March ’23 events, updates on my next novel & odds and ends without the bends

Greetings and Felicitations!

Hello good readers and friends. It’s been a fortnight or five since I posted. As I mentioned at some point last year, I let my writing field grow fallow for most of 2022, devoting my creative energies to painting, producing an album and a short documentary. 

It was great to escape the word world for a bit. I had planned to finish my third Arestus novel until mid-July while on a two-night getaway in LaGrange, Georgia with my wife, I was struck by the idea of a new novel. I banged out 1,000 words late on a humid Friday night. 

In early October, I was hit with an illness that had me running on thin energy in the day time, yet unable to sleep (thanks, but no thanks, prednisone and your weird cousins). As a result, I spent my nights working on this new book.

It just left the hands of a beta reader. I have rewrites and new drafts ahead of me and am beginning to shop to agents and houses. Without showing my hand too much, it is in the action/suspense genre the Alexandria Rising Chronicles are but is a more mature book, grappling with larger issues and more in the spirit of John le Carré and Graham Greene. 

Here are a few updates on where I’ll be and what’s happening the next few months:

March 24, 2023: Carrollton Book Fair, Carrollton, Ga.: This inaugural event promises to be a dynamic day featuring top-notch authors from across the South.    

I will be speaking on a Fantasy Panel from 2 to 2:45 p.m.    

Make sure to drop by. Carrollton is a little over half an hour west of Atlanta and is a charming city.  You get more details via this link.

March 30, 2023: Monarch House, Newnan: Author and Hometown Novel Writer’s Association T.M. Brown – check out his books here – devotes one day a week to read to his friends at Monarch House in Newnan, This month he is reading, “In Pursuit of The Pale Prince.”

After the group is finished reading the book, I will visit on March 30 at 1:30 p.m. to read a few passages, discuss the book and its sequel, “The Last Wizard at The End of The World,” and have a signing. I’ve always admired Brown’s volunteering with the Monarch House and am honored to play a small role.

I have a few other irons in the ye olde fire. If your book club, civic group or small business is seeking an author for an event, you can hit me up at markwallacemaguire@gmail.com.

Recommendations: Speaking of John le Carré, the book-turned-Apple series, “Slow Horses,” is in the le Carré vein and I highly recommend it if slow burn spy books are your cup of tea.

Thanks to the free library app Libby, I’ve been able to read a ton more of new books in the last 13 months.

At the top of my list is, “Deacon King Kong,” one of the funniest and well-crafted stories I’ve read in a long time. I always say it takes true genius to write comedy. Author James McBride nails it with this book.

I do not travel as much as I used to in a former chapter of my life, but recently had the opportunity for a three-day two-night father son trip to Boston. The city is incredible. It is very small, walkable, features a ton of culture and history and is the cleanest city I’ve been to in America. Highly recommended.