Publisher: WE LOVE YOUR BOOK!

Dear Nick

It is exceedingly rare that we write the letter you are holding in your hands. In fact it is fair to say this happens around once or twice a year. We were at first pleased and interested in your mansucript, and then absolutely rivetted. Excellent prose, awesome plot, and such a relevant topic too. Being a fairly short story, I handed it to the Editor and other colleagues, all of whom stayed up the whole night reading HOLIDAY.

At this point we would like to offer you a contract, and request your permission to submit a copy for re-scripting to the Writer's Guild of America. In this way we can get it submitted to a Hollywood Studio. We would really blah blah blah, ya da ya da ya da...

The actual Email goes like this:

Dear Nick

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to J Media.

Although your manuscript is intelligent and well-written, it does not fit in with our publishing strategy at present. We recommend that you consult the Publishers' Association of South Africa (PASA) at www.publishsa.co.za, if you have not already done so.

Best of luck with your endeavours!

Yours sincerely
CL

I almost got suckered by 'intelligent and well'written'. They [publishers] say that to everyone, don't they.

Meanwhile the above image reminds me of the novel I wrote while in South Korea (yearning for South Africa): HALF FULL MOON. It's the adventure of a helicopter pilot who starts off fighting these urban threatening infernos; and accidently scoops up a shallow diver in the orange bambi dangling under the helicopter, and tosses him into hellfire. And so ends that chapter of his life.

He - Andy Snook - finds it hard to live with himself after that, and soon after gets helicopter-wrecked in the Kalahari, where a Bushman finds him, and guides him back to the 'Desert of the real', the now. He also meets the desert dragon; a spiritual entity called Alcala who reminds him that there is not one world, but two. In this existentialist realm he find himself, and through his journey - his redemption - we sees ourselves, mankind, redeemed.

HOLIDAY rejected Yet Again

NVDL: BTW I am not considering the self publishing route for HOLIDAY. I’ve provided at least 6 individuals with copies of this manuscript. All feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. An avid reader in her late 70’s said she read it twice. An acquaintance who works at SABC has recommended I send it to Hollywood as a script. It’s an important, compelling story, and – I feel – way overdue.

‘Holiday’ is a topical account of the human condition. It presents two characters, a middle-aged man and a young teenager – a girl – who find themselves propelled into an austere, warming world that has gone rapidly beyond the ‘tipping point’.

The story challenges the reader to establish what is real and urgent, and what must be done when the world and all information becomes essentially an ill-defined ‘gray area’. Without rules and regulations, without obvious patterns (in the weather and other areas), Hugh and Stella must decide what to make of themselves and the world.

In the end, everything is stripped away, the world is burnt black, and the only color, the only life that remains, is in these two surviving characters. ‘Holiday’ is a story filled with metaphor, and the metaphor is ironic: for we are not on holiday, there is plenty to do in a world that is increasingly hostile towards its human inhabitants.

Comment on 'HOLIDAY'

Read your book through the night recently but left the last couple of chapters for later as was subjected to symptoms of looming panic attack! Dreamt of doom & gloom & all sorts of associated nasties, so I guess the positive spin is that it's not lacking in impact! The Amazing Race without the glitz...

Dear Nick

Thanks for sending us the sample chapters of your novel. I can see why your readers react as they do – this is, indeed, the stuff of a drama, i.e an exploration of a situation (rather than a novel?) and of Hollywood.

We feel that it would be better promoted in the international market than in our relatively small local market, despite the South African component. This will, probably, require the services of an agent – there is a list in the Writers and Artists Handbook, available at bookshops.

Regretfully, I must decline HOLIDAY for publication by Umuzi. Another South African publisher may feel quite differently, however. So, don’t give up.

Best wishes
X

Tel.+27 (0)21 425 4071 Fax +27 (0)21 425 9470
http://www.umuzi-randomhouse.co.za/
Street address: 14th floor, 22 Riebeek Street, Cape Town 2001
Postal address: P O Box 6810, Roggebaai 8012
(Umuzi is the South African imprint of Random House (Pty) Ltd)

"Turid Weingartz"

Dear Nick,

Thank you for the material on your book. I’m sorry though, that I won’t be offering to represent you. There is lots to like here, but I'm afraid that I have to be absolutely passionate before I offer to take an author on. We do have to be very clear about our commitment to an author's writing, and certain of the commercial prospects, before adding to our list and I find I'm turning more and more promising material away these days. The marketplace is relentless, and my workload is already very pressing - but I do hope you find another agent who will feel differently and have more breathing space to fit a new client in.

Here's wishing you happy writing, and success.

Warm wishes,
Isobel Dixon