I recently had the pleasure of meeting writer Beatrice Beaumont, who currently has two novels partly written. Although we haven’t yet struck a deal, I was very excited about what she had in mind – think the Kardashians in Regency England, for example – and I’m sure she and I will be talking more when the novels are completed. I’ll let you know…
Joshua Gamon’s thrilling fantasy adventure The Brothers Thanatos is available to publishers again! Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, Joshua asked to be released from the commercial publishing agreement we negotiated for him – totally his prerogative to do so, and we agreed with his decision – and so we are once again promoting the novel to publishers.
So, to any publishers who are reading this I would say that if you want to beat the rest and get your hands on one of the most innovative fantasy novels in a long time, don’t wait for our email! Get in touch with us and express an interest.
If you want to know more about Joshua, click on the book cover (either above or in the sidebar) and that will take you to the original interview we conducted with him.
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By now you’re all well aware that P’kaboo Publishers has relocated from South Africa to Ireland, and is gearing up for big things. Amongst them is a writing contest for children between the ages of 8 and 18. So if you’re a young person living in Ireland, or you know someone who is, then take note and watch this space… because we’re watching their web site, and as soon as the rules are published we’ll let you know.
We do already know that amongst the prizes will be getting a story published in a book, along with all the other winning stories. And there will be a wonderful launch party in Cobh, Co. Cork.
Meanwhile, Pkaboo has retained an associate back in South Africa. Professional editor Les Noble, whom many of our clients have used, has taken over marketing and promoting their books in their ‘old country’, added to which he has started his own imprint – Noblest Publications. As you can see from the handbill below, he has planned a series of events in the city of Durban, including one that re-introduces Carmen Capuano’s excellent novel Split Decision.
Okay, we’ll allow ourselves that little bit of levity…
Since the agency announced a few days ago that our client Elizabeth Mostyn had signed a contract for a commercial publishing deal, things have started to move in a big way here. Let’s summarise what has been happening.
Gamon
Firstly, publishing contracts have been signed by to other clients. Joshua Gamon’s The Brothers Thanatos was described by the publisher with the words “Wow, what a riveting story!” Well, we can attest to that – it’s an absolute blinder of a tale, and we can’t wait to see it published. Also Marie Marshall has signed a contract for her collection The Last-but-one Samurai and other stories. Marie’s publisher intends to relaunch her teen-vampire novel From My Cold, Undead Hand at the same time as the sequel KWIREBOY vs VAMPIRE is published, both with newly-designed covers. There’s also talk of a relaunch of her 2010 collection of poems, Naked in the Sea.
Cortes
Contracts are currently being negotiated with the estate of the late Hector P. Cortes for his novel Miura, and with the collective known as ‘The Firm’ for its non-fiction book Walk Proud, to be published in 2019 to mark the 50thanniversary of the media ‘discovery’ of the Skinhead movement.
Shand
Meanwhile we have a publisher looking at Michael Shand’s Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, a cracking thriller set in the mean streets of Edinburgh.
And lastly, the ‘Bookseeker’ of Bookseeker Agency himself, Paul Thompson, has achieved an MSc With Distinction in ‘Literature and Modernity’ from the University of Edinburgh, and will be looking for a PhD place in 2019.
The agency is very pleased to announce that it has secured a commercial publishing deal for its client Elizabeth Mostyn, in respect of her debut novel, Wisp. , set in and around St Andrews University in Scotland.
Over the next few weeks, Elizabeth will be working with the publisher’s editors, polishing the manuscript and getting it ready for publication. She has several more books in the pipeline, ranging from fiction to academic non-fiction, and the agency hopes to keep representing her literary efforts with equal success.
More news in due course. For now, well done Elizabeth!
Jack Woodward
Recently broadcaster Jack Woodward came across a copy of Carmen Capuano‘s novel Split Decision. Here’s what he had to say about it.
I thought this was a compelling and enthralling read, from beginning to end. We’ve all had ‘sliding doors’ moments in our lives ( though not many with quite such dramatic consequences I hope! ), and the two parallel stories were superbly and sensitively told.
Lots of surprises, twists and turns along the way and excellent use of language to convey the emotions, also covering a range of issues, from friendship to family, loyalty to jealousy.
For the whole book to be based on a time period of less than 24 hours was a challenge but it worked well, written in such an intelligent way that flitting between the two narratives is in no way confusing for the reader, it actually helps build the suspense.
I’m one of those people who likes to read a couple of chapters a night but I just couldn’t put this one down and had to keep going right through to the nail biting finale. Riveting and remarkable, this author really knows how to get you right on the edge of your seat.
