COEXIST: Poetry, Books, and Essays by Diane Vogel Ferri
Monday, August 23, 2021
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Kirkus Review of No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-vogel-ferri/no-life-but-this/
A NOVEL OF EMILY WARREN ROEBLING
BY DIANE VOGEL FERRI ‧ RELEASE DATE: DEC. 10, 2020
Poet Ferri offers a historical novel about the life of real-life Victorian engineer and women’s rights activist Emily Warren Roebling.
After the sudden death of chief engineer John A. Roebling in the summer of 1869, the ambitious construction of the Brooklyn Bridge fell to his son, Washington. However, only a year later, the younger man would be incapacitated by caisson disease, leaving him physically unable to oversee the project in person. As a result, Washington’s wife, Emily, rose to fame as a devoted defender of the bridge and a skilled engineer in her own right, acting as liaison for her husband and handling daily supervision of the project. In this decade-spanning novel the author delves into a tumultuous period of American history as well as the mind and heart of her narrator. Ferri focuses on Emily’s internal life as she navigates the expectations placed on her as a wife and mother as well as intense public scrutiny over the bridge. She also bears witness to the inequities of women throughout American society, observing abuses as well as the disproportionate favor that’s placed on those in positions of privilege. Throughout the novel, Emily is beset by bitter discontentment over legal and social constraints, but she persistently reinvents herself and becomes a vocal advocate for women’s rights. Some sections involving invented characters or events can feel saccharine or overly convenient, but Ferri’s prose does a marvelous job of highlighting her protagonist’s exceptional mind and the restrictions she faced. Emily is shown to be loving, compassionate, insensitive, and bullish, by turns, resulting in a well-rounded and empathetic portrait of a woman whose ambition was greater than any single life could hold.
A sensitive and comprehensive exploration of an exceptional historical figure.
Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62613-300-6
Page Count: 415
Publisher: ATBOSH Media Ltd.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2021
Review Program: KIRKUS INDIE
Categories: HISTORICAL FICTION | LITERARY FICTION
Monday, January 18, 2021
No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling
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| No Life But This is based on the life of Emily Warren Roebling, considered the first woman field engineer and highly instrumental in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is the perfect time to bring this remarkable woman's story to light in an era when women continue to fight for equality and to be included in STEM careers. |
Monday, January 11, 2021
The Musings of an Author in Search of a Publisher
April 24, 2020
Talking to myself about publishing my third novel, which is biographical fiction:
As of this date I have been rejected and/or ignored by 124 agents and/or publishers. They have each been well-researched ahead of time to assure that historical fiction was of interest to them. I have received a number of positive responses and comments, and asked to send more chapters, or the whole manuscript quite a few times, but no one, ultimately, accepted my book. (Meanwhile someone else has published a book about my main character after her story has been ignored for 100 years. Grrrrr. )
At the point when I began sending it out to very small publishers I realized they could not do much more for my book than I could do myself. They would only put it on their website and on Amazon.
I spent 6 months researching and writing the book, had it professionally edited, and have spent over a year submitting it. It is such a worthwhile and timely story, and biographical fiction has been popular for several years.
Recently, I began researching self-publishers. Self-publishing is much more widely accepted than it was when I self-published my other two novels. It is a legitimate way for authors to be read, and even make money, especially on Amazon, whether paperback or ebook. It is cheap and relatively easy to self-publish on Amazon, although it is not globally distributed otherwise. Amazon has a number of ways to promote books, especially ebooks, that I could not do myself. I stink at self-promotion, so this is a plus.
Am I ready? Getting this book out has been hanging over my head for over a year. I’m ready to move on to something else. Rejections, although expected, get old. I am not a trained fiction writer. I did not intend to ever write fiction again, but this story was too good to pass up.
Questions:
Am I okay with only my kind-hearted friends and acquaintances reading my book as with my other ones? (If not, I will obsessively ask myself what it was all for?)
Did I love writing it? Yes.
Am I proud of it? Yes.
Do I want it to sit in a 3-ring binder on my shelf forever? No.
What do I have to lose?
APRIL 25 - One day later
In counting the number of agents/publishers I had contacted I noticed the name of someone who had expressed interest but never got back to me ––Jared Bendis of Atbosh Media in Cleveland. I thought, What the Heck, and emailed him one more time. He responded and asked for the synopsis. I felt a twinge of hope but he had responded twice before and let the communication die. He emailed later and asked when we could chat! I sent my number and told my husband I didn’t think he’d call–––but he did that same evening.
We talked for a half hour and he explained his whole process, the contract agreement and what he could do with the book. He said he would send me the contract that night if I agreed. What? Of course! Then the email didn’t come that night. ( But it did show up the next day. I’m pretty sure he’s a night person because it was sent in the wee hours of the morning.
It’s been two weeks since then. We’ve exchanged a couple emails and he says he’s putting the mock-up together but he doesn’t commit to a timeline so I must be patient. Lou took some outdoor photos of me for the head shot and it is on his website. I signed a contract so I know it will happen eventually. I thought this time of quarantine would be perfect for working on marketing and getting the book out there etc. We’ll see.
It seems like one more surreal and unbelievable occurrence right now, just like the rest of life. But I am thankful, relieved and proud.