The Road to Open Bar (and Beyond)

Plus: Zoom registration now open for first Book Club meeting!

In last week’s Substack I mentioned that I’m currently writing my fourth novel, and I received a couple of responses asking, “Fourth novel? I’ve only seen one - Final Table. And I’ve heard of but not seen Open Bar. What are these other novels?”

Here’s the story: I’ve loved writing fiction since I was a little kid, and long dreamed of being a published author. I was a college English major and really enjoyed writing for fiction classes and in my spare time. In law school and beyond, I continued to write short pieces and tried to learn and grow as a writer. Then, in my early thirties I left my job in the DA’s office to teach law in China for a year, and I found myself with a lot of free time to travel and write. I decided this was the perfect time to finally attempt writing my first full-length novel.

I started writing a novel called Perish from the Earth, which was about a U.S. presidential election during a worldwide pandemic. Yes, really. I didn’t finish it that year, and when I returned home unfortunately I got away from it for a little while, but a few years later I picked it up again and completed it.

Then I worked hard for a long time to get it published - unsuccessfully. One critique I kept receiving was that in the publishing industry it’s (supposedly) important for novels to fit into a specific genre, and PFTE didn’t have a clear genre. It wasn’t really a science fiction book, but I was told that the concept of a presidential election during a future pandemic was too science fiction-ish. Don’t we all wish that was still true?

So I set about trying to write a second novel. I came up with a few ideas, but I kept finding that each concept had elements that were too similar to aspects of PFTE. Not the pandemic or presidential election part, but I felt that certain characters, minor plotlines, and lines of dialogue reminded me of what I had previously written. I didn’t want readers to say that any part of my second novel was a rehash of an idea from PFTE.

Finally, I had an epiphany and accepted that no one is reading the unpublished PFTE so I needed to stop it from preventing me from writing a second novel. I then decided I would start my second book with two rules. First, it would include nothing that could even remotely be considered science fiction. Second, I’d write it as if PFTE didn’t exist. I’d write what I wanted to write, regardless of whether anything might be reminiscent of something in that book.

At the time, I was interested in writing about disturbing fact patterns that I increasingly saw in sexual misconduct investigations I was conducting. I had also read a recent biography of Bobby Fischer and his indictment for participating in a prohibited chess competition in a foreign country. I wondered how that type of situation would play out in today’s media and social media-focused world amidst the exploding popularity of the game of poker. I also had been doing a lot of TV commentary as a legal analyst and found the process both exciting and fun but also at times phony and disingenuous. Those ideas all came together as I wrote Final Table.

Then, at the height of the pandemic (the real one) in 2020, I learned that SparkPress, which is distributed by Simon & Schuster, was going to publish Final Table. It was a lifelong dream come true, just as it felt like the world might be falling apart.

The response to Final Table from people who read or reviewed it was better than I hoped or expected, including being the Indie Excellence Awards winner for literary fiction that year. I loved hearing people’s thoughts on the story and characters in book club meetings and other conversations. I think my favorite review was this one from author Nolan Dalla. However, the number of people who read it was below my hopes and expectations. This is when I first learned, to my dismay, that unfortunately guys don't read novels.

But overall, the writing and publication of Final Table was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life, and I then set about writing my next novel. My non-writing work involves numerous campus sexual misconduct investigations, and I was interested in writing about some of the real-world, problematic situations occurring at colleges and universities around the country.

Just as before, I had two rules for writing this book. First, again it could not be science fictiony in any way. Second, one of the Final Table writing complications was that there was so much math - chip counts, bet sizes, gambling debts, litigation settlements, and more. It took a lot of time and revisions to make sure that all checked out accurately. So my other rule for this new book was that absolutely no math could be involved in the story.

On the wall of my office I have a framed Westchester Magazine article from late 2021 about the release of Final Table. At the end of the Q&A I was asked, “Are you planning to write another book?” I answered, “I am working on a second novel, about sexual misconduct in collegiate athletics and the corporate investigations industry. My goal is to have it published in the fall of 2023.”

That book is Open Bar. Unfortunately it took longer than the fall of 2023, but it’s finally coming this year on August 12 and I can’t wait for people to read it.

So what’s next? I don’t want so much time to go by before the next book is on the shelves. I’m currently writing a new novel with the working title In Happier Times. I continue to greatly enjoy the writing process and I’m excited about this story. It’s different from my previous books in significant ways, including being the first novel I’ve written that is fully from one person’s perspective. I’ll have more details as it develops…

And what about Perish from the Earth? Could it ever be published? I haven’t read it in years, and I’ve since learned so much about writing during the Final Table and Open Bar writing, editing, and publishing processes. If I re-read my first novel, how would I view the writing now? Would I be proud? Horrified? Both? I’m curious, and one day I’ll take another look at it to see.

There’s also the issue that, as I wrote about last week, I really want my writing to be original, and there’s no longer anything original about a presidential election during a pandemic. Plus, I’ve now used many of the ideas from the book in my other novels.

So PFTE will probably never see the light of day. But I’ll always think fondly of my first novel writing attempt and the story I was telling at the time. And one thing I know for sure is that I could never have written Final Table and Open Bar (and now In Happier Times) without all I learned while writing Perish from the Earth.

First Book Club Meeting

The inaugural Guys Don’t Read Novels Book Club (open to everyone, not just guys) Zoom meeting will be on Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30pm ET. Registration is now open here.

The first book club novel will be Counting Backwards by USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Friedland, and she’ll be Zooming in to the meeting to discuss her latest book and answer your questions. I’ll have more information next week when Counting Backwards is released on March 11. In the meantime, you can pre-order it now anywhere books are sold, such as here and here.

Hope you can join us for our first meeting, and feel free to invite others!

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