My novel, “Cathedral of Dreams” is a finalist in the science fiction category of the ForeWord magazine Book of the Year competition, and I’m thrilled. I know it sounds like I’m bragging, but my dad always told me that if the music is playing…dance. And this is a big deal to me. When one of my older novels, “Wolf’s Rite”, got on the finalist list, it sold a lot of copies in a short amount of time. This isn’t good because of the money, but because of the readership. A novel is nothing if it isn’t read.
When I was working on “Cathedral of Dreams” I didn’t even think anyone would want to publish it. There are some strange things going on in the novel that are very symbolic. There’s an angel with one wing, and a boy with a bullet hole in his forehead (don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away). The novel was written with several over-lying ideas, and I was afraid they’d be difficult to figure out. Of course, none of that happened. I rewrote the book several times, cleared up the confusing bits, added some chapters where I needed them, and then rewrote it one last time for flow, character arc, story arc, and climax.
After all that work, looking back, I better understand why the book was published. And, dare I say, I understand why it may have been chosen as a finalist for the Book of the Year award. Honestly, I’d love for the book to win the award. It would make my day. It’s not a Nebula or a Hugo, but it’s a very prestigious award from a great magazine. And, if the novel won the award, it would increase my readership, and that’s all a writer wants anyway.
