In Profile
Staff -- 08/21/2000
Novelists talk about the inspiration behind their latest books
DAVID MANUEL | BILL MYERS | DVORA WAYSMAN
DAVID MANUEL
Faith Mysteries
"No checked baggage," reads the motto that Christian mystery novelist David Manuel has programmed into his computer. As someone who has written or ghost-written 29 books in history and biography, Manuel has learned that in the fast-paced genre of mystery, "you just can't take three chapters to develop a character, as much as you love him or her." Mystery readers, he says, "prefer carry-on luggage."
Manuel's first title in the Faith Abbey series, A Matter of Roses, was released last fall by Cape Cod-based Paraclete Press. His sleuthing protagonist was a committed, celibate monk named Brother Bartholomew, who struggled to keep his vows and maintain his faith while he nimbly caught a killer. Bartholomew's further adventures are detailed in A Matter of Diamonds, due out in September.
Manuel notes that the books are aimed at the general book market more than the Christian marketplace, for which he has successfully co-written three books with Peter Marshall (From Sea to Shining Sea, The Light and the Glory and Sounding Forth the Trumpet, all from Revell), among other titles. The depth of the spiritual longing in the general market has surprised him. "Talking to secular bookstore owners, I am repeatedly surprised to find that the thing that they found most compelling, other than the story itself, was Brother Bartholomew's struggle to hold on to his faith. They have a spiritual hunger that resonates with something in the book. I think that the book, without being overtly religious, is very spiritual."
If Faith Abbey, the fictional setting for the mystery series, achieves a unique level of authenticity, it is because Manuel based it on a place he knows quite well--his own. Since 1971 he and his wife have lived at the Community of Jesus, an ecumenical religious community on Cape Cod. (Paraclete Press is the Community's publishing division.) The Manuels routinely host a dozen people for dinner and currently house eleven people under their roof. Each day they walk to the newly dedicated Church of the Transfiguration that forms the heart of the Community and say the ancient prayers of the Benedictine Liturgy of the Hours.
When he joined the Community, Manuel left behind a successful career in publishing, including three years as the first managing editor of Doubleday Canada. That experience has made him worldly-wise about marketing books, and he believes the mystery series will gain faithful readers with each installment. While in Arizona last year writing the sequel, Manuel found a friend and advocate in Barbara Peters of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale. "In the course of my four weeks out there, she'd moved 250 copies of my book. Barbara couldn't have been more supportive." She also taught Manuel a few tips about the genre, including the fact that his victim died too late in the first book--not until page 149. "You're supposed to get your victim killed early. I've learned that." In Diamonds, the victim dies on page 23.
The series is rapidly gaining attention in the mystery book world. Mysterious Press, an imprint of Time Warner Trade, has signed a deal with Paraclete for the three-book series. Mysterious has paperback rights for Roses and Diamonds, and both hard and soft rights for A Matter of Time, scheduled for release in 2002. Paraclete's director of marketing, Carol Showalter, says that the company was delightfully surprised when Roses found a core audience in the mystery market, especially since Paraclete initially did no marketing to that audience. This time, she explains, "We're working closely with the 300 or so mystery bookstores. Their interest has been very strong, especially in autographed first editions. We'll be having David do some signings and also attend some mystery conventions." She also believes that "the [evangelical] Christian market will bite on the second one. With the first one, we probably had 25 or 28 reviews, including a pretty good one in CBA Marketplace. I think serious mystery readers who are Christians will be pleased with it."
--Jana Riess
BILL MYERS
Messiah in a T-Shirt
Bill Myers isn't the first to retell the Gospel story in a modern setting, but he may be the first to redraw the man of Jesus as a '70s baby born in back of a motel laundry room. In his newest adult novel, Eli (Zondervan, Aug.), Bill Myers g s beyond the message to the man, a Messiah in T-shirt and blue jeans who embodies the greatest mystery of the Christian faith by retaining holiness while exercising mercy.
"By examining the life of Christ in a contemporary setting, I am able to remove all the insulation between me and him and begin to see him as the person I encountered when I first read the Gospels," Myers explains. "It's exciting to explore Christ as a real flesh-and-blood person."
