A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Getting Published
Okay, it’s not really “funny,” but I do think it is worth talking about.
I began brainstorming about becoming an author in my mother’s womb. ? As a child, I loved to make up and tell fanciful, exciting stories, or act them out. A couple of the kids I grew up with formed a neighborhood drama company and we put on plays. The first one was about kings and queens and dragons and mythical characters, inspired by the ‘60’s Sinbad movies. I wrote the stories. Later, I switched to poetry in high school and the first couple of years of college, hoping to catch the ear of a fair maiden, then tried my hand at short stories.
I soon realized that the stories I wanted to tell wouldn’t fit into either of those molds.
I started thinking about writing novels as a career in my late twenties, but didn’t begin working at the craft regularly until 1984. I spent the next six years researching and writing a novel that was longer than Moby Dick, War and Peace, or Atlas Shrugged. When I finished it, I proudly sent it off to an agent and received an eight page, single-spaced, typed rejection letter. I had to pay this NY Agent a fee to read the darn thing, so the rejection letter cost me a little less than $100/page. Anyway, that attempt at “The Great American Novel” eventually became a trilogy. The first two books were published as paperbacks in the early ‘90’s. Then, my editor left the publishing house, and the new editor wasn’t a fan of trilogies, or my work. So, I got one of those “don’t call us, we’ll call you letters,” and my novel went into the writers “black hole” for twenty years.
I kept writing–and kept getting more rejection letters.
Then, in August 2011 I entered a contest sponsored by Risen Books and submitted a novel I'd written in 1998-1999. Much to my surprise, it won and The Oldest Enemy was published in October 2012! I’d worked hard for a couple of years trying to get agents and publishers interested in the fast-paced supernatural thriller, to no avail. It had been hidden away in a drawer, gathering dust, until the contest. Interestingly, many of the exciting events portrayed in are now unfolding on the world stage, especially in the Middle East.
Suddenly, I’d found a way out of the black hole! I’ve just released Infernal Gates and intend to release a new suspense thriller each year.
I’ve never gave up the dream of seeing the three novels I’d written way back in the 1980’s published in their entirety. I’m very happy to report that I released the complete Giants in the Earth trilogy as E-books on Amazon.com in April of this year.
Just goes to show that timing is everything!
Oh, by the way, I still have the rejection letter, and no, I didn’t frame it.
Too long—just like my first attempt at a novel!
by Michael J. Webb
Ethan Freeman, ex-Special Forces Ranger, wakes up to discover he is the sole survivor of a fiery commercial airline crash that killed his entire family. His nightmare is only beginning when he becomes the FBI’s prime suspect. Only Ethan knows he’s not a cold-hearted murderer, but he has no idea what happened to him–and why he alone survived. He finds an unlikely ally in Sam Weaver, the NTSB Chief Investigator. An ex-military pilot, Sam senses Ethan is innocent. She tries to remain dispassionate in her investigation of the crash even as she finds herself attracted to the man who may be America=s worst homegrown mass-murderer. Neither Ethan nor Sam realize that shadowy spiritual forces are at work which will alter their lives forever. A monstrous evil, imprisoned since the time of the Pharaohs, has been released by The Nine, a sinister group of powerful men and women who believe they are the direct descendants of the Anunnaki, ancient Sumerian gods. The demon they have unleashed intends to free The Destroyer from The Abyss, the angelic prison referred to in the Book of Revelation, and unleash a worldwide reign of terror and annihilation. Facing impossible odds, time is running out for Ethan and all of humanity as he is drawn into an ever-deeper conspiracy–millennia in the making–and learns that he is the key to stopping The Nine. Will he overcome his deepest fears and find reserves of strength he never knew he had as he confronts pure evil in order to save himself and an unsuspecting world?
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About the Author:
Michael J. Webb graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida and obtained his J. D. from the same university. Over the past forty years he has travelled the world in search of adventure. He is a history buff, both ancient and modern, and is fascinated by the intersection of the scientific, supernatural, and Biblical world views, and has studied and taught from the Bible extensively for more than twenty-five years. He is also intrigued by recent discoveries in quantum physics that are now providing extraordinary insights into the reality of the spirit realm, especially as it relates to the study of Light. He incorporates all of the above into his supernatural thrillers. Michael and his wife make their home in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Books by Michael:
The Master’s Quilt, The Nephilim Parchments, The Song of the Seraphim (Giants in the Earth trilogy), The Oldest Enemy, Infernal Gates. He is currently working on Devil’s Cauldron, the sequel to Infernal Gates. He also authored a non-fiction work entitled In the Cleft of the Rock: Insights into the Blood of Jesus, Resurrection Power, and Saving the Soul.
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