KEVIN CRAIG

Now That My Novel is Put to Bed, Time to Focus on My RETELLING!

On January 1, 2021, The Great Gatsby entered the US public domain.

Why is this information pertinent to me? I’ve always held this novel up as the measuring worm with which to measure all other novels against. I know, I know…it has its issues. I am not going to hold a novel published on April 10th, 1925 up to today’s societal standards. There are too many problematic novels to count. Times change.

I have always been a great lover of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece. It is one of the shortest novels ever written and it contains in its pages an entire enchanted world. I love it unapologetically.

Why am I talking about it today? Why am I defending it?

My beat up copy of the book I’ve been obsessed with for decades, **THE GREAT GATSBY**.

Because I FINALLY finished all the last minute edits on my 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT. It is sitting in the hopper over at Amazon waiting for this coming Tuesday. It will drop at that time and be in the world for readers to scrutinize.

With that novel off my to-do list (F_I_N_A_L_L_Y!!!! They really do haunt you!), I am now free to explore my 2024 Muskoka Novel Marathon novel. I’ve done everything I can with I Will Tell the Night. It was time to release it, come what may. I really hope my readers like it.

On to my pastiche to The Great Gatsby. I don’t dare call it a re-telling, though it sort of is. It’s more a pastiche of the great American novel.

This telling of the cad/lover/loser/glamorous Gatsby is set in Toronto. There is no East and West Egg. There is a downtown condo that looks out across the water onto Toronto Island. There is a light at a house on that island that my ‘Gatsby’ is mesmerized with. Antoine Bouchard is the name of my Gatsby. He’s a newly rich man sitting in his ivory tower, obsessed with a light coming from a house on the island…as well as the man inside that house.

The story is–you guessed it–an LGBTQ+ retelling of The Great Gatsby. It follows Bouchard, by way of my narrator Marcus, through his broken relationship with the high society man he loved when he himself was a pauper…to the loss of that relationship and his own eventual rise to riches and his desire to rekindle the relationship even though the man has moved on and married an equal.

The novel shifts a little between Toronto’s Gay Village and Toronto Island, though not as much as I originally intended. The working title is ON THE ISLAND AND IN THE VILLAGE, though that might have to eventually change. I lost sight of the village a bit in my story.

I’m getting excited about this story as I re-read it, edit it and work on its ending. I think I may have something here…though I’m nervous about it standing up to its influencer. I’m not trying to re-write this great book, of course. But I am attempting to touch on its atmosphere and mood…and loosely retrace its steps with a queer eye.

While I sit in the cave and work on this one, don’t forget to PREORDER I WILL TELL THE NIGHT! It comes out Tuesday. Pre-orders ALWAYS help!

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT Amazon USA

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT Amazon Canada

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT Ready to Launch!

I did it! I set myself the goal of JANUARY 7th, 2025 for the release date of my FIRST self-published novel and I reached my goal! It’s all ready to launch.

I just finished the final round of edits on I WILL TELL THE NIGHT and submitted the final final final final manuscript! It was a lot of work getting this ready. More than I thought it would be. All I can do now is wait for the release date to come and hope that readers embrace it.

I put my life into this manuscript! Originally written at the 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT has had a long life. I wrote it and I rewrote it and I rewrote it. Then I edited it a few dozen times.

I’m most proud of the fact that the original first draft incomplete novel won the BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD at the Muskoka Novel Marathon. The judges saw something in the raw first draft that warranted giving it that year’s coveted prize. That prize came with another amazing Muskoka chair! And my heartfelt thanks to the marathon organizers.

Now, I’ve set it off into the world. The last draft…the very last and final draft.

I hope you enjoy it!

The much abused ARC of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT. This copy has more red ink and scrawls in it than you could possibly imagine. Wait…I take that back. I didn’t have a red pen. The scrawls are all in blue/black ink. Trust me, this copy is a wreck.

The biggest thing you could do right now, to help me, is to PRE-ORDER your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT!

Otherwise, please consider sharing anything you see relating to the book! That will definitely help. I now know the difference between having an army of publisher personnel behind you and being all on your own. Nobody was cheering me on, helping me make decisions, guiding my way. It was just me. Please consider lending a hand and sharing any info you can on this release! I would be eternally grateful.

Look for this trinket in the story. Its place in the story is fully fictional, but it is real. It exists.

Here are the pre-order links for AMAZON CANADA and AMAZON USA. It is also available in all other countries that Amazon sells in. Just search for I WILL TELL THE NIGHT in your Amazon!

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – AMAZON USA PRE-ORDER LINK

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – AMAZON CANADA PRE-ORDER LINK

Click those buttons, pre-order that book, share those posts on social media! JANUARY 7th is COMING! (-;

The Paperback is Ready! I Will Tell the Night Coming Soon!

After much editing and formatting the paperback of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT is finally ready for its upcoming release date of JANUARY 7th, 2025!

I could not find a way to put the paperback up for pre-order. I think this has something to do with changes effecting the printing cost and price. At any rate, it will not be up for pre-order. If you would prefer PRINT, you can order it directly from Amazon on the release date.

The cover you see above is MATTE finish, but after much deliberation I have decided to go with a glossy finish for this cover. I think the gloss will give the artwork a better finish. I haven’t witness this with my own eyes as of yet, but I can sense it. (-;

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT –

Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick, decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. When he learns of his mother’s impending demise, he decides to make the trip back home to say goodbye. But going back will awaken all the sleeping ghosts Finn’s not quite sure he’s willing to stir. With no time to decide, his split-second decision to jump back in has him driving across the country, with his boyfriend Steven behind the wheel. Along the way, Finn begins to unpack the mess he left behind. There’s the grandmother, MyImogene, he adored, and the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin. There’s also the huge scandal Finn orchestrated with a teacher that gave him the Dutch courage he needed to flee. It was almost all bad.

Finn makes it in time for goodbyes, but then there’s the still very active strife between him and his father, the funeral, the family, and the secrets that shed new light on the cause of the rift between his parents and his beloved MyImogene. Every family carries secrets. Finn discovers they’re the one thing you can’t escape, no matter how far away you run. Secrets always catch up. Often, it’s death that has a way of bringing them back into the light of day. He was able to make peace with his dying mother, but can Finn make peace with all the rest…or is it time to run away for another thirty years?

PRE-ORDER THE KINDLE VERSION NOW! Read on release day – JANUARY 7, 2025!

Kindle available in all Amazon countries.

Amazon Canada | Amazon USA | Amazon UK

Paperback available on release day from Amazon.

I’m doing this on my own this time, so I would really appreciate shares on social media. Any share will help. Thank you in advance!

And if you’re one of the souls who have already pre-ordered I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This was a long labour of love and it’s a story close to my heart. I hope you enjoy it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!