The Next Best Book Club discussion

In early January, we'll be discussing The Shooting with author James Boice.

His publisher, Unnamed Press, has given us a total of 10 copies to give away - in print or Digital ( mobi/pdf) for US residrents.

In order to be considered, you must comment here or on the blog for a shot at winning one and secure a spot in the discussion that kicks off on January 9th.

http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...


This giveaway will run through November 9th.


Winners will be announced here and via email (if you provide one) on November 10th.


Here's how to enter:

1 - Leave a comment here or in the giveaway thread over at TNBBC's blog (linked above). REMEMBER, You must be a resident of the US for this one. And please specify if you want print, or digital. If digital, let us know which format you prefer - mobi or pdf.

ONLY COMMENT ONCE. MULTIPLE COMMENTS DO NOT GAIN YOU ADDITIONAL CHANCES TO WIN.

2 - State that you agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run from January 9th through the 15th. James has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for him.

*If you are chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion right here in this thread next month.

3 - If your goodreads profile is blocked (set on private), please leave me another way to contact you.


GOOD LUCK!!!!

Hope I win.Sounds like a really timely book wow Lori another really interesting pick on your part.Shoukd make for very interesting discussion,Mobi would be perfect for me.This is Rhonda Lomazow.I think I am first to enter,

I would like to read this book. It sounds very interesting, I really prefer to read a paper book rather than an Ebook. Thank you. I do live in the US. I am Chris Wallace and I agree and look forward to participating in the group discussion.

This is Fran Razmus from Yuma, AZ. "The Shooting" sounds like the type of book that I would like to spend time reading and discussing. I would love to participate in the Goodreads discussion in January.What a great opportunity to ask questions of the author. contact is [email protected]

I would like to read this book and agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run from January 9th through the 15th. I would like to request .mobi format.
Thanks!

good morning! I agree to participate in the discussion and would love a print copy. This book sounds really interesting, on a subject I am very passionate about

I would love a print copy and agree to participate in the discussion if I should win a copy.

I would love to participate in the book giveaway. I would like a hard copy please! Thanks!

Hmmm. This book intrigues me. The current political environment related to gun control issues makes the timing very interesting. As a NRA member and holder of concealed carry license I have some strong beliefs on the issue of gun control. This may very well be the book that gets me involved in the group discussion. (digitial)

Sounds like a very timely book for discussion. Put my name "in the hat" for the drawing. Yes, I live in the USA.

I would like to receive a copy and would participate in the discussion. I still enjoy 'books' so a print copy would be needed, please.

I don't believe that there is more violence now than at any other time in our planet's history. Look at any period of time in history and you will find wars and killings and rapes and kidnappings and murder (and thousands that were not written about because they were common-place happenings). We just did not have the media living in a violence frenzy; in fact, we didn't even have the media.

I also have strong beliefs regarding gun control. I own a hunting rifle and shotgun and a handgun. But when our country's founders wrote the constitution, as the meme says, they were talking about musket balls... not 13.3 bullets per second.

Also, not the place to talk about gun control but I couldn't resist, lol

HI everyone!!! Great news! we have 10 entries and there are 10 copies so you will all be getting a copy!!

I'm reaching out now with to request your email or shipping addresses.... be sure to respond as soon as possible!

I responded, Lori .... Thank you (and the publisher) for this opportunity.

Thanks, Lori and everyone involved with the giveaway.

I'm very much interested in reading this book, especially now.

Information sent :)

I responded as well. I am so ready for another fine book! Especially one relevant to current topics of discussion.

Thank you Lori for your time and for selecting me.

Hey everyone! Just checking in to make sure everyone has received their copies and have started to dig in.

James will be joining us on the 9th.... which is right around the corner!

I have it and I am almost half way through it. Looking forward to the 9th.

I did get the book .. but it arrived after I had left home for a long trip. I'm back now, and as soon as I finish my current book, I'll start Shooting. Definitely looking forward to a book with such a relevant theme.

