I’m writing a novel.

There’s a bunch of other things going on as well, but the one that I am most excited about, particularly because it seems the most daunting, is a full-length prose novel.

WHAT IS KNOWN SO FAR:

It’s an SF/fantasy story set in 1983. Its locale is the West San Fernando Valley near LA, which is where I grew up. This book is important to me for a lot of reasons but that stuff is better to share when you have the actual book in your hands. For now, I’ll explain a little bit about what I want to pull off with this book.

The idea in a nutshell, is that this book be both smart and entertaining. I want it to be both a quick, plot-heavy read and a dense slow-burner with hidden layers for those who wish to take their time. Also: topping out at 200-250 pp. max. Books are SO goddamn long, aren’t they? Who are these motherfuckers in 2011 who think they have 500+ pp. of interesting shit to say? I want to trim the fat and make every paragraph just thick with ideas, images, and moods. This book will be edited within an inch of its life–no wasted scenes, no gratuitous references to my favorite indie rock song, no chapter-long expositions.

Oh, also remember how I said it was an SF/fantasy book, but it’s set in the Valley in ’83? Yeah, that doesn’t mean there will be a door in our world that leads to another dimension where people are named Terl and fly on multi-headed winged beasts. Nothing against that stuff (really) but I’m trying to achieve a tone of believability that I don’t often see in the genre and have it play as realistic. This will be a book for people who pick up genre fiction and go, “ugh, not this again,” and for people who pick up experimental or ‘high’ literature and wish there was a plot. It’s about a father and his son and that’s all I should say for now.

It’s called The Anglekeeper, I’m about 1/3 of the way done with it, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

-A