In fact, reading Split Decision is the best decision you can make.
… steps Joshua Gamon – a new force in fantasy writing!
Readers who enjoyed Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere will find themselves enthralled by Joshua Gamon’s The Brothers Thanatos. In a fantasy that journeys from the crowded streets of Bombay to a soot-laden London, to Manhattan’s Grand Central Station, to Edinburgh, and to Hell and back again, Max Thanatos and the spirit of his dead brother Charlie encounter fallen angels, Theo Hardeen the brother of Harry Houdini, the vile Aleister Crowley, and even the Devil himself. They battle abhorrent horrors, witch-hunters, the police, and all-comers in an attempt to save Charlie from eternal damnation.
The novel does not drop pace once, and it is this agency’s privilege to represent the author, Joshua Gamon, and to offer The Brothers Thanatos to publishers. It is going to be a best-seller!
Publishers – get in touch with this agency as a matter of urgency, to be first in line for this manuscript!
Joshua has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the prestigious University of Edinburgh, and it’s easy to see why. The Brothers Thanatos is his debut novel, though he has been involved in the creation of several works of graphic fiction before striking out on his own. That goes some way towards explaining why this new novel is so visual, evoking almost cinematographic scenes in the minds of readers.
Having tracked Joshua Gamon down to his current whereabouts, we put some questions to him..
Q: Firstly, who is Joshua Gamon? Where were you born, where did you study, where are you now?
A: I am thirty-eight years old, born in New Haven, CT, and of Russian and British descent. My mother is an artist, my father is retired. I have a BS in English Literature from Towson University, which is mostly known as an actor’s school. I was also awarded an MSc in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh in 2014, which is one of the most famous and lauded universities in the world. I left Scotland to move back to Florida to take care of my mom, which is where I am today. In the past, I once taught English in South Korea, starred in a documentary about the USS Indianapolis on the History Channel, built robots with Motorola and competed them on a national level, was almost trapped in a cruise ship fire, and am currently working as a novelist for children and adults.
Q: What started you storytelling? What gave you the impetus to put pen to paper, and when did you first start to take yourself seriously as an author?
A: When I was young, I tried to emulate the things I loved the most. The first time I saw David Bowie on MTV, I wanted to be a singer and failed famously. Then I tried to play the guitar like Johnny Marr from The Smiths. But then a friend gave me a copy of Dragonlance Chronicles as a birthday gift, which was a fantasy trilogy collected in this one thousand page book. At the time, I wasn’t a reader. But he made me promise to read a little bit at a time. And I kept that promise, and I finished the book over the following summer. When there was nothing left, I started to write my own stories. But they were small, private affairs. When the internet came about, the world opened up. I got into comics, wrote a few, and even had a couple published years later in college. And just a few years ago, I wrote a television pilot for the BBC’s Writer’s Room, and made it into the top ten percent. But, ultimately, it was not sold. All of those experiences were just flings. Once I graduated from University of Edinburgh, I decided to put it all on the line and write.
Q: The Brothers Thanatos seems to occupy a spot somewhere in the field of ‘factasy’ or ‘magical history’, with its much of its action taking place in recognised locations, and with a certain amount of real characters. Where would you position it in literature yourself?
A: Good question! The novel flirts with many popular conventions of horror and science fiction and alternate history, but it’s not aloof with its identity. I see the sub-genre ‘urban fantasy’ spring up a lot, and that’s how I would probably categorize The Brothers Thanatos. But I were to put my own spin on a sub-genre, it would be more akin to pulp fantasy, for it embraces that literary period.
Q: Fantasy fiction is a ‘hot’ genre at present with a lot of writer jostling for top spot. What makes The Brothers Thanatos a contender?
A: I think people are going to be quite surprised by the book. On the surface, the fans of the genre will sate their hunger on the fantastique with its magic, ancient societies, and Lovecraftian monstrosities that slither in the shadows. But the true meat of the story, the part people will really sink their teeth into, is the tortuous journey of Max Thanatos; a man so broken, so utterly lost in despair over the death of his brother, they’ll probably wonder if I’m a sadist in real life! But I’m not. Honest. But this is certainly a world of blood and grime, violence and sorrow. If anything, it channels the spirit of the currently very successful movie Logan, as it’s about a man at the end of his adventures.
Q: Part of the action of The Brothers Thanatos takes place in Edinburgh, here in Scotland. What attracts you about ‘The Athens of the North’? What makes it fertile ground for the setting of a fantasy?
