Richard S. Wheeler's Blog, page 19
July 29, 2013
At Last
I got word today that my agents have the publishing contract I've been waiting for and are dickering with the publisher for better terms.
It's been a long time coming; my editor and I worked out the deal last February. There will be a good advance.
I'll be on fresh ground. I'm doing a large historical novel that will follow an early vaudeville troupe through the early mining towns in the west in the 1880s. I've been doing a lot of research. Those troupes were warmly welcomed by entertainment-starved miners. The gold and silver and copper towns built elaborate opera houses to draw performers. It wasn't until railroads began to connect the towns that theatrical companies could do the "circuit" as it was called. But some entertainers, I'm thinking of Eddy Foy, were working the camps even before the railroads arrived.
I'm going to have fun with this one. It's good to be back at work, after a hiatus. Maybe this will be my last novel; I don't know for sure.
It's been a long time coming; my editor and I worked out the deal last February. There will be a good advance.
I'll be on fresh ground. I'm doing a large historical novel that will follow an early vaudeville troupe through the early mining towns in the west in the 1880s. I've been doing a lot of research. Those troupes were warmly welcomed by entertainment-starved miners. The gold and silver and copper towns built elaborate opera houses to draw performers. It wasn't until railroads began to connect the towns that theatrical companies could do the "circuit" as it was called. But some entertainers, I'm thinking of Eddy Foy, were working the camps even before the railroads arrived.
I'm going to have fun with this one. It's good to be back at work, after a hiatus. Maybe this will be my last novel; I don't know for sure.
July 22, 2013
What Publishers Do
I am well into my friend John Taliaferro's splendid biography, All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay from Lincoln to Roosevelt. It was recently published by Simon and Schuster. About the contents, more anon.
What I wish to note here is what a major effort goes into producing a biography of this caliber, not only by the author, but also by his publishers. This is an elegant and substantive and flawless book. The jacket, with a portrait of Hay, is powerful and handsome. The book itself is a fine example of quality publishing, with deckle-edged pages. There are extensive notes and a complete index, all diligently proofed.
The book has been beautifully edited, its content lively. Copyeditors have labored hard to ensure it is a model of grammar, syntax, and spelling. I have found no typos or other difficulties that crop up when a book is carelessly edited. I don't doubt that the editors and author have put countless hours into polishing the text. John Taliaferro (pronounced "Tolliver")is a former editor of Newsweek.
The publishers have not neglected to promote and sell their product. It is enriched by fine endorsements, and is receiving fine reviews.
In short, Simon and Schuster is doing what great publishers do, presenting a great work as well as possible, marketing it and distributing it as well as can be managed.
I hope that the great publishers, sometimes called legacy publishers, survive and prosper and continue to generate outstanding works of literature, such as this one.
What I wish to note here is what a major effort goes into producing a biography of this caliber, not only by the author, but also by his publishers. This is an elegant and substantive and flawless book. The jacket, with a portrait of Hay, is powerful and handsome. The book itself is a fine example of quality publishing, with deckle-edged pages. There are extensive notes and a complete index, all diligently proofed.
The book has been beautifully edited, its content lively. Copyeditors have labored hard to ensure it is a model of grammar, syntax, and spelling. I have found no typos or other difficulties that crop up when a book is carelessly edited. I don't doubt that the editors and author have put countless hours into polishing the text. John Taliaferro (pronounced "Tolliver")is a former editor of Newsweek.
The publishers have not neglected to promote and sell their product. It is enriched by fine endorsements, and is receiving fine reviews.
In short, Simon and Schuster is doing what great publishers do, presenting a great work as well as possible, marketing it and distributing it as well as can be managed.
I hope that the great publishers, sometimes called legacy publishers, survive and prosper and continue to generate outstanding works of literature, such as this one.
July 14, 2013
The Pseudonym
I sure enjoyed the news that J. K. Rowling had written a mystery under the pseudonym William Galbraith. It particularly delighted me that it got splendid reviews. The Publishers Weekly review, which I read, was starred.
She wanted to see how her work fared with critics who didn't know she was the author; critics who would bring no baggage to the task of reviewing her work. And the reviews of the "new author" Galbraith were splendid.
