Friday, September 7, 2012

Acting Out

By Russel D McLean

The third act.

I always said the McNee books would be five acts and here we are at (approximately) the halfway mark. Not to say McNee won’t return after book 5 but there things I want to do to him in these fives books that will be wrapped up by the end of CRY UNCLE, providing anyone ever lets me publish the next two.

FATHER CONFESSOR will reward readers of the last two books (I think) and should still be accesible for new readers (I hope). This is where seemingly disparate threads start to come together. Ernie Bright’s apparent corruption. McNee’s guilt. Susan’s sacrifice at the end of book 2. The whole simmering thing between McNee and Susan that has some of my readers fighting over whether they should get it on. For those readers, there may be some answers but perhaps event more questions.

But at the same time, Act 3 a place where there’s a whole new set of challenges to face. McNee has been coming to terms with what happened to Elaine, but now he has to face with what happens to his life when he deals with that loss. What happens when he is no longer looking for someone to blame?

Susan will have her own demons to deal with. She’s been a support to McNee so far, there for him when no one else was. But now she is facing her own loss with the death of her father (that’s not a spoiler, its the premise of the book) and this turnaround in roles will decidedly not be smooth, and will test her character mentally and morally.

Act 3 is always about change. Act One introduces the characters. Act Two sets event in motion. Act three changes everything we thought we knew and challenges the characters in ways they can’t expect. Act four? Well maybe we’ll talk about that next year (or whenever the next book comes out).

But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy FATHER CONFESSOR. Its been a long time coming, but I’m damn glad of the wait which allowed me to give you the book I wanted rather than compromise on it. And as ever, thank you to the folks at Five Leaves and my agent, Al Guthrie at Jenny Brown Associates, who not only suggested genuine changes to improve the book but worked with me to achieve and hone the vision I wanted to give to you, the reader.

No comments: