Cover Reveal: An Unexpected Visit

Winter Goose Publishing has put out the following release for my upcoming novella, An Unexpected Visit, on their website, along with the first look at the gorgeous cover - an original painting by an amazing artist, Christopher Wright (www.clwright.com):

Look for the upcoming novella, An Unexpected Visit, by Joseph Falank, author of the hit YA fiction novel Seeing, and the adult fiction novel The Painted Lady, later this year.

There are fates worse than death.

In his early thirties, Noah Adams writes of the turning point in his life: a long weekend spent in the company of his estranged father, Scott, a Special Forces soldier who had been gone two years. During their stay in a remote farmhouse out in the Pennsylvania countryside, Noah recalls encountering both bizarre behaviors and horrifying truths.

It is this visit that has shaped the man, husband, and father he has become. For better and for worse.

A New Novel, But One You Won't See For A While

In a previous post I mentioned taking an extended break from writing, to recharge, regroup, and enjoy the feat of having two published novels and an upcoming third book of one novella and several stories (An Unexpected Visit, out in October) under my belt.

Yeah, that didn't last long.

And, in a way, I knew it wouldn't, but I needed the pressure valve turned to Off. I needed to write freely and carefree without worry of self-imposed deadlines.

Because I get stir-crazy and swamped with guilt if I'm not working on something.

Right now everything is in the first draft stage, but I have started a new novel. I've been working on it for over a month and am in such a good place with it that I even decided to mention it here. Plus, I get asked constantly when I'll write my daughter a book.

I can't discuss the fine details, but I'm very confident in the story (it does have the usual first draft problems, but better ideas will come in time to fix the issues) and I'm looking to finish the first draft somewhere in the next six to eight weeks - by my estimate I'm about 61% done, with a clear path to the end laid out. I'm doing, at the least, four handwritten pages a day in a composition notebook (approx. 1,000 words/day with as small as my handwriting is). I've about filled one notebook already.

So, what exactly can I say about the novel?

I can tell you the title.

AMONG THE LIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF THE CAROUSEL

I can tell you the inspiration for the book.

Last summer I was out with Maddie (she was ten months old at the time) in her stroller for our morning walk and a horrible thought came to me: What if something happened to me and my daughter grew up never really knowing who I was?

So, yes, it's a sad story, but not completely a tear-jerker.

Where THE PAINTED LADY was a sort of love letter to my wife, this book is for my daughter, who won't be able to read it until she's older, but, all the same, it's for her.

When can you expect to read said novel?

Not for a while. Sadly.

As I've said before, I don't plan on a book out next year, and 2018 will hopefully see the release of a different work I finished earlier this year.

CAROUSEL will require the necessary two years (and perhaps longer) I typically afford to my work, and mostly because this one will be a lot different than my other books; for one, the main character is female (a point of view I haven't really written from) - so my beta readers will help me with focusing and honing skills on that front - and, two, this novel will focus more on a life during the three months the novel spans rather than just the plain route of going from point A to point B through the interesting and intersecting highlights. I want this book to feel like there's really a life inside the pages, but try to keep it moving along, maintaining good balance.

So, there it is. 2018 should see a release from me with a unique, urban fantasy type, possible beginning chapter of a much longer work. So, in essence, a Volume One. If all goes to plan AMONG THE LIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF THE CAROUSEL will be out in 2019.

But no promises.

An Unexpected Visit, however, will be out in October from Winter Goose Publishing.

My Favorite Books Are Becoming Movies! (Part Two)

Stephen King is my favorite author.

In my mind there is no other author who can create a world (or worlds, or dimensions) so vivid, characters so defined (11.22.63's protagonist Jake Epping and Gunslinger Roland Deschain come immediately to mind), and stakes so crucial as King so often does. Yes, he has his faults and quirks - as every author does - but there is no denying the man's talent, his fire for telling compelling tales, and his effect on his legion of Constant Readers. He's defined as a horror writer, yet on so many occasions proven himself far more versatile (Shawshank and Stand By Me, anyone?).

Regardless, he's just a damn good writer no matter where his story falls.

June 7th is the release of End Of Watch, the final installment in his Bill Hodges Trilogy, which began back in 2014 with Mr. Mercedes, a novel I adored for its briskness, unique characters, fun detective story, and intense opening. Before Mercedes, the only other novel of his I can recall having such a visceral start was Cell (published back in 2006).

I have a good-sized handful of favorite King books, but Cell was the first. Cell was one of the few inspirations (along with Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Night Of The Living Dead) that got me writing my first novel (what would become a trunk novel that I mistakenly published. Oops.).

