M asked Scott Hawkins:

Thank you for writing this novel. I came across it almost by accident and was intrigued -- as a book nerd -- with the idea of an urban fantasy novel with a library as the focus. While I don't read 'everything' (I have my own particular preferred genres and I stay there) Mt Char has to be the most unique 'idea' I've read since Lovecraft. Did you have trouble selling this novel and getting it picked up by a publisher?

Scott Hawkins Hey M,

" Did you have trouble selling this novel and getting it picked up by a publisher? "

This particular book? No. It was kind of surreal. To put it in context, I'd been trying to get something published for around twenty years without even a hint of success. That's well over two decades of failure. Reagan was in office when I first began to fail at getting published. That unbroken string of failure continued through the George H.W. Bush administration, Clinton's first and second terms, George W. Bush's first and second terms, and Obama's reelection.

Then, in the space of four months, I went from "slush pile" to "agent" to "signed deal with major publisher." I still have days when I wake up and go "did that really happen?"

The story's basic weirdness did (and does) get mentioned a good bit, but no one ever really seemed to object.

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