Mirror

“I couldn’t put this novel down. I ended up bingeing it in two days. You know that kind of book? It’s full of office politics that have terrible consequences. Many of the characters are flawed in the most delicious ways. It’s a satire, a send up, about a charity falling from grace—”

That’s the award-winning/ bestselling author Claire Cameron summing up Good Guys on her Substack.

It’s thrilling to get a rave like this, where you can hear the reader’s excitement, even more so because Claire is such a wonderful writer. (I binged her memoir How To Survive A Bear Attack over a couple of days in December.)

The morning after I read Claire’s Substack, I heard that the staff at Apple US chose Good Guys as one of their January favourites (!!!!!) and gave the novel a glowing review, saying: “This morally charged drama takes a clear-eyed look at power, money, and the uneasy line between helping and harming… Good Guys reads like a thriller with real philosophical tension, showing how good intentions can curdle once money and personal ambition enter the picture.”

The best reviews are a mirror, reflecting a book back to its author. A satire about money and power? A thriller with philosophical tension? Office politics and personal ambition curdling everyone’s good intentions? Yes to all of it! That’s exactly the book I wanted to write.

Good Guys

My second novel, Good Guys, publishes next month! Already advance review copies are making their way in the world, some bundled with a copy of The Boat People.* Publishers Weekly gave the novel a glowing review. Indigo named Good Guys one of their “Most Anticipated Books,” meaning that until Monday, December 15, you can pre-order from them for only $20. The launch party is scheduled for Friday, January 23 (7:30pm at Bannerman Brewing on the second floor. All are welcome!). I’ve been invited to a couple of festivals and earlier today, I recorded a podcast interview. Slowly, surely, things are ramping up.

Since the pandemic put an end to The Boat People’s promotional schedule, I’ve been a writer. Which is to say a person who writes, indoors, quietly, alone with her imaginary friends, her pens and post-its, and colour-coded plot outlines, occasionally in conversation with other writers, the select few who are invited into the private sanctum of a work-in-progress.

It seems to me that being a writer is very different from being an author. An author is a person in the world — on stage, at a signing table, a guest at your book club, behind a microphone, being interviewed. An author is an actor, performing the role of artist and consummate host. Welcome to my book. I wrote it just for you.

An author is a cog in the machine of capitalism. That’s a statement of fact, not cynicism. I’m thrilled to be a cog in this particular wheel. What a privilege to be an author! But all of this, selling a product, being a product, is miles away from writing and after five years, my authorial skills are rusty. During this morning’s interview, I could hear myself stumble and struggle to articulate myself. Iris Murdoch’s name escaped me. (Sigh). It’s sort of like riding a bicycle for the first time in years. I used to be really good at this but at the moment I’m wobbly. Eventually this ride will feel like second nature though, right?

* Good Guys and The Boat People are very, very different books but they have shared DNA, and in hindsight I realized there was unfinished business in The Boat People that I completed in Good Guys. I’m curious to know if readers catch the link.