A New Direction

I have been wondering what to do with my website now that I’m no longer conducting author interviews. Several people have suggested that I use it to sell my work. And while I may do that along the way, I’m an author, not a marketing whiz, so I will mainly focus on my writing and my thoughts about it.

That said, I am writing my next novel with the full understanding it may never sell… not because it’s poorly written or is too predictable—I won’t allow either of those things to occur—but rather because it violates traditional wisdom about what a fantasy novel should be. The late Dave Farland once insisted that a fantasy novel should never have any sex in it. My next book opens with a sex scene. It’s neither gratuitous, nor overly graphic. It contains little that would offend any but the most strait-laced. What it does do, however, is portray a sorcerer who is a departure from the stereotypic. I firmly believe that while treading old, familiar paths can sell books by the millions (Bearded white-haired wizards with long, flowing robes. Children who ride broomsticks), they only build on the familiar while delivering nothing truly new, and it’s an artist/author’s duty to create something unique.

I should note that all of my previous books have gone down non-traditional paths. Yet, despite the fact they have won both national and international awards, have received praise like “Bolton breathes originality into the genre,” and endorsements by the likes of Paul Kane, Michael R. Collings, and the late Mike Resnick, their sales have been less than remarkable and I expect this one may suffer the same fate.

So, why am I writing it? I am writing it because I believe writers have a duty to make forays into the unknown, not just for readers, but also for themselves. Flannery O’Connor once said, “I write to discover what I know.” I agree. I also write to clarify what I don’t fully understand. Without being pedantic, in the course of this exploration, I will take the reader down considerations of the way religion and science take different, but sometimes parallel routes to what can ultimately become a shared vision of the universe. During this story, I hope to present a new magical system that draws on both. And despite the fact that what I’ve related sounds more academic than entertaining, I am endeavoring to insure the plot moves at enough of a pace to keep the reader engaged. It’s a book about three sorcerers who find themselves facing the End of Days and attempt to make sure it doesn’t happen. It’s a difficult project that may take more than a year. I’m working hard to insure the journey’s worth it.

Exciting News!

My next novel, due out this summer, has already received a pre-release endorsement from Michael R. Collings who was named Grand Master at the 2016 World Horror Convention:

“Raymond Bolton’s Wraith presents an intriguing view of the intersections between the living and the dead. Beginning with a triple murder, this dark paranormal novel explores the consequences of betrayal, greed, infidelity, and vengeance on both sides of mortality…and in each instance, provides unexpected twists that propel readers onward, page after page. Bolton deftly shifts perspectives between the world of the Wraith and those he pursues with a fury that transcends death itself.”

Artist Dean Samed is hard at work on what promises to be a smashing cover. Keep an eye on this spot for news about when Wraith will be available for pre-order.

The Value of the Unexpected

The often expressed words of wisdom given to authors is “go with your gut.” The same might be said about cooking. Both creative efforts are similar, in that the longer you do them, the better you become and the more likely your experiments will turn out successful.

I am reminded of the time when, many years ago, I was preparing a Bolognese sauce and, on a hunch, reached into the spice shelf and added one eighth of a teaspoon of cumin—a Southwestern spice that should have no place in Italian cuisine. The result proved so successful that whenever I invite friends to a spaghetti feed and serve them this variation, the typical response is, “Wow! This is delicious. What did you put in it?”

I’ve had a similar experience while working on my latest work-in-progress. This book is different from my previous ones and, as a result, it often takes me weeks to complete a single chapter as I struggle through what my writer friend, Adrianne Montoya, describes as “the emotional roller coaster of writing a horror novel.” The more violent, but admittedly necessary chapters, frequently make me get up and walk away from my computer until I have composed myself enough to return. This book has also been difficult because, although I have been satisfied with what I have written so far, it has felt as if it is heading toward a predictable and ho-hum conclusion with no good alternative.

Another thing that has been gnawing at me is that, at one point in the novel, my subconscious brain had me toss in a character who had no obvious connection to anything I had written before and no obvious connection to anything that followed. He was so out of line that I have been tempted to eliminate him altogether, but didn’t because something in my gut kept telling me he was essential.

This morning, I was reading Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell when I came across a paragraph that brought that random character to mind and I realized, just as I had when adding the cumin to the Bolognese sauce, that his addition, as unlikely as it had seemed, would lead the plot to a WOW! and unforeseeable ending. And now I can’t wait to jump back in, finish the book, attend to the rewrites and always essential edits before sending it off for pre-publication endorsements.

Look for my horror novel—tentatively entitled Wraith—to appear by early summer.