In Sight of the Line

Very astute short pitch!

I like your opening, my initial thought was wouldn’t a little more detail be a wonderful metaphor to describe and pre-build the character of the man (unknown at the time) who had died.
The fractionation between humour and sadness is very well balanced, as should be – Great book.

A terrific and yet simple idea executed with craft and compelling intelligence.

Sometimes, a book is good because of the story it tells. Sometimes, because of HOW that story is told. But always, a book is a good book if the author can summon up a theme so simple, and yet so unique, it is a story that MUST be told. This is such a book. Backed.

I laughed and I cried, your book just drew me in. Another brilliantly written book. Why are your books not in print? Definitely backed.

Read it all and loved it all. It starts, as you say, slowly but despite lack of high-voltage action the development of Alan's character and background is hypnotic and very readable. It made me cry at the end so proof of a strong emotional engagement. You do emotional engagement very well. The twist in the tale at the end is fantastic and totally unexpected. This book deserves many more readers.
Shubie

Thank you

Read it all and loved it all. It starts, as you say, slowly but despite lack of high-voltage action the development of Alan's character and background is hypnotic and very readable. It made me cry at the end so proof of a strong emotional engagement. You do emotional engagement very well. The twist in the tale at the end is fantastic and totally unexpected. This book deserves many more readers.
Shubie

This is a good story. The way it's written as if it were a journal is clever. Alan's thoughts are sometimes heart wrenching and sometimes sad but always seem authentic (I can remember not being able to remember how to drive the same as him on a day I learned a good friend had died). Makes this a good read. I'm adding it to my shelf. Burgio (Grain of Salt).

A terrific and yet simple idea executed with craft and compelling intelligence.

Thank you so much. Of the books I have written this one means so very much to me. Gabe.

A terrific and yet simple idea executed with craft and compelling intelligence.

Very astute short pitch!

I like your opening, my initial thought was wouldn’t a little more detail be a wonderful metaphor to describe and pre-build the character of the man (unknown at the time) who had died.
The fractionation between humour and sadness is very well balanced, as should be – Great book.

Thanks for your story, Gabriel. Hope you'll read mine, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not & my unedited version, Tell Me True Love Stories of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. Please back my books.Thanks, Susie :)

After reading two chapters, I'm feeling very touched by the story. Wondering how someone who writes with such honesty and simplicity could have lived such an un-memorable life. And I feel sad for James, who won't get the chance to re-connect, to experience a relationship with his father.
This sort of story could venture into maudlin territory so easily, and some might even like that who don't mind their emotions being squeezed. But this is very well done, not at all heavy handed, but graceful.
Wishing you much, much success. Very glad I took a read.

Vickie (Barely a Trace)

Gotta agree: sometimes the way a story is told is better then the writing itself. Those pitches drew me in. SHELVED!

I can use your comments on my book when you get a chance. Cheers!

JC
The Obergemau Key
Authonomy's #1 rated commentator

This is a sad, funny and gripping tale all at once, gripping, meaning you have to read on and on. How do you do it Gabriel? Great stuff. Backed yeasterday, very late with my comment,again!
Norman.

Unless I am a grammarian, there are so many words to say something so simple: would I read it?

Yes. I love this. This I would read. No. This I will read.

Mark R. Trost
"Post Marked."

Backed with pleasure! Joss Morris (A Bore No More)

lay > lie in soft grass

set up in place > set in place

Those are a couple of niggles I found but otherwise this is truly affecting writing. I also find it difficult to communicate with others and keep a lot bottled up inside that only comes out when I write. Most of the time I have no idea what I want to say until I sit down and just react to things and that's when I find out what I really think and feel. So I relate to this guy. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more of this.

I've read two chapters. This is so sad yet so funny - bittersweet is perhaps the only way I could aptly describe it. This feels blisteringly honest, almost painfully real; the prologue helps with this latter impression. Your language is ever so polished - there wasn't a single word I stumbled over or a single sentence that seemed out of place. The juxtaposition between the enormity of what Alan has just been told contrasts in a really horrible yet irrevocably amusing way with his fixation on absurd, tiny details. This is masterful and I love it. Already backed.
Alexandra

Thank you so much. This book is never going to do anything on Authonomy (as you can see) but it means a lot to me (and the five other people who have read it). It gets funnier and sadder as it goes on and has a surprise in the tail . A bit like life really. Anyway, merci et adieu.

