A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, MICHAEL CONNELLY AND MY DEAR FRIEND, PAUL BLEZARD...
By the time a 'new' book reaches the bookstores, a great deal of behind-the-scenes work has taken place - everything from writing to editing, re-writing, copy-editing, cover design and on and on. In fact, a book arriving in a store is usually delivered as a finished work to the author's publisher about a year or so before it's available for purchase. So when I heard that a reader had already managed to buy a copy of a A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS in Waterstone's in Walsall (and my thanks to Walsall as the book isn't officially available until Wednesday) I was very pleased. Why, you might ask. Because this book means a great deal to me and its release is something I have been looking forward to for some time.
On Wednesday I was in London with a very good friend of mine, the chief presenter and 'voice' of One Word Radio, Mr. Paul Blezard. We did an interview, as we have traditionally done for each book release, and he looked up at me during the interview and said "You do realize what you've done here, don't you?". I smiled, raised my eyebrows, and he went on to say "You have actually managed to cross genres with this book. This isn't just great crime fiction, this is great fiction full-stop". And believe me, from Paul Blezard, a man who has done 1499 author interviews (I know this because I was the 1499th!), that is a tremendous compliment.
After the interview I arrived home to find an e-mail from my publisher to say that Michael Connelly, that master of American crime fiction, had read A Quiet Belief In Angels and sent a quote for the paperback cover. He said:
"A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS IS A BEAUTIFUL AND HAUNTING BOOK. THIS IS A TOUR-DE-FORCE FROM R J ELLORY"
I started to think there was a possibility I had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with this book.
I'm not going to get into the plot and all that. If you want to know a little about it you can check the blurb on Amazon or on this website under 'Bibliography and Forthcoming Releases', but safe to say that the book is dedicated to Truman Capote for a reason (In Cold Blood etc. See my earlier blog re 'Dying For Your Art'), and I feel that of everything I have done to date this one 'stretched' me emotionally more than any other.
I want this one to mean something. I hope that people read it, that they enjoy it, but that they take something away from it that is personal to themselves.
First and foremost, I believe that a storyteller is there to entertain, to make people feel that the few hours that they have invested in reading a book has been worthwhile. I have read reviews previously, thankfully not of my books, where a reader has felt a little cheated perhaps, that they were led to believe that the author had invested everything he had in bringing them a fine book, but that was not what they got. I hope this book meets everyone's expectations. I have to say, in all honesty, it very well damned near met mine! It was a book that I threw myself into heart and soul, and I trust that the money and time spent by any reader to discover the life of Joseph Calvin Vaughan will be an investment with an acceptable return. I'd love to hear from anyone through the website what they thought of it. I can honestly say it is not a run-of-the-mill crime fiction adventure, that's for sure!
So, once again, I apologize for taking so long to write. And once again I promise not to leave it so long before I write again.
Take care, speak soon, best wishes.
By the time a 'new' book reaches the bookstores, a great deal of behind-the-scenes work has taken place - everything from writing to editing, re-writing, copy-editing, cover design and on and on. In fact, a book arriving in a store is usually delivered as a finished work to the author's publisher about a year or so before it's available for purchase. So when I heard that a reader had already managed to buy a copy of a A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS in Waterstone's in Walsall (and my thanks to Walsall as the book isn't officially available until Wednesday) I was very pleased. Why, you might ask. Because this book means a great deal to me and its release is something I have been looking forward to for some time.
On Wednesday I was in London with a very good friend of mine, the chief presenter and 'voice' of One Word Radio, Mr. Paul Blezard. We did an interview, as we have traditionally done for each book release, and he looked up at me during the interview and said "You do realize what you've done here, don't you?". I smiled, raised my eyebrows, and he went on to say "You have actually managed to cross genres with this book. This isn't just great crime fiction, this is great fiction full-stop". And believe me, from Paul Blezard, a man who has done 1499 author interviews (I know this because I was the 1499th!), that is a tremendous compliment.
After the interview I arrived home to find an e-mail from my publisher to say that Michael Connelly, that master of American crime fiction, had read A Quiet Belief In Angels and sent a quote for the paperback cover. He said:
"A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS IS A BEAUTIFUL AND HAUNTING BOOK. THIS IS A TOUR-DE-FORCE FROM R J ELLORY"
I started to think there was a possibility I had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with this book.
I'm not going to get into the plot and all that. If you want to know a little about it you can check the blurb on Amazon or on this website under 'Bibliography and Forthcoming Releases', but safe to say that the book is dedicated to Truman Capote for a reason (In Cold Blood etc. See my earlier blog re 'Dying For Your Art'), and I feel that of everything I have done to date this one 'stretched' me emotionally more than any other.
I want this one to mean something. I hope that people read it, that they enjoy it, but that they take something away from it that is personal to themselves.
First and foremost, I believe that a storyteller is there to entertain, to make people feel that the few hours that they have invested in reading a book has been worthwhile. I have read reviews previously, thankfully not of my books, where a reader has felt a little cheated perhaps, that they were led to believe that the author had invested everything he had in bringing them a fine book, but that was not what they got. I hope this book meets everyone's expectations. I have to say, in all honesty, it very well damned near met mine! It was a book that I threw myself into heart and soul, and I trust that the money and time spent by any reader to discover the life of Joseph Calvin Vaughan will be an investment with an acceptable return. I'd love to hear from anyone through the website what they thought of it. I can honestly say it is not a run-of-the-mill crime fiction adventure, that's for sure!
So, once again, I apologize for taking so long to write. And once again I promise not to leave it so long before I write again.
Take care, speak soon, best wishes.
4 comments:
Congratulations on your book being published and on receiving such nice comments! My book is nearly publication and I'm at a loss for how to get comments from well-known people. Do you have any suggestions? My novel is a fantasy, the first of a trilogy.
I wrote to you several months ago and you very kindly shared some advice with me. If you have more to share, I'm listening!
I'll run over to Amazon and look for your book! I hope it does well for you! And would that interviewer like to make a new author his 1500th interview?? :)
Lynda Sappington
www.whspubs.com
abraxan.blogspot.com
I meant to say "nearing publication" not "nearly publication." *sigh* Sorry about that!
Lynda Sappington
www.whspubs.com
abraxan.blogspot.com
Hey there! As far as comments are concerned, this is something that was pursued by my publisher. This is the first book we actually secured a comment for from a well-known author, so I don't know that it is that easy. When you say 'nearing publication' am I right in assuming that you have a publishing deal now? Write back and let me know.
Roger.
Congratulations!
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