This week, we're pleased to welcome author Larry Brill, whose novel, THE PATTERER, is set in 18th century London. The author will offer a free copy of The Patterer to a lucky blog visitor; please leave your email address in the comments to be contacted. Here's the blurb:
In 1765 London, Leeds Merriweather is scratching out a living as a common street performer, a patterer, using his wit and storytelling skills to draw crowds and sell newspapers. Although he aspires to be a respected journalist and start his own publishing house, Leeds is relegated to pattering by his handsome face, strong voice and straight teeth.
Inspired by a drunken chance encounter with Benjamin Franklin, Leeds assembles a zany cast of characters to become history’s first celebrity newscaster. But at the peak of his meteoric rise to fame and fortune, Leeds risks it all for the love of a conniving wench in this Dickensian comedy.
The Patterer is the first release in a trilogy.
**Q&A with Larry Brill**
When did you begin writing?
There isn’t
a time I can think of when I wasn’t storytelling or writing in one form or
another. Beginning with a Big Chief
tablet, I proceeded to my high school’s newspaper, then college, and then many
years as a journalist.
What was your
inspiration for writing The Patterer?
One day
I was reading Eric Burns’ Infamous Scribblers:
The Founding Fathers and Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism, where he traces
journalism back to Europe. In his book, Eric has one short paragraph that
mentions the existence of these fellows called “patterers” who would stand on
the street corner and deliver bits of news.
With my
25 years experience as a TV news anchor it was a simple leap for me to imagine
a character and a storyline that took the concept to absurd extremes. Once I
created Leeds Merriweather, the hero emerged and told the story himself. I just
took dictation and published it.
What do you
think readers will take away with them after reading The Patterer?
I think
readers may decide that the news exists to entertain them, and that
the stuff that we call news now has not changed much
over time. Only the technology that delivers the news has changed.
What’s next
for you?
Writing book II of The Patterer trilogy.
Have you won
any awards for your writing?
I would
reveal that I was once the official “Worst” writer in America. Every year the
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest holds a tongue-in-cheek competition to intentionally
write the worst opening sentence to an imaginary novel. It’s based on the
opening line that Snoopy made famous “It
was a dark and stormy night…” Bulwer-Lytton gets upwards of ten thousand
entries each year and I won the contest more than a decade ago. So my goal as a
writer now, with two novels out, is to reach the bestseller list and stake the
claim that I went from worst to first.
