February 13, 2012
The Fading is finished. This is my fourth novel and it's just been sent off to my editor and my agent for feedback. I don't have significant notes on it yet, but so far the brief response was very positive, so I expect things to follow the normal schedule for publication late this June. I will let you know as soon as I have a firm date, but late June or early July looks like the most likely slot.
I really had a blast with this book. It's my best work to date and I am, in some ways, devastated to be finished with it. I loved living in this world, in my protagonist's mind, seeing through his eyes, living by the rules that govern him. This is the first book of mine I wish I could have spent 3 years and 1200 pages on. But I am happy with the book as it is. It feels like the right story done the right way for me, and even though I didn't want to let it go I know that it had to end when it did. I will have a chapter or chapters excerpt posted on the site here soon, but for now . . .
Here is the brief synopses of the sort that will find its way onto the jacket:
A terrible power . . .
Noel Shaker has a secret. Since earliest childhood, he has been visited by a mysterious entity that conceals him from human sight. Arriving without warning or explanation, his episodes of invisibility can last for mere seconds, entire afternoons and, as Noel grows into adulthood, for agonizing days and weeks at a time. Far from being a gift, Noel’s increasingly powerful curse becomes a prison cell without bars, isolating him from family and friends, turning every mundane errand into an adrenaline-fueled nightmare, and pitting his morality against his will to survive.
A search for love . . .
In the wake of a tragic accident that shatters his family, Noel seeks redemption in Julie Wagner, the only girl to have glimpsed his secret. Now a grown woman, Julie is wrestling with her own real-world demons when a blinding snowstorm reunites them. But when a curious policeman stumbles upon Noel’s secret, innocent blood is shed, implicating Noel in murder. Now Noel and Julie are on the run -- from their violent mistakes, from undead spirits who take sustenance from Noel’s erasure, and from Noel himself, whose desperate attempts to gain control of his fading are pushing him closer and closer to madness.
A shocking answer to a lifelong mystery . . .
Careening from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the promising fortunes of Las Vegas, from haunted motel rooms into a sociopath’s favorite killing ground, from a jetliner on course for catastrophe to a climactic showdown in Los Angeles, Noel Shaker’s quest to uncover the truth about the fading is about to force him to make a terrifying choice: a choice between the ultimate horror of love’s costs and the allure of a power only the gods once knew.
Coming soon to a bookstore near you, THE FADING, a new novel by Christopher Ransom
November 28, 2011
Sorry for the long delay between updates. Truthfully, there hasn't been much to update. The People Next Door is out there and I'm still working on my fourth novel, which I hope (PLAN) to deliver to my publisher in early February so that it can be made real pretty and sent out to booksheleves everywhere by July, 2012. Other than that, I don't have much in the way of excitement to report.
I really should have a blog or something more frquent to contribute to. You know, so that you will come back here again and again and I will become a fire brand in your brain and you will never, ever forget to buy my books. But then, if my books are earning that loyalty on their own, I'm pretty much sunk, aren't I? And I don't think I have all that much interesting to say that doesn't get fed one way or another into my books. Do any of you really want to read about what cute thing my dog just did today? So you care what my politics are? Where I had lunch today?
Probably not.
Or maybe some of you do, but still. I can't help feeling like such "blog" entries are a waste of my time and yours. There are enough opinions out there for people to gorge themselves on for a couple centuries, most of it about as nutritious as pre-digested celery. You need more opinions shoved down your throat like I need another spam voice mail to my cell phone. Right?
To put it another way, when I was growing up we didn't have blogs, and my favorite authors didn't blog, and I didn't miss hearing more about their personal lives, at least not unless it had to do with how such personal things helped them become a writer or how it influenced their work. My heroes didn't opine on the latest trends, celebrity divorce, or failed legislation. They just quietly went about writing novels, year after year.
If it--such and such author's life--were interesting enough, sure, a biography might get written and that might be fine, even edifying. But even today, in this age where everyone has something to say seemingly every day, I don't seek out blogs or tweeting updates from the writers I admire. So it is that I assume my readers aren't terribly interested in the new pair of shoes I bought, or even my "feel good writing thought for the day", which you won't see here or on my Facebook page, mostly because feel good thoughts about writing seldom help people write and real writers are usually too busy writing stories to spend time constructing feel good thoughts about writing.