Glad I started this after some very light reading. This ish is HEAVY.

Finished. Come on Monday!

I am ready

About 100 pages in ... Oh, My ...

Hehehe. Glad to see we are (mostly) ready and excited to get started : )

Just starting tonight and wanted to check in. I've been really sick and it took me 4 days to finish the book I was reading. I'm hoping this uck goes away soon, I've not been sick in 15 + years (I can't even remember!).

But 4 days is a long time for me and a book, so I should be finished by the 9th, as long as I can occasionally be awake and not sleeping, lol

Ok guys, tomorrow is the official kickoff for the discussion, but since I work and will be on the road kinda early, I wanted to get things started tonight.

First, Welcome James! We're thrilled to have you here and really appreciate the time you're taking out of your schedule to hang with us all week long.

The Shooting could not have been released at a more relevant time. It has all the hot topics - Caucasian man vs African American youth, gun culture and the "media spin" on gun violence - it could have been ripped right from today's news.

But it also comes five years after your last novel The Good and the Ghastly: A Novel. Were you writing The Shooting throughout that entire time frame? If so, did our current crazytimes influence any rewrites or edits to more accurately reflect what's happening?

I live in Denver where we have had more than our share of horrific shootings with Columbine, Platt Canyon and Aurora. Going into this I was worried that this would be more than familiar. You Sir, had me at cunt and didn't let me go until after I turned the last page. This story resonated with me on many different levels. Thank you for starting off my 2017 with a bang.

One thing I am wondering is why you chose not to disclose the area where Lee grew up (the Mountain) or where the Doctor was originally from. All other locations seemed very specific.

Lori wrote: "Ok guys, tomorrow is the official kickoff for the discussion, but since I work and will be on the road kinda early, I wanted to get things started tonight.

First, Welcome James! We're thrilled to..."


Hi Lori and TNBBC, thanks for having me here and for reading The Shooting. I'm excited to talk to you all about it.

I started The Shooting in January 2013, which was a few weeks after Newtown. Before then, after the other horrible gun massacres over the previous 15 or 20 years I had thought about our guns vaguely but never really intensely. Newtown changed that immediately, and I could not think of anything else. That nightmare revealed, at last, what a pathology we live with in this culture. And I wanted to explore it. I had to, in order to be able to function in a society where sudden, spectacular death and violence were becoming the norm in the most unexpected places.

So between my previous novel, The Good and the Ghastly, which was published in 2011 and starting this book in January 2013, I was sketching out other projects. I even wrote a few novel-length manuscripts. None really came to life for me, though. I knew this one was different as soon as I started it. It felt serious and rich and meaningful.

And, most surprising, I was shocked to learn that no one had written a literary fiction novel against the landscape of our gun violence and gun culture before. That seemed inexplicable, as guns are such a huge chunk of how we Americans see ourselves and their effect on our lives is immense. And their existence in our culture is such a source of division. Guns force death on us. That's literature right there. So I wanted to be the first to write about this in a novel.

Diane wrote: "I live in Denver where we have had more than our share of horrific shootings with Columbine, Platt Canyon and Aurora. Going into this I was worried that this would be more than familiar. You Sir, h..."

Hi Diane, Thanks! Little known Hollywood film fact: "You had me at cunt" was actually what was in the first draft of the script of Jerry Maguire. Test audience were a little confused, I guess, so they changed it to hello.

I think the locations had to be left unspecified (though they are hinted at indirectly). In the case of the Mountain, for Lee the Mountain is the past. Its exact real location being left unspecified makes it that much more blurry, that much more unreliable of a memory. And therefore, for Lee, the subject of reinterpretation, and misinterpretation. He bases his life and who he is on a past he misremembers -- a myth. So the vagueness helps with that.

In the Doctor's case, that "blurring" of his home country's location serves to show how tunnel-visioned and almost narcissistic our American perspective of the world can be. As far as we're concerned, there is us and then there is everyone else. There is us, and then there is the world. The Other. We don't like the Other much. They're not America, they're not worth knowing about, we probably don't even have to both knowing the names of their countries. Until we're forced to.

