Last year I spent a lot of time in Cuba researching a book called Fifty Grand. I wrote much of the novel at the atmospheric Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana where Hemingway wrote For Whom The Bell Tolls. Its your standard murder mystery/ Scientology/ Hollywood/Cuban Secret Police/conspiracy novel, but I like it. 50G won't be out until early next year but if ya want to read chapter 1 then please click: here (comments much appreciated). 50 G will be published by Holt in the US and Serpents Tail in the UK. ...
All this week I'll be working on the page proofs and when I'm done with them I'd like to give them away to a reader/collector. If someone could suggest how I do this in the form of a fair competition or draw, I would greatly appreciate it. The proofs might look a bit messy so I'm not a 100% sure anyone will be that interested but if I get assassinated by Cuban Intelligence or a Scientology Clear then they might be worth a few quid. (The first few comments below are from when I originally posted this back in July (we didnt all lose our minds))
23 comments:
Sample chapters? Sweet!
Enjoyed the Hemmingway article by the way.
gb
Ger
I'm going to having to get permission for this, but I think that should be forthcoming, it's my bloody book! There also might be some potential libel issues to be sorted out first. I dont want to be mysterious about this, but I also dont want to get into any trouble either so I'm not going to elaborate on this just yet. You'll see what I'm talking about when we have galleys. Oh, and I should have some to give some away on your excellent site CSNI (see link below) Ger!
Libel issues, eh? Colour me intrigued.
And a giveaway? Happy days!
gb
Takes place in Denver again, yeah? I'm about to move to Wyoming to finish my schooling, so I'll be about two hours from Colfax Ave. Worth checking out? Worth getting shot for?
Fifty Grand anything like Hidden River? River is my fav of your works. Even said so if the interview Dec did with me.
Striker, was directed to the Hemmingway article by a friend. Really enjoyed it. Good luck with the blog.
ARM
liam
Its actually set in Telluride, colorado, where the Cruises have their lair and other movie stars are moving in. I'm giving the town a fictional name, but some of the men in suits would like me to fictionalise all the real people in there to. I'm trying to figure that one out just now. It wont have quite the heroin trippiness of HR. Colfax, sure its the place to go if you're looking to score tranny whores or crank or pot or coke or a dastardly undercover cop setting you up.
thanks Striker.
I would be alllllll about the sample chapter(s). I'm buying the book regardless. I'm kind of in a slump right now with things to read, so I'm all about it.
Hope you're motivated enough to do it.
Cheers,
Sam
Sam
Holt should give me permission by the end of the month. So at the very least we'll get chapter 1 up here.
Sample chapters would be much appreciated. I've read THE DEAD YARD and THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD and look forward to FIFTY GRAND.
Thanks Dana,
I'm getting that sorted really soon. I'm not the most technically savvy guy but I think I should have chapter 1 up on a linked blog by August.
Comp idea.......or you could just save yourself the bother and send me the proofs..........have people choose a cast for the film of one of your books......with a brief who and why for the cast.....the best cast or the closest to yours wins......that way someone whose read something gets the goodies
Colman
Thats a pretty good idea actually.
I'm supposed to be done with them by friday, so I'll try and get sthing sussed then.
cheers mate
a...
Adrian,
You know I'd love to see any sample pages you wanna throw out there. I was totally intrigued by the first chapter. Would love to see what put that Cuban femme fatale on a block of frozen ice with a naked dude and several guns fast approaching her backdoor.
Liam,
Sample wise, I might throw out another chapter, the page proofs would be the entire book.
Thanks man,
Adrian...
That'd be even nicer my man. Seriously, you need a few warm bodies to throw those proofs at...I'm your huckleberry.
Liam
After I give away the page proofs to an "avid fan" (rememer that bit in Manhunter? A classic.) I'm going to lobby hard to have Holt send me a box of galleys. So I'll have plenty to give away on the condition that whoever gets them has to review me somewhere Amazon, B&N, Good Reads, anywhere, even if its a bad review doesnt matter.
When my other books came out I just sat back like an eejit and let them flower or die; this time I'm going to do everything short of assassinating the President to get PR for the wee bugger. I mean seriously you work a year of your life on a novel that doesnt crack the Amazon 1000? Whats the bloody point? I think I'd rather give up writing completely than slave away on a book that will disappear from the shops after a fortnight and never be heard from again.
Anyway yeah mate, you'll get a galley if I have to print it and bind it myself.
A...
Thanks, mate. I see your point. Though I think you are way too talented and influential to just fade away, I do see your point.
Just for the skipping, scratchy record, I gave a 5 star review of DIWMB on Amazon. I don't even know if you can find it on there anymore it's been so long.
Liam,
I've read all the reviews on Amazon. I appreciate it bro. Did you know that DIWMB is only available now as a UK import or a f**king Kindle edition? If I wasnt so butch I'd cry into my cornflakes.
Anyway I know you're supposed to not be influenced by or read reviews but I do. Sometimes reviewers make very good points. I appreciate a bad review that is thoughtful. Of course like any ego cripple I like good reviews better. And doubly of course sometimes you get a review thats downright mean.
Slainte
A...
i would be careful not to portray Tom's cult in a bad light, you wouldnt want to offend Lord Xenu....
Dylanj
Word around Telluride is that Tom has built a bunker under his mountain top lair in case Lord Xenu does come back. Who'll be the crazy one then eh?
Course he only seems to come to Earth every 80 million years so we maybe ok for a bit
A...
I banged Ger a micro-review of DIWMB which he put up on CSNI a few months ago.....I need to catch-up on my reading though
Colman
Every one micro or not is a goddamn blessing as far as Im concerned. Thanks man.
A...
Holy crap! Just read the excerpt - excellent stuff. I'm looking forward to reading that copy of the Dead Yard I bought even more, now. You've got a John Connolly and The Max by Bruen & Starr ahead of you, but you've bypassed the TBR mountain up to there!
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