John Gorman Beats the Odds

Sept. 30, 2009 - PRLog -- "After 46 rejections, I was almost ready to throw in the towel," said John Gorman, author of "Shades of Luz". "I'd had an agent years ago, but my first novel attempt didn't pan out. All the big houses raved about my potential as a gifted writer, but none of them were willing to take a chance on me. I even used to teach Judith Regan's daughter tennis. I even leveraged that to get Harper Collins to look at another book. Their editor liked my stuff, but she didn't think it was marketable."

"I've been hearing this for a while now. I think things would turn around when I won the NY International Independent Film and Video screenwriting competition, back in 2003. No dice. It's one thing to publish a book, but to win a screenplay competion- man that's a dubious honor. Films are meant for the big screen."

"When Debra and Philip Harris were willing to take a chance on my novel, a Copernican revolution whirled in my head. Finally, somebody was willing to take the chance. And I didn't want to let them down."

"Shades of Luz" is a modern day Don Quixote, a picaresque rich in characters searching for love and meaning in an otherwise crazy world.

"Some of the traits Benny has might be close to me, like the wine geekery, philosophizing, even the occasional strip club foray, but more or less, he's the amalgamation of a liftime's worth of strange interludes with people, places, and things I've read."  

Karen Heuler, author of "The Soft Room" says "This is a wonderfully odd story that introduces us to a marvelously inventive universe with tough guys, loony broads, jazz-playing monkeys and surprises that can change our lives."

Weam Namou, author of "The Feminine Art" and "The Mismatched Braid" call it "A coming-of-age story that's refreshing to read because it is empty of dysfunctional characters."

# # #

John Gorman is a novelist, short story writer, blogger, and cultural critic. Creator of Paper Cut blog focusing on the writing world, pop culture and the many cracks in between. http://jgpapercut.blogspot.com. He interviews people from the writing and publishing world and is building a solid fan base.

Shades of Luz is is debut novel http://www.shadesofluz.com