I’m also starting a blog on Live Journal and I’m planning to link it with this one. Meanwhile, maybe you can help me with a little market research!
If you’ve been reading this blog, some of this background will be familiar–I just finished a draft of a paranormal romantic suspense novel, ONE BLOOD. It is a prequel to my first published book, DANCE WITH THE DRAGON, so the events in this book have to sync up with the start of that one. Unfortunately, that book was written around 2000, and certain details about current events and popular technology may seem out of date now. My publisher says re-issuing the book would be a problem, which I understand, so I’m thinking of setting the prequel a couple of years earlier, in the late 1990s.
My question to prospective readers: If you picked up a “thriller” novel and read on the flyleaf that it was deliberately set in the late 1990s–with a suggestion that the story arc would eventually take the characters into the post-9/11 era–would that intrigue you or turn you off? Would you think, “Why would I want to read a book set in the near-past that isn’t ‘historical’?” Or would you judge it strictly on the basis of the story, the writing, etc.?
I’d appreciate honest feedback! Thanks.
About Eileen Watkins
Eileen F. Watkins specializes in mystery and suspense fiction. In 2017 she launched the Cat Groomer Mysteries, from Kensington Publishing, with THE PERSIAN ALWAYS MEOWS TWICE. This was followed by THE BENGAL IDENTITY and FERAL ATTRACTION in 2018, and GONE, KITTY, GONE in 2019; CLAW & DISORDER comes out in early 2021. Eileen previously published eight novels with Amber Quill Press, chiefly paranormal suspense (as E. F. Watkins), including the Quinn Matthews Haunting Mysteries. The first of those, DARK MUSIC, received the David G. Sasher Award at the 2014 Deadly Ink Mystery Conference. The second, HEX, DEATH & ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, was a Mystery finalist for the 2014 Next Generation EBook Awards.Eileen is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Cat Writers Association. She serves as publicist for Sisters in Crime Central Jersey and also for New Jersey’s annual Deadly Ink Mystery Conference. Eileen comes from a journalistic background, having written on art, architecture, interior design and home improvement for daily newspapers and major magazines. Besides these topics, her interests include the paranormal and spirituality, as well as animal training and rescue. She is seldom without at least one cat in the house and regularly frequents the nearest riding stable. Visit her web site at www.efwatkins.com.
It wouldn’t matter to me, but I might not be representative of the reading public. I read stuff from all eras, with no prejudice, except that I like, actually, older stuff (1880s-1930s in fantasy and 1950s in sf).
Bill
That’s encouraging. Thanks, Bill!