Thursday, October 29, 2020

Talking Books with 'The Ancestor' Lee Matthew Goldberg #Interview #PUYB


Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming, along with his Alaskan Gold Rush novel THE ANCESTOR. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press, Monologging and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. 

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LeeMatthewG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leemgol

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53472461-the-ancestor


Before you started writing your book, what kind of research did you do to prepare yourself?

A lot. The book takes place in Alaska and during the Alaskan Gold Rush in the 1890s so there was a ton of research done about that. Mostly books and documentary films.

Did you pursue publishers or did you opt to self-pub?

My agent sent it out and we sold it to All Due Respect, an indie publisher.

 


If published by a publisher, what was your deciding factor in going with them?

They understood the book and didn’t want to cut too much like another publisher wanted to do.

If published by a publisher, are you happy with the price they chose?

Yes.

 


Did you purposefully choose a distinct month to release your book?  Why?

No, it when it fit on their schedule.

How did you choose your cover?

The publisher had a designer who didn’t an amazing job. He asked what I was looking for and brought it to life. It’s my favorite cover.

 


Did you write your book, then revise or revise as you went?

I revise as I went, since it was written off of an outline.

Did you come up with special swag for your book and how are you using it to help get the word out about your book?

Not this time because of Covid, everything is online. It didn’t seem worth it.

Did you consider making or hiring someone to make a book trailer for your book?  If so, what’s the link?

No, I haven’t.


 

What’s your opinion on giving your book away to sell other copies of your book?

I’m doing a Goodreads Giveaway.

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do before their book is released?

Book a lot of virtual tours.

Work with a publicist to get podcasts, interviews and essays.

I wrote the book as a TV pilot as well.

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do after their book is released?

Be active on social media about the book.

In normal times, tour a lot. Rely on online during Covid.

Enjoy it, you wrote a book!

 


What kind of pre-promotion did you do before the book came out? 

All social media, essays for sites, podcasts, working with a publicist for interviews, Netgalley, Booksirens, etc.

Do you have a long term plan with your book?

Adapting it into a TV series, that’s the goal

What would you like to say to your readers and fans about your book?

It’s a mix of thriller, historical fiction, literary, and has a dash of sci-fi so I think most readers will enjoy it!

 

Inside the Book


 

A man wakes up in present-day Alaskan wilderness with no idea who he is, nothing on him save an empty journal with the date 1898 and a mirror. He sees another man hunting nearby, astounded that they look exactly alike. After following this other man home, he witnesses a wife and child that brings forth a rush of memories of his own wife and child, except he’s certain they do not exist in modern times—but from his life in the late 1800s. After recalling his name is Wyatt, he worms his way into his doppelganger Travis Barlow’s life. Memories become unearthed the more time he spends, making him believe that he’d been frozen after coming to Alaska during the Gold Rush and that Travis is his great-great grandson. Wyatt is certain gold still exists in the area and finding it with Travis will ingratiate himself to the family, especially with Travis’s wife Callie, once Wyatt falls in love. This turns into a dangerous obsession affecting the Barlows and everyone in their small town, since Wyatt can’t be tamed until he also discovers the meaning of why he was able to be preserved on ice for over a century.

A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice….

Praise for THE ANCESTOR:

“Lee Matthew Goldberg is an animal—there is no other way to say it. His prose is heavyweight ambitious, as visceral as a sweaty-toothed dog at your throat. He evokes Robert Louis Stevenson as much as he does a modern thriller novelist. And I’ll be honest: I expected a crime novel, but I got a spell-binding epic, an epistolary revelation, a tale as rich as a paying gold mine. The Ancestor is more than a novel. It’s an ode to the rich tradition of adventure storytelling…seasoned with ample spice of love and violence and greed.” —Matt Phillips, author of Countdown and Know Me from Smoke

“In The Ancestor, Lee Matthew Goldberg masterfully weaves together a story involving family and violence set against the backdrop of an unforgiving Alaska of both past and present.” —Andrew Davie, author of Pavement and Ouroboros

“From the icy opening battle of man vs. wolf, you feel yourself in the hands of a master storyteller and that feeling never lets up.” —SJ Rozan, bestselling author of Paper Son

“This thrilling novel is rich in descriptions of the vast, snowy, and deadly wilderness of Alaska; it ably captures the type of person who chases gold.” —Foreword Reviews

“A story that blends the familiar and the supernatural in a manner that calls Stephen King’s work to mind. That said, Goldberg’s book possesses a flavor all its own—a distinctive mélange of the sincere and the strange.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Beautifully written, and capturing the unforgiving grit of Gold Rush Alaska, Lee Matthew Goldberg’s The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner with an ache in its heart. I’m a huge fan.” —Roz Nay, author of Hurry Home and Our Little Secret

“A suspenseful historical thriller.” —Indie Reader

“One of the year’s best thrillers. Blake Crouch fans will love Goldberg’s Alaskan opus.” —BestThrillers

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/31Oays9

Down and Out Bookshttps://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/goldberg-ancestor/

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