Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome Kathryn Lively as our guest blogger. Her most recent mystery, Dead Barchetta, introduces musician Matt "Lerxst" Johnston (CreateSpace, December Trade Paperback, 978-1-4499-5949-4).
Today, Kathryn writes about how the book came to be published.
— ◊ —
Dead Barchetta, my first mystery in six years, launched in eBook and print formats through DLP Books on December 21 (or 21/12/10 as they say in Europe). If you're a Rush fan (by that I mean the band, not the radio host), you'll know the significance of the date. If not, just Google 2112 and crank the volume to 11!
I can't tell you how excited I am to see this work finally available — Barchetta, while probably not my magnum opus, is nonetheless a work that languished in various stages of progress over the last five or so years. After writing my last mystery, Pithed (with Mundania Press), I had every intention of writing another mystery, and while attending RushCon 2112 in Toronto several years ago I had the idea of donating my skills to their annual auction. The winning bidder would become a character in the book. I was so excited at the time I actually started the book that weekend. Some people might tell you about a lady they saw in the Orbit Room bar, writing on bar napkins. I can't tell you where those scraps are now, but the words remained unwritten for many years.
Well, the John Lennon maxim held true for me. Life got in the way of these plans, along with other things. Other projects, work, editing, publishing, traveling ... and on top of that, what I'd written in Toronto sucked. I lost the motivation to write more as I encountered corner after corner where I could find no right turn. I couldn't get into the main character — originally written as a woman — and when I signed up for NaNoWriMo two years in a row with the intent on making this the project, I fizzled.
In order to stimulate my desire to write, I changed genres and chose a pen name under which I could write this steamier prose. A good plan in theory, but in my case it worked too well. Not only did I start writing more, I published and sold more. The demand for sexier works kept pushing back plans to write Barchetta.
Meanwhile, somebody had bid a pretty penny on this project, and while he understood the writer's block and my other schedule, I didn't want to let him down or go back on my promise to the charity RushCon sponsors.
In 2010, I swore, no more delays. I wrote in the wee hours when everybody slept. I texted dialogue from my phone to my email. I composed entire chapters on my iTouch. If I had a spare minute to write — at Starbuck's, at the movies, even waiting for Rush to take the stage at Jones Beach, I took the opportunity. In the process of writing this book, the hero changed genders (I'm more comfortable writing male characters, don't ask me why) and the story left Toronto and moved to New York. I added a secondary story and a love interest, then set up the ending to segue into book two.
Now, the book is here. I leave the final word up to you.
Friends have asked if this is the end of my romance non de plume. Not by a long shot. I have plenty of ideas to keep me busy, and rest assured you'll see those come to light soon as well. For now, though, I'm having a Captain Morgan's and Coke (Mexican Coke at that, they're selling it at Fresh Market!) in celebration for the book I thought I'd never finish.
After that, I plot out the sequel. Yes, I love pain. Bring it.
— ◊ —
About Dead Barchetta: Music tutor by day and tribute band guitarist by night, Matt "Lerxst" Johnston doesn't have an enemy in the world … so he thinks. One night a pretty young woman tries to smother him in his sleep, and it's not for the usual reasons a woman would have for wanting to inflict harm upon him! The dream he enjoyed at the time quickly spirals into a nightmare of mistaken identities and nosy investigators who threaten Lerxst's freedom, to say nothing of coming close to discovering his grandmother's secret "herb garden."
Armed only with a guitar and endless questions, Lerxst escapes the discomfort of his beach home and hides out in New York City to learn the true identity of his would-be assailant. Instead he learns more about himself and what he needs to do to survive the next attempt on his life.
And what a long, strange trip it is …
Dead Barchetta is available as a trade paperback and in popular eBook formats including Kindle Edition and NookBook. Learn more about the book at DeadBarchetta.com.
Watch a video trailer for Dead Barchetta below, after which you can read the opening chapter of the book; use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
0 comments:
Post a Comment