Apologies, Gentle Reader. I’ve been wrapped around the fiction axle this entire day, and haven’t had the first glimmer of a nonfiction thought. So please excuse my absence for the day, and as compensation enjoy my favorite love song, performed by one of the most under-appreciated bands of its time:
ADDENDUM: Fairly soon – probably in the next two or three weeks – I’ll be putting out a call for test readers for the first draft of Statesman. Please think about whether you might have the time and the inclination. This has been an extremely tough, draining book to write. I would appreciate the assistance.
Ahhhhh The Alan Parsons Project (he also produced Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon"), I remember this one quite well! It was the summer of 1984 and I had just completed my sophmore year of high school, God to be young again!!! This video won a bunch of awards also.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to give Statesman a thourogh read. john.mrozek@att.net I've been reading fiction since I was about 8. I'm 54 now. I regularly visit the library snd I have about 300 books on my tablet and kindle.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me feel old. We graduated June of 1967. Hendrik's "Purple Haze" had just come out a short while before our senior prom., and the band the school hired played it for us. In '68, at the State University College in Oneonta, NY, Blood, Sweat, and Tears played in our gymnasium, and Taj Mahal appeared at the coffee house on campus, in the basement of Old Main.
ReplyDeleteTaj Mahal was a great entertainer. If you ever watched Six Days, Seven Nights with Harrison Ford and Anne Heche, you saw Taj performing at the resort Anne and her fiance stayed at., although that didn't really give any indication of his talent.
I graduated from high school in '68. I remember going to a concert of Moby Grape with a stupid "mod" outfit I'd bought from my first regular job at Der Wienerschintzel ($1.35 an hour.)
ReplyDeleteBut, as far as the Alan Parsons Project? I believe "I Can Read Your Mind" is a much better song. Harmonies, sub-text, etc. but I'll grant that's all subjective.
Fran, I'd be happy and honored to test read "The Statesman." But I have to warn you in advance. I don't appreciate side-stories to Louis Redmond, wherein Sumner is a side character. Please understand, I appreciate Louis, but I believe Sumner must have a back-story that is his own - almost regardless of Redmond - that helped him form his world view.
So far, Sumner's story seems like a compendium of Redmond stories wherein Sumner has a side role. I'd like a story that STARTS with Sumner, *follows* Sumner, and then - given the thrust of the earlier works - shows how Sumner gets "focused" by Redmond.
I understand that it's difficult to "go back in time" when you've already created a narrative such as Louis Redmond's. But Sumner's forthrightness, belief in the Constitution, honesty and honor can certainly support fictional narratives prior to his meeting Redmond.
To my mind, the problem with Polymath and Statesman so far is that they seem like little side stories trying to fit into the Redmond "book" instead of novels of their own.
You write well, and I don't mean to suggest I could do better.
Tim
As much as I would love to read your new work I am too biased to give you the help you deserve, so I'll wait and buy a copy when you are ready.
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