Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion

Jordan wrote: "lol, yes you did Josh. Imagine being the one who singlehandedly did that? Must feel awesome. lol. I have a feeling the publisher, if they knew who you were, would love you dearly. Well, they love y..."

And it would make an interesting field research for the publisher to find out why all these copies of The Larton Chronicles are ordered from all around the world...

Josh wrote: "Bookwatcher wrote: "Wow I almost had an heart attack looking this book price in amazon.com (From $69$ to $94!!!!!)
Thanks god it's not sold out and I can get it from the editor paying £10 :-)

e..."

hahahaha
I think so and Jordan and Johanna are right, the publisher should know who is behind this great demand of the book ;-)

I got from amazon.uk because it's there, all books of that publisher
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?i...

I'm glad, because well, amazon.com prices are insane! Not that a book can't arrive at that price, it's just so absurd, see a 10£ in one, and $94 in another place!

They all have lovely covers, don't they?

I finished last night and had to turn around and re-read the first 89 pages. What a yummy book. Can't wait to talk about it.

I'm almost halfway through the book, and I can't wait to talk about it either. It's written so differently than anything I've ever read. Oddly enough, though there are a few things I'd like to complain about, I'm still really enjoying it. It don't make no sense to me! lol.

Dev wrote: "They all have lovely covers, don't they?"

Yes! I agree! It was what I think seeing all catalog :-)

Jordan wrote: "I'm almost halfway through the book, and I can't wait to talk about it either. It's written so differently than anything I've ever read. Oddly enough, though there are a few things I'd like to comp..."

I'm at about the same place—just starting Chapter Twelve. I keep chuckling.

Some books open up very quickly and you are into it at once, others you have to work with a little before you get it, some are hopeless. This was the second type I think, I needed some time and then suddenly I was there and utterly charmed.

I guess it is too early to start any discussions, but several have mentioned the timelessness of it. It helps to have traveled a bit on the British Isles I guess, then at least I can see Himself walking across the fields in green rubber boots with a dog at his heels. It is not part of the real England perhaps with their poverty and riots and recession (as Rob would say), but real nevertheless :)

It needs rereading I think in order to get all the details, maybe next year around Christmas..

I've finally started to reread. It is really a great book. I'm laughing a lot, but I also remember the time spent travelling around in England, Scotland, Ireland in many places quite similar to Larton.

Antonella wrote: "I've finally started to reread. It is really a great book. I'm laughing a lot, but I also remember the time spent travelling around in England, Scotland, Ireland in many places quite similar to Lar..."

It really is very funny - those two guys, oh my god :)

It is very funny. And I can see this as one of Josh's favorites - obviously the style is very different and the plot moves very differently than a Josh book but there's something in the tone and the humor and the subtlety of how the relationship develops that falls into the same family.

Dev wrote: "It is very funny. And I can see this as one of Josh's favorites - obviously the style is very different and the plot moves very differently than a Josh book but there's something in the tone and th..."

Yes, the tone and the humor are very Joshlike - no wonder he loves the book! :) Michael and Robert could be the long lost kin of Adrien! I so can imagine Adrien and Jake visiting Parsons farm and the incidents that would occur... ;)

oh! I can't wait to read it! Why it can materialize in my house after I bought it? :D
All your comments here are teasing me so much!

Johanna wrote: "Dev wrote: "It is very funny. And I can see this as one of Josh's favorites - obviously the style is very different and the plot moves very differently than a Josh book but there's something in the..."

Oh, yeah ... very easy to picture that.
All sorts of things that could go wrong ... it's like invoking Murphy's Law *evil grin*
I'd love to see that

I am so happy you guys are enjoying this!

Anyway, a little bit of good news for those of you who just couldn't afford the book -- or those of you desperate to have it in ebook form.

Someone managed to track down the original Circuit paper files of the fan fiction story Larton. It's virtually identical to the published work -- barring the names of the lead characters.

Anyway, our comrade-in-arms Liade was kind enough to take those files, change the names and various details, reformat and convert into ebook files, and she will send those files to you if you contact her through Goodreads.

I hope that if you haven't bought the book yet, the ebook will convince you to do so. And if you have bought the book and enjoy it as much as I do, I know you'll want the ebook version too.

Anyway, Happy Holidays from me and Liade. It's our pleasure to share this much-loved story with you. I'm so looking forward to our discussion!

