Here is a milestone moment. The first ever review of my first book, The Pericles Commission. This appears in the August edition of the Library Journal.
Nicolaos is minding his own business in ancient Athens when a body falls from the Areopagus above. Pericles, a rising politician, arrives moments later, and together they identify the corpse as that of Ephialtes, leader of the democratic movement and Pericles's friend. After a brief conversation, Pericles determines that Nicolaos is a man of keen insight and commissions him to investigate the highly volatile murder. Corby uses the early chapters to explain for the modern reader everything from Athenian politics and the place of women to monetary matters and clothing. Once the story gets rolling, though, it moves along at a good clip, even borrowing some tropes from the noir subgenre-a beating for the hero, a femme fatale, and plenty of shifty characters. As he explains in his author's note, Corby draws the murder and many of his characters from historical documents, lending that much more believability to the story.VERDICT This series opener will appeal to historical mystery fans and readers who enjoy Lindsey Davis and Kelli Stanley.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Lib., Wisconsin Rapids
34 comments:
Yay! Great review :)
Thanks Suzie. And so much of the happiness is due to the dear folk at FinePrint.
Sweet!!! Congrats. :-)
Thats so awesome, Gary! I'm excited for you. The Pericles Commission is on my Amazon list (and has been for some time!)
Well, I definitely enjoy Ms. Davis's books, so I'm checking this one out for sure.
Congratulations, Gary. It's really real now, isn't it. But who is Kelli Stanley?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GARYYYY!!!!
SOOOOOO COOOOOOL!!!
Wow, I am so excited and happy for you! Can you believe pub date is almost here?? Yay!!
Congrats, Gary. You deserve much, much, MUCH success!
Thanks Jane and Trisha. Your turn will come...for both of you.
Do you realize you've both recently signed with agents?
Thanks Robert! Yep, it's starting to feel scarily real.
Kelli is someone you want to check out. She wrote Nox Dormienda, which is a very innovative noir ancient mystery. Think Raymond Chandler in Roman Britain.
She also has a 1920s San Francisco mystery set in Chinatown, which sadly I've yet to read and is high on my buy list for next US visit.
Yahoo! Great review, Gary! I'm sure there are many more to come!
Thanks Joanna!
Any success this book has will be due in large part to the supreme efforts of you and Janet.
And yep, it's getting very close now!
Hi Stephanie, that would definitely be nice. I confess I'm pleased with the one I've got!
Hi Bane. Thanks! Did you notice she has a new one out...Nemesis.
Yay! How exciting! Congratulations! :D
Thanks Loretta!
Awesome!
Love the comparisons!
This is so awesome. Congrats, Gary! I can't wait to read your book.
Waaahooo! What an awesome first review, well done!
Woo hoo! Congratulations.
Hi Anthony. Yes, I certainly wasn't expecting comparisons like those. Very flattering.
Thanks Yamile, Nicole and Leonie. Yes, it's a good result. The first review can be tricky. And it's a weird feeling having it come out of the blue.
Good job Gary! Congrats!
I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book.
I must add my congrats to the chorus, Gary - very nice review. Fingers crossed for plenty more good ones. Are you having a launch party? I'm not fishing for an invite...well I would, if I were a few thousand miles nearer...but if you are, have a great one!
Fantastic. I look forward to reading this book.
So exciting! Congrats!!!
Thank you, Taymalin, Taryn and Scary. It's so very cool having so many online friends to share the excitement.
Hi Jane!
Launch party...good question. The problem is, high among the people I'd want to invite are all of you: my blog readers who've followed me through this saga, some of you right from the start, and we're all scattered across the globe.
There's mild talk of a party of some sort in New York, where my agency and the publisher are. If it's on, everyone who can get there is invited.
Bouchercon is one long party for very many new authors.
Then for the Australian release a local party is always possible, though even then I know my Australian readers are scattered across the continent.
So it's tricky!
That's fantastic! Congrats!
Thanks Meghan!
Great review. I have a spot on my book shelf waiting for it.
Thank you Susan!
Well done Garry - I'm sure it wont be the last.
I have just pre-ordered my copy from Amazon.co.uk - there is no release date on there yet but I'm looking forward to it. If you ever stray as far as the Isle of Man I'll have to get you to sign it for me.
Seth
Seth, that's very kind of you!
I would dearly love to visit the Isle of Man, both to sign your copy and visit the island. I've spent a lot of time in the UK, but never managed to get there.
The release date for Amazon UK is 5th November, I believe.
Do you realize, btw, you must have lived fairly close to the immortal-if-dead George MacDonald Fraser? He was an Isle of Man lad.
Yes, he died about 2 and a half years ago I think - I arrived eighteen months ago, so you can't pin that one on me governor. He moved here because we have a lower tax-rate than the UK, although he did say he fell in love with the place and wouldn't move back if the tax rate in the UK went below the Island's.
I read all the Flashman books about 6 years ago. Absolutely loved them – I read one after the other until I'd gone through them all and It's rare I do that for any series of books. I also loved the Musketeer films he wrote the screen plays for. Politically though he was pretty much on the opposite side of the spectrum from me.
I won't forget your release date: remember remember the 5th of November gunpowder treacle and plot.
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