Author John Langan on the Sleep books

In the interest of full disclosure, John and I are part of a mutual admiration society (see my top of ’09 list and his novel House of Windows) and we’re very good friends.  That said, he’s not a smoke blower, and his blog post about my novels is filled with awesome.

Indeed, in each book, the solution to the case at hand increases Genevich’s melancholy, since it also involves the solution to some aspect of Genevich’s own history, the revelation of crucial information about his past that leaves him more unsettled than he was when he started his investigation.  In The Little Sleep, it’s disturbing information about his family; in No Sleep Till Wonderland,  it’s information about himself.  It’s not unheard of for the P.I. to be shaken up by the case he investigates, but I can’t think of other examples where his unease centers so profoundly in the personal.

Mark Genevich: an artist’s rendition!

Now I can’t draw worth a lick, but I happened to be doodling while trying to brainstorm ideas for my second novel, and I scratched out this picture of Genevich.  Knowing I would never be able to replicate the artistic feat again in a million tries (I’m up to fifty-three tries, currently), I scanned the sucker, and am using it in my next book.  Consider this your sneak peek to No Sleep till Wonderland.