Party's Over! Don't Let the Door Slap You in Ass on the Way Out...

"Party's over..."

Just arrived back from Thrillerfest in NYC.

As always it's...well...a thrill to hang out with my publishers and drink and eat and gossip and pat one another on the back. It's even greater to see some of the very talented and successful authors who through the years have become real friends. It's even fun to be in the presence of some authors who are not my friends but whom I'm a fan of. Big names like Michael Connelly, Anne Rice, Joseph Finder and more. It's also strange when you find yourself signing copies of your newest novel at table just two or three down from Lee Child.

"Hey Lee, how's about Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher? Not sure Mr. Smiley was the right choice. Let's grab a beer and talk about it later."


Until fairly recently I've always avoided conferences like the plague.
They're expensive and time consuming, and in terms of sales not much will happen there as a result of downing a few beers with your fellow authors. An author friend of mine refers to conferences as one big "circle jerk." Yah, he's right. If however, you're looking for an agent or a publisher, literary conferences such as ThrillerFest is a good place to be (I did hear of one neophyte writer who pitched an agent and signed up with him on the spot...).

Two years ago, I attended my first Thrillerfest back when I was strictly independent. I walked in like I owned the joint, having just come off the sale of 100,000 editions of The Innocent, another 30 or 40K of Godchild back up by similar numbers with The Remains.

One year ago, I had just signed a 7 book, "very nice" deal with Thomas & Mercer. We were anticipating the first batch of books to be released on October 1, with a couple of books to be released in December 2012. It was an exciting time, because life was all about the anticipation.

This year there was still excitement, but life is more or a work in progress at present. I'm speedily earning out my advance, while finishing some new books, and anticipating which roads to take when publishing them down the line.

This is a rapidly changing industry and who knows what next year will bring. I do however have a strong feeling that the writer who walked through the doors of the Grand Central Hyatt (the home of Thrillerfest) this year, will not be the same writer who walks through them in July 2014. The work in progress year will quickly come to a close this Fall as the new writer emerges from his cocoon and dramatically steps up his game in terms of writing, publishing, and marketing.

After all, being a writer is like being a shark. If you're not always moving forward, you die.

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

   

Vincent Zandri, Inc.

It's Father's Day and I'm experiencing one of those moments that seem to only occur on a Sunday when you have a few spare moments to reflect not only on the past week, but on the month and even years that have so quickly passed.

I'm just entering into the tail end of one of those great sales waves, where I go from selling anywhere from thirty to one-hundred books a day to three or four-hundred per day. Last May was the best single sales month I've experienced as an author in two years, and I have both my fans to thank and the powerful marketing efforts put forth by my major hybrid publisher, Thomas and Mercer of Amazon Publishing (also Amazon UK Publishing), along with my indie publisher, StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink. Thanks to both I enjoyed a tremendous response to Murder by Moonlight, The Concrete Pearl, The Innocent, and Moonlight Falls. What's interesting to note is that, one of these novels is thirteen years old (The Innnocent). Another is four years old (Moonlight Falls). One of them has entered into its second edition with a second publisher (The Concrete Pearl) and another is brand new (Murder by Moonlight).

I"m still working off a "very nice" advance at Thomas & Mercer but after 8 solid months of working with them, I can see how effective partnering up with them for 7 books has been.

In a few weeks I'll be leaving for ITW "Thrillerfest" in Manhattan. In the old days, I used to attend conferences to attract publishers and to cozy up to editors. Nowadays, I attend them to reach out to my fans and also to have a laugh or two with other writers. In this new world of publishing, I no longer think of myself as belonging to any one publisher. I think of myself as Vincent Zandri, Inc. I don't just have one publisher or publishing method. I'm exploring many publishing methods and opportunities.


My next experiment will be to partner up with my agent Chip MacGregor on a new series of international thrillers beginning with the novel, CHASE (You might recall I went to Egypt some months ago to research this book. I also just returned from Peru where I was researching what will become the second in the series). Chip has created several imprints for his authors. His crew edits, formats, creates cover art, and promotes the books it publishes. This is not to say Chip is a publisher. He's not. He's an agent who is providing an opportunity for authors to partner up in a book producing venture. If the books he puts out sell well and a major pub wants to buy one or two out, the imprint/author contract can be broken at any moment. It's a win/win for everyone.

