Even though GHOSTING was published years ago, I still get emails and letters asking when the fifth novel, DRONE, will be published. So, here’s a typecast explanation on my long, long hiatus.
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Suspense Fiction by Martyn V. Halm. Mail: katlasieltjes@yahoo.com. haiku/poetry on Instagram: @amsterdamassassin. Twitter: @Tao_Of_Violence. Facebook: katla.sieltjes
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I’m looking forward to DRONE!
I discovered your Katla series a few weeks ago and read them nonstop, but then I ran out. They’re unlike any other fiction I’ve read and I really enjoyed them: creative, detailed, unafraid to experiment. I very much enjoyed the realistic veils between characters and groups of characters, in terms of what they understand about events and the motivations of others. It’s flattering to the reader, too, because you get just a pinch of omniscience and it feels like you earned it instead of it being handed to you directly by the author by way of an omniscient narration. Another aspect of your novels that I liked was the unrestrained stream of detail and background, which did not become tedious but rather felt like an extended riff that never had to submit to a soulless radio edit. “Chekhov’s gun” is a concept that I have conflicting feelings about; the desire not to “swim in the water” of a particular narrative style that we just can’t see because it’s the impenetrable convention of our age is a compelling one. This concept comes the closest to a law of the universe where fiction writing is concerned, though, and I liked encountering it in your books. Some breadcrumbs are a long game, and some might just be crumbs of bread and it’s just a little bit more thoughtful treatment of the reader. I hope that makes sense.
Bram: he’s way smarter than we realize at first. I understand he has come to life for you as you’ve written him, but I also feel he’s always been the way he is, a mastermind. I wouldn’t put it past him to have orchestrated the initial meeting between himself and Katla (I intend to reread the series and look for other signals along the way). Bram is also more than capable of actually being the mafia consigliere he’s suspected of being, and capable too of determining the source of the (as-yet mysterious) blast that disfigured him and robbed him of his eyesight. I am just dying to know whether Katla’s uncle was behind that explosive, whatever it was. Please put me out of my misery.
On a personal note, I’m very sorry to read about the difficulty you’ve had over the past ten years or so. And if the titles of your other blog entries are any guide, you’ve dealt with Covid, as well. That must have been dreadful. I hope your children are growing and stretching their wings—if they were elementary aged when that all happened, they may be young adults now, and as a mother myself, I know that that age can be both a relief and a bringer of other worries. I hope they are a comfort to you.
Thank you for the thought and time and effort you put into your books. They’ve brought me a great deal of pleasure and I’m grateful for it. I hope all is well.
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