A: I often believe I was born in the wrong century. I always felt drawn to the interwar period of Great Britain, where the traditions of the past were colliding, sometimes violently, with modernity. To me, Edinburgh encapsulates that juxtaposition. At the top of the hill rests the ancient castle, and exactly one mile away is the very modern Parliament building. There are cemeteries next door to cafes. You even have North Bridge that literally and figuratively connects the older city with the new. Edinburgh is a steampunk capital, a medieval world populated by black cabs and power grids. It is majestic and dirty, gothic and modern, dark and serene. To me, it’s a second home. I had to pay my respects.
Q: The novel is written in third-person, but I notice there is a very strong protagonist. Do you identify with Max Thanatos? Are you ever tempted to identify with a character in your fiction? Do you write a strong main character to entice your readers to identify with that character?
A: To me, story is character, character, character. A novel can have a great plot and brilliant action sequences, but if you’re not invested in the characters, then there’s really nothing at stake. It’s more fun to root for someone, to hate or love someone. This is ultimately a story about brothers Max and Charlie, and I am not kind with their lives. I always found myself drawn to frail, broken characters, and these two men are made to suffer dearly. But that also means they have that much more to overcome. I didn’t want to make it easy for them, and that is the allure of their characters. I will say there is a lot of myself in Max, the doubt, the insecurities, but there is also some of myself in Charlie as well with his unbridled optimism. But the beautiful thing about literature is how the readers project themselves onto the characters. Once they read the novel, I would love to hear what they find.
Q: What’s your writing discipline? Do you sit down and write for a set time each day, or do you write as and when inspiration comes?
A: I recently read an article about Stephen King, how he writes two thousand words a day, which didn’t seem like a lot to me until I tried it and failed. But this also comes from a man who has been writing two novels a year for the last forty years, big, meaty books. King is a literary savant. So the real question, to me, was not the daily word count, but how many words did he erase to get there? For me, I used to edit as I went—but that was a waste of energy. For anyone who writes, creating is exhausting enough. Editing is its own beast. Then one day, a professor told me to first get it down, then get it right. It was solid advice. Writing is, after all, rewriting.
But my approach to writing is chaotic. There would be days where I would just toil over a single paragraph. Other times, I would slap down pages of new content, only to erase it all the following day after coming up with a better way to tell it. I would love a passage, hate it, and omit the work only to bring it back again. The worst days involved me sitting on my couch, questioning every word of the manuscript. But I rarely work from an outline. I let the characters surprise me. I’m not for jotting down notes while sipping tea in a café. I’d rather spend that energy on the book. When I do dialogue, I first have to understand how each person sounds. Sometimes I would envision famous actors playing the parts. I find it does help. You just have to be fearless to write. During those dark times, at the trough of the process, I just reminded myself there was someone out there who wrote Sharknado. If you believe in your work, someone else will, too.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: At the moment, I have a few projects in the works. A friend from university and I are developing our second children’s picture book about a rabbit who decides to quit being a rabbit. The story is done. And from what I’ve seen from the illustrator, I’m very excited about this book. I think it’s going to be something special.
As for me, I’m currently writing the first draft of my next book, which is about a young rider in the Pony Express and his perilous journey across the Utah Territory. After The Brothers Thanatos, I wanted to compose a shorter, light-hearted adventure about a boy versus nature, to cleanse the palate, if you will.
Afterwards, I have a swashbuckling novel that imagines a conflict between Robin Hood and King Arthur and his Round Table. But since I am a stickler for historical authenticity, it also involves a lot of research.
Q: When you read a piece of writing by another author, what stands out for you? What do you admire most in another author? Equally, what features of literature today do you dislike?
A: I’m a terrible reader. Can I admit that? When I’m writing, I close myself off to nearly everything. I don’t want to be influenced by someone else’s fiction. But, in the past, my heaviest influence as an adult was probably H. P. Lovecraft. I love sensory details in writing, but the man was an artist of mind-creeping, dripping atmosphere. A true master. Another man who wrote beautiful, haunting prose was William Peter Blatty, who just recently passed. I think everyone should read The Exorcist.
Intrigued? Want to know more? Itching for a look at the manuscript? Get in touch with us at bookseeker{a}blueyonder.co.uk now!
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Header art detailed from The Passenger by Joshua Gamon and Adrian Sibar.
Paul writes:
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a public conversation between Dr. Monica Azzolini and historical novelist Sarah Dunant, at the School of History, Classics & Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, and of speaking to her briefly afterwards. The event was primarily a promotion for the most recent novel in her series dealing with the Borgias – In the Name of the Family.
