I am thrilled to find that Simon Kernick has read and enjoyed my book - Dead Men's Dust. Simon very kindly said:
‘Hard-hitting and fast-paced, Matt Hilton really knows how to grab your attention and hold it to the very end.’
Simon is the latest of a growing list to whom I'm very grateful for their kindness.
Thanks again also to Richard Hammond and Christopher Reich whose comments are added elsewhere on this blog.
11 comments:
Great praise indeed, Matt. I'm chuffed for you. Simon Kernick has to be my favourite current author.
Ps. Not read 'Dead Mens' Dust' yet though!
Thanks Col, yes it's a great honour. Funnily enough, it was because of Simon's success that prompted me to search out and approach LBA to represent me, so he has been a huge influence on my writing. I also noticed similarities in your book when I was reading the sample chapters.
Really fantastic news. I pray Dead Men's Dust breaks book sale records and enjoys sublime success, not only because clearly you've put your heart and soul into the book, but also as an inspiration to other aspiring writers that if you have the talent, hard work and perserverance will lead you to success! Not gonna buy a copy from Amazon - gonna get mine signed at a book signing!
Amit
Yeah, Matt, I recall you saying something about LBA and Kernick. YOU made it happen though!
I'm gonna take your slight comparisons as a compliment, but none of it was intentional. Maybe I just found someone who writes like me! Or my subconscious has shaped my writing to be like his (?).
Amit, I'm with you on that - it's great when a good guy 'makes it' - see you in the queue!
Thanks to the both of you.I'm chuffed by your comments and only hope that you like the book/s when they come out.
Hopefully i am an inspiartion to you and others - I'm not trained, had only a secondary school education, didn't know any famous people or have an inside track, haven't got an relations in publishing or the media. I think you get the idea. If i can do it simply through my passion and my dream, it shows that you can too. There's a little luck involved - being there at the right time - but perseverance will out. Don't be put off by rejections, at least someone has read your stuff and it isn't hiding in a drawer or on a hard drive, and take anything good or bad on-board.
Thanks guys
Matt
By the way Col, I didn't mean stylistically, I meant genre. Everyone had their own distinctive voice and yours comes through: I was making comparisons with the gritty UK scene that Simon strides through. Have you read Simon's earlier works with the cop/assassin (whose name is fleetingly avoiding me)? When reading your book I had the same sense of foreboding (meant in the best possible sense) as in Simon's books.
Hi Amit, to paraphrase your comment 'I pray Dead Men's Dust breaks book sale records and enjoys sublime success', so do I mate.
The nearer publication gets the more frightening it gets as well.
Hi Matt, i guess its only natural to feel those nerves, but when i think about my own book and the idea that on day it might be published and shot down or raved about - to be blunt, how many people get their books published? Its already a success in its own right. For every one published author there are a hundred rejected. You're bound to get some criticism. Only natural. Its how you deal with that that moulds careers (in my humble opinion.) To the world your book maybe "just another book", but to many it will be "the only book" worth reading this year....To paraphrase...keep on keeping on...
Hi Amit,
you're right.
Just a moment of "Oh, my God! What if no one likes it?"
It's pretty inevitable that some people will hate it, while others will love it. I just need the love brigade to outweigh the others.
There's a lot of anticipation from a hell of a lot of people. You know what some people are like, though: they love to knock you off a pedestal first chance they get. When I was in Baltimore at the Bouchercon convention a very respected book reviewer introduced me to a colleague as 'Supposedly the next big thing.' That would have been great if not for the wry grin that accompanied his words.
But, hey, stuff like that will be around me all the time, i guess.
Like you quite rightly said: KEEP ON KEEPING ON.
(Starting to sound a little trite, I know, but it's not a bad ethos)
Matt, I'm glad the 'foreboding' came through as that was the intention. I'll check out out Mr Kernick's older stuff. Regarding the critics. For comparison purposes: there's a lot of money flying around within the football business at the moment and I guess a player that's paid over 100K per week(!!!) has to live with that pressure, too... and basically deliver after all the hype. I'm confident with your modest attitude you'll be fine, mate. (At writing, not footy!)
As long as no one thinks my writings Kaka
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