I finished going through editorial changes to the 5th novel in the Vincent Calvino series: The Big Weird. BookSiam originally published The Big Weird in 1996. It was reprinted by Heaven Lake Press in 200. And sadly it had gone out of print. Before Christmas, though, it will be back in print as in mass paperback edition.
Rereading and editing a novel that I wrote a dozen years ago is not unlike opening a high school yearbook and looking at a picture of yourself from the distant past. I’ve written another 10 novels since The Big Weird first appeared. I have spent a lot more years with Vinny Calvino and Colonel Pratt so that when I go to an earlier book, the temptation is strong to do a major overall. You just know so much more. Like all Monday morning quarterbacks, you can see the plays that could have been made and were botched. Much the same happens to a writer going back over a book from 12 years earlier.
I’ve had a very good editor go through The Big Weird and tighten up the prose. Fixing some narrative, rewriting dialogue and otherwise remodeling the original house. That’s a good way to sum up what I’ve had to do. You have a great old house but it needs renovation. So the rehab job is done. For better or worse.
There is a new cover in the works. The cover above is from the Heaven Lake Press 2000 edition. Once the cover is set, I’ll post a copy on the blog.
Look for the new and improved edition of The Big Weird in late November. It will be on sale in bookstores throughout Thailand.
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