Greetings from London!
Hi guys
I've been a huge fan of Chuck's since I saw the Fight Club movie and thought it was the first time I'd ever seen a film which actually felt like the experience of reading a novel. So obviously the logical thing to do was go and hunt down the book. After that I was hooked. I laughed out loud when I read the opening paragraph of Survivor - has there ever been a more gripping opening paragragh?
Anyway, I'm a UK, London-based music critic and first-time novelist. In fact one of the characters in my novel 'Etc Etc Amen' mentions Chuck's 'Choke' in the context of an unlikely coincidence involving Jesus's foreskin - but that's another story! For now I'm just saying hi and congratulating you on what a great vibe you've got going here.
Cheers
Howard
Ah, google..I like the title: Etc Etc Amen It sounds interesting. Do you have the first chapter posted anywhere?
Yes, for those of us too lazy to use google, do tell us: what is it about?
Where in London are you, Howard?
Also - welcome!
Oh, and I moved this to the New Members Welcome forum - it seemed more appropriate...
Set in present-day Marrakech and 1970's London, 'Etc Etc Amen' is a satire on organised religion, a conspiracy thriller, a love story, a hate story, a who-done-it, and a why-they-did-it. This ambitious novel also explores the similarities between the anoraked music obsessive and the blinkered religious extremist. Author and BBC broadcaster, Charlie Gillett, wrote of this book, 'A major achievement. Authoritatively convincing in each of its settings, elegant in its interlocking story-lines, and peopled with appealing and distinct characters.' David Quantick, scriptwriter for the cult TV series, 'Brass Eye' wrote, 'A sharp, funny, scary and incisive novel that's as readable as it is wide-ranging - which is very.'
You seem very high caliber. Like, too cool. I'm just jealous.
Hi Howard, welcome! Your novel sounds intriguing.
How exciting! I didn't expect to get so many responses so quickly. I see one of you has already answered the question that Mirka asked, with a little bit of google detective work, so that gives you some idea of where my novel is coming from.
But, no, I'm not what Amii calls 'high calibre' - yes, I've somehow manage (though I'm not sure how - it's all a bit of a blur now) to write a 150,000 word novel, but I'm still probably in the same boat as any of the other aspiring writers here - looking for a publisher as my savings slowly dwindle away.
Publishers and agents seem very reluctant to take any risks with a novel that doesn't fit into any of their neat little boxes, even though I've managed to get a few highly respected critics to say some really nice things about the book. I'm sure it's the same Stateside.
'Etc Etc Amen' is in some ways like one of Chuck's novels, in that you're never sure were it's going to go next, and the overall theme is potentially controversial in that - below its conspiracy thriller/rock novel surface - it's a critique of organised religion. But it's not nearly as dark as the great man's books. I see it as fitting somewhere between Chuck's work and, say, Kurt Vonnegut's - with a dash of Douglas Coupland in there too somewhere. Although I'm talking about tone and subject matter here, not genius quotient!
Finally, Riddlegimp asked, where in London? Does this mean you're in London yourself, R? I'm in Crystal Palace, which is South East.
One other thing.
We English are notoriously bad at what we call 'blowing our own trumpet' so to try to defy that national stereotype I'm going to tell you that you can order copies of 'Etc Etc Amen' at Lulu.com. I've actually primarily produced copies of the book at Lulu.com for my own promotional purposes - to send to agents and publishers - as I'm under no illusion that going the 'vanity publishing' route will lead anywhere. But I thought I might as well make it publicly available too as that option was open to me.
And I wouldn't be plugging it to you lot if I didn't think it might be your kind of thing! 
I used to live by London Bridge and before that Leytonstone, but I'm now one of the gazillion London refugees in Brighton. I know Crystal Palace - or should I say, I know the immediate environment around the stadium, having been to watch the football a couple of times!
Nice to see another Brit on the boards. There's a few people from in and around London here too. Clem, (who is awesome I might add) is a London-Aussie, but we've adopted her as one of our own - but without the paleness and dropped haitches...
Oh yeah, and I'll check this novel out - sounds intriguing!
Oh yeah, and I'll check this novel out - sounds intriguing!
Give me two days, R!
I'm just finishing a typo-blitz on it - and then I'll upload the new version to the Lulu website. My sister has turned out to be a very good proof reader and found dozens of silly little mistakes that I'd become completely blind to. I've joked to a couple of people I've sent earlier versions of the novel to, that they shouldn't store it too near any other books they value highly, because the little bastards can spread.
Yes, there's a few of us Londoners (I'm in the south west) and Brits about the place. You've come to the right place to talk about books and...um, waste a lot of time on other stuff.
Tell us more about your book, are you shopping it around to get it published?
Clem wrote -
Tell us more about your book, are you shopping it around to get it
published?
Yes, I am, although I've only really just started properly yet.
What I've been doing for the past couple of months is seeing if I could get some positive feedback from a few journalist acquaintances which might help me to secure a deal in what is becoming an increasingly competitive and conservative market.
