My Novel: Finding Angie

AZ Literary Press will publish my latest novel, Finding Angie, very soon. If you’ve read House of Fate, this is a very different book.

I’ve never stuck to genres, and I don’t intend to start now. There are too many good stories to tell, and I don’t want to limit myself. However, I’ve looked over the things I’ve written over the years, and found that my work has common themes. Life, people, and relationships. These defy genres.

My first novel is categorized as supernatural horror. It has a haunted house, a curse, a couple of gory bits, and monsters. But ultimately, it is about Harry and his interactions with those around him. Despite genre and labels, the story is his.

Finding Angie is a love story, but not a conventional one. When asked, I would classify it as a literary coming of age romance. But that was just fancy talk for “people.” It was conceived around 2014 during a conversation where someone had said, “You never forget your first love.” I thought, true, but life intervenes, and first loves usually just become a fond memory. And then I wondered what might happen if someone didn’t move on. What if he never let go, and what would happen if he found her again?

Finding Angie was born. I wrote a couple of drafts, partly longhand in comp books, and on an IBM Wheelwriter. I then shoved it off somewhere, but it never truly left me. I went back to work on it.

An early reader told me it reminded them of Nicholas Sparks. The comparison annoyed me. Nothing against Mr. Sparks; he’s got some good stories, but I find most of them are saccharine and predictable. Something you read for comfort and then donate. But I realized, maybe they were right. There are some of the same elements. It is a love story, but it is a messy one. Life and love don’t follow rules. This novel doesn’t either.

There are also parallels to classic love stories, such as Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet. Ryan and Angie’s relationship was forbidden. But there aren’t any families battling it out, and no loud declarations. There are no suicides. Just people and the complications real life can bring.

I enjoyed writing this book. I fell in love with the people in it, and I am looking forward to sharing them with you.