Like I said, it's Father's day and I write for a living, so this blog should end while I head out to spend some much needed time with the fam damily. After all, they put up with my writing life day in and day out, and I know that sometimes it can be hard living with a writer who isn't always home for them, even when he is home. But I love them dearly.
 
To Purchase MURDER BY MOONLIGHT for Dad go to:

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Best Publishing Advice Ever: SEX

How to publish your first novel...

Every now and then a veteran of the publishing wars will come out with some brilliant advice. So brilliant, its like an exposed million watt light bulb no-brainer that burns the retinas when you look directly into it. Joyce Carrol Oates is one of those writers. Her new Op-Ed in The Onion, "If You Wish To Be A Writer, Have Sex With Someone Who Works In Publishing," states the obvious. Sleep your way to the top.

Oates proves her worth not only as a writer who's been publishing professionally since before I was born, but also as a woman who knows how to treat her editor, especially when she drops off a manuscript to him and then proceeds to gift him with a long, slow blowjob. 

I can relate to Ms. Oates. Most of my success has also come from sleeping my way to the top. When I was starting out in writing school back in the mid 90's, I slept with all my professors (minus the guys of course, although I'm sure a couple of them would have loved it). I played it smart and made sure I signed on only with women writing teachers for my course work. If they were married with kids, all the better. That would pretty much guarantee that they'd be lonely and feeling under appreciated by their husbands. Most of the time, they wouldn't even bother to read my work. They were more interested in what I was packing underneath my Levis 501 button-fly jeans. We'd have sex for hours in my dorm room and then, at the end of the semester, they'd give me an A. Easy peasy.

When it came time to publish in the big leagues, I signed with sexy female agents who worked in New York City and who would have sex with me in cabs, trains, buses, restaurant bathrooms, hotel rooms, offices, on bar stools, you name it. I once even had sex on the Circle Line with a prospective agent, but in the end it didn't work out. But soon I was hooking up with major editors at the major houses. The woman who eventually bought my first big novel, The Innocent, (As Catch Can) had sex with me on the rooftop of the Bertlesmann Building on a glass table. Several weeks later I signed a contract worth a quarter of a million dollars. It was the best sex I've ever had. 

But then, I decided to go legit. I wanted to publish based on the merits of my writing and not the girth and length of my dick. I stopped having sex with my professional publishing associates. My market dried up. I couldn't get a contract if I put a gun to someone's head. In the end I could see that it was either put out or shut up. So I went back to fucking my way to top. In no time at all, I was enjoying not just a new contract, but new contract(s). I was selling hundreds of thousands of books and having so much sex I had to increase my vitamin intake. 

I'm glad Ms. Oates came out and revealed the sure path of success in the writing business. It's time someone had the guts to stand up and admit the nasty truth. If you want to make it in this industry, make certain to fuck your way to success. Because when it comes to signing big book contracts, it's likely your going to get fucked real hard, one way or the other.

Grab a copy of the No. 1 Amazon Bestselling Hard-Boiled Mystery: MURDER BY MOONLIGHT      

 WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

 

 

 

The Interstate of Life

We have a finite set of miles allotted to us. What are you doing with yours?

Do you find yourself lying in bed some mornings wondering where you took the wrong turn in life?
Maybe it was right after college when instead of taking  left off the interstate of a life towards something that would make you happy but not a lot of money, you instead took a right onto the entrance-ramp of security and financial responsibility. I took that right, right out of college. I had a little help in the matter in that I had been groomed from birth for the family business. "Groomed" is putting it kindly.

But soon after entering into the business, I rejected it. It didn't feel right. I was a young man who felt uncomfortable in his own skin. It was like having been thrust into an arranged marriage and being repulsed by your new partner. I wanted to be a writer. That was the life I wanted to live. People thought I was crazy. My family thought I had lost it. They all said, "You have this great business. One day it will be all yours." Then they said, "You can write on the side."

I didn't want to write on the side. Writing on the side was for hacks and pretenders. I knew that if I didn't give it my all, I would one day become the fat, middle-aged man with high blood pressure, a house in the burbs that needs a new roof, and more debt than I could possibly pay off. If I were going to become a writer, I wanted to do it the way the greats did it. Like Hemingway and Mailer and Gellhorn. I wanted to write about everything and see the world doing it.