I empathize. I wanted to find out the same thing, so I wrote some mysteries under the pseudonym Axel Brand, and they were well reviewed. The critics carried none of the baggage to their task that might have altered their reviews if they had known I wrote the stories.
I hope she continues to please readers and critics with many more mysteries. She is one of the most gifted novelists of our times.
She wanted to see how her work fared with critics who didn't know she was the author; critics who would bring no baggage to the task of reviewing her work. And the reviews of the "new author" Galbraith were splendid.
I empathize. I wanted to find out the same thing, so I wrote some mysteries under the pseudonym Axel Brand, and they were well reviewed. The critics carried none of the baggage to their task that might have altered their reviews if they had known I wrote the stories.
I hope she continues to please readers and critics with many more mysteries. She is one of the most gifted novelists of our times.
July 12, 2013
Help From the Audience
The other night I was one of several authors reading at Pine Creek Lodge, a rural restaurant south of my home in Livingston. We were reading outdoors, in pleasant weather, to sixty or seventy people.
I chose an early short story of mine, The Business of Dying, about California 49ers, which was published in the Morrow Anthology of Great Western Short Stories years ago.
My problem was, my eyes are failing me. I've had procedures and surgeries that have only weakened them. I'm 78, and my senses aren't what they used to be.
I started in, couldn't see, tried a couple more times, and finally apologized and abandoned the platform. But my friend and neighbor Margot Kidder jumped up, offered to read my story, and took over.
She worked her magic, quickly owning a story she had never seen, and in moments she had my characters down, the mood right, and soon the narrative was rolling along. It was a treat to hear a fine actress give my story a great ride, and the audience sure enjoyed it.
I chose an early short story of mine, The Business of Dying, about California 49ers, which was published in the Morrow Anthology of Great Western Short Stories years ago.
My problem was, my eyes are failing me. I've had procedures and surgeries that have only weakened them. I'm 78, and my senses aren't what they used to be.
I started in, couldn't see, tried a couple more times, and finally apologized and abandoned the platform. But my friend and neighbor Margot Kidder jumped up, offered to read my story, and took over.
She worked her magic, quickly owning a story she had never seen, and in moments she had my characters down, the mood right, and soon the narrative was rolling along. It was a treat to hear a fine actress give my story a great ride, and the audience sure enjoyed it.
June 26, 2013
Cover Art
The covers most publishers put on fiction employ images of the characters in the story. But once in a while, a publisher will dare to do something else. My novel, The Richest Hill on Earth, about the copper kings of Butte, Montana, has a cover featuring an ugly mining and mill complex, belching smoke. It worked. The cover sent a message, and people bought the book.
Recently I've been involved with the cover design of the e-book version of Sun Mountain, my late 1990s novel about Virginia City, Nevada, and the Comstock Lode, and the legendary Territorial Enterprise, the paper where Sam Clemens evolved into Mark Twain.
My gifted designer, Karyn Cheatham, found a photo of some mining headframes, stark and ugly against the clouded heavens. The headframes were actually in Butte, not Virginia City, but it didn't matter. The headframes set the stage for a drama about the biggest bonanza in American history.
The original cover of the Forge novel was an image of miners collected at a headframe, either coming out of the pit or going down, and offered its own unique flavor to the book.
The novel won acclaim in print; I'm hoping it will do well in its electronic editions.
Recently I've been involved with the cover design of the e-book version of Sun Mountain, my late 1990s novel about Virginia City, Nevada, and the Comstock Lode, and the legendary Territorial Enterprise, the paper where Sam Clemens evolved into Mark Twain.
My gifted designer, Karyn Cheatham, found a photo of some mining headframes, stark and ugly against the clouded heavens. The headframes were actually in Butte, not Virginia City, but it didn't matter. The headframes set the stage for a drama about the biggest bonanza in American history.
The original cover of the Forge novel was an image of miners collected at a headframe, either coming out of the pit or going down, and offered its own unique flavor to the book.
The novel won acclaim in print; I'm hoping it will do well in its electronic editions.
