Michelle Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Ok, I'm finished! The ending (don't read unless you've read the book!) Usually, I have a preference for the more unusual endings, but this one did feel right. I did have a feeling that he was alive (because of his body not being found), but I wasn't sure. I was glad he survived, and glad that they both faced up to their feelings for each other. However, the openness of it all works really well, and is probably why I liked it. At that particular point, all seemed fine, but who knows where they would be in a few months, or years? What did they ask for in the epilogue, out of interest? With that said, when is the next book available, Linda? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Oh Michelle that's is so cruel, I'm itching to read the spoiler...but I won't. << Just off to see if I can reserve a copy from the library then I won't have to wait too long to read it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Do you want to borrow? (Sorry Linda, we're hijacking your thread! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 That's fine! Go ahead. There are book rings for all my books on BookCrossing.com. I see there are 93 copies of my books registered and many are doing the rounds in rings and book rays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 (edited) I forgot to answer another bit of Michelle's post... The next book, provisionally titled FAMILY SHADOWS, is out next May so you have a long wait for that one I'm afraid! This is the blurb I've written for it... Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n’ roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her actor boyfriend Alfie's family home - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She's excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen notices something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely towards his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. There's the enigma of an old family photograph and Alfie's mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world between past and present, fact and fiction. When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old quilt she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there's a lot more to the family history than she's been told. And a lot more to Alfie. I've put the opening up on my website under News. Go to http://tinyurl.com/r4d8e and scroll to the bottom of the page. Edited June 19, 2008 by Linda Gillard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 The next book, provisionally titled FAMILY SHADOWS, is out next May so you have a long wait for that one I'm afraid! That's really not fair, you know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Sorry! I'm producing a book a year at the moment. Can't do it any faster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Do you want to borrow? (Sorry Linda, we're hijacking your thread! ) Ooh yes please The next book, provisionally titled FAMILY SHADOWS, is out next May so you have a long wait for that one I'm afraid! Gutted 11 months to wait!....sounds like another cracking read though Been to the library to collect A Lifetime Burning, off to start this one very very soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 (edited) I've talked here about pressure from publishers to produce a book a year. There's also a certain amount of reader pressure... I suppose this is an instance of where publishers and readers are of one accord. But it begs the Q... If you could have longer (and probably better) books produced every other year, or a shorter book, maybe somewhat rushed, every year, which would you prefer? Is it about quantity or quality? For a lot of readers I think it's about quantity because we live in a culture where books are "consumed" and disposed of very readily. Not everyone treats books with the respect that I'm sure readers in this forum demonstrate towards them. We have fast food, fast everything practically. Do you want fast books? Edited June 19, 2008 by Linda Gillard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 The above comment wasn't serious, because I do prefer quality. For example, I loved the In Death Books by J D Robb, but after a while it really felt as if she was churning them out far too quickly. Anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 I'd have to say I prefer quality over quantity, I'm one of those readers who can re-read books I've enjoyed and would be more inclined to keep a book for that reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Jules, if you had trouble putting that one down, try A Lifetime Burning.. that one definitely keeps you turning the pages! You weren't wrong there Michelle A gripping read from start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 21, 2008 Author Share Posted June 21, 2008 Wow, that was quick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Wow, that was quick! What can I say it was a great read I couldn't put it down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 (edited) Glad to hear you enjoyed A LIFETIME BURNING, Jules. Some readers haven't liked the backwards and forwards in time narrative, but perhaps you can see how that gave me scope to manipulate the story so that the reader is kept in suspense about certain key events. I couldn't have done that with a chronological narrative. It was technically a very challenging book to write and trying to keep tabs on everything - 58 years of an extended family's lives - wasn't easy! Edited June 22, 2008 by Linda Gillard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 I don't think it would have had the same effect if it had been a chronological narrative. The way the story read kept me captivated to the very end. It was a great book and one that I will definately re-read at some point Ps How did you come up with the idea for A Lifetime Burning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) There were two basic ideas that were jumping-off points for A LIFETIME BURNING. One I can mention, the other will have to have a spoiler warning! The first thing that came to me was Flora's voice: a middle-aged woman, sardonic, blackly comic, very damaged in some way... dead, in fact. I liked the (not very original) idea of opening the book at a family funeral, but decided to have the deceased narrating. I didn't have a story at that point, only a narrator. Once I developed a plot, Flora's voice seemed the obvious one to tell the extraordinary story of the Dunbars. The other inspiration was a radio interview I heard on John Peel's HOME TRUTHS. A middle-aged woman was speaking and I knew by the end of an interview that her life was a novel. She hadn't talked much about her earlier life, just about how she lived now, but my imagination was able to conjure up a back-story for her and that became Flora's life. In the interview the woman talked about her life thus: she was a middle-aged, middle-class vagrant, well-spoken and educated, rather genteel. (She could have been a vicar's wife!) She'd ended up living on the streets through a series of unfortunate circumstances, one thing leading to another on the typical downward spiral that leads to homelessness. She clearly felt abandoned by her family and preferred life on the streets. John Peel asked her how she thought her family would react to her going public on Radio Four about her vagrancy. He said, "Don't you think your family will feel ashamed?" She paused and then replied, quite calmly, "I do hope so." That was a novel waiting to be written! __________________ Edited June 22, 2008 by Linda Gillard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 PS I think A LIFETIME BURNING is a book that repays re-reading. Once you know all the twists you can read it in a "Ohmygod - look out behind you!" sort of way. One of the things people like about the book when they re-read is discovering that the whole story is already there in the Prologue (which was extremely difficult to write without blowing the plot!) If you re-read nothing else, take another look at the Prologue. You might be surprised! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 A Lifetime Burning is another on my list to look out for at the library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Your next one sounds good Linda. Must get on with the other two. Do you manage a holiday in between all your writing or just allow yourself the odd day off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Gillard Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) No, I don't really have holidays. I travel around the UK quite a bit for author events and writing workshops, so I do get away. I don't ever stop writing for long. I finished Book 4 a couple of weeks ago and I've already started making notes for Book 5. I'm waiting for a delivery of books so I can start doing some research for it. Usually I have an idea for the next book as I finish writing the previous one. You know how some book lovers worry about being stranded somewhere without anything to read? I worry about not having a book to write. I like to always have one on the go. I make a point of not working on Christmas Day! The thing is, I don't really see it as work, because there is nothing I would rather be doing. Edited June 24, 2008 by Linda Gillard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Have you ever thought about creating a main character and doing a series of books? Or do you prefer doing something different every time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I'm sad, I went to the library to get your book and it wasn't there. I'm not happy at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 There's 3 to choose from Kate.. did they not have any? Two of them are being offered as book rings here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 There were none I'll have to see if they will let me join the book rings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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