 233, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park
• Saturday, September 27th, Lawrence, 2:00pm - 3:00pm, Online info
  River City Reading Festival, with Thomas Frank, Scott Phillips, and others
  Lawrence Public Library Auditorium, 707 Vermont

• Wednesday, October 1st, Chicago, 7:30pm, Online info
  Bookslut reading series, with Dubravka Ugresic and Peter Ferry
  Hopleaf, Second Floor, 5148 N. Clark Street
• Thursday, October 2nd, Chicago, 7:00pm, Online info
  Book Cellar, 4736-38 North Lincoln Ave, (773) 293-2665

• Tuesday, October 7th, New Orleans, 5:00pm, Online info
  Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St, (504) 895-2266
• Wednesday, October 8th, New Orleans, 7:30pm
  Loyola University, Biever Guest Lecture, Bobet 332

• Saturday, October 11th, Minneapolis, 10:00am -5:00pm, Online info
  Twin Cities Book Festival, with Valerie Martin, Robert Bly, and others
  Minneapolis Community & Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Avenue S
• Monday, October 13th, St. Paul, 7:30pm, Online info
  Common Good Books, 165 Western Ave N #14, St. Paul, (651) 225-8989

• Monday, October 20th, Manhattan, 7:00pm, Online info
  The Half King, 505 W 23rd St, just west of 10th Ave, (212) 462-4300
  The closest subway stop is the “C” and “E” line at 23rd and 8th Ave.
• Tuesday, October 21st, Manhattan, 7:00pm, Online info
  Book Culture, 536 West 112th St, (212) 865-1588
• Wednesday, October 22nd, Camden, NJ (near Philadelphia, PA), 7:00pm, Online info
  Rutgers-Camden, Stedman Gallery, Fine Arts Building, with poet Patrick Rosal
• Thursday, October 23rd, Manhattan, 7:00pm, Online info
  Book Culture, 536 West 112th St, (212) 865-1588
  Travel seminar with Pauline Frommer and Matt Gross

• Saturday, November 8th, Portland, time TBA, Online info
  Wordstock Festival of the Book, Oregon Convention Center
  With Steve Almond, Dave Eggers, and others
• Tuesday, November 11th, Portland, time TBA, Online info
  Powell’s Books, branch location TBA
• Friday, November 14th, Bellingham, 7:00pm, Online info
  Village Books, 1200 11th St, (360) 671-2626
• Saturday, November 15th, Seattle, 4:30pm, Online info
  Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 South Main Street (800) 962-5311

• Sunday, November 16th, Corte Madera, time TBA, Online info
  Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, (415) 927-0960
• Tuesday, November 18th, San Francisco, 7:00pm, Online info
  Books, Inc, branch location TBA

• Thursday, November 20th, Redlands, time TBA
  University of Redlands, Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, location TBA
• Monday, November 24th, Pasadena, time TBA, Online info
  Distant Lands, 56 S. Raymond Ave, Pasadena, (800) 310-3220

For early press on Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, check out recent articles in the Salina Journal, Canada’s National Post, or (if you can read Italian) Italy’s La Repubblica.