Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Ending Of Falling Glass

I've had an unusual amount of correspondence about the ending of my novel Falling Glass. I wouldn't say complaints as such but there have been quite a few people who have written and emailed me asking for a definite answer as to what I think happened at the very end. I don't normally like to dissect my own books or over analyse them, but just this once I felt I should clear up one or two issues about the ending. If you haven't read the book and you don't like spoilers you should stop reading right now.
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Ok if you're still with me I assume you've read the book or you don't mind the old spoiler or two...The first thing I'd like to make clear is that there will not be a sequel to Falling Glass. It's a standalone novel. We won't be seeing Killian ever again. The second thing I'd like to make clear is that this is the final appearance of Michael Forsythe. We won't be seeing him again either. With that in mind you should appreciate that the ending of Falling Glass is not supposed to be a cliff hanger. The story will not be continued in a subsequent book. It ends there for both characters.
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Ahh, that's all very well but what actually happens??!!! you want to know. Well the answer to that question is that I don't actually know. It's a little bit like Schrodinger's Cat: which exists in the quantum state both alive and dead until Professor Schrodinger opens the box. Michael Forsythe and Killian come from two different schools of thought and two different approaches to life. Killian uses words as weapons, Michael is no dummy but he is the embodiment of action. For Michael "the hand is the cutting edge of the mind" but for Killian resorting to violence is almost always a failure of method. Inevitably when these two characters meet we're going to want to know which philosophy triumphs. But of course there's no definitive answer. It's a question that's come up again and again throughout history and it has never been adequately resolved. What I prefer to do is push the characters into the final confrontation and leave them there in that strange quantum entangled world where neither one is the winner or the loser. I'm afraid that if you want a definitive answer as to what happens at the end of Falling Glass then you are going to have to pick a side for yourself. As for me, well, I choose not to.
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Hope that helps.