Alan Russell's Blog: Alan Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "mystery"

To start the New Year, Shame: A Novel has been selected by the American Amazon Kindle editors as one of their “January 100.” This means that for the month of January it is being specially priced for Kindle customers at $2.99. Follow this link to the “January 100”:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

Sometimes an author despairs as to why a particular book doesn’t seem to catch on with readers.“Shame” was one of those books. It received critical raves, but its sales disappointed. My (then) publisher Simon & Schuster couldn’t figure it out; I couldn’t figure it out. The novel was optioned for film, and then optioned again, but then Hollywood lost interest and it seemed the book was doomed to oblivion. When my current publisher Thomas & Mercer came to me and said they would like to reissue “Shame,” I was excited. I hoped this was my chance to finally get the book out to readers. Still, I asked Thomas & Mercer if I could make editorial changes to the book. I wanted to update it, and even more I wanted to address a few niggling issues that had rankled over the years. I am sure my new publisher thought I was crazy, but then again most authors are. They allowed me to change everything and anything I wanted. Now I am glad I made those changes and revised the book as I wanted. The world of Kindle has given it a second life. Yesterday I was shocked (pleasantly) to see that “Shame” was the 28th most downloaded book in the United Kingdom Kindle Store. I was also gratified to see that “Burning Man” was the 36th most downloaded book in the U.K. Kindle Store (even though it was hard to imagine the older book was outselling the newer). Maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong. Maybe there is a second act in American lives. I can only hope so. Happy New Year to all!


- Alan Russell on January 1, 2013

The other night I was invited to talk to a local book group that had selected “Burning Man” as their read of the month. I suppose there is a reason writers don’t go out in public. For the most part we work in isolation, staring at our computer screens, thinking about our imaginary friends (and enemies).

Although I was prepared to talk about my book, I wasn’t prepared for people telling me how much they liked it. One gentleman was wonderfully effusive, and when he finished with his praise I had to turn away from the group and wipe away tears. It took me about a minute before I was able to speak again, and it took all my willpower to rein in the well of emotions.

Like my character Michael Gideon, I like to crack wise. And I am not comfortable showing my sensitive side. As a writer, I am used to dealing with rejection. I am not used to having a room full of people saying the kinds of things I could only dream about.

And speaking of dreams come true, for the past week “Burning Man” has been on the Amazon Top Ten Bestseller list.

Thank you so much for helping me to realize my dreams.

--Alan Russell, 1/18/2013

Ever wonder about how Gideon’s investigations interplay with music? Here’s a Spotify playlist that follows his journey . . .

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Sr...


L.A. Woman

Today is publication day. If you look carefully at the cover art, you’ll see that one element in this cover that I like is the “star trails” (the swirls you see). They are a tip of the hat to Sirius (as well as a “mystery” character).

Today I hope that many of you will be able to read the book’s dedication page, which is as follows:

To the friends of Gideon and Sirius. If you are reading this, and have been with them on their journeys, you are one of those friends.

Yes, The Last Good Dog is dedicated to all of you!