I rejected the family business and I rejected the suburbs and I rejected anything that even speaks of normalcy and safety and what's expected of me. Does it make me selfish? Maybe. Writing is a selfish pursuit. It requires alone time and it requires space and it requires stimulation that cannot be had by sitting on the couch in front of the television anymore than it can be had by doing it "on the side."

Today....at this very moment in time, I'm not fat, I'm not unhealthy, and I don't have insurmountable debt keeping me up at night. But I don't own a business, nor do I have a country club membership, nor do I own a house, nor am I rich. Not even close. But damn, I'm happy as hell. Happy that after taking a right hand turn off the interstate of life, I pulled a U-turn and pursued the other route. It's made me who I am right now and who I will become many miles from now.

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MOONLIGHT FALLS Comes Full Circle

Six years ago I was surviving as a freelance journalist and sometimes foreign correspondent. I hadn't published a full-length novel since 2001 when Dell published, Godchild, the second in the Jack Marconi series. I was beginning to think I would never enter back into the game again. Even then, I still had no idea about the power of e-books and digital publication, so I was still schlepping manuscripts the old fashioned way: via snail mail and via an agent who schlepped via snail mail. In the end, a small traditionally based press took the book on. I signed a traditional deal for traditional percentages. Hey, what did I know?

Now I have the rights to my first Dick Marconi novel back. And now, for the first time, the novel that started it all is available from a digital-heavy indie press that knows how to publish, market, and distribute e-books--StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink. I should know, Over the past two years, I've sold literally hundreds of thousands of copies of my novels with them. So many that it led to a seven book deal with Thomas & Mercer of Amazon Publishing.

 Introducing for the first time, again, MOONLIGHT FALLS

Get it here on Kindle
Get it here on Nook
Get it here on Kobo

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

Don't Read Your Reviews

Papa poised to kick a critic's ass...

There's a great scene in the recently broadcast HBO movie, Hemingway and Gellhorn in which a drunk Papa spots a book reviewer from across a crowded bar, and taunts the man into a fist fight.
"Hey you...Critic!" Hemingway belligerently shouts at the smartly dressed man. "Critic, come here!"
The critic in question is supposed to be Max Eastman who, in the early 1930s accused the macho Hemingway of being a sissy with no real hair on his chest. Whether Eastman was trying to be literal or just tooling with Hemingway is still up for conjecture eighty years after the fact. But I can bet that if the great Papa were still alive today, the nasty review would still be fresh in his mind and just as hurtful. So it went in make-believe-movie land that, when confronted face to face with his less than favorable reviewer, Papa not only tore his shirt open to reveal real chest hair, but he attempted to knock Eastman's teeth down his throat (In real life this altercation occurred in NYC in Max Perkin's Scribner's office. Eastman and Hemingway wrestled around a bit with the critic supposedly gaining the upper hand in the fight, prompting Papa to start laughing and suggesting they share a drink.).

The point here is not critics or macho stances or even boys being boys. The point is that, man or woman, we all loath reviews. Rather, we loath the bad ones. But as writers in the digital age, we not only have to sweat out the professional reviews, we now are forced to put up with the amateur reviewers. I recall a lecture given once by John Irving when I attended the Breadloaf Writer's Conference back in 1991 in which he explicitly stated that he would not review a single book by an author without having read his entire library first. That's the kind of care a professional reviewer puts into his reviews.

Today however, we place a whole lot of importance on reviews that come from amateurs who know as much about writing a proper review as they might flying a 747. That said however, their reviews are not taken lightly. They are considered a crucial component in the sales, or lack their of, of any given author's books. In other words, the more bad reviews an author receives the better the likelihood that his sales will stink up the joint. The converse is also true.

As authors, we don't have a whole lot of power when it comes to who reviews our work, be it other jealous authors cowardly hiding behind a clock of anonymity, or a spiteful ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, or simply someone who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. But then, in many ways, it's a Godsend that so many non-professionals will take the time to lend their opinion about our novels and therefore help spread the good word.

Thank you!

But all too often, these same reviewers will go out of their way to say nasty things about a book, and this mean-spiritedness translates into one star reviews that inevitably hurt authors who are trying to make a living.

Imagine if you a will a world in which the reviewer must state his or her occupation and we, the writer, in turn, get to observe their performance for the day and write our own review.