Hi James,

first off this is a great book and I am already letting an office mate borrow it, because it really moved me. first question, it seems like 'To kill a Mockingbird ' was an inspiration for you Was that as a writer in general? Or just an inspiration for this particular novel? Secondly, was there a reason the parents fate was left unfinished?

Good morning James. I want to thank you for the opportunity to read The Shooting and discuss it with you.

Obviously it is not a feel good book. Also, there are no good "good"- or ""bad" characters. I find them all "displaced, traumatized " characters. I thought calling the chapters Steeple 1, 2 - was exactly correct. (I learned a new word which I will definitely use. )

I do sense you are not pro Second Amendemment. I was also the same, but I am waive ring. I was raised in California where having a gun was not mentioned and not approved. We moved to Arkansas- not because of any gun laws or restrictions. Gun safety is a very high concern here. More important than guns, however, is family. The family here is still more important than anything. That is what the characters all seemed to be missing. That is except for Clayton. I think that is the shame of our country - the lose of family love and support.

Lee wanted family and grasped whatever he could to create his family. Too bad it was a false value of a gun. Jenny wanted her family back and blamed it on guns rather than people. Clayton's parents still had each other. They could survive.

I think you did a very good job covering all three sides. I felt they all made mistakes and had to pay for them.

Did I understand it correctly.

Good morning James ,I was drawn in from the first pages.Your descriptive writing the horror we are facing with the ease of gun acquisition.Reading your book was similar to reading newspaper headlines daily.
While writing on a really dark subject how do you get away from it.what type of books do you read while writing?

Deanna wrote: "Hi James,

first off this is a great book and I am already letting an office mate borrow it, because it really moved me. first question, it seems like 'To kill a Mockingbird ' was an inspiration fo..."


Hi Deanna,

That's very kind, thank you. I love To Kill a Mockingbird and think it probably was an inspiration in that it sets it story in the landscape of an ugly, deep seated facet of American culture. And its characters are all portrayed as complicated, fully formed human beings, rather than archetypes. It is a story about the human heart as much as the social issues it involves. Therefore it transcends its time, though it involves timely things. So that was certainly the very high bar I was trying to reach.

I'm not sure if I interpreted the parents' fate as being unfinished. I think we can project into the future a little bit and see how they have lived their lives might help them after we leave them.

Chris wrote: "Good morning James. I want to thank you for the opportunity to read The Shooting and discuss it with you.

Obviously it is not a feel good book. Also, there are no good "good"- or ""bad" character..."

Hi Chris,

Thanks for a very insightful take. I wanted to write a story about people, about humans -- and I wanted to avoid writing an essay or diatribe disguised as a story. Writing an essay about guns was different from writing a story about people with guns, which is what this book is. People are very complicated, with complicated reasons for doing what they do and believing what they believe -- and for hurting one another. That's human nature. So, as far as fiction is concerned, the gun debate is a nice little stage for human nature to play out.

Rhonda wrote: "Good morning James ,I was drawn in from the first pages.Your descriptive writing the horror we are facing with the ease of gun acquisition.Reading your book was similar to reading newspaper headlin..."

Hi Rhonda,

This did take a lot out of me -- I think I'm still recovering. In the early stages of working on it, I was reading a lot about the history of the Second Amendment and of guns in America. Two especially useful ones were Gun Fight by Adam Winkler and Gunning of America by Pamela Haag. And then as for fiction I was reading a lot of American noir -- from Raymond Chandler up through Richard Price. The first book of My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard was influential with regard to Lee's relationship with his father. I reread some Stephen Dixon, who I admire and steal from always. I also remember reading Lolita and Crime and Punishment. I am sure those had their influence somehow. So, no, not a lot of light material to give me a break from the intensity of what I was working on. It's hard to get away from the material, especially when it is so prevalent in real life -- I guess I have gotten fairly good over the years at just turning it off when I'm not working and focusing on other pressing concerns, like family, day jobs, other practical matters.