Sarah Dunant cut her literary teeth writing ‘thrillers’ which, she said, taught her the art of storytelling. She is a historian by education, and loves historical research. Research, when produced for academic consumption, however, tends to be published by university presses and remains within the academic sphere, with an academic readership. Fiction, on the other hand, liberates the subject to a wider readership, and while Sarah does not write instrumentalist novels, she is well aware that her readers are learning whilst enjoying an absorbing novel. So she makes sure that her research is exhaustive.
It has often been said before when it comes to history – “Where are the women?” We have the impression, due to ‘taught’ history seeming to be a procession of great men, great battles, great events, that half the world’s population is invisible, and that this invisibility is somehow uniform throughout history. Sarah presents Renaissance women to us in her novels – in convents, as courtesans, at court – living unexpectedly rich and varied lives, even though they may be distanced from direct involvement in the ‘great events’. Lucrezia Borgia is almost invisible, except for the gossip put around by enemies of the Borgias. Pinturicchio’s depiction of St Catherine of Alexandria may be the closest we have to a portrait of her, but as a dynastic asset she was arguably as important as her father Rodrigo and her brother Cesare. Although she was only thirty-nine when she died of natural causes, she outlived them both.
Sarah Dunant, who says she is always “willing to take on the real history,” read to us a passage from her novel, describing the process of serving as a witness to the consummation of Lucrezia’s marriage at Ferrara. There was no description of the bride’s feelings and thus no kowtowing to the stereotypical idea that women writers ‘do’ feelings, but rather an account of the ‘bodily bureaucracy’ that goes with a dynastic match.
In the Name of the Family introduces to Sarah’s readers to a young Florentine diplomat – Niccolo Machiavelli. This is a name that often strikes a chill – after all, the adjective that derives from his name is used to describe the ruthless and amoral wielding of political power – but a recent book by Erica Benner, Be Like the Fox, reveals a staunch believer in republican liberty and a scrupulous recorder of the realpolitik of Renaissance Italy. Sarah’s portrayal of him is that of a relative youngster, who has a wife back home who seems quite fond of him, and who worries about whether his attire is smart enough for his surroundings, whether his doublet is straight, and so on. He is a man who has been chosen for his diplomatic job because he shows much promise, but the wily observer has yet to emerge. Writing The Prince is many years ahead.
To Sarah Dunant the Renaissance is an era of “red hot modernity.” She is well aware that its cruelty and beauty are not two separate aspects of the time, but are interwoven, along with all the daily banalities.
I would like to thank Sarah Dunant, Monica Azzolini, and of course the University of Edinburgh for hosting the event.
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Courtesy note: Sarah Dunant is represented by Aitken Alexander Associates Ltd.
Click to see a larger size image.
Reviewer Colleen Chesebro recently had the following to say about the fourth in the Solar Wind series by Lyz Russo:
Volume Four brings the pirate assassin, Federi, and his wife, the lovely genetic engineer/musician, Paean, back together at long last. When these two are apart, the Solar Wind never rides smooth on the waves beneath its bow. Something is off, though, and Federi’s gypsy intuition is pushed into overdrive to figure out what is wrong.
Suddenly, a new threat surfaces when Dana, an alien from the planet New Dome, arrives aboard the ship with an agenda all her own. The hauntingly beautiful Dana disrupts the newfound relationship between the Captain and Perdita when it is revealed that she is Rushka’s mother. Perdita is stunned and watches, filled with fury, as the Captain succumbs once again to Dana’s evil charms. Meanwhile, Rushka, pregnant with her first child remembers the cruelty she suffered at the hands of her alien mother when she was a young child.
And, if that wasn’t enough drama, mutant creatures are menacing the crew, threatening their very lives. The beings can’t be destroyed, and they regenerate themselves from a single living cell. They multiply into the thousands with only one thing on their mind – to kill. When one of the creatures attacks Federi, the team battles for his and their lives looking for solutions to save the world from certain destruction.
Lyz Russo
Perdita is the key to protecting humankind from Dana’s malevolence. If they can save Federi, there is still hope…
I have been reading the Solar Wind Series for some time now, and I must say, I enjoyed Book IV, Raider, the best! The characters have long ago found a place in my heart. Once again, it is the relationship between Paean and Federi that steer the crew into new adventures. The addition of space travel and the ability to beam to any location in an instant added another layer of mystique to the plot.
Lyz Russo has created a science fiction series that continues to entertain and invite the reader into the world of the Solar Wind, and its crew. This futuristic pirate fantasy is one of my favorites!
Read more about Solar Wind IV here.
Bookseeker Literary Agency 