The Wives of Marty Winters

The Wives of Marty Winters is my latest novel. I'm in the midst of my second complete rewrite -- up to page 147 of 212 right now, after having two trusted friends who are good writers read it and make editorial comments. One of those friends' first comment was, "My God, you've killed off Gabi."

She was right that I began the novel with the death of a character, Selena, and that that character bears some resemblence of my wife, Gabi. But upon rewriting it I decided not to kill her off after all.

... Or did I? Ah ha! A novel has to have a little suspense -- even a character-driven novel such as this one that doesn't rely very heavily on plot. So I'll give this much away: a major character is shot in the opening chapter. But you'll have to read the whole damn book to find out if she lives or dies. And beyond some very obvious similarities -- she's a PFLAG mom and an outspoken GLBTQ activist -- Selena is not at all like Gabi. Truth be told, she is based more on my second wife, a woman I can't believe I ever even liked.

Read from the work in progress

As a teaser, I'm posting parts of The Wives of Marty Winters where it can be accessed only via links from this blog (pdf format - opens in new window). I'll post them little by little, and invite readers to send me editorial comments. If I make any changes in the manuscript based on your critiques, I'll ackowledge your contribution in the book when it's published.

Go here to read the first installment of The Wives of Marty Winters.

The section posted here is the prologue, although it's not labeled as such. It is set in the recent past. After this prologue, the story flashes back to 1960 and follows the lives of Marty Winters and his friends and family members until we come full circle to the present moment.

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