Cell is King's "zombie novel," which features a signal (dubbed The Pulse) traveling through every cell phone in the world at the exact same moment one October day, turning those who happened to be using their devices at the time into "phoners"/"phone-crazies" - their minds wiped and their primitive instincts on full bloody display. Within seconds of exposure to The Pulse, which is never given a concrete explanation (because who among those left as normal would ever know beyond speculation?), the phoners are chasing down and murdering everyone in sight (sometimes even each other). Left to wander the burning landscapes of the northeast are Clayton (who wants to get home to Maine, where his wife and son had been) and Tom.

Cell is timely (because of the advancements in, and current obsession with, mobile technology); it's also fun, gory, and a simple paranoia/apocalyptic horror story. It's precisely described in words King himself once used in regards to the novel: "Like cheap whiskey, it's very nasty and extremely satisfying."

For years a movie adaptation has been in the works. Now, it's finally happening. Samuel L. Jackson and, more importantly, John Cusack are starring. Cusack, in my mind, can do no wrong. And if this turns out anything like 1408 (where these two also starred), I'll be a happy camper.

Watching the trailer...I'm not fond that "ground zero" goes from out on the streets of Boston in the novel to the interior of the airport terminals (why change it?). I hope the movie depicts The Pulse's wide impacts (as King described constant explosions and pure insanity occurring all around within close range and in the distance), and goes into what makes the phoners (including their leader, The Raggedy Man) unique rather than just having them all be zombie-tropes.

I read somewhere that King wrote the screenplay, or a draft of it, so hopefully that's true.

I'm more concerned about this one staying true to the source material than the adaptation of A Monster Calls. King's movies tend to be drastically different than his books.

I guess time will tell.

My Favorite Books Are Becoming Movies! (Part One)

Not many know this, but in the early spring of 2012, when I was working on my third draft of Seeing, I began to have serious second thoughts regarding the manuscript.

While I was in love with the redemptive story overall, here was also a contemporary tale about a teen boy facing numerous present day struggles that were neither magic-based, nor set in motion by the zombie apocalypse - very popular devices still to this day. In Seeing, Jake Sheppard (the protagonist), a simple boy (not The Chosen One) was missing his father who took off (never to be heard from again), was dealing with a bully, was struggling with his feelings for a girl, and who was about to be thrown another curve-ball in which someone he adored would die. The kid was being put through the wringer.

And despite how good I felt it all was, as I kept reviewing pages, I often asked myself the question: Who would want to read this? It didn't have that mystical flare of the supernatural (outside of the ending), and was just an everyday story about an everyday boy. I wondered if the book would ever find an audience and heavily considered jotting down a layout to begin a new novel from scratch.

Then I came across A Monster Calls.

I'd seen a list of annual Best Book winners for 2011 on Goodreads, and among them - among the YA section, specifically - was a black-and-white cover showing a tall creature approaching a house sitting back in a field with only one lit window. The image, in all its simplicity, was so enticing, I clicked to find out more. I read the summary, which began (as does the book): The monster arrived just after midnight. As they do. Terrific opening line.

I remember getting right on my Nook and downloading the sample. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I ordered the full book, and even ordered the hardback so as to see and appreciate the gorgeously macabre illustrations by artist Jim Kay.

The author of A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness, earned himself a fan for life in me with this book, which is darkly funny and devastatingly heartbreaking. A game-changer for sure in the world of YA.

It was this book - my now and all-time favorite book - that let me know it was OK to write touching stories that were more emotionally visceral and dependent on strong characters than they were anything else. A Monster Calls inspired me to work as hard as it would take to get my own novel a home with a publisher, and then a home in the hands of readers who would experience sadness in Jake's coming-of-age journey, but also internally cheer when they witnessed him finding that glimmer of hope.

A Monster Calls is a very special story to me, not only because of how it impacted me as a writer, and a reader, but also because of how lovely it is at its core, as well as the message it carries with it. It also doesn't try to have that happy ending. Despite the monster itself, it tries to be real.

And now, it's going to be a movie.

Initially, I was reluctant to judge the trailer against the book. It has the emotional feel of the book, the right..."flavor" shall we say, the right beats, but the movie also appears more "high fantasy" than the book is. The novel is very down-to-earth, with the exception of the vision-inducing stories the monster shares with Conor, but, at the same time, I understand that the movie is meant to be the visual experience. What is only alluded to or imagined or explained in Ness' writing, will play out in full detail for viewers to see - that's the takeaway difference. And I'm OK with that. My only hope is that this isn't some special effects spectacle that misses out on the heart of the story.

And the ending. The movie needs to keep the book's ending. I don't want the movie to elaborate, or extend beyond where the book goes in the last pages. It should end leaving viewers with the same feeling the readers get. The wind should be knocked out of you.

It does speaks volumes that Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay, so the film version of A Monster Calls would be exactly what he wants it to be. I trust in that.

A Monster Calls opens in October.

Next up, in Part Two of this blog series: Stephen King's Cell.