I knew from the beginning that 'Etc Etc Amen' was going to be really difficult to get published, even though I also knew it had huge commercial potential. So I figured that if I could get it to a few people who I knew would 'get' the book, and hopefully enjoy it, I could then ask them to give me a quote that I could use on the back cover. So I've now ended up with these thrillingly positive quotes:
'A major achievement. Authoritatively convincing in each of its settings , continually intriguing and elegant in its interlocking story-lines, and peopled with appealing and distinct characters.' Charlie Gillett (BBC broadcaster, author of The Sound of the City, and Observer Music Magazine critic)
'A sharp, funny, scary and incisive novel that's as readable as it is wide-ranging - which is very.' David Quantick ( scriptwriter for the cult British TV series 'The Day Today and music and literary critic for The Word)
'A nimble juggling of genres (conspiracy thriller, faux music memoir, comedy of manners, travelogue) which has resulted in a novel both page-turningly readable & intellectually stimulating.' Jamie Renton (DJ and freelance writer for fRoots, The Guardian, and The Encyclopaedia of Popular music)
'Smart plotting, clever dialogue, close attention to period detail and lashings of wit and invention make Howard Male's fiction debut an unexpected delight. Zachary B may be an invention of Howard's fertile imagination, but it's a mark of the vividness of his writing that his book left me wanting to hear Zac's records. I have a strong suspicion they're probably long lost classics' Nigel Williamson (critic for The Times, Uncut, The Guardian)
However, they've not done me the slightest bit of good so far!
The three agents that have so far turned me down have done so simply because they can't think how they would pitch the book to publishers. My response is to email back saying, 'Well, it's all thing to all men - a love story, a hate story, a murder mystery, a conspiracy thriller...' etc. But of course, they seem to want the equivalent to a Hollywood pitch - a brief from A to Z plot synopsis.
I respond by saying that if I could have summed this novel up in a 20-word pitch I never would have written it in the first place. I then go on to ask, would Lolita have got published if Nabokov's agent had just been forced to say it's about a middle aged man who seduces a twelve year old girl? Or would 'Metamorphoses' have got published if Kafka's agent had just come up with the snappy pitch that it's about a man who turns into a cockroach? And how would you sum up Vonnegut's 'Breakfast for Champions' in a 20-word pitch? Or Kundera's 'Immortality'? And that marks the end of our email exchange!
But, as I say, it's early days, so I'm still optimist. I've spent 3 years writing the damn thing, so I've got to be optimistic!
It does sound like a hard sell to the agents but keep submitting - definitely early days if you've only got 3 rejections. Good luck!
What other authors do you like? There's lots of good recommendations around in the book club area.
Well, apart from Coupland and Vonnegut, who I've already mentioned, my tastes are quite varied.
Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, David Mitchell, Toni Morrison, Will Self, Alex Garland, Iain Banks, Milan Kundera, Zadi Smith, and JG Ballard - just to name a few off the top of my head.
And I've already got this website to thanks for inspiring me to order 'The Contortionist's Handbook' after reading an interview with the author here. I'd not heard of him before.
Howard Male sounds like a porn name.
a gay porn name.
Howard, I don't suppose you would post the first chapter to give us a taste? It sounds interesting but it's a bit pricey and I like to flip through a book or read a chapter before I buy it.
Oh, and ignore Bear, he a mopey gay boy obsessed with porn.
That agent talk is a serious downer. It's their job to figure all that out, surely!
Mirka asked -
Howard, I don't suppose you would post the first chapter to give us a taste? It sounds interesting but it's a bit pricey and I like to flip through a book or read a chapter before I buy it.
I've just now put the re-edited version up at Lulu.com, and you can also now read the first 16 pages there. If you'd like to read, say, the first 60 pages, send me an email howard.male@ntlworld.com and I'll send you a Word document.
18416 wrote -
That agent talk is a serious downer. It's their job to figure all that out, surely!
My thoughts exactly!
And as for my gay porn name - my middle name is Ian, so my initials are H.I.M - now how macho is that! My parents had a warped sense of humour.
Howard, I don't suppose you would post the first chapter to give us a taste? It sounds interesting but it's a bit pricey and I like to flip through a book or read a chapter before I buy it.
I've just now put the re-edited version up at Lulu.com, and you can also now read the first 16 pages there. If you'd like to read, say, the first 60 pages, send me an email howard.male@ntlworld.com and I'll send you a Word document.
18416 wrote -
That agent talk is a serious downer. It's their job to figure all that out, surely!
My thoughts exactly!
And as for my gay porn name - my middle name is Ian, so my initials are H.I.M - now how macho is that! My parents had a warped sense of humour.
Very nice, thank you! I'll read it later. I'm at work and sniping in and out of the forum!
You might try some American publishers. I think Max Barry was published in the US long before his books were released in his native Australia. I may have that mixed up. That might have been just his second novel.
Hi again Mirka
I don't know if you found time to go and look at my novel, but if you did you will have only found a couple of pages, as I forgot to click on 'save' when I put up my new version. Sorry about that! But there should now be 15 pages of text rather than several blank pages and a title page!
As I say, if you want more, let me know. The pages you have are basically just establishing one of the two connected storylines. So you don't even get to visit 1970's London in which half of the novel takes place. But that's all that Lulu.com will let me put up there.
Forgive my over enthusiasm, but at the moment I'm just set on getting one reader at a time - in some ways just to get feedback on what they think works and what they think doesn't work. Although I feel the novel is finished, part of me still thinks of it as a work in progress that will only be set in stone once it's officially published.
Welcome, Howard. Tell us more about your novel.