The countdown begins...
The Bullet Swallower drops in 3 weeks
Greetings beloved friends,
I write to you from my bed where I am doing my annual convalescence after picking up another terrible New Years cold. Hopefully you’re all out in the world grabbing 2024 by its dragon horns, and not limping in stuffy-headed and overdosed on cough drops like I am. But I am grateful to be back home in my warm bed. I am thankful for Steely Dan, which has been on repeat at my bedside, and I am most thankful for the very warm response The Bullet Swallower is getting, even three weeks before it comes out. Here are some of the beautiful things people are saying:
“A vivid epic” — Publishers Weekly
“Mesmerizing and important” — Kirkus Reviews
“A rich, sparkling novel” — Kelli Jo Ford, author of Crooked Hallelujah
“An inventive tour-de-force” — Katie Gutierrez, author of More Than You'll Ever Know
“Brutal in all the best ways” — Ariel Delgado Dixon, author of Don't Say We Didn't Warn You
“A phantasmagoric guisado of a novel” — Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo
“One Hundred Years of Solitude meets Lonesome Dove” — Mary Pauline Lowry, author of The Roxy Letters
Garden & Gun called it a “can’t miss Mexican thriller” and it’s been added to Most Anticipated lists from Washington Post, Goodreads, StyleCaster, Sunset, The Nerd Daily, The Mary Sue, Kirkus, Read Between the Spines, and The Everygirl!
If you prefer to listen to your books, Audio Editions has a preview of the audiobook read by the amazing, Lee Osorio.
Poets & Writers was kind enough to feature the book in their Page One section - Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin. There’s even a clip of me reading the first page.
And yesterday Book of the Month revealed that The Bullet Swallower is one of their picks for January! Many, many thanks to BOTM.
Whew! I am so glad my weird book about heaven and hell and gold and gunfights is resonating with so many people. It’s been a long journey. How long, you ask?
No it hasn’t literally been 84 years, but it feels like it. Here’s a little timeline:
2013 - I have the idea for the book but can’t work on it because I’m working on Mona at Sea
2015 - I finish Mona at Sea and start researching The Bullet Swallower
2016, August - I start writing the rough draft
2019, March - After several attempts at a rough draft, and hundreds of pages of discarded material, I re-outline the entire book and try once again. (The outline is 22 pages single spaced)
2019, December - After 3 years I finally have a rough draft
2021, March - The Bullet Swallower is revised and ready to send to agents
2021, May - I sign with my amazing agent, Peter Steinberg
2021, December - After 6 months of rewrites and major revisions Peter says he wants me to scrap 50% of the book. I grudgingly agree (it was the right call)
2022, January - Peter sends the book to editors, and it’s acquired in 4 days by Tim O’Connell of Simon & Schuster
2022, March - We sell the film rights with me attached as screenwriter
2022, October - Tim and I finish edits on the book and it’s moved into the publication pipeline
2023, February - I get the go-ahead from the producers to start the screenplay
2023, May - The screenwriters guild (of which I am now a member) goes on strike
2023, October - Once the strike is over I finish the first draft of the screenplay and turn it in
2024, January - The book is launched
2024, 2025, 2026….? Hopefully the movie goes forward
So you can see that even answering the question of how long it took me to write this book is complicated. It depends on which metric I use. And as I’m still mired in screenplay revisions, I’m not done with it yet. Not the story, anyway. It’s hard for me to remember a time when this book wasn’t consuming all of my creative energy. And that’s a blessing. But it’s also a long time to devote to one story. So it feels like I’ve been telling this story for 84 years. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I actually will get to talk about this book for 84 years, “when men are fairy tales, and books are written by rabbits.”
Which brings me to….book tour time! I am so, so excited to finally get out from behind my desk, comb my hair, put on real clothes (assuming they still fit) and hit the road. I’m coming to Cambridge, Brooklyn, Waco, Dallas, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Corte Madera, Kansas City, Rhode Island, and The Berkshires.
Other events will likely be added, but this is what’s scheduled for now. If you live in or near any of these cities please come out and say hi. And if seeing my beautiful face isn’t enough of an enticement, I will make sure there is champagne and/or cookies at each event. You know I’m not gonna let y’all go hungry/sober.
It’s time for my next dose of Mucinex so that’s it for now. I will conclude with a few books I’ve read/am reading, and which I think are fantastic.
I have a review of this book forthcoming in LA Review of Books. It’s delightfully weird and takes place on the day Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes meets Emperor Moctezuma, setting the stage for centuries of colonialism and mess. Preorder here.
Currently halfway through this absolute blockbuster and loving it. Cecily is a Malaysian housewife who becomes a spy for the Japanese during their occupation of Malaysia in the 1930s-40s. You’re going to be hearing about this one a lot. Order here.
And yeah, you know I’m over here in my sickbed reading the Confessions of Saint Augustine. I think it’s the world’s first memoir? (Don’t quote me on that). It follows Saint Augustine from boyhood to sainthood in the 4th century and asks a lot of big questions like, Is there anything God can’t do? And, Why do they spank children so much in school? Order here or read it for free.
xoxo,
Elizabeth
What a beautifully written update, especially encouraging this time! It's nice to see your baby be born and sent into the world, especially since you've been laboring so long! Welldone you! See you in KC!!
Just preordered!