Thank you James. The Shooting does a very good job in showing that not everyone handles situations, grief, or even joy the same. For every situation you can look back and say "well he could have or should have done it this way". But that is what makes us all different, because we see it differently. We all have different luggage we carry with us.

Is there any true events that influenced the story?

Chris wrote: "Thank you James. The Shooting does a very good job in showing that not everyone handles situations, grief, or even joy the same. For every situation you can look back and say "well he could have or..."

Some true events that influenced the story are George Zimmerman's shooting of Travyon Martin and also another particular shooting: A friend of a friend lost his teenage son when the neighborhood mistook him for a home invader. The neighbor was white. The son was black. The son had snuck out of the house to go to a party, and when he came home he was drunk and confused and he snuck back into the wrong house -- the neighbor's. It was a neighborhood where the homes are similar. At the very sight of him, the neighbor, who was a big gun rights proponent, shot him several times, even in the back, until he was dead. He recognized the kid, but that didn't matter to him. And there was no fall out from it. He never even felt the need to apologize. The only consequence was a dead, good kid. The guy was within his rights, our society decided. Our society said what happened was okay. He was a good kid who made a mistake and it cost him and his family everything.

This was a uniquely American tragedy, an incongruent aspect to what we like to think of as the greatest country in the world. It's something we just don't like to talk about or think about, because it does not gibe with the myths we tell ourselves about who we are.

If you don't mind me getting a little off the book- I think it is not the gun that is the poison in our society - it is the lust for violence. Movies, commercials, television, commuters, games all intice the watchers to violence under the guise of entertainment. It becomes the cool way of life. What popular game is not blowing someone up or killing.? I had written a lot more but it really had nothing to do with the book.

James,

Thank you, I just felt up in the air with Clayton's parents as far as would they be able to stay or not, but I see your point, as long as they have each other, they will make it through. Another question for you, did you start out with Jenny feeling the need to "martyr" herself? Also, Jenny was all for the ammo tax as a solution, is this an idea that has been brought up in the fight for gun control, or is it fiction? The whole book felt so real, I kept forgetting it was a work of fiction and not reality.

Hi, James .. thanks for the opportunity to read and discuss your book with you.

I notice in the author blurb that you've previously published three novel with Scribner. What made you decide to go with an independent press this time around?

Deanna wrote: "James,

Thank you, I just felt up in the air with Clayton's parents as far as would they be able to stay or not, but I see your point, as long as they have each other, they will make it through. A..."

Hi Deanna,

I did not know what would happen to Jenny when I started out -- in fact it took a few drafts before I realized the right end to her story. That was the missing piece to the novel for some time. I don't typically know where I'm going when I'm working on something. I might have a vague notion but I don't outline or anything like that. I feel my way along, allowing for revelations and happy accidents.

As far as I know there has not been a serious effort to instill an ammo tax. Maybe in some localities like New York City there have been. Would it work? Conventional wisdom says no, that the only thing more politically treacherous in this country than trying to introduce gun control legislation is trying to introduce a new tax. Trying to enact gun control via taxation would be like Lena Dunham trying to become governor of Mississippi. But we live in mindblowing, inexplicable times, so who can say for sure where popular support will do, especially as the mass shootings not only continue but worsen, with the no one else interested or capable of doing anything about it?

Book Concierge wrote: "Hi, James .. thanks for the opportunity to read and discuss your book with you.

I notice in the author blurb that you've previously published three novel with Scribner. What made you decide to go ..."

Hi Book Concierge,

Unnamed Press was really passionate about the book and really got it and I really connect with my editor there, Chris. That was what I wanted and needed for The Shooting -- passion and attention from someone capable of helping me make the book as good as it could be. That's all you can ask for from a publisher. It's hard to find that. So when you do find it, you hold on to it and don't let go.

Great conversation going on here! What a cool thing to come home to!

James, I enjoyed hearