New Alexander novel

[derek]

All,

Just wanted to say that I've written a novel about Alexander. It's called "Lord of the World" and covers the Persian campaign through to Sogdiana. It's my second book. The first is called "The Lion of Macedonia" and deals with his childhood. There'll be a third starting with the Indian campaign, and which will finish the story off.

When I started, I had visions of being a rich and famous author, but a year of being ignored by agents knocked that out of me. So it's become a sort of hobby and I've self-published both books. They're listed on Amazon but are unknown otherwise. Still, the first has been available for about 18 months and has sold a few copies in that time, and what feedback I've had has been positive. People who've read it have enjoyed it.

If anyone's interested, you can read excerpts by looking up my author page (John McLeod) at the publisher's website. It's:

https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/auth ... orid=16619

They're also available from Amazon and you'll find them by typing the ISBN numbers in the search box, 1413485499 for The Lion of Macedonia, and 1425730620 for Lord of the World.

Thanks,

Derek Holmes

[jan]

Now, let me ask you a question or two to consider. If you had killed your first man at age 14 or 15, and you had taken over in a major battle and successfully killed all the men of the Sacred Band, all 300 of them, and had then commanded an army and saved your own father's life, are you going to sound like some gleeful kid years later when you have just assumed the throne? I hardly think so. By that time, you are so set and so confident that you more than know that you will arrive at your destination point when you do. SO I find your golly gee whiz attitude a bit too ridiculous to take this book very seriously.

THINK ABOUT IT Alexander is not a child when he sets foot on soil at Granicus! Why do you make him out to be?

You can have your fun, but you are not reading history very well to my way of thinking.

And I would not be a credit to my profession if I did not correct you! In the subjunctive case, one uses were, not was!

[marcus]

Now, let me ask you a question or two to consider. If you had killed your first man at age 14 or 15, and you had taken over in a major battle and successfully killed all the men of the Sacred Band, all 300 of them, and had then commanded an army and saved your own father's life, are you going to sound like some gleeful kid years later when you have just assumed the throne? I hardly think so. By that time, you are so set and so confident that you more than know that you will arrive at your destination point when you do. SO I find your golly gee whiz attitude a bit too ridiculous to take this book very seriously.

THINK ABOUT IT Alexander is not a child when he sets foot on soil at Granicus! Why do you make him out to be?

You can have your fun, but you are not reading history very well to my way of thinking.

And I would not be a credit to my profession if I did not correct you! In the subjunctive case, one uses were, not was!

Well, let me never accuse you of making snap judgements on the basis of reading about 5 pages, Jan. Perhaps, having achieved all those things, Alexander is so supremely confident when he crosses the Hellespont that the "gee whiz" attitude is entirely appropriate?

"... not reading history very well to my way of thinking." Hmm, have another read of what you wrote there and figure out what my objection to that is ...

Looking forward to reading your novel ...

ATB

[athenas owl]

I din't see the emotion as "gee whiz", but more of "Yes! I'm here..at last". The exuberence of being there, of finally going on towards his destiny (though perhaps undefined). Yes, he was a King and a general already, but still a young man.


Anyway, the books look interesting..I'll be buying them.. Thanks.

[karen]

Mean, Jan.

You have yet to prove you could do better.

Karen

[sikander]

Greetings Derek,

One of the most difficult things to do is open yourself to a critique by anyone who has an avid interest in whatever subject you have chosen to write about.

Thank you for letting us know about your books. I hope you will allow us to post some reviews on the Pothos site once members have had an opportunity to read the full work.

Regards,
Sikander

[derek]

All,

Thanks for the interest in my books, and I hope those who read them enjoy them. Yes, the people on this website are experts and will spot every historical inaccuracy, so announcing I'd written an Alexander novel isn't something I did lightly.

Got to take up the point of Alexander's attitude when landing at the Hellespont. Regaining the colonies was something the Greeks regarded as a holy crusade. His father had planned it for years, and it had been Alexander's dream just as much as his father's. Then he took the throne and had to spend the next two years bogged down in securing his kingdom. Then he had no money to pay his army, and all through the crossing he had the worry of whether the Persian fleet would intercept him. It must have been touch and go whether it would actually happen, so I think he'd be quite euphoric to finally land on Persian soil. And don't forget Troy was close by, and everything associated with Achilles. If anything, I'd say I've underplayed his exuberance.

As for the grammatical error, Jan. Try writing a 120,000 word novel, then read and re-write it a dozen times, sometimes spending an hour or more tinkering with the words of a single paragraph to make it more readable, trying to be historically accurate while remembering it's a novel that needs to flow, and all the time looking out for typo's and grammatical errors. Sometimes it gets so you can't see the wood for the trees and you can read a sentence time and again without spotting the glaring error in the middle of it. If saying was instead of were is the worst error in the book, then I'm very pleased.

Derek Holmes

[jan]

I appreciated your response as you know then that I truly read your efforts. You know that there are many books that have been written using Alexander as a focal point in time, and that many criticisms of them have popped up on this website.

I often deliberately check to see if anyone is really paying attention or reading well, and as I said, I would not be a credit to my profession were I not to be just as honest with you as I am with myself.

I don't intend to answer every comment here, but I do not believe that Alexander would ever use the phrase " I can't beieve we did that." That is what I consider a bit too golly gee whiz to suit my impression of Alexander at a time like that. His role is to instill confidence into everyone around him, and not act surprised when he does achieve success.

I thought it sounded more like Spiderman.

And as I enjoy comic books that use Alexander as a topic, and even allusions to him in movies, I will enjoy reading your book in full. Both of them, in fact.

Whenever I can obtain a copy. So far, I have not used Amazon as a source for finding reading material. I still walk in and pick it up off the selves of local commerical sellers and the library.

Likewise, in turn, when my own edition is released, I hope that you and others will read it and enjoy it. Whether you will be able to determine that I am the author is a matter of time as I will probably use a pseudonym. Doesn't everyone? As I know that you are using John McLeod.

I congratulate you upon your publication, but proofreading is something that I know well and it surprised me to see a slip in your finished product. If I were you, "not if I was you", I would celebrate my success! Cheers! Here's to you!

[jan]

Marcus, Karen, et al,

Well, you have had your say now, and Derek has made an appropriate response also.

If being correct is mean, then I am guilty! So what?

I believe now that you are all on an attack, and that makes me laugh. I am wondering why.

About my own novel...when the time comes, it will appear.

Jan

[Paralus]

and you had taken over in a major battle and successfully killed all the men of the Sacred Band, all 300 of them, and had then commanded an army and saved your own father's life...

I see you have quite a fine hand when it comes to fiction Jan.

Is that from a plot sketch for a novel you are writing per chance??

[marcus]

I see you have quite a fine hand when it comes to fiction Jan.

Is that from a plot sketch for a novel you are writing per chance??

Ouch!

[jan]

I write and rewrite my movie version all the time, knowing that I will have to write a novel first to get a screenwriter to use for my kind of movie. I love to write too, but am always paranoid about plagiarists and thus try to disguise and hide any writing talents I have just to stave off the copiers. Years ago, I wrote a novel to learn if my thoughts were as private as I wanted them, and find that the new ghostwriters for the CAT series, by Lillian Jackson Brown are stealing my style...and so I guess it is flattery to be so imitated but I liked the original Lillian Jackson Brown the best. So now I read very few of her books any longer despite the fact that I love those Siamese cats of hers.

So with Alexander I am like General Motors and Ford, I keep my writing skills and ideas as secretive as possible. But I am forever thinking about it, and toying with it. The computer world has put me a bit on edge too. I do think large though as I believe to understand Alexander, one must understand the Persian empire. Without King Darius, there is no way that Alexander can become the legend that he has become, so I fully appreciate all of Persia since Cyrus the Great. I love Cyrus a lot too!

I really enjoy reading all books on Alexander but I am sure that what appeals to one person will not appeal to another. I tend to like the men's cruelty better than the women's comforting. I can understand well why Alexander loves the crunch and noise of splintering bones, something most women won't care to read, but I like Pressfield for his visceral skills. There is a real love of war within me and it often is tapped upon whenever I read of Alexander's battles. I do have to admit that, as I will be probably so involved when I write Alexander's stories as to make people wonder....

[marcus]

If being correct is mean, then I am guilty! So what?

Hi Jan,

I didn't originally intend to start on this again, but I'm afraid I couldn't stop myself in the end. I certainly did not intend this to end up as an attack on you (and I'm sure that you had your tongue in your cheek when you wrote it), but as you did direct the post at me (as well as others) I decided I had to respond.

Leaving aside your grammatical comment (about which we could easily have a protracted discussion, but I really don't care to), it is rather specious to refer to as "correct" an attack on an interpretation of Alexander simply because it doesn't accord with your own. If you had been criticising a glaring factual error, then I wouldn't run the risk of offending you by renewing this; but you did not criticise a factual error, merely an interpretation of Alexander that wasn't the same as yours, and a style of writing that you wouldn't have followed yourself (which, by extension, would allow me to state that I am more "correct" than James Joyce?).

Now, I didn't actually say you were being mean, but you were. By all means criticise, but do so fairly.

ATB

[pankration]

Very, very few writers make money writing. They do it to share a passion they have for a subject. Alexander is a great topic and even though I have a dozen books (mostly history texts and accounts) I never tire of reading someone else's interpretation of the subject. I let my wallet do the talking; if I don't like a book I don't buy it. I congratulate Derek and I also acknowledge Jan for at least taking the time to read the excerpt. Writers have to have thick skins and I believe Derek will hold no grudge toward Jan.

As you see from my signature, my book PATRIDA takes place during Philip and Alexander's reign although the latter is an incidental character. Readers from pothos have gone to my blog and critiqued some of my postings. At first it hurts to be criticized. But this forum has many very well educated historians and they have pointed out errors that I've made. I've responded by making corrections in the sequel that I'm writing and even though a fictional work has license to stray from fact, for any historical novel worth a thing, the facts and the plot must work hand in hand.

So pothos critics, keep it up. Derek, I appreciate what you did and will be looking at purchasing your book. After all, there can never be too much Alexander, and anyone brave and creative enough to write a book deserves support. And don't worry Jan, we won't dump all over your book when it comes out...maybe just critique it a bit.

[karen]

Very, very few writers make money writing.

I do. Freelance journalism is most of how I'm keeping a roof over my son's head right now. I have also published three mass-market novels.

They do it to share a passion they have for a subject.

That'd be the other reason I write.

And I agree, fact-checking is absolutely necessary, which is why for my Alexander novel I found an expert willing to do that for me. Said person was very clear right from the outset that she would respect my interpretation of Alexander and spot factual errors only.

That is how people behave who are professional rather than egotistical in their approach to helping writers (whether they're actually earning money or not). They don't go outside the bounds of their expertise. Not coincidentally, they are the people who writers listen to.

Literary critique, as opposed to fact-checking, is an imposition if not requested, and doubly inappropriate if the critic isn't qualified. I was for ten years a member of a writer's group that produced eight professionals, I was tacitly acknowledged the best at critiquing, and I can tell a typical newbie multiple ways to make their writing more publishable just from reading a few paragraphs. But I never critique anyone's work unless they request it, and pay me if they want my full effort. Writing professionally is a business, good critique has actual monetary value, and anyone who has put in the time and energy necessary to complete a novel, or three, deserves respect, and their work careful attention and thought.

Sincerely,
Karen