1 Star ...  "This Lawyer Really Sucks"

"When I sat down in court to observe this lawyer in action today, I expected great things. After all, everyone is talking about how great he is. But his opening argument bored the hell out of me. It was full of cliches and the whole thing was slow moving. I won't be attending anymore opening arguments by this lawyer." 

Ok, you get the point.

So, what to do then in a world in which the amateur rules?
Don't read the reviews. Good or bad, just don't read them. Instead spend your time writing the best books you can. Then, in the end, you will know that no matter what anyone says, your book is as good as your could make it. A book that will stand the test of time. A book that will put hair on your chest.

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The Narcissist

Norman Mailer, a self proclaimed novelist/narcissist.

We create and carry on conversations with ourselves. We live as much on the interior as we do the exterior. Perhaps more so. We make sure to catch passing glances at ourselves every time we walk by mirrors not because we think our hair might be out of place, or something might be smeared on our lips, but because we are the most important person in the room. 

We wake up and we prop ourselves up for the day's work head, convincing ourselves that we are the best at what we do. No one can beat us. We are brilliant and the world is ours for the conquering. We might have spent the night besides someone else. A precious loved one perhaps. But we have most definitely slept with ourselves and we will face the day with ourselves.

We Google ourselves.
We check our Amazon rankings obsessively.
We check to see if our name pops up in the news.
We imagine that our marketing peeps think only of us.
We send proposals and stories to editors and agents, and wonder why they don't get back to us 
     within the hour.
We cheer ourselves when the work is going well and beat the shit out of ourselves when it is going
     terribly.
We measure our life, deadline to deadline.
We break hearts because it's the romantic thing to do.
We drive by a car wreck and see a story in it.
We drink too much, eat too much, exercise too much, nap too much, sleep too little, worry a lot,
     ignore problems, and put off the bills.
We dream of escape while escaping, envision dirty sex while making love, feel pain when
     laughing, keep to ourselves when socializing in our favorite bar, make ourselves the center of
     attention at a dinner party thrown in someone else's honor....

We are narcissists and novelists and our world revolves around us. Notice I'm writing from the "We" POV. Whoever said there is no "I" in "We" ain't never been to a writer's conference. There is no bigger collection of "I's" in the world than a writer's conference. Still we feel compelled to attend. After all it will help propel the career forward...My career.

So, novelist, what will you do with yourself today?

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

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Suddenly, The "Vox" Is Back in Action!!!

"The novel loosely based on the Chris Porco axe murder in Bethlehem, NY"

Most of you know that the "Blogger" version of the wildly popular The Vincent Zandri Vox, has been out of commission for some time. It just disappeared one day, like some of my wives. But now, again, like some of my wives, it has now miraculously, re-appeared.

Like they say, God and Google, work in mysterious ways.

Just a quick update, MURDER BY MOONLIGHT, my newest Moonlight to date is out and about and scoring big in Europe. I'd like to see it score here in the US as well, so please buy a copy for your Kindle or E-Pad or whatever...Or grab a paper copy. Thomas & Mercer has put together a beautiful book. Now this novel is a bit more graphic and scary than some of my others, so be prepared. But it has huge twist at the end that will leave your pits a-sweating...

Cheers and happy reading!!!

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

Libraries Get It

The great Alexandrian Library: "Believe it or not, one day, the scroll will be replaced by something called a mass market paperback book..."




I'm week three into the re-release of five novels along with the release of two new novels: BLUE MOONLIGHT and THE DISAPPEARANCE OF GRACE. The former by a major, Thomas & Mercer of Amazon Publishing and the latter from an indie, StoneHouse Ink. While the "Blue" E-Book edition, especially Kindle, is being pushed in a major way, it's also available in paper and audio, etc. For the time being however, "Grace" is available in E-Book only. In the meantime the new editions of my five previously published novels are moving like crazy. In E-Book primarily.

You see where I'm going with this...

In the past three weeks I've moved more units of my novels than I did in an entire first year with Delacorte. No lie. Much of that has to do with the tremendous author support I am lucky enough to enjoy from Amazon Publishing (They are so good, they even push my independent books, if you can imagine that...), but it also has a lot to do with the changing nature of publishing. E-Books have been and are now becoming the most popular way by which we read. The mass market paperback is quickly disappearing. So is the hardcover while the trade paperback takes over the roll of both.

