29 Comments
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Mr. Troy Ford's avatar

Got my pre-order! Co-writing: What a fun adventure - and that cover is straight out of 1950s pulp, love it!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thanks Troy! I should post something about writing as a time travel machine. Something you know, I'm sure.

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James L Proctor's avatar

Great cover art and fits the story to a tee. It's a fantastic novella that's hard to put down. Would recommend it to anyone who likes their crime dark and gritty with a side of unusual.

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Jim Cummings's avatar

Congrats Martine. Love the cover.

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thanks, Jim.

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Victor De Anda's avatar

Great post, Martine! Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes of this book. Always fascinating to me to find out how collaborators work together. Can’t wait to read this.

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thank you, Victor!

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Douglas Lumsden's avatar

Great insight into the process. You two are to be commended for your abilities to set aside your egos and give your characters to each other. I don’t think I’d be able to do it, but having read an advance copy I can confirm that you succeeded tremendously! Great cover, too. I’m looking forward to more!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Story before ego! We didn't really swap characters, I didn't write Vivian's scenes and Russ didn't write Tom's, but in the polishing phase we rubbed off some protruding angles to have the style flow better. Russ likes short, snappy sequences, and I ramble at times, so he cut some of mine and I padded some of his to find that middle ground we both felt comfortable with. I believe you have to love the characters more than yourself.

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Ken Luer's avatar

This sounds like a great read!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

I can confirm, and I've read it at least 60 times, lol.

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Rebecca Rhoads's avatar

Fascinating. I always wondered how two writers collaborate on a novel. And what a great way to get immediate feedback!! Great stuff as always, Martine. The cover is great. I will be ordering this asap!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

There must be as many ways as writing together as there are writers. We leaned into the fun of playing with somewhat classic characters and all our movie pleasures!

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Rebecca Rhoads's avatar

How fun!

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Jesse Hilson 🌿🩸's avatar

This looks great. Sign me up.

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Tricia Simpson's avatar

Love this!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thanks Tricia!

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

Absolutely love it. I'll get our library to order it. They're kinda scared of me : )

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

I hope they'll be scared enough to read it, lol! The paperback will only be available on April 22. Thank you, Richard.

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

Let me (us) know what we can do as fellow Substackers. I'll recommend it at some point. Don't be bashful about links, maybe it's just me but I love to see an author's book(s) sort of permanently listed on their posts. That's what we're here for. There might be other reasons. I just can't think of any right now : )

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thank you so much, we rely heavily on word of mouth and reviews and these kinds of things, the good old snowballing technique, ahaha...

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Terry Odell's avatar

Great cover!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thanks, Terry!

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Anne Montgomery's avatar

Congratulations, Martine! ;)

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

Thank you, Anne!

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kenneth M Gray's avatar

Just pre-ordered it. 😁

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

There should be a bonus for the first out of the gate! Thank you, Kenneth!

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Andrew Monge's avatar

That cover is *chef’s kiss*. Frank hit it out of the park with that one. Can’t wait to read the book!

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

I love, love what Frank did with it!

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