The Next Big Thing!

Many thanks to the marvellous Pippa Goldschmidt, who inveigled me into this, and tagged me in her post here.

Without Pippa’s spur to prick the sides of my intent, I’d still be dithering about establishing an online presence, as I have been for far too long. Here, then, is the lowdown on my latest work-in-progress:

What is the working title of your next book?
At the moment, it’s NPJ, which is simply a default title it acquired to keep it apart from other things in my chaotic filing system

Where did the idea come from for the book?
A long time ago, when I was supposed to be working,  I invented an architect whose penchant was incorporating secret spaces in his buildings, without his clients’ knowledge, and I’ve been trying to work him into a story ever since.

What genre does your book fall under?
Literary fiction, whatever that is – it’s a sort of thriller cum love story with occult overtones but fraught with philosophical meaning and aesthetic theory.

(hem)

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Actors? I can never remember their names. Somebody who looks a step away from cardboard city for the male lead, an elegant fine-boned older woman for the female, and a tall, dark supercilious type with a beard for the villain.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A washed-up writer who has come to think himself invisible is rejuvenated when a chance contact from a woman he fancied 30 years ago at university draws him into a tangled tale of two artists and the gradual uncovering of a potent secret he is reluctant to believe.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
well, that depends – I am increasingly distrustful of agencies of any kind, so it might end up an e-book. After that I might look at doing a deal with an artisan bookmaker (which is like an artisan cheesemaker but with books instead of cheese)

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
ah, well – this is a book which has been knocking around for a long time, and has already taken several forms – but in its present one, I’ve been working on it for a little over a year.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Um, there are elements of Borges but the nearest thing is probably Arturo Perez-Reverte –  The Flanders Panel and The Dumas Club

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I suppose its ultimate inspiration is The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, since I can draw a direct line from the footnoted subplot of that book to the creation of the architect who is the beginning of this one.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It contains the secret of the universe.

And there you have it!

(drum roll: enter the wellmoustached Leonard Sachs, in best Good Old Days style)

Laities & Gentrymen, with mellifluous magniloquence let me adumbrate for your apprehension, THE NEXT BIG THINGS!

The splendid Hazel Allan…

The magnificent Linda Strachan….

The superb Sara Sheridan…(here, too)

The unparalleled Lin Anderson…

and last, but by no means least, The inimitable Lucy Ward…

I thank you! – but wait! Who is this, coming up on the rails? Why, it’s –

the unprecedented Jo Falla!  (need brooks no delay but late is better than never)

And so fare well…