We'd never seen a press release quite like it. First, there was the e-mail's subject line: "FINALLY a work of fiction that SHOWCASES the global logistics biz!!!" And then there was the press release itself, which began: "A young man's search for redemption from a life of crime and violence begins in the freight forwarding community of Boston's Logan Airport."

Thus began the description of the book, Tortoise Riskies (the cover features a close-up photo of tortoiseshell sunglasses). The release describes the novel as an "expose [sic] of international logistics and its role in global trade" by the protagonist, Derek "Turk" Hogan. "Want the inside scoop on what mergers and acquisitions have really done to the 3PL business?" the press release asks. "Listen to young master Hogan as he goes off on the sophists and political hacks that populate the halls of many a 3PL firm."

Author Dan Gardner, president of Los Angeles-based Trade Facilitators Inc. and a former DHL Global Forwarding exec, is using the global trade angle to pitch the book to the logistics trade press. But he has his eye on a wider audience as well. Gardner is also pushing the book under the name "DannyG" through a series of videos on his MySpace page, where he urges visitors to "Check back for all 9 intstallments [sic] ... they get sicker as you go along."