This week, I am starting a series that gives readers some insight into the hidden meanings and stories behind the scenes of my books. IN THE COUNTRY DARK has, by far, been my most successful work.
The book was written in the fall of 2016 and completed in four months. I never set out to write it. I had actually sat down to write HEXGRID, the prequel to my debut novel, HEARTSPARK. The story poured out of me after a few days of thought, and it kept coming.
At the time I was writing, there were rumors that a movie studio could be moving into an old Navy base up for auction nearby. I wanted to have some type of script in the event that happened, so I began simultaneously writing a screenplay along with the novel. The screenplay slowed me down and was eventually abandoned to keep full steam on the novel. But because it was intended to be a movie, Pendleton County, West Virginia was used as the story's setting template so there were existing locations for a movie to be shot on the cheap.
Two things inspired the book. One I call the spark, and one I call the fire. The spark came with a conversation with my wife when she was working as the human resource director for a nursing home. She had to terminate a lot of employment in that job. In her office, she had a large array of pictures. I told her, somewhat joking, how I was uncomfortable having our pictures in a room where people decide to despise you. She was giving them an assortment of people to target right there on the wall. But then I saw a picture of her mother, who had passed away a few years prior, and thought, "It would be funny if a disgruntled employee targeted her." That led me to think about what the Cohen Brothers would do in one of their caper-gone-wrong movies. There was the spark.
The fire was from my best friend in grade school. Travis Judy died of an overdose in 2003. Since then, thoughts of him had never been terribly far away. He was always mischievous, often wreckless, but was always sharp as a tack. I thought a lot about the conversations we could have had if we met up randomly one evening, or what kind of trouble he would get me into if he saw an opportunity to put me into an uncomfortable situation.
I took those imagined conversations with Travis and applied them to the dumb criminal concept. I always tell this story with the disclaimer that Travis himself was quite smart, but the story would not work if his fictional counterpart had the same brains.
In the end, Mike Mallow and Travis Judy became Cabel Walsh and Troy Mason (Mason was Travis' middle name). "Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author." I did not write that legal disclaimer, but it could be easily corrected by saying "Any unflattering similarity..."
The book is dedicated to Travis, as well as a few others I wish I could still speak with.
All versions of the book cover were designed by me. The first edition cover with the flaming West Virginia was made specifically to find broad appeal within The Mountain State. Not only did it work great, I credit it for contributing to winning Appodlachia's first Appalachian Book of the Year award, as voted on by fans. Based on their vote numbers, it received more votes than the number of books sold at the time.
Indeed, if you own the original cover, it could be worth something someday. There are only around 300 in existence (and I don't even have one). There are different variations, but I can't tell you the proportions. I believe the ones with the awards starburst built-in are the most rare.
The second cover was made for the audiobook, which was released almost a year later. The Audiobook cover was adapted to the book cover, which dictated the branding for the series from then on.
The title of the book evolved from a line from A Clockwork Orange, as Alex and his droogs are driving into a rural area to commit crimes. "And soon it was trees and dark, my brothers, with real country dark."
My original working title was "Light up the Holler," which much later became the series title. There were also, "A Real Country Dark" and "With Country Dark," but In the Country Dark fit well with a scene at the climax of the book and stuck ever since.
This is all for now. The rest will be covered as we go through the chapters.
You can buy in IN THE COUNTRY DARK in print on AMAZON
On e-book on KINDLE, APPLE BOOKS, KOBO, OR NOOK
Or get the audiobook on AUDIBEL, as read by the fabulous Daniel Abraham Stevens
Comments