New York, NY; London, UK
(February 7, 2013) – Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of crime
fiction from editor Charles Ardai and publisher Titan Books, announced today that it will publish the first new book in 12 years from Elissa Wald, author of Meeting the Master and Holding Fire and a celebrated chronicler of the world of dominance and submission.
Junot Diaz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,
called Wald “a writer whose prose I’ve long admired,” adding, “Wald’s
vision of the world has much to teach us about the brevity of desire and
the longevity of pain.” Pat Conroy, the best-selling author of Prince of Tides and The Great Santini,
wrote, “Elissa Wald is a brave, disturbing new voice in American
fiction. She works all the margins of the wild side and brings us news
from those frontiers that very few writers have dared approach.” And Time Out New York wrote,
“Elissa Wald, a veteran of what vanilla reviewers call ‘the S/M scene,’
brings new meaning to the term ‘literary submission.’ If you’re looking
for a good erotic read, cuff yourself to this book. And don’t unlock
the cuffs until you’re told.”
Scheduled for publication in October 2013, The Secret Lives of Married Women tells
the story of two identical twin sisters – one a former libertine now
living in suburbia, the other a sexually repressed defense attorney
working in New York City – who confront the dark side of desire when men
in their lives show themselves capable of violence.
“Elissa
Wald is an extraordinarily gifted writer, equally capable of making you
shiver with suspense or arousal,” said Charles Ardai. “Her prose is
haunting, her characters unforgettable, her storytelling masterful – and
she proves that even in our jaded era some things still have the power
to shock. This book will leave scorch marks on bedside tables all across
America.”
Wald is only the second female author ever to write a book for Hard Case Crime, and The Secret Lives of Married Women will be the imprint’s first new book after publishing Stephen King’s novel Joyland
in the summer. A stunning cover painting by Glen Orbik in the style of
the classic paperback era completes the package – and for those who
might find the cover too steamy to carry on the subway or leave out in
their home, the novel will also be released in a discreet e-book edition.
9 comments:
As I've mentioned here before, women have been finding their own erotica for quite some time.
"Wald is only the second female author ever to write a book for Hard Case Crime"
!
Are we sure "she" is not Lawrence Block?
Either way, I'll pass.
Jeff M.
Great news.
Yes, Jeff, 100% sure she's not Lawrence Block. Google her name if you want to find more information about her (including photos). I've known her nearly 25 years, and in all that time she hasn't once been Lawrence Block.
As for "Either way, I'll pass," all I can say is, your loss. It's one of the best-written books we've ever had the privilege to publish. That's no guarantee that you'd like it, of course. But dismissing it casually would be a mistake.
I was teasing (maybe that wasn't obvious, but I was) about Block. We all have certain genres and sub genres that we like or don't and books that do or don't appeal to us. Most Hard Case Crime books I've read have certainly been in the "yes" category for me. (There is only one I can remember reading that I didn't like, a very small percentage.)
I have no doubt this book is well written and will probably appeal to a lot of your readers but it is just not for me and if that's my loss, as you put it, so be it. I'll look forward to the next selection..
Jeff M.
I'll be buying and reviewing this. I'm always happy to discover a great new writer.
I'll be looking for this!
Thanks, Jeff. Sorry to be so (uncharacteristically, I hope) touchy. It's of course fine not to like this book or the whole genre the book belongs to -- I don't like police procedurals and that's not a slur against them, I just don't happen to find them interesting. You're certain entitled not to like S&M stories or erotica or domestic suspense or whatever it is you don't like that you think this book is.
But I will say this: not liking police procedurals almost led me to decide not to pick up Lawrence Block's insanely brilliant Matt Scudder detective novels (which aren't police procedurals, but I read that Scudder was an ex-cop and assumed they were), and that would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my reading life. SECRET LIVES may be similar, in that you may be surprised by what it is and what it isn't.
Or not. It won't kill you not to pick up up, and if you do pick it up you might dislike it exactly as much as you're expecting. I mostly just want to make sure people give it a fair shot.
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