Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Seth is out with eleven editors. Godspeed, Seth.

“Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.” – Richard Curtis

I received the following email the other day:

Hey, Tom

Just to let you know, I've updated your submission sheet. "Seth" is currently out with 11 editors. Also sent LOD out to a few more places. 

Best,

Abi
The Abi in the email is none other than my agent, the esteemed Abigail Samoun. What this all means is that my first Seth book is done. It's being pitched by Abigail as a three-book series. She seems excited about it, which I'll take as a good sign. And maybe it's wrong of me to share the following Abi quote, but I'm going to anyway, because it's just too cool not to share:

You've done a brilliant job on this one Tom. I'm proud of you. You did justice to those old boys, Hammett and Chandler, but you made this story your own. With luck, we'll be introducing a whole new generation to the awesomeness of noir detective stories.

If you don't know who Hammett and Chandler are, well, they're not candle makers. They just happen to be Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, two of the greatest American writers ever, and giants in the hard-boiled genre.

Don't get me wrong: I don't actually believe that either of these cold-hearted bastards would consider my book in their class. But hell, just to have somebody like Abigail say that is enough to send me to sleep with a smile on my face for a few months.

You also may have noticed that LOD (aka Letter Off Dead) is out with more publishers. That means the first and probably second round of editors have not connected with this book. Sigh. It still may be my favorite piece. I'm still confident it will go someday.

But in the mean time, I want Seth to find a home. Go Seth. Go.