Cover art for THE BOULEVARD by Pamela Marie Pierce

 

RIVERBEND

Old houses talk. 

I've begun a new novel and am about 50 pages in. Part haunted house, part dark humour, part I don't know what. All I know is that the story works so far; the characters are alive and I'll let them take me wherever they go. The story takes place in the summer of 1975, in a huge Tudor-style house on Rothesay Road that looks onto the Kennebecasis River. A writer from Toronto, along with his wife and daughter, have rented the house for the year and right away they realize something isn't quite right. It should be a fun novel.

Characters so far include novelist Thomas Cooper, his wife Beth, and their daughter Lily. They have a dog, a black lab named Burt. There is also Hans Mueller, who owns the house. 

 

As with every first draft, I've no plan for a timetable or length of the manuscript, but if I'm guessing, I'm hoping for a completed first draft sometime either late 2022 or early 2023, at roughly 300-350 pages.

WORKS IN PROGRESS...

 Current status of all works-in-progress:

THE BOULEVARD (Novel): Speculative fiction. To be published by Galleon Books, summer 2022

ANIMALS (Novella): Speculative fiction. Ready for submissions. A bit of tweaking here and there.

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER (Novel): My Streetsville novel. Literary fiction. Third draft complete. 

UNCLE ANDY (Novel): Literary fiction. Just begun. 30 pages in. Minimum a year away from first draft.

SKELETONS (Poetry): Ongoing. 35 poems. A few years out.

THE BOULEVARD coming this summer

THE BOULEVARD, my sixth novel, will be published this summer by Galleon Books out of Moncton, NB. What's more, Saint John Artist Pamela Marie Pierce is doing the cover art. I've seen the sketch already and it's fantastic. I can't wait for the cover reveal when it happens.

Ernest Hemingway, Vincent van Gogh, Satan, and a train. 

 

Paintings mentioned in The Boulevard, in order...

 

1 Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-06

2 The Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, 1508-12

3 The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, 1657-58

4 The Magpie, Claude Monet, 1868-69

5 Impression, Sunrise, Claude Monet, 1872

6 A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, Edouard Manet, 1882

7 Portrait of Julien Tanguy, Vincent van Gogh, 1886-87

8 Portrait of a Woman, Andrea del Sarto, 1514

9 Sunflowers, Van Gogh, 1887 (studies)

10 Portrait of Joseph Roulin, Van Gogh, 1888 (sketch)

11 Orchard in Blossom, Van Gogh, 1888

12 Sunflowers, Van Gogh, 1888

13 The Night Café, Van Gogh, 1888

14 Les Alycamps, Van Gogh, 1888

15 Les Alycamps, Paul Gauguin, 1888

16 Portrait of Madame Roulin, Paul Gauguin, 1888

17 Portrait of Madame Augustine Roulin, Van Gogh, 1888

18 Night Café at Arles, Paul Gauguin, 1888

19 The Red Vineyard, Van Gogh, 1888

20 Les Arènes, Van Gogh, 1888

21 The Bullfight, Joan Miro, 1945

22 Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Van Gogh, 1889

23 Irises, Van Gogh, 1889

24 Landscape from Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh, 1889

25 Starry Night, Van Gogh, 1889

26 Starry Night Over the Rhône, Van Gogh, 1889

27 Wheat Field with Reaper and Sun, Van Gogh, 1889

28 View of Auvers-sur-Oise, Paul Cézanne, 1879-80

29 The Church at Auvers, Van Gogh, 1890

30 Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Van Gogh, 1890

31 Marguerite Gachet at the Piano, Van Gogh, 1890

32 Marguerite Gachet in the Garden, Van Gogh, 1890

33 The Bedroom, Van Gogh, 1888

34 Portrait of Adeline Ravoux, Van Gogh, 1890

35 Wheat Field with Crows, Van Gogh, 1890

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOULEVARD

I'll be announcing some exciting news in the near future about my new novel, THE BOULEVARD (formerly known on this site as Dogs in Heat). This has been a project of more than twenty years and I am pleased to say that it has found a home. 

This has been a long journey filled with ups and downs but that's what the writing life is all about. I've worked longer and harder on this novel than any other and am very pleased with its evolution over the years.

Stay tuned! 

New title! THE BOULEVARD

The work-in-progress I've known for twenty years as "Dogs in Heat" will now be called "The Boulevard". News of this new novel will be forthcoming, and it's exciting.

This title was suggested to me just yesterday, and funny enough, an early draft of this story was called "The Boulevard". I needed an outside set of eyes, and now I'm sitting back and letting it be what it becomes. I'm ready.