The Fifteenth Dispatch
Hello again from C.J. Dotson's Dreadful Dispatch!
First, a Lament
I’ve been resistant to writing this issue of the newsletter, and I think it’s because this one means we’re midway through August and I’m therefore three-quarters of the way finished with my summer break.
Two more weeks until work starts up again. Sad sighs.
(But also having a summer break in the first place is great, and the end of summer means the beginning of fall, so this is not too sorrowful a lament.)
The Cut Updates and News
Hey, if you have a bookseller/librarian/book industry friend who loves horror, let them know that Digital Review Copies of THE CUT are available for request now on Edelweiss!
I’ve mentioned a few times that one setting in THE CUT is based on a real place I used to hang out at when I was in my late teens and early twenties, the beach overlooked by the big power plant. On the very last day of last month, at around 5 in the morning, the power plant was demolished. (There may still be a little left to knock down and a lot to clean up. Friends who still live in the area told me the blast rattled windows even in neighboring towns.)
The beach itself has been closed for some time due to currents and erosion, too. It’s strange to think that this place that was such an important part of my young adulthood isn’t just changed, but gone.
Anyway! Moving on. (For now.)
In case you missed it when I mentioned this on my socials, I had the pleasure of being interviewed for Path to Publication’s debut author interview series. I talked a little bit about The Cut and a little more about my journey into publishing. You can read it here!
Also, starting in next month’s issue of the Dispatch, I’ll be including little sketches I’ve made of some of the characters you’ll meet in The Cut!
Book Recommendation: A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman
Surprise! Today I’m not talking about a horror book, today I’m talking about A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman, a super fun espionage thriller coming out in the UK on September 12th! (For my friends who don’t live in the UK, I’ve been told that the book can be ordered from Blackwells there, and they do free shipping internationally.)
A Reluctant Spy follows Jamie Tulloch, a civilian participant in the fictional Legends Programme, in which he and volunteers like him agree to live personally unattached, low-online-footprint lives and receive helping nudges from the UK government in terms of career and life opportunities; in exchange for this fairly lonely life of professional and financial security, Jamie and the other volunteers have agreed to briefly give up their identity when called upon by the Programme, which allows government agents studied in their civilian counterparts to insert themselves into undercover situations with flawless background personas that would pass even rigorous background checks by the bad guys.
When Jamie’s time comes, he’s told to accept a sudden business trip and given instructions to switch over with his counterpart, agent GARNET, mid-travel—GARNET would assume Jamie’s identity and travel plans and fulfill his undercover mission, and Jamie would travel under a fake identity and have a nice, long vacation.
That was the plan. But Jamie shows up at the appointed meeting place to find that things have gone very wrong, very fast. Without his fake identity and new plane tickets, without his contacts in the Legends Programme, Jamie is stuck going along to the destination meant for his spy counterpart, and he gets swept into the action.
And, friends, this book is a romp. It is so fun.
Goodman’s descriptive writing is on point. He does an excellent job of making the scenery, the people, and the atmosphere feel real. I think this is an aspect of good writing that sometimes gets overlooked in favor of the more obvious elements—pacing, plot, characters (all of which Goodman is also great at, and we’ll get to that in a moment)—but nailing the vibes in a way that makes the reader want to believe in the fabric of the story itself is a subtler skill that A Reluctant Spy is a great example of.
This book was well-thought out; there were no scenes or plot elements that felt out of place or hurried or poorly-planned. I don’t know enough about international espionage (obviously) to say for sure whether it felt realistic, but it certainly all felt plausible, and it worked within the genre’s conventions while still subverting certain expectations in ways that I found very satisfying. On top of all that, it was a fun story. I also really enjoyed that this book kept me guessing. The plot was so well-constructed and tightly-woven, all the threads coming together in a series of reveals that didn’t leave any unanswered questions or holes and that all fit so neatly with each other. It’s a book I will almost certainly re-read specifically so that I can go, “Aha! I didn’t catch that before, but it makes sense now that I know this.”
The pacing was spot-on, too. Sometimes in a book with multiple POVs I find myself dreading one or more, wishing I could get back to what I feel is the “main one.” Goodman avoids this so well. Each POV character is interesting in their own right and also propels the story in their own ways. And the way the pacing ramps up to an action-packed ending works so well.
Where Goodman really shines is in his character writing. The people feel fleshed-out and real. Character motivations, personalities, idiosyncrasies, habits, appearances, Goodman nails it. I’d love to spend more time on this part of my recommendation, because the character writing deserves it, but I find I’m struggling to do so without giving spoilers (I bet professional reviewers who read and discuss spy thrillers often are better at getting around this, haha).
Overall, I really dig this book. It’s a fast, fun, propulsive read and you should definitely pre-order it now.
Everybody’s Favorite Part
Pet pictures! (Plus a bonus picture)
Okay, See You Next Month!
Thanks for reading another issue of C.J. Dotson’s Dreadful Dispatch! If you dig what you read and you haven’t subscribed yet, do that now!