A Novel Idea

Our way of saying thanks for your support...

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

―Mark Twain

Greetings and salutations from Tivoli, Italy…

Nota Bene: Members can now download our novels (see below), but first…

Seven long years have passed since we’ve visited this storied land. Back then, it was a sojourn in Sicily – from Cefalù to Taormina, Cantania to Syracuse. We recall that journey with great fondness… much like any middle-aged man recounts his glory days and yesteryears.

New to the parenting game at the time, we drove around the island with nary a care in the world. Young(er). In love. A father. Our little Renault rental car rattling along the winding coastal highway, the cool ocean breeze in our decidedly pre-gray hair, la bambina sound asleep in the carseat…

We passed a week in Syracuse, renowned for its rich Greco-Roman history. We saw the Roman Amphitheater, walked the Teatro Greco and listened to the echoes of the Orecchio di Dionisio, a giant limestone cave shaped like a human ear.

And on the balcony of our quaint accommodations on the Isola di Ortigia, overlooking the famed Fonte Aretusa one magnificent sunset, dear wife read our mind like a book…

“Have a child, plant a tree, write a novel,” said she, invoking that untraceable old proverb. (It has variously been attributed to the Talmud and to “Arabia,” to the Cuban poet José Martíto and to Ernest Hemingway, to Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, the religion of Zoroastrianism and the philosophy of Taoism.)

In any case, we still haven’t managed to put down roots… though we have now penned a pair of novels, the second of which is due out in the coming weeks.

Which brings us to the purpose of today’s wandering communiqué…

We were thrilled and delighted when recently we discovered that a dedicated cohort of readers had pledged their support for our humble literary project. How terribly kind!

Determined now to make it worth their while (and yours, if you’re considering becoming a member), we’ve decided to release both of our novels right here on Substack. Members can download our debut effort – Morris, Alive – below. We’ll add our second novel – Night Drew Her Sable Cloak – as soon as it’s available (publishing date is set for June 9).

And if the muses continue to sing, there will be more to come, too. As you see, this is something of an experiment in real time… a way to make writing literary fiction a sustainable undertaking. The more support we have, the more time we can spend concentrating on the work at hand. And getting novels into yours…

Regards,

Joel Bowman
Tivoli, Italy ~ May, 2023