Monday 23 June 2008
Launch
Well, my novel is officially launched today. Doesn't feel that much different to any other day really! But the press releases will go out today, so I'm expecting requests for interviews and reviews to come flooding in!!
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Oh wow!
I was just checking Amazon for something else, so I casually typed in If It Falls and it is already there and can be pre-ordered. So go order it people!!
The title
Someone has asked me what the title means, and why I chose it. I originally thought of the title in Spanish - Si se cae. This is a bit difficult to explain - in Spanish, if someone drops something, you don't say 'I dropped it' you say 'it fell'. In other words, it is not your fault, stuff just happens. This is kind of the feeling I wanted for Raphael - it's not his fault, things just happen to him, and that could be said of Guatemala in general, though of course the roots of the civil war can be traced to a particular fault.
So that was how I ended up with the English version, If It Falls. I'm not especially good at thinking up titles, and I wasn't sure this title was right, but most of the people who read drafts of the novel said they liked it, so it stuck!
So that was how I ended up with the English version, If It Falls. I'm not especially good at thinking up titles, and I wasn't sure this title was right, but most of the people who read drafts of the novel said they liked it, so it stuck!
More exposure!
You can now catch me on the website of my alma mater Manchester Metropolitan University, English Department in the 'published students' section (see my links).
My publisher says everything is on track for the launch on 23 June, but with less than a week to go I must confess I'm a bit nervous about it all.
More breaking news as it arrives!
My publisher says everything is on track for the launch on 23 June, but with less than a week to go I must confess I'm a bit nervous about it all.
More breaking news as it arrives!
Friday 6 June 2008
What's it all about?
Can't believe I haven't actually told you what the book is about!
If It Falls is the story of Raphael, a journalist haunted by his past. Raphael and Josue are both in love with the same woman, Lola. So how do they cope when she is killed? Josue is beaten by the police and later arrested for her murder, while Raphael thinks the best of everyone but himself. He is tormented by guilt that he survived the war, but his wife and son didn’t. Add to this the murder of another journalist, and a sinister ex-military police officer in a corrupt state, and you have the making of a psychological, character-driven thriller.
If It Falls is set in Guatemala in the late 1990s, at the end of the civil war. Naomi lived in Guatemala between 1993 and 1996, working with the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. In 1995, a colleague and friend, Rev. Manuel Saquic, was kidnapped and murdered. Although the novel is a work of fiction, it is inspired by Naomi’s time in Guatemala, and the murder of Saquic is included in the novel (with names changed)
Praise so far:
“I am intrigued by this story, not simply because it is well written, but because of the command of another language and culture so easily displayed amongst the seductive elements of the narrative. Death, war, bereavement, sex, relationships, politics and the voice of the disenfranchised – it is all combined in a relentless journey of discovery.”
Velvet magazine
If It Falls is the story of Raphael, a journalist haunted by his past. Raphael and Josue are both in love with the same woman, Lola. So how do they cope when she is killed? Josue is beaten by the police and later arrested for her murder, while Raphael thinks the best of everyone but himself. He is tormented by guilt that he survived the war, but his wife and son didn’t. Add to this the murder of another journalist, and a sinister ex-military police officer in a corrupt state, and you have the making of a psychological, character-driven thriller.
If It Falls is set in Guatemala in the late 1990s, at the end of the civil war. Naomi lived in Guatemala between 1993 and 1996, working with the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. In 1995, a colleague and friend, Rev. Manuel Saquic, was kidnapped and murdered. Although the novel is a work of fiction, it is inspired by Naomi’s time in Guatemala, and the murder of Saquic is included in the novel (with names changed)
Praise so far:
“I am intrigued by this story, not simply because it is well written, but because of the command of another language and culture so easily displayed amongst the seductive elements of the narrative. Death, war, bereavement, sex, relationships, politics and the voice of the disenfranchised – it is all combined in a relentless journey of discovery.”
Velvet magazine
Thursday 5 June 2008
How to get hold of a copy
OK, everything is still on schedule for a 23 June 2008 launch.
After that the book will be available from www.amazon.co.uk and you should be able to order it from any bookshop in the UK. (I actually get more royalties if you order it at your local bookshop and you don't have to pay postage)
Details on when and how it will be available in the US to follow.
Look for me from early July onwards in the August issue of DIVA.
I should be doing a reading in Cambridge in the not too distant future, and another in September - watch this space!
After that the book will be available from www.amazon.co.uk and you should be able to order it from any bookshop in the UK. (I actually get more royalties if you order it at your local bookshop and you don't have to pay postage)
Details on when and how it will be available in the US to follow.
Look for me from early July onwards in the August issue of DIVA.
I should be doing a reading in Cambridge in the not too distant future, and another in September - watch this space!
Monday 2 June 2008
Spooky!
My novel, If It Falls, alludes to a real murder of a friend of mine in Guatemala in 1995 - Manuel Saquic. I was just googling him and was reminded that he was abducted on 23 June.... my novel is due out on 23 June - spooky or what?!
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