Which means, I guess, the news update here is I have no news. Except that I am working on a fun book and hope to have updates on that around the New Year.
Happy Holidays, and thanks again for the support.
CR
July 28, 2011
The People Next Door is a top 25 bestseller in the UK. It is selling better than all of us, myself and my agent and my editor and my publishing team, expected. How did this happen? Why? What makes one book a bestseller and not another? Why is this new book -- published in a tough economy that is, by most accounts, worse than last year's tough economy -- doing better than my last novel?
I have no idea.
Actually, that's not strictly true. I don't know for sure, but I have some ideas. First of all, I have been fortunate to have connected with a large number of readers in the UK. Readers who have, despite my work's sometimes maddening slight of hand and psychological ambiguity (which really entertains and thrills some readers even as it thoroughly pisses off others), decided to follow me on another outing. This isn't quite the stock "horror genre novel" I was expecting, the collective reader response seems to be saying, but there's something creepy and gripping going on here that I like and I want more. So, thank you very much, dear readers. Thank you for following me where the stories and my interests take me. Your support means that I can keep doing this a while longer. Your support means, in other words, everything.
But it takes more than readers to sell a lot of books. For better or worse, we live in an age when marketing plays a large role and shelf space in bookstores is more precious than gold. Without the faith and passion of my publishing team at Little, Brown UK, the entire Sphere team, from copywriters and publicists to jacket designers and field sales rep to my editor -- the brilliant, hilarious, and overall exceptional human being Daniel Mallory -- The People Next Door would be buried at the back of the store, if it made it to the stores at all. Booksellers, book buyers, everyone along the chain from production to the cashier who rings up the books, you have all played an important role in allowing me to reach so many readers. Thank you so very much.
But even with all that business and hard work and planning and marketing intelligence, there is still an element of . . . let's not say "luck", because I believe that people make their own luck, but fate comes in many guises . . . so how about good fortune instead? Yes, there is an element of simple, unexplainable good fortune in every novel that finds an audience and exceeds everyone's sales expectations. Beautifully crafted novels go unread by more than a few hundred people. God awful novels sometimes find an audience of millions. There is no "fair" or predictable in book publishing. Which is why it is so important to be thankful to those who play their role in a given book's success, and to remember that one is fortunate to be able to do this job at all.
I am fortunate. I am grateful. You all have my thanks, whoever you are.
CTR
June 2011
Little, Brown UK has acquired my fourth novel (currently being written) which, like my previous novels, is scheduled for another July release, this one in 2012. While it is far too early to discuss details of the book at this stage, I can tell you that the rather ambitious and somewhat arrogant premise came to me more fully formed than any other I have gone on to write.
I was lying in bed one morning, half-awake, thinking about how no one has really done this particular kind of story-premise-concept-hook-whatever-you-want-to-call-it the right way, the way it was meant to be, the bigger and better way, the scary and touching and thrilling way it should have been done a long time ago. I was struck by the incredibly interesting character psychology and wildly dynamic energy inherent in this premise, and I understood at once that it would be a book with almost limitless story choices for me to play around with, all of them just plain fun.
And best of all there was, from the first moment I considered taking on this premise, the one invaluable thing that really lets me know this is a book worth writing, a book worth a year or more of my life: I knew this would be a story I would love to read. I mean, I really want to read this book, and it doesn't exist in any bookstore.
Yet.
April 2011
The People Next Door has been written, revised, edited, polished, tweaked, and accepted for publication by Little, Brown UK. It will be released in the UK and other territories on Jul 7, 2011. Does it count when your editor, agent, wife, and other trusted members of your team tell you that this is your best novel to date? Absolutely! But only if you, the author, are also satisfied with the end result and believe you have pushed yourself in new directions and written the kind of book you would be happy to pay good money for.
And, as it happens, I do feel this way about my third novel.
