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Things are busy with preparations for my upcoming novel, Floating on Air, so this month's newsletter must of necessity be short. Here's the latest:

The Meaning(s) of the Story

Floating on Air is the story of a young woman searching for love and meaning in a world where nothing is as it seems. Jennifer Amos, our protagonist, investigates strange goings-on in El Paatiro, encountering a traveling magician, a philosophical nihilist, an eccentric scientist, and a fortuneteller along the way, as she tries to discover the truths underlying the reality of her world. A work of magical realism, the novel makes nods to many works in that genre (as many as I could think of; it's my favorite genre).

Each of the above archetypes--magician, nihilist, scientist, and fortuneteller--approaches truth and reality from a different viewpoint. The magician seeks to bend truth and reality to his will through the use of magic, that is, by uttering the proper incantations. The nihilist rejects the existence of both truth and reality, seeing only a cold, unfeeling, meaningless void. The scientist insists that objective reality is not only real, but fully knowable, a puzzle waiting to be decoded through observation and verification. That leaves the fortuneteller (in many ways I find this last archetype the most interesting, probably for the same reason that magical realism is my favorite genre). The fortuneteller uses intuition, signs, and symbols (symbols are all over Floating on Air) to predict future possibilities, operating under the premise that human choice follows a pre-existing thread, a thread we yearn to uncover but are not privileged to know (at least not in advance).

So what, then, are we left with? Four characters signifying four different archetypes. And a young woman who encounters all of them as the story unfolds, while she tries to make sense of the bizarre events unfolding in her world.

I tried to write the story so that one could experience it on multiple levels (straightforward, philosophical, apocalyptic) by sprinkling clues here and there to lead readers this way or that. (Yet another interpretation is that the novel is the story of the birth, life, and death of the human race.) I always do this--which is probably why it takes me ten years to finish a book. Why do I torture myself like this? Come to the book launch (details below) to find out!

​Kirkus Reviews praises the novel's "evocative prose" and terms it "An engrossing novel that blends history and suspense to reveal resilience through generations of change."

Publication date is October 27. Pre-orders are available on the publisher's website (Whisk(e)y Tit Books), as well as major retailers and independent bookstores. You can make Whisk(e)y Tit happy by ordering a copy or maybe two or even three; the holidays will be here before you know it, and Floating on Air would make an excellent stocking stuffer!

​Pre-Order links​

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Book launch is at FlyLeaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, on November 12:

​Event URL

I am over the moon to be interviewed by Landis Wade, founder of Charlotte Readers Podcast. Landis has interviewed literally hundreds of people from all over the globe. Should be an enjoyable evening for all. (If you can't make it to FlyLeaf, don't worry; the event will be taped.)

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​Spring Book Tour

I will be at the Literary Guild on St. Simons Island, St. Simons, Georgia next April 1, with more dates to be announced.

That’s all for now

Thanks for reading and hit me up with questions/comments anytime (simply reply to this email). I’ll do my best to respond quickly. And feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think might enjoy my writing.

You can access my newsletters anytime, as well as a page with links to some of my favorite sites.

Best,
​Brian​
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