Beyond the 4th Door

Beyond The 4th Door by Richard Seltzer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm the author, so of course I think it's great.

This book had several lives. It began more than fifty years ago as Restless, a story fragment that wanted to become a novel. Later it grew to Say Uncle and still later to Sandcastles, incorporating short movie scripts that I had never filmed as well as a couple of short stories, but it had no ending. The old drafts and notes gathered dust for nearly forty years, then suddenly the characters came alive and started talking to me in my sleep and told me the new beginning, told me to throw away the second half and gave me a new ending, with a new concept of what may lie beyond death or instead of death.

Acknowledgements

This book had several lives. It began more than fifty years ago as Restless, a story fragment that wanted to become a novel. Later it grew to Say Uncle and still later to Sandcastles, incorporating short movie scripts that I had never filmed as well as a couple of short stories, but it had no ending. The old drafts and notes gathered dust for nearly forty years, then suddenly the characters came alive and started talking to me in my sleep and told me the new beginning, told me to throw away the second half and gave me a new ending, with a new concept of what may lie beyond death or instead of death.

I want to thank:
Robert Penn Warren who commented on Restless fifty years ago
Ed Trobec and Rex Sexton who knew it as Say Uncle.
My Uncle Paul who saw it as Sandcastles.
Jean Otis Freeman and my grandparents Leona Daly Seltzer and Warren Ray Seltzer who provided inspiration.
Rochelle Cohen, Rex's widow, who provided frequent helpful feedback and encouragement on the final version.
Gabi Coatsworth for her monthly Writers' Rendezvous meetup sessions and advice, which led me to find my terrific publisher, All Things That Matter Press.
My son Bob for his continuing support.




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