For what the author's perspective on his own work is worth, I think The People Next Door contains more likable characters, good sentences, and persuasive passages than anything I have written to date. I am very happy with the tone of this book, its flavors and colors and textures. I never set out to write just "a horror novel" and I think of my three novels, this one succeeds best at delivering something extra. At the risk of tooting my own horn more than I already have, I'll just relay some of my editor's response from his letter to me after he read the manuscript:
"In no particular order, this book is elegant, witty, gruesome, sexy, satiric, ferociously well-paced, horrifying, beautiful, strangely moving, masterfully controlled, slightly insane, positively dense with texture and character detail, psychologically acute and astute, bold, ambiguous, and (perhaps most impressively) wholly persuasive . . ."
Of course, it's also an editor's job to provide positive feedback and not bash his writers over the head with immediate criticism and notes, but if I managed even half of the above, I am thrilled with the results.
And I hope you will be too.
February 2011
I am in the final weeks of finishing my third novel. As long as my publishing team at Little, Brown UK are happy with it, the book will be released overseas sometime in the summer of 2011. Here is the jacket copy that probably will not fit on the actual jacket but which I hope provides an enticing overview of the story.
The People Next Door
They’re not what they pretend to be . . .
Mick Nash’s summer is off to a bad start. The Last Straw, his once thriving sports bar, is deep in the red. His wife Amy is overweight and bullied by her students. Teen son Kyle has just met alcohol and is willing to steal anything to impress the right girl, while young daughter Briela is gripped by tantrums and recurring nightmares that foretell an approaching menace.
When an idyllic day on a nearby lake ends in a near-death experience, Mick finds himself on the cusp of a terrorizing mystery with the power to change his fortunes forever -- or destroy everything he holds dear.
First there are visions . . .
Resuscitated by unknown forces, recuperating at home, Mick is assailed by horrific visions from the other side. A warning from a deceased friend is only the first in a series of disturbing new insights and visitations, opening frightening doors to new opportunities and leaving Mick increasingly paranoid about the newest addition to the neighborhood.
Then there are neighbors . . .
Overnight transplants to the health and outdoor living mecca of Boulder, Colorado, the Renders have taken up residence in the gaudy spec home behind the Nash acreage. Wife Cassandra offers uncanny solutions to Amy’s suburban doldrums, and husband Vince becomes instrumental in rescuing the Last Straw from financial ruin. Teen goddess June entices Kyle into ever more dangerous thrills, while ten-year-old Adolph has a narcotic influence on Briela.
But there’s something abnormal about the Renders, and every favor has its price. The Nash family's new neighbors keep strange hours and intervene at the most inappropriate times. Wounds from common household accidents heal too quickly, and the Renders seem to thrive on the misfortune of others. While the Renders turn dangerously more native with each passing day, Mick’s investigations into their past uncovers a hidden trail of treachery, violence, and a pact with unholy forces.
Eventually there are victims . . .
Struggling to extract his family from the Renders’ influence, unable to keep friends and adversaries of the two families from meeting with untimely fates, Mick becomes convinced that a new breed of evil has settled in his utopian home town. As their summer turns into a crash course in survival, the Nash family must confront the forces that have driven them apart, and uncover the terrifying truth about the people next door. What they find may have the power to change the way we look at our neighbors -- and our own family members -- forever.
July 2010
Cemetery Dance has acquired the US rights to The Haunting of James Hastings and will publish the book in hardcover format. We do not have a set release date yet, but mid to late 2011 looks likely. I am thrilled to be published by Cemetery Dance, who have been amazing supporters of the horror genre and have handled (done a beautiful job packaging and selling) titles by Stephen King, Peter Straub, Jack Ketchum, and so many other stellar authors in the field.
May 31, 2010
Ransomesque.com gets a much needed facelift. Some new content here, with essays, an interview, and Birthing House reading guide that will be included in the forthcoming trade paperback release from St. Martin's Press (August 3, 2010).
Poke around and let me know if you find anything of interest.
Also, I am making good headway on my third novel, which will be set in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado. The title is The People Next Door.
April 24, 2010
A release date has been set. The Haunting of James Hastings will be released in the UK territories on July 8, 2010.
February 14, 2010
My second novel, The Haunting of James Hastings, is finished, in the can, accepted by my publisher, and off to copy editing, hallelujah, Amen.
Is the world ready for a supernatural horror-thriller with shades of Fatal Attraction and Eminem?
We shall see.
September 25, 2009
Christopher Ransom's second novel announced, slated for publication by Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, in the United Kingdom, summer 2010.