This leaves me in a bit of a conundrum. I find myself wanting to do some in-person promotion of my books, aside from the stuff I do at several writerly book conferences every year (I never sell many books at these things anyway since they are attended primarily by other writers and all we do is have fun eating and drinking together). But approaching brick and mortar bookstores with the prospect of a book signing in support of paper being published by their major competitor is probably a road I want to avoid. And besides, book signings are always a gamble anyway. In short, they suck.

But there are other avenues to explore. Schools, universities, and hell, even book signings at coffee shops and my favorite, the local corner gin mill. And then there's the holy grail of book venues: the library. I have always been a fan of libraries and the fact that no matter what happens in terms of the evolutionary/de-evolutionary business/retail aspect of writing, the library will always withstand the test of time. A place to store many volumes, both ancient and new, as well as a place to share and exchange ideas. From Socretes to Stephen King, the library has always been a refuge for the intellectual, for the hopeful, the creative, the thinker, and the dreamer.

That clearly in mind, I contacted the head rep for my local library system, the Albany Public Library and asked her about setting up an event much like the one we did for Moonlight Falls back in 2010. This one would be in Dec/Jan in conjunction with yet another new Thomas & Mercer novel, MURDER BY MOONLIGHT, a fictional take on the infamous Porco axe murder case which hit New York's Capital region some years back. She was happy to hear from me for more than one reason. I played drums in her band a while ago, and we are friends. She was delighted to set up an event for "Murder." But just as I was about to tell her how great the trade paperback version of "Murder" looked, she said, "We're really pushing E-Books these days."

I must admit, I was taken a bit back. Me, the king of E-Books.

Libraries pushing E-Books...What a concept.

That said, my library event will more than likely be about the E-Book version of my brand new book and it will take place inside the hallowed halls of an institution older than even the world's most ancient cathedral. But then, E-Books are becoming far more popular than paper and libraries recognize this. Doesn't mean they are about to give up their paper. Just means they are adapting. Can't say the same thing about bookstores. But something tells me they'll get it eventually. Hopefully before it's too late.

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Sleeping "in" the Job: How I Create a Story

That ain't me catching flies...

I work a lot.
I write nearly everyday.
When I'm not writing, I'm still writing.
Sort of.
Often times, people lie in bed and worry about stuff: The dwindling bank account...Paying off the student loans...Is the wife cheating on me?...My boss sucks...Looks like I'll never make it Spain in this lifetime...That sort of thing.
But when I lie in bed, or close my eyes some place else like a on transatlantic flight somewhere, I think about stories. Plots and characters and story lines. If I hit upon something that really excites me, I feel a physical twinge in my body, much like a short, sharp electric sharp (I'm not making this up). I open my eyes, feel a smile form on my lips. I've created a new novel in my head. I've written without having typed or penned a single word.
How do you write when you aren't writing?
 
To Pre-Order the brand new Zandri Novels, MURDER BY MOONLIGHT AND BLUE MOONLIGHT go here: WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

The Worst Writing/Publishing Advice I Ever Did Get

It seems like every author I know is blogging about the best and worst writing advice they ever got. My colleague Stant Litore just published his in a very cool blog at ZOMBIE BIBLE, and I thought I would do the same here. Only difference with my little piece is that I am including publishing advice as well as some other gossipy juicy tidbits.

1. If you write five good stories in your life, that's a lot.

Source: Creative writing prof at MFA school. What a douche.


2. It's image that propels a novel, not plot.

Source: Creative writing prof at MFA school. I actually did my thesis on this huge pile of steaming MFA-writing-style dog shit. Ok, there's some veracity to it, but if you don't have a plot in your novel, than you might as well, ummmmm, teach at an MFA program for a living.

3. If it isn't literary it's sub-par.

Source: MFA school in general. For the most part I write in the hard-boiled genre and my sentences are at least as good as some stuck up literary stiff who wouldn't know a plot if it got undressed in front of him.


4. "When I begin to read violence in a novel, I toss the book across the room."

Source: That's a direct quote by an MFA prof of mine who spoke with a faux French accent and had written one novel about working as a used car salesman like thirty-five years ago, and nothing ever since. That's because he considers himself such a great writer that putting words on a page, not to mention words that convey violence, is beneath him. Again, total fucking douche.

5. "You can write on the side while you work for your family business."

