Yes, it is my present situation that brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from P. G. Wodehouse’s writings:
I am, indeed, far from gruntled as I bring you the first half of this update on my novel series, “Morgan’s Landing”. The artists who have been given the task of cover design must have also been given something designed to induce a coma. Everything is ready and nothing is stopping us from going to print – except the cover. I thought the cover would be the least of my worries. All I asked for was something eye-catching and beautiful that carried the general feeling of what lay within its pages.
Having not read what lay within its pages, the artists must have assumed that I am one of those Russian novelists Wodehouse wrote about when he or his characters made observations like these –
“In the spring, a livelier iris gleams upon the burnished dove—but not in Russia, where they shoot poets for writing that sort of thing.”
In “The Clicking of Cuthbert” we find: “No novelist anywhere any good except me. PG Wodehouse and Tolstoy not bad. Not good, but not bad. All the rest worse. I spit me of them.”
“A Russian novel is where everyone is called Ivan and either dies of consumption or spends 400 pages deciding whether to.”
This Vladimir Brusiloff to whom I have referred was the famous Russian novelist. . . . Vladimir specialized in gray studies of hopeless misery, where nothing happened till page three hundred and eighty, when the moujik decided to commit suicide. . . .
One character, a Mr. Mulliner, said of himself, “I have a tender heart and I dislike to dwell on the spectacle of a human being groaning under the iron heel of Fate. Such morbid gloating, I consider, is better left to the Russians.
Another, while suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, prompted the narrator to remark, “If he had been a character in a Russian novel, he would have gone and hanged himself in the barn.”
One reference attempted to look on the bright side: “Cuthbert was an optimist at heart, and it seemed to him that, at the rate at which the inhabitants of that interesting country were murdering one another, the supply of Russian novelists must eventually give out.”
And my personal favorite: “No wonder Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoi’s Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day’s work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city reservoir, he turns to the cupboard, only to find the vodka-bottle empty.”
You dear Russian folks out there have all my respect and admiration. However, I’m thinking P. G. Wodehouse had a point back in the day when he took a poke at some of your novelists.
I, however, am not a Russian novelist and you can expect something a bit brighter from the “Morgan’s Landing” series. This is likely what has put some sand in the gears with the book cover.
The first cover they sent me was absolutely beautiful in that it had the depth and tone of an Old Masters painting. However, the woman featured there, though her hair and clothing fit the description of the main character, sat in a windowless, darkened room and looked as though she were consumed with thoughts of ending it all.
After that, things took a turn, but it seemed to be on a path that was not reflective of the book’s setting.
Next, I received a cover design that looked representative of the character and setting, but the addition of a sky filled with black storm clouds convinced me once again that the artists thought they were designing something for one of those Russian novels.
Not that the characters in “Morgan’s Landing” don’t have their troubles – they do! However, the sun does shine in Morgan’s Landing and there is a lot of fun within those pages. Tweaks have been suggested and now we wait. Hopefully, we won’t wait too long because I want these books in your hands and mine.
If you’ll remember, there is a “Morgan’s Landing” screenplay circulating out there amongst several productions. One of them in particular has taken the positive step of attempting to bring in A-list talent for one of the main roles and if that comes to fruition, things could start to get even more exciting! It’s hard to be disgruntled with all that going on. In fact, I’m about as gruntled as I can get!
My part in this is to wait. It’s as if my “baby” has been put up for adoption and there is nothing I can do other than wait for a producer to give the screenwriter a “Let’s go!” I so appreciate award-winning screenwriter, Alan Roth, who has done a wonderful job of writing the screenplay and in getting it into all the hands of the people who need to see it. If any of you are inclined to add a request for blessing a favor in this matter to your prayer list – go to it!
Hopefully, my next update will be a release date for Book 1 in the Morgan’s Landing series. It’s entitled “Hear My Whisper” and will be with you as soon as the cover design is finalized. Following the release, there will be book signing events and I hope to see you there.
Many of you have a story to tell. DON’T WAIT to get started! The road ahead is full of bumps and detours.
Leave a comment and tell me what is stirring in your heart and mind to write. It may be fiction or it may be a true story that you can’t bear the thought of being lost to the ages. I know I have one of those and I hope to have the time to start on it soon.
