The ties that bind

A disclaimer: I am prejudiced in favor of this book—because it’s written by my brother, Mike Cavender.

Nonetheless, it’s a good book and worth your attention.

Some back story. Mike began writing this book some eight years ago. After the finishing the first draft, he submitted it to numerous agents. The usual form rejection letters followed. But he is a determined guy and a smart one. So, he started revising. And learning more about the craft of fiction at workshops, most notably those taught by Ron Rash, Western North Carolina poet and novelist. Mike showed various revised drafts to friends, relatives, and professional editors. He was open to reasonable critiques and worked hard to polish and strengthen his story.

This year, after finishing the fifth draft, he was about ready to start submitting to agents again. Then, he started thinking about how old he was (68) and decided he didn’t want to waste any more time waiting to hear from agents. So, he resolved to self-publish, and decided to use the Amazon platform, Create Space.Yesterday, Mike held in his hands the hard copy of his novel, Revenge on the Fly. Such a sweet moment.

The book traces  a decades-long arc of family greed and betrayal. At the story’s heart is a profound conflict about the value of pristine land and old-growth forest in the Appalachians and the hunger of developers for new land. (For many years, Mike and his wife Paulette lived in the Western North Carolina where Mike was executive director of the Highland-Cashiers Land Trust—so he knows these issues well.) Some of the novel’s best writing evokes the beauty and mystery of the mountains, and the fly-fishing themes are described with wit and authenticity (Mike was a fly-fishing guide for s few years, too.)

So, years of toil and commitment to improving the book—now, it’s here. It’s just been listed on Amazon, and the Kindle version should be up in a couple of weeks.

http://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Fly-Michael-Cavender/dp/1484915100/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1384701121&sr=8-3&keywords=michael+cavender

As Ron Rash says on the cover blurb, “Revenge on the Fly is a beautiful meditation on the ties that bind us to family and place.”