Source: I can't tell you but it's a direct quote. Enough said about that topic...But sill, if I were to translate it would be, "You can be miserable and trapped like the rest of us or you can write and have a great life."

6.  "You will never get another major deal again."

Source: A local independent bookstore owner who is supposed to be a pillar of society. Two months later I proceeded to sell a couple hundred thousand copies of The Innocent, The Remains, and Godchild, which lead to my signing a "very nice deal" in an 8 book acquisition with Thomas & Mercer at Amazon Publishing (and yes my agent had other offers from some of the traditional Big Six houses which we turned down. Gladly!). I was definitely thinking of that bookstore owner while hanging out at the T&M publishing party in NYC during the BEA two weeks ago, along side some reporters from The New York Times,  the Wall Street Journal, etc.

7. "Write one true sentence."

Source: Ernest Hemingway. Papa I love you man, and if it weren't for you I probably would have done the family business thing the unmentionable source wanted me to do. But you lost me on this one...


8. Once you strike the major deal, you got it made.

Source: other writers, most of them from MFA school. Most times, after you sign the major deal and secure the first portion of the advance, you find yourself in trouble. You have no idea how to market yourself so you leave it up the marketing team. Usually, you end up selling nothing. Getting the major deal doesn't mean you've got it made. It means  they are giving you a chance to sell some books. Writing isn't only an art. It's a business. Don't blow your chance to be a success.

9. E-Books are a fad.

 Source: That bookstore owner....Ha, ha, hahahahaha....


10. Social media doesn't sell books. Traditional book signings sell books.

Source: Some author who still listens to cassette tapes in his car and who still misses Borders Books.


11. You need an MFA in Writing.

Source: MFA teachers who depend upon you for their paycheck.



All this said, what's the best advice I ever received?

1. Write what you like to read.

Source: Vincent Zandri, bestselling noir author.

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How My Books Are Born

"Awww, I've got so many stories to tell..."

A prominent lit blogger has asked me to pen a guest blog that details the-story-behind-the-story so to speak of all my books. Talk about an intimidating task, and considering this is a blog and not paid journalism, I'm more inclined to lean towards brevity and my humble wits than get into something that could arguably take a few days and cover an expanse of at least twenty thousand words.

So the question looms large. How are my books born?

My first novel, Permanence, a literary romantic/suspense/thriller (did you get all that?) is a fictional recounting of my my honeymoon to Italy and something I overheard about a psychiatrist who entered into what would be a fatal love affair with a disturbed client. "Wow, I gotta write that one," I remember telling myself as I wiped the peach fuzz from my chin. It was the spark that lit the fire. I was a young literary neophyte and convinced I would set the world on fire with my words.

Course, it took a while for the fire to start. But it's still burning and I'm still stoking it with my follow-up novels like The Innocent, Godchild, The Remains, The Concrete Pearl, Moonlight Falls, Moonlight Rises and the whole kit and kaboodle Moonlight Collection. More traditional gumshoe novels with quirky and sometimes brooding protagonists...anti-heroes...who on occasion find themselves doing some pretty bad things in order to do what's right and to uncover the truth behind a series of lies and injustices. Characters inspired by the authors who came before, like Robert B. Parker, Jim Crumley, James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben and others.

The Innocent is derived from the real-life story of a prison escape that occurred at Green Haven Prison and also the Attica uprisings of the early 1970s. The Moonlight stories, however, are mostly made up. The product of my vivid imagination and love of over-the-top plot lines. They are inspired by Charlie Huston, one of the contemporary noir greats. Also, Boston Terrain, another contemporary great.

I'm currently working on two more novels. Moonlight Sonata...again, entirely made up...and Aziz, a fiction based upon a truth I overheard about an American officer who becomes a casualty in Afghanistan after ordering an airstrike on a Tajik village. Now in Venice with his fiancee nursing his wounds, which also include unexplained bouts of temporary or hysterical blindness, he finds himself in the desperate position of having to find and rescue his future bride when she goes suddenly missing.

I guess Aziz means I'm back to combining the literary with the thriller and romantic suspense genres. Which means I've come full circle. But then, that's what writers do. Invent and reinvent and steal from what's happening in the world around us. Capturing a portrait of the truth and reinventing it for the page like Monet reinvented a garden scene for the canvass, and in doing so making it more real than than God intended.

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