June 22, 2013
Confessions
My friend Loren Estleman has written a remarkable novel called The Confessions of Al Capone. It is set in 1944, near the end of the war, when Capone is rapidly deteriorating from the effects of syphilis in Florida after being released from Alcatraz. J. Edgar Hoover insinuates an agent, in the guise of a priest, into the Capone household, seeking more information on the mob.
The novel is much larger than a depiction of the mob, or Capone's past. The agent who dons a priest's collar is soon awash in misgivings that reach deep into the sacred and evoke questions of good and evil, right and wrong. The story is more about Hoover's overreach, vanity and cruelty. Estleman devotes a great deal of attention to Capone's remarkable wife Mae, who holds her household together and protects her failing husband. She is a memorable character.
Estleman's novel is rich in period detail, and depicts a country few modern people would recognize, one in which ethnic and tribal antagonisms still play out violently, and in which serious privation wrought by the war constrains everyday life. It is a time of ration stamps, shortages, price controls, and frustration.
This is a rich and absorbing novel, wrought by a gifted author in his prime, and it will, I believe, be celebrated for its courage and honesty and also because it's a splendid story.
The novel is much larger than a depiction of the mob, or Capone's past. The agent who dons a priest's collar is soon awash in misgivings that reach deep into the sacred and evoke questions of good and evil, right and wrong. The story is more about Hoover's overreach, vanity and cruelty. Estleman devotes a great deal of attention to Capone's remarkable wife Mae, who holds her household together and protects her failing husband. She is a memorable character.
Estleman's novel is rich in period detail, and depicts a country few modern people would recognize, one in which ethnic and tribal antagonisms still play out violently, and in which serious privation wrought by the war constrains everyday life. It is a time of ration stamps, shortages, price controls, and frustration.
This is a rich and absorbing novel, wrought by a gifted author in his prime, and it will, I believe, be celebrated for its courage and honesty and also because it's a splendid story.
June 9, 2013
Free College
I was talking the other day with a retired librarian about the future of public libraries in the digital age. Libraries, with their massive print storage, seem almost anomalous and one wonders what purpose they will serve in the years ahead.
I proposed to her that libraries could return to one of their main functions for previous generations-- offering a free education. People who were too poor for college in my parents' and grandparents' generation, often educated themselves superbly in public libraries.
With college tuition and other costs beyond the reach of most Americans, perhaps libraries can serve their old purpose once again. On the shelves of any decent library is an entire education in the humanities and social sciences.
I am not proposing that librarians become teachers; only that they prepare model courses based on what is available on their shelves, so that people determined to get ahead could educate themselves and do it knowledgeably and to good purpose.
It is possible that people systematically self-educated could take equivalency exams that would qualify them for many vocations or at least validate their achievements.
I proposed to her that libraries could return to one of their main functions for previous generations-- offering a free education. People who were too poor for college in my parents' and grandparents' generation, often educated themselves superbly in public libraries.
With college tuition and other costs beyond the reach of most Americans, perhaps libraries can serve their old purpose once again. On the shelves of any decent library is an entire education in the humanities and social sciences.
I am not proposing that librarians become teachers; only that they prepare model courses based on what is available on their shelves, so that people determined to get ahead could educate themselves and do it knowledgeably and to good purpose.
It is possible that people systematically self-educated could take equivalency exams that would qualify them for many vocations or at least validate their achievements.
June 2, 2013
The Unimportance of Fiction
Back before modern transportation and technology routinely introduced people to the farthest reaches of the natural and social world, fiction was much more important than it is now.
People found in stories a marvelous escape from their small universe. The novel brought novelty, and that was enough to make it important.
Today, of course, little is novel. We travel from pole to pole. Our TV screens show us a universe scarcely imagined in former times.
That makes nonfiction and journalism far more entertaining and riveting than fiction. And so fiction withers. It succeeds only when it explores areas where the camera can't go, such as the interior life of a person.
People will always love stories, but tastes are changing, and today's stories are written for readers who have been there, done that, seen everything on their screens.
I write historical novels, in part because it takes readers into a world unknown to them, which is a way of creating novelty.
