A J Lattimer & Co. - Michael Reidy

On Friday evening, I uploaded Ardmore Endings to Amazon/Kindle. On Saturday morning, I had a notification that the formatting was correct and the book was now available. I immediately ordered several copies for friends and for myself. My copy was delivered just after 1200 on Sunday. Never mind that this was the weekend, it was less than 48 hours from uploading a pdf to receiving a 330-page, 6 x 9-inch book with a colour cover. Poor Gutenberg had to reset the Bible four times before he was able to print it. Then again, he didn't have to write it. If anyone doubts digital printing (and allegedly, Amazon uses HP Indigo presses), examples such as this should dispel all doubts. The binding is sound, the ink is black (not the grey one too often finds in cheap paperbacks), and the edges are sharply cut. This is not just the digital press, but the result of a whole automated production workflow. My pdf file went to a Cloud server and a notification was sent to the printer nea...

As of 20 February, Ardmore Endings is now finished, proofed and checked. The cover is being designed and the book should be available by the end of the month. This novel - my tenth - is not like any of my other books in plot or setting. At best, it can be called a psychological novel, but it has elements of family saga, mystery and buildungsroman . It explores motivation, secrets and lies, and the concepts of chaos and the desire for order. Genres are a useful shorthand for categorising things, but too many writers are expected not only to follow certain genres, but to obey their "rules." Writing in a tradition provides a structure and format that can assist with writing a novel. There are excellent models to follow. The down side is that breaking free of the mould can be difficult. It can be done with comedy ( Murder by Death , The Cheap Detective , and others), but one runs the risk of offending readers and critics. There are also the shackles of expectation and confor...