This is so good - I need to give it the time and attention it deserves. Your writing is sumptuous. The premise, the backdrop and your spiel are all delicious.

You deserve success with this. Shelved.

Cheers

Chris

I think this is a wonderful story with a touching ending. Good writing and an interesting narrator. The way he tells his story makes it worth the read.

Backed.

El
Reckless Scarlett

I read this book after having read his earlier work "The Time Glimpser", and was amazed to find it so different.
I still don't quite understand how this story of an ordinary man in his tiny universe, going on about his mundane daily business could grip me as it did, and I found myself chuckling throughout much of it. Quite a feat.
Gabriel, we want more...

Sometimes, a book is good because of the story it tells. Sometimes, because of HOW that story is told. But always, a book is a good book if the author can summon up a theme so simple, and yet so unique, it is a story that MUST be told. This is such a book. Backed.

Hi, really glad I backed this and sorry not to have time to read more. I love the attention to detail and the way you make the reader want to get to know Alan more, well done, Maggie P.

Hi Gabriel, The diarist's personality makes this subject very approachable. His musing is emotionally calm and connects with so many ideas about the world when his is very usual. It opens into many interesting and humorous similes that reflect on his world and to his distraction (the jellyfish and Mark Markham). His references to his pain while he goes on as usual show how he wants to savor his days. I found myself reading slowly; his perspective unravels into insight and an unfolding of his life particulars. Shelved - Katherine (The Swan Bonnet)

Gabriel,
Could we swap books? I always return reads.
Thanks,
Lori Buckman (In Her Own Backyard)

Not something I would choose to read in a store..
However..
I have to admit it is a good idea and well written.

As I said, its not to my taste, however I appreciate the work involved, so backed.

JanB
Table for One

Hi Gabriel,

In Sight of the Line - the wry reflections of a stubborn but endearing man, humorously taking stock of the only world he still engages with, his office environment, while rationalising on his impeding death. Hilarious, the calculation re: the number of pages he might need for a diary, how it paralysed his decision-making capability. Or the economic thought about his dentist appointments. Or Dr. K ... how he was getting more and more agitated by Alan's apparently stubborn refusal to break down and weep.
Revealing his thoughts to a diary helps him to rediscover himself. A fascinating study of acceptance.

Pia (Course of Mirrors)

Powerful stuff--especially the first entries in the diary. I've been fighting "Cliff" myself for over seven years now and know that the type it is can come back anytime. So I found this an especially riveting read.

Betty K "The Huguenot's Destiny"

Solid writing in the journals.. effective.
Story seems to swim along quite nicely.
A good read.

BACKED

Please look at Dream Diamond NOW, and if you like it, BACK it , with out comment if nescessary.

This is the second journal entry novel I have read today. The other one was other worldly but this one is more up my ally of reads.
The voice in the journal entries is hard to ignore. There is a rich humor him. Sometimes a bleak humor.
At the end of the second chapter you have the line 'another gastronomical extravaganza awaits me' this is a great line. And by the time I reached it I was already in love with this.
Some of the paragraphs are long, really too long, and I think could be broken up but I read through without batting an eye.
Alan Meadows is a perfect character. He is emotional, he is real and above all else he is damanged, flawed.
He is a character you want to find his way, one you can sympathize with and one you want to scream at all at once.
There are some truly gorgeous turns of phrases in this. You can write, that is for certain, you have a voice and it is clear how this novel is being wove together that you have direction.
I did read through to chapter three, over stayed my alloted time, and I would say you should cut down the chapters. Three is really long and though my attention didn't wane, I did take note of how long I had been reading with no break. Not too sure how you would format this in a novel form, I would think each entry would stand on its own, and if so it makes sense that there is no breaking.
Backed with enthusiasm.
T.L Tyson-Seeking Eleanor