Cover to Cover Challenge discussion

"Dark Chatter:" Better than free ($300 Prize)

Hi all,

Great books are a collaboration between great writers and great readers. An author can only tell a story: it takes smart readers to give it a meaning.

The story I've written is, frankly, difficult. It takes interpretive work, close study; I get a lot of positive reviews, but to be honest a lot of reviewers say they had to read it twice.

I appreciate all the readers out there putting that kind of critical effort into my little novel, and I want to encourage it. Thus, I'm offering a prize: not only is "Dark Chatter" free today and tomorrow on Amazon (http://amzn.to/14z4CCg) but I'm offering $300 for the best analysis for anyone willing to take on the hermeneutic task.

Details on the essay prize are here: http://www.grappling-book.com/prize.html



And here's a summary:

Quicklime Petterson is still kicking around campus two years after commencement. But as the post-college daze is petering out, an offer comes in: pen a porn script for the policeman who just busted him, get his charges dropped. With no time to workshop, the erstwhile English major pounds out an introspective, Oedipal flesh-flick entitled "Conceptual Tart." The project attracts a tween star in search of an edgy role, and media frenzy ensues. As the would-be one-off deal threatens to become a vocation, Quicklime attempts to find the honest career he meant to start after college, amidst growing renown as a pornographer.