People found in stories a marvelous escape from their small universe. The novel brought novelty, and that was enough to make it important.
Today, of course, little is novel. We travel from pole to pole. Our TV screens show us a universe scarcely imagined in former times.
That makes nonfiction and journalism far more entertaining and riveting than fiction. And so fiction withers. It succeeds only when it explores areas where the camera can't go, such as the interior life of a person.
People will always love stories, but tastes are changing, and today's stories are written for readers who have been there, done that, seen everything on their screens.
I write historical novels, in part because it takes readers into a world unknown to them, which is a way of creating novelty.
May 28, 2013
A Risky Business
Today I received half an advance for a novel set in Nevada around the turn of the century.
I hope the book earns it advance and makes a good profit for the publisher. My novel is unusual and could only find a home in a "library line," that is, a line of genre books intended to sell to libraries, and to be read by library patrons.
Library lines are far more diverse and fluid than the genre fiction published by mass-market houses. A western in a library line can be about most anything, while a western published in mass-market form will probably be about gunmen and shoot-outs.
A while ago I wrote a western story with a classic theme: a callow young man from the East is sent by his father into the early West to make a man of him. The novel, Easy Street, was submitted by my agent to various New York houses, but no editor bought it. It wasn't a gunfighter story so they didn't want it. It didn't matter that I had employed a classic western theme that once was at the heart of many novels.
Eventually I self-published it with modest success. Today, western library novels tend to be more diverse, better written, more original, and more compelling than anything emerging from New York's commercial publishers. Head for your library to look at fine western fiction.
I hope the book earns it advance and makes a good profit for the publisher. My novel is unusual and could only find a home in a "library line," that is, a line of genre books intended to sell to libraries, and to be read by library patrons.
Library lines are far more diverse and fluid than the genre fiction published by mass-market houses. A western in a library line can be about most anything, while a western published in mass-market form will probably be about gunmen and shoot-outs.
A while ago I wrote a western story with a classic theme: a callow young man from the East is sent by his father into the early West to make a man of him. The novel, Easy Street, was submitted by my agent to various New York houses, but no editor bought it. It wasn't a gunfighter story so they didn't want it. It didn't matter that I had employed a classic western theme that once was at the heart of many novels.
Eventually I self-published it with modest success. Today, western library novels tend to be more diverse, better written, more original, and more compelling than anything emerging from New York's commercial publishers. Head for your library to look at fine western fiction.
May 25, 2013
The Sad Estate of Literary Fiction
I see reviews now and then lamenting the sameness and narrowness of literary fiction. Reviewers are bored with it, weary of its orthodoxy, pained by its triviality, and tired of obsessive probes of relationships and dysfunctional families. Somehow in all this, the art of telling a compelling story got lost.
Little is written these days that is as large and majestic as Moby-Dick, or From Here to Eternity.
The main problem seems to be the proliferation of creative writing programs and workshops, many of them leading to MFA degrees. I read recently that about 6000 MFAs in creative writing are awarded each year. This has an obvious effect on American fiction. All the MFA programs involve what is called literary fiction. There are no advanced degree programs in popular or genre fiction, thank heaven.
No wonder literary fiction is smothered while popular fiction still has vitality and originality and the ability to compel attention. American literature would benefit if all those masters-degree academic courses in creative writing went out of business.
Fortunately, there still are rebels and self-taught novelists who are bringing something original to the field. The best fiction these days can be found in what academics dismiss as the popular variety.
Little is written these days that is as large and majestic as Moby-Dick, or From Here to Eternity.
The main problem seems to be the proliferation of creative writing programs and workshops, many of them leading to MFA degrees. I read recently that about 6000 MFAs in creative writing are awarded each year. This has an obvious effect on American fiction. All the MFA programs involve what is called literary fiction. There are no advanced degree programs in popular or genre fiction, thank heaven.
No wonder literary fiction is smothered while popular fiction still has vitality and originality and the ability to compel attention. American literature would benefit if all those masters-degree academic courses in creative writing went out of business.
Fortunately, there still are rebels and self-taught novelists who are bringing something original to the field. The best fiction these days can be found in what academics dismiss as the popular variety.
