When I was in high school, I, like most students had to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. I loved it. The characters were memorable. It was thought-provoking, and the action gripping. Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. So when I ran across a copy of his book, The Spire, on sale for a measly dollar I snapped it up. Last weekend I settled down with it expecting an enjoyable read. What a disappointment! I gave up after sixty pages. There was nothing to grab my attention or interest. The protagonist bored me. The plot was a yawn. The collapse of the spire and Dean Jocelin’s faith, while riddled with symbolism, was old news before it happened. I begrudge the dollar.
I put The Spire back in the bookcase and pulled out David Morrell’s, The Shimmer. I had read his trilogy, Brotherhood of the Rose, many years ago and remembered my excitement in the read. In the first chapter–only four plus pages–of The Shimmer, major action of the hair-raising variety grips the reader and continues with brief respites to the end. Unexplainable natural phenomenon, heroism, love reclaimed, and horrific violence kept my attention all the way.
Golding strove for a literary work; Morrell presented a thriller. Very different. Nevertheless, whatever the genre, it should evoke interest.
I’m now writing the very last chapter of Escape From Xanadu. and hoping it will interest readers–given my rant in the last few paragraphs.
For Indie authors, the website, bookfuel.com may be of interest. They seem to give a lot of service for not so much money. Check it out.
docsanborn 
I have not met many people who really liked Lord of the Flies at all, Doc. You’re one of the few. I loved that story. I’ll recommend The Shimmer to my daughter, she has read a couple of Morrell’s. Going to enjoy checking out your blog from now on…and looking forward to the final scenes of Escape from Xanadu.
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