YUPIIIII

YEY I want the ebook version too!

I'm sorry, who is Liade? I want to contact her but I don't know who is she
:-(

Josh wrote: "I am so happy you guys are enjoying this!

Anyway, a little bit of good news for those of you who just couldn't afford the book -- or those of you desperate to have it in ebook form.

Someone m..."

Sounds great. I'm really enjoying this book. I'm almost done and ready to reread as I'm sure I've missed some nuances. I'd love to have an electronic version. Thanks, Josh and Liade for doing this.

Bookwatcher wrote: "YUPIIIII

YEY I want the ebook version too!

I'm sorry, who is Liade? I want to contact her but I don't know who is she
:-("


Send me a message on Goodreads.

Liade wrote: "Bookwatcher wrote: "YUPIIIII
YEY I want the ebook version too!
I'm sorry, who is Liade? I want to contact her but I don't know who is she
:-("
Send me a message on Goodreads."



Thanks!
:-)

I can't resist. I opened the book at a random page. Robert is at the hospital and Michael is visiting him.


Robert, of course, would have disagreed with all those statements, especially the ones which said he had spent a peaceful night.

"Bloody impossible, Mike. They're banging bedpans like tambourines in the sluices at 4 a.m. Have to be dead to sleep through that. I'm sick of this place. Food's awful. You look rotten, what have you been doing with yourself?"

"Living at Jack's," said Michael. "You should try Mrs Kedge's cooking. You wouldn't believe what the woman can do to food. Surprised Jack hasn't got an ulcer. Only person who eats well is Amos. She cooks him tripe in milk. We all stand round, hoping for a bit from his dish."


I like how the humor piles up line after line. First of all the hospital experience is something that everyone has experienced, I've always wondered how people are supposed to get better when you can't sleep, the temperatures in the rooms are either tropical or ice cold and the food is to die of. The secondary characters are as important as the main ones and there are people who gets a mythical status, like Jack's cook and whenever she's mentioned, you begin to smile because you know where the talk is headed. Even the pets, like Amos, by the end of the book are as sketched as the people.

This book really is charming, for sure. But I had to take a break from it for a short few days. I hate to admit that, but it's true. lol, right now I'm reading SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper A book that's so much different from Larton it's not even funny! But, I think that's a good thing. I can't wait to get back to it as soon as I finish this outstanding military book.

I went on reading in a train today and I was glad that the train was half empty and the person relatively near me was sleeping because I was laughing a lot on my own. I'd say: Not safe for travelling! ;-)

lol, Antonella, the train is the perfect place to read this book! Don't they take train rides a few times in the book? Or have I forgotten something? I would think just being on the train would have the feel of the book, and thus, make it the perfect place.

Of course, just don't choose the quiet car, if you're the laugh-out-loud type. That's all.

Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "I can't resist. I opened the book at a random page. Robert is at the hospital and Michael is visiting him.


Robert, of course, would have disagreed with all those statements, especially the ones w..."

LOL, Emanuela! This book is so funny! At times you really have to concentrate while reading it (if you know what I mean - you really, really have to READ it). But after a few pages you are again rewarded with hilarious dialogue between Robert and Michael (or the other one complaining about the other one to somebody else)! I'm totally serious when I say that I have dozens of post-its sticking between its pages and I still have 100 pages left to read!

I'm leaving in few days to Thailand and I'm already worrying if the wi-fi works in the hotel - and only because I want to be here in this thread when you all start discussing this book!!! So I'll try to take part in that conversation at some point. :)

Went back to Larton last night... and apparently I'd stopped reading just before the really good part! I'll agree with what Antonella said. Don't read this on the train. Also... don't read this just before going to bed. You'll be stuck laughing even after you put the book down!

The scary part is that I'm now almost done. Two chapters left. I want to finish it, but at the same time, I don't want it to be over! Gah! I thought I would be reading it for awhile, I really don't know what happened.

Jordan wrote: "Went back to Larton last night... and apparently I'd stopped reading just before the really good part! I'll agree with what Antonella said. Don't read this on the train. Also... don't read this jus..."

Just start again from the beginning, I promise you'll find new things to giggle at. I can't remember the number of times I've done this

lol, I might have to!

Jordan wrote: "lol, I might have to!"

That's exactly what I did. What a gem.

