"Rich, musical prose that's the stuff of literature"- St. Petersburg Times
PRLog - Jun 27, 2013 - GEORGETOWN, Mass. -- On June 24th, PFP Inc announced the publication of Sterling Watson's novel The Calling.
Called "a fascinating and intense book with enough drive in it to lift a rocketship" and "one that commands attention and startled respect" by the Greensboro News & Record, this is a story of Blackford "Toad" Turlow, an ambitious, impressionable young man who aspires to be a writer. The voice in his head is that of Eldon Odom, a famous — sometimes infamous — novelist to whom Toad apprentices himself.
In the beginning, Toad devours every morsel from Odom, both words and actions. But along the way he learns far more than the art of crafting fiction. He discovers that behind Odom's genius is a warped human being who abuses himself and those around him with alcohol, drugs and debauchery. Instead of teaching his eager disciples about writing, Odom uses them to fulfill his base desires.
"The characters are vivid, the writing first-rate, the material intriguing...a novel of considerable power"
-The Raleigh News and Observer
"Easy going, full of compassion and rueful good humor...the voice of a man who loves words and good writing, who has heard the calling and has answered it with his heart."
-Orlando Sentinel
Later in the novel, Toad listens carefully to "The Old Man," the writer who years before was Odom's own mentor and who describes himself as "just the strange boy who cared to write things down." Toad is also influenced by the echoes of his reckless, lovable dead sister, Trish; Odom's lean and lusty girlfriend, Lindy Briggs; Odom's loving and patient wife, Miss Sully; and by Toad's own girlfriend, the knowing Ardis Baines.
"The characters are vividly realized, resistant to stereotypes. And the story's three female leads are complex individuals who play out their expected roles in unexpected fashion," said Nancy Pate in her review for the Orlando Sentinel.
From this boozy, brilliant cast of characters, Toad eventually learns that a man and his art are two different things, that the worth of one may far exceed the other, and that there are dangerously thin lines between creativity and madness, between dedication and obsession. The Calling is a beautifully written and thoroughly engrossing novel of passion and purpose — one that tells much about the calling and the called.
“I thought it was important to have this original, seminal and oftentimes elegiac work available to the public once again and I’m grateful that Sterling had faith that we'd do it right,” said PFP owner Peter Sarno.
Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, said "The Calling, "is the best book ever written about that peculiar American invention — the creative writing class. With the portrait of Eldon Odom, I think Mr. Watson has provided us with an archetype of the American novelist — dissolute and self-absorbed, brilliant and on fire with his own genius."
Breakfast with Buddha author Roland Merullo wrote, "The Calling is one of my favorite novels of all time. Gorgeously written, profound in its understanding of human emotion, absolutely on target in its description of the impulse writers feel to capture life on the page, this is a novel (and a writer) that deserves to be read by every thoughtful reader in the literary universe. If you want a cheap, slick, bestseller-diluted type of experience, this is not the place to go. If you want an extremely satisfying read, get a copy of The Calling and take your time with it."
Sterling Watson's other novels include Blind Tongues, Fighting in the Shade, Sweet Dream Baby, Weep No More My Brother, and Deadly Sweet. Watson is the recipient of three Florida Fine Arts Council Awards for fiction writing. His short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, and The Southern Review. Watson and author Dennis Lehane co-founded the Eckerd College Writers in Paradise program.
For additional information, please visit:
http://www.pfppublishing.com/Sterling_Watson/
Print copies of this stunning new version of The Calling are available from independent bookstores everywhere, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Books-A-Million (BAM) as well as from Amazon and Barnes & Noble —who are both offering a current online promotion at 20% off list price. Digital versions are available in Barnes & Noble NookBook and Amazon Kindle formats. An Apple iBook version will be available soon.
CONTACT:
Peter Sarno 978.352.8218 x 389
publisher@pfppublishing.com
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New Edition of Sterling Watson's The Calling Released
June 27, 2013 at 21:18 PM EDT
