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—– The Deacon —–
-the novel by Bob Smith-
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………………………………So, What’s All This?………………………………
Two of the most dynamic, beloved characters in the book begin paragraphs nameless, Macy giving directions to the local brothel, Annie bathing her Lady. They end those paragraphs as driving forces in the story.
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About 3/4 of the way through, I decide a beloved character has to die and the next chapter morphs into a seamless ‘Sixth Sense’ moment, climaxed by what I humbly propose is the single best literary ‘upside-the-head’ of all time. Better than Sonny being wheeled into the undertakers. Better than Toranaga burning Blackthorne’s ship.
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As for the Epilogue…
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The Epilogue that turns everything upside down, (a necessity in my opinion for a great book, apologies to Joyce), wasn’t even conceived until after I wrote ‘The End’ on the original ‘victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat’ happy-ending-chapter: Yet once envisioned, ‘deacon’ stood there waiting to be turned into ‘def-con’ & ‘D-Con’ like it had been planted there all along. A number of other things, too. When the author can surprise himself, the reader is in for quite a ride.
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I acknowledge that “The Deacon” breaks most of the rules of the publishing industry these days: It’s too long. It isn’t formulaic. It actually has an ending. It wasn’t written with ten sequels and a line of action figures in mind. Also, I forgot to ask Patterson or Cussler to pimp my work. I understand the pressures on the publishing industry these days but you guys are the keepers of the gate, the guardians of our culture. We are right around the corner from best seller lists dominated by Max Headroom, Lara Croft, and Rupert Murdoch. Oh, wait…
Pardon the rant.
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“THE DEACON” is Special.
But I don’t use the word ‘special’ emotionally. The Deacon may be unique.
Can you name another work of fiction that has ALL the following:
-strong, descriptive writing style that paints sensory pictures in the mind-
-compelling, multi-dimensional characters of both sexes, all ages and outlooks-
-a powerful, plot-defining opening page revelation, followed immediately by an ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World’ chase to a day of reckoning, revelation & climax-
-three jaw-dropping, ‘I didn’t just read that!’ plot twists, including two of the most powerful of all possible twists: the sudden unexpected death of an essential beloved character, and an epilogue that turns everything upside down-
-sensual scenes as powerful as any ever put to paper: from coltish young love, through vicious hate-filled assault, from ‘the first time’ to love built upon a lifetime of shared memories-
-social commentary that is focused, powerful, far-reaching: the type of thing that becomes fodder for lit classes for centuries to come. …yet it never gets in the way of the story.
-and then there is the ending: “After an earthquake, a funeral, a feast, a deflowering, a joust, a round of torture, a rape, and a wedding, everything is in place, (25 pp to go), for the good rightful heir to announce himself, the good guys to triumph and everybody live happily ever after. Then the heir is murdered. All hopes dashed. Bad guys triumphant. Heroine drinks poison and dies rather than marry bad guy. Our commoner hero, and her love, is revealed to be the the murdered heir’s younger twin. Good guys win! But…hey look: Heroine gets antidote, is alive! Awesome! But… That makes her lover her brother. Oh NO! Thank goodness we find out she is a bastard. Whew! That was a close one. Everyone gets to live happily ever after, after all. But wait… ‘What about the epilogue?’ Uh-oh. That’s where we find our bad guy taking a post-apocalyptic elevator ride deep beneath the bowels of Alcatraz. There awaits a crystalline, alien command center, aliens for whom all human beings are is an inter-galactic defoliant, bought at the inter-galactic Wal-Mart, guaranteed to destroy all lifeforms on a planet at lightening fast speeds.
C’est la vie.
“What more could one want in a book?”
(except maybe for a line of action figures and a washed up old writer?)
With a good editor, every single one of the above aspects is within reach of being among the best I have ever read: poetic prose, sensory stimulation, characterization, plot trajectory, message, beginning, & ending.
That’s not my heart talking. That’s my head.
All the pieces are there.
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—Author’s Note—
The first 40 pages are a rewrite of work penned decades before, not to mention the first fiction I had done in all that time. Thus, they are the pages least indicative of the ‘rhythm’ and other superlatives I threw around above. Things go to a whole new level with the introduction of the female viewpoints just past this point, especially the two that virtually created themselves as referred to above: Macy & Annie.
Once all narrators are in place, each chapter is seven 3-legal-pad-page scenes, one per viewpoint, followed by seven 2-page-scenes, ending in seven 1-page scenes, resulting in a rhythmic acceleration of pace and tension. The first seven all have similar first lines: ‘(Will, Macy,Annie) awoke to the sound of (gunfire, laughter, silence).’ or ‘(Waldo, Eric, Callie, Beck) (farted, fidgeted, yawned, dozed)’) as Father Tom droned on.’ Every page is filled with tastes, smells, sounds, and other seamlessly interwoven sensory input. Pick a page number between 40 & 440, and I propose the lit student in you will find at least two ‘beautiful turns of phrase’. Almost every chapter ends in a ‘Wow!’
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.If I may be so Bold…
Read enough of the beginning to get a feel for the plot.
Introduce yourself to the girls, (pp.45-58).
Then read Chapter 11-Ramblings, p.352: the day of the Baron’s Funeral and the reluctant ascension of his son, Beck.
(That’s the chapter containing the literary ‘upside-the-head’ so immodestly boasted about above.)