Not being a native speaker of English, I started to read this way before December and I've thoroughly enjoyed it; filled with tenderness when I finished reading. Yes, it was difficult for me and I don't think I was able to understand many details, but still, I liked this kind of stories which are not accessibly keen to grab the heart of readers easily from the beginning. I'm looking forward to reading what others say. Thank you very much for recommending the book, Josh^^ (aka Mrs.Malone_emmie)

So, is it time to start the discussion yet?

I believe someone here talked about the style of the book, it is short on narration and long on dialogues so you have to infer what is happening through what people talk about. It took me a while to get into it, but when I did I found it to be a very sweet read.

I would have liked to know a little more about Rob's story though, what background he came from etc, although he certainly gave the impression of not being nobility :)

I think it would have been very exhausting to live with these guys, a lot of drama, but I loved the book's sense of the place, the small village with its exentric inhabitants, the horses and the sense of community throughout and not to forget those two men, one a horsecrazy, noble and poor drunk and the other a cranky writer. What a pair! It is a book that needs rereading to get all the details I believe, and each time I read I expect I will find something new. Thanks to Josh for suggesting it :)

What a delight! Thank you, Josh, for recommending it, and thank you and Lia for the PDF version. It is certainly very British, but I love that. The dialogue-heavy style was a first for me, I believe, but it was well done so that I got a great sense of the setting and characters in spite of it. The lack of transition between some scenes meant reading a little more carefully than I usually have to but I like a challenge. I love that these two tough guys, a soldier and an ex-cop, can manage to come together, and near the end of the book, even after eight years together, can still make each other blush by saying something like "I adore you." I find all the brusqueness of their relationship very sweet, because I can tell that in spite of it they do adore each other. This is one that I will read over and over.

I love this book. Thanks Josh!

Well, I felt a lot like most of you about this book. In other words I really enjoyed it. The story was utterly charming with the cosy atmosphere, delicious characters and witty dialogue. At first the sudden change of POV confused me a bit, but I got used to it pretty fast. Occasionally I really, really had to work for it to make sense of things happening - I guess that has got something to do with the short on narration and long on dialogues -thing that some of you were discussing about.

Anyway, I adored the main couple: the impossibly cranky Robert and Michael with no instinct for self preservation what so ever. Remember the way they got engaged with Michael's grandmother's wedding ring? How Michael had been carrying it in his pocket for ages waiting for Robert to make his move? And when Robert finally admited that he would like Michael to stay overnight and maybe to consider it a more permanent arrangement? And how Robert thought that Michael's proposal was a sorry one, but that it was so Michael? By the time Robert was digging through Michael's pockets and sticking his fingers into inedible sticky mass I was virtually choking with laughter. :) And how very romantic this all actually was coming from these two guys?!

I also thought that it was so entertaining when ever Robert and Michael had something difficult to discuss, they always ended up drinking tea instead. LOL! And all the food that was described in this book made me think of The Famous Five by Enid Blyton! :)

I think there's "dialog heavy" and "dialog heavy". lol. When I write, I write a ton of dialog, mostly cause I'm good at it, but I at least put in enough action so you know what's going on. At least, I'd like to think so! This book was a little different in that it was mostly dialog and you really did have to guess at what was happening. Especially with the time frame jumps going on at the same time.

That did mean reading extra carefully. But I think it was still an interesting read with that "flaw". I'm not sure that's the right word for it, but I can't think of anything else.

Who was it that said living with those boys would be tiring? I totally agree. Right from the start they were like an old married couple bitching at each other, so much it was funny.

This was a very good read. a very different read. But a very good one just the same.

I agree Johanna, these guys were not overly out there about their relationship, but in a way, they were. And even the subtlties were extremely romantic for the two of them, which made it really sweet to read.

I liked that their love was not a cataclysmic event, it was something that happened and they adapted to it and all the people around them adapted to it too.

I was really moved whenever Robert talked about his child, you could feel his grief, you could feel it was something private.

It was hard to believe that years were passing by, but they were. And yet, the boys were still learning about each other, still being sweetly annoying. lol.

Lou wrote: "The POV switches are strange, especially at first. Those two things make the book feel a bit amateurish."

Yes, I agree, at the beginning I went back a lot, but at the end it became a sort of à la Larton style :)

I don't see it as a lack of transitions so much as an attitude of trusting/engaging the reader. She leaves a great deal to our imagination, which is why this makes not only a good read but a good re-read.