Readers will discover that this real person isn't your typical Savior. A publicist's nightmare, Eli parties with Hollywood's leading porn producer, befriends society's most vocal racist and publicly insults the most respected religious figure of his time. Favorite Gospel stories are translated into contemporary scenarios: the Sermon on the Mount becomes the Sermon at Denny's, burgers and fries (in place of bread and fish) feed the masses, and demons are directed into a bunch of feral cats (instead of pigs).
Myers wrote Eli independent of his bestselling Blood of Heaven trilogy (Blood of Heaven, Threshold and Fire of Heaven, all from Zondervan) that have together sold more than 170,000 copies. "Instead of looking at the truth of Scripture in action, as I had done in my earlier novels, in Eli I am looking at the heart of the man," Myers explains. "It's refreshing to explore and examine God instead of examining God's truths."
Although his current subject matter departs from the thriller genre, Myers's formula for success remains the same: good storytelling. With his nearly 25 years of experience as a filmmaker, screenwriter and producer, few are as qualified to develop gripping plots. His work in the movie industry has earned 40 national and international awards, including two New York International Film Festival Awards (for McGee and Me and Nikolai). After studying acting and directing at the University of Washington and in Rome, Myers pursued a career as an actor and director of stage plays. Only one year out of school he landed his first writing assignment for a TV show called Westbrook Hospital. But in his free time he wrote Bible study guides, because he has always been "fascinated by Scripture."
Combining that passion for the Bible with his knack for storytelling led to this tale of a contemporary Jesus and offered Myers the ideal combination. "I love the book format because of the depth," Myers says, "because of the room it gives a writer. I can write beyond the 120-page format of a screenplay, but every scene is there for a reason."
With an initial print run of 40,000, Zondervan considers Eli a lead title for fall. "Bill is in our top tier of fiction authors," says trade marketing director Sue Brower. In addition to sending 1,400 bound galleys out to its Premier Reader Fiction Club--a handpicked group of retail sales associates and buyers--Zondervan plans print and broadcast advertising in national religious and mainstream media.
--Therese Borchard
DVORA WAYSMAN
Love in Jerusalem
Love is universal, says Dvora Waysman, explaining why her latest novel set in Jerusalem should appeal to a wide audience. In part autobiographical, Esther: A Jerusalem Love Story (Health Communications/Simcha Press, Sept.) tells of a bureau chief for a news organization based in Jerusalem who meets the woman he will love the rest of his life, even as they move apart. Their love story encompasses a larger story: Waysman touches on the workings of inter-Jewish relationships, from Reform to Orthodox, giving insight into the ways religious differences can affect a relationship. "It's also about what Jerusalem can mean to a person," Waysman tells PW. "Jerusalem is almost an emotion. The story is about how the city can entwine itself in your heart and become more than just a place to live." Now a grandmother to 16 grandchildren and in her late sixties, Waysman was born in Australia and moved to Jerusalem thirty years ago. Like her main female character, she has also lived in Lebanon and London.
While she also writes p try and has worked as a journalist, Waysman says she most enjoys fiction, because "any work of creation--a piece of music or a painting--is a self-portrait. What is in a book is all coming out of one's own experience, thoughts and emotions. Esther gives me a chance to talk about how I feel about Israel and Jerusalem. Writing the book gave me a way of coming to terms with my life as well as putting it in perspective."
Currently, Waysman teaches creative writing and journalism from her home and is working on her next novel, the story of a lifelong friendship between two women, one Christian and the other Jewish. Esther is her sixth book, five of them novels. She is also the author of a YA novel, Back of Beyond (Pitspopanny Press, 1996). Set in Australia, it is the story of a Jewish boy from New York who is preparing for his bar mitzvah when he wins a trip to Australia in a magazine competition. There he meets and makes friends with an aboriginal boy who is preparing to be inducted into his tribe as a man.
Esther is Waysman's first book for Simcha Press, the new Judaica imprint of Health Communications. Says Simcha sales manager Judy Perry, "Our core audience is women, and women enjoy a good love story. This is a charming book, reminiscent of The Bridges of Madison County." She adds, "It has a surprising twist in the end that makes it so much more memorable."
First print run is 20,000. Perry says there will be extensive advertising in the Jewish and mainstream press. Plans for an author tour to several major cities are pending.
--Lori Rotenberk
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