Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 735

Be prepared.

Martin, the protagonist of SOMETHING MISSING, rehearses conversations.  He must.  He is socially inept, and the only way that he can function effectively in the world is through advanced preparation.

Though I am not socially inept (I hope), I also rehearse conversations from time to time, but I do so in order to avoid this.

A float has to float

Attempting to improve on my ability to craft dialogue, I find myself listening to people more and more, eavesdropping on conversations and taking careful note of a person's choice of words.  Today I was in Carvel, waiting to order, when the woman in front of me was handed her root beer float.  She looked at it, paused a moment and then asked, "Don't you mix these up?"

Obviously, the woman was a lunatic to assume that a root beer float should be mixed like a shake.  The word float implies...

Difficult to defend Dan

Dan Brown seems to be taking a lot of abuse lately.  I guess when you sell almost 100 million books, you make yourself a target. 

After all, success breeds envy, jealousy, stupidity and downright cruelty.  I have my own experience in such matters and can assure you that this sad fact of life is true.

With these thoughts in mind, I was prepared to come out in defense of Dan Brown, author extraordinaire and bestselling novelist, whose first two books I found to be entertaining, albeit...

First peek at UNEXPECTEDLY, MILOs cover

I got my first peek at the proposed cover art for UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO today, and I love it.  There are a couple of tweaks that I think need to be made, but overall, my first reaction was quite positive.

This is good.  My initial reaction to the cover of SOMETHING MISSING was less than favorable, but I've come to like it a lot as well.  

When the cover is finalized and I'm permitted to share it with you, I'll be sure to post it here. 

Prior to becoming  involved in the publishing world...

High expectations

I was reading through my contract for UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO, preparing to sign, when I came across the section entitles Description of the Work.  It provides a basic summary of the book, probably included in order to prevent me from slapping the title UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO onto the cover of my 900-page volume on the various mating habits of dyslexic earthworms and submitting it in the place of the real novel. 

All fine and good, but the first sentence of this description begins:

"The Work shall...

Ice cream connoisseur

You know that your wife takes her ice cream seriously when she requires five minutes of online research before deciding upon a flavor. 

Before leaving the house, I had to commit her preferences to memory.  The list, in order of preference, was York Peppermint Patty, World Class Chocolate, or Gold Medal Ribbon.

I ordered strawberry, but I've always had a less sophisticated palate.   

Upcoming appearances

Just a reminder of upcoming appearances for anyone interested:

On Monday, September 19, I will be at the Westport, CT public library with author Margot Berwin to discuss our debut novels. 

On Tuesday, September 29, I will be appearing at the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library to read and discuss SOMETHING MISSING.  

Hope to see you there!

In the presence of Nicholson Baker

On Friday night I went to RJ Julia Booksellers to listen to Nicholson Baker, one of my favorite authors, speak about his new book, THE ANTHOLOGIST.  Baker became one of my favorite authors when my agent recommended his work to me a couple years ago, suggesting that we share similarities in style.

While this may be true, it's sort of like comparing a mountain to a molehill.  We may have a similar shape, but the comparison ends there. 

He's truly a literary giant. 

Despite the esteem in...

Must listen

I have always recommended the RadioLab podcast to all of my friends, but I cannot recommend this week's episode on Parasites (yes, parasites) highly enough. Turn off the television tonight (unless you're watching the Patriots on Monday Night Football) and give it a listen.  It's better than anything you'll find of the tube.

Except for football, of course. 

SOMETHING MISSING: the audio book

I just spent the last three minutes listening to a sample of the audio version of SOMETHING MISSING, which was released by Recorded Books last week.

I love it.  The newly designed cover is excellent, and the narrator, Jefferson Mays, is brilliant.  He captures the voice of the narrator effortlessly. 

I find myself wanting to hug him.   

It was also utterly strange to hear another person read my words so well.  Sentences flowed with ease.  The inflection was spot on.  Even his actual...