The style mirrors the characters. Robert is the type who says one thing (i.e. Michael looks terrible as usual) while feeling the opposite. It would be completely incongruous if we spent time inside Robert's (or Michael's) head since there's so much about each of them that is opaque to the other.

I saw a lack of transitions too. I think that's part of the dialog thing. There was a lot of dialog, but then no transitions to different scenes, leaving the readers a little confused.

But on the other hand, by the end of the book I can see what Dev's talking about. Part of the lack of transitions was in the character personalities themselves.

I think it's a mixed bag of things. Though, personally, I would have liked to have some form of transition, even if it was just an extra space between scenes, or a symble, or even a simple date stamp would have helped, if not more words in the actual text. Not much words would have been needed though, just a few to make things just a little easier to understand.

I wonder how much of the confusion is cultural? The style felt very British to me - I'm not sure what I mean by that but I remember years ago visiting the British countryside and feeling very American, a little oafish and WAY too emotive.

No, I know what you're talking about Lou. I don't think I'm explaining myself right. The little non-transistions were the ones that bugged me the most, and I was wondering why the author chose not to put anything in for them too.

But the larger ones over time kinda bugged me too because I didn't realize so much time was passing for many chapters. And I felt like that was important to know.

I think over time, I just forced myseld to get used to it, and maybe part of that was associating it with the characters personalities? I don't know.

I've read other "British" things, though granted, not much, and they had full transitions that I recall. This is the first time I've read something that didn't.

That was the only thing that I didn't like about the book. Otherwise, I absolutely loved it to pieces.

Although I would have liked to know more about Robert's time spent as a police officer. Though from what I know about real police where he was, compared to real police here in the states, he probably had a relatively easy job. Or just, more about their pasts in general maybe.

Exactly. To me, that could have been a very interesting story. Heck, does Michael even know that story? lol.

Didn't this start as fanfiction? Which would mean that the intended audience already knows that story.

Umm - just loved it - would have liked more really - like the Archers ( a radio play around a rural setting that has been going for decades) - regular installments and a little more sexiness - just a touch more intimate than it was - I am really missing that world. Shall we ask for more?

I know Minne, it would be wonderful to keep hanging out with Robert and Michael.

Dev wrote: "I don't see it as a lack of transitions so much as an attitude of trusting/engaging the reader. She leaves a great deal to our imagination, which is why this makes not only a good read but a good re-read."

I absolutely agree about the book being a great re-read one! I'm sure I will find lots and lots of new details re-reading it.

You know, I forgot to mention earlier that Robert and Michael reminded me of two tom cats, who are quite independent, but still somewhat easy-going. I just have to quote the book again:

... said Michael. "Can I hear purring from the back seat?"
"It's Amos. Jack lend me a basket, said to post it back. You knew I wouldn't be able to leave the poor little sod, didn't you? Rat! Anyway, Kasper spends all his time out courting these days. I like a cat who will stay home. I'll see this one has a trip to the vet. Should get you done too - the place is lousy with black-haired, blue-eyed brats!" (page 57)

and:

"...I better see if Amos is settling down. What do you think of him?"
Michael considered the heap of white fur. "Bit on the small side for ratting," he said. The kitten yawned, then gazed at him with wide green eyes. "Reminds me of you," Michael went on. "All long hair and big eyes, though yours are more hazel than green. Make a lovely couple."
"Idiot," said Robert, shovelling cat food into a dish. (page 59)

lol.

Lou wrote: "I honestly don't see the book as dialogue heavy at all. What sticks out to me is the shocking lack of transitions in certain spots. Like this example (repeated from my first post):

On page 14 Mich..."

That's how my mom tells a story so I'm used to things jumping around. (Usually about someone I've never met but she tells me as if I saw them just the other day.) LOL

I loved how Robert would think or say something negative about Michael, but it was obvious his tone was full of fondness. I think that's much more common in Britain and to some extent in Australia. My dad used to call it "sharpening your elbows on each other".

Pender wrote: "Lou wrote: "I honestly don't see the book as dialogue heavy at all. What sticks out to me is the shocking lack of transitions in certain spots. Like this example (repeated from my first post):

On ..."

I loved it when one of them would say something sweet to the other (it happened once in a while), and the other will get sort of startled, and then get this warm, happy feeling, but won't say anything back. Fits the description of two grumpy men who love each other dearly but are not used to expresss it much. Also very British I believe :).