Thank you very much for all the email. Almost 100 in the past 24hours - just to let you know that I will update this on a weekly basis (Sunday morning Australian time) and I will try and answer your questions next Sunday...
just a couple of quick ones ...
1. Yes - Updated weekly - tee hee - already covered that one...
2. Yes - Arthur was a real person - but the story I am writing is both factual and fictional. As you can appreciate, I have had to embellish certain situations to create an interesting novel. There are limited facts on the life of Arthur McCrae. Furthermore, it would seem hardly appropriate to write a novel about his life without making it an exciting adventure. If I have learned anything from members of his family and from documents they have sent to me etc, - he was far from ordinary. So, I will say from the outset - Yes, Arthur existed - Yes, a lot of what is written in this novel is true and I have uncovered some amazing facts. I have spent the past 4 years of my life working on it and now that I have finished my work - you, the reader, can discover which parts are real and which are not. It is a story - that is why I have called it '209-A Story'. To entertain the reader with, I hope, a style that is unique.
3. The image (above) is a photograph I took at the Fairview Cemetery in Nova Scotia in 2006. I was undertaking some reseach in New York and made my way up to Halifax to sit by his headstone and do some writing... I have tried my best to write in all settings around the world that appear in the novel. I do believe it has worked well...
4. The Characters - I will discuss other characters and plot on Sunday.
Finally, it's quite interesting when you have something that publishers want. About ten years ago, as a first time author, I had sent off a manuscript ... and was absolutely gutted when I got a 'thanks but no thanks'.
This time - it's a bit different ... for one of the supporters of this book, inparticluar, is someone who is a very important person in Australia. I feel extremely humbled by the experience of meeting this person and the help and guidance that they have supplied. They will not be revealed until the launch of the novel at which they will have a pride of place; and God willing - they will be able to attend the launches in the UK, Australia and in the United States ...
But I will write about that on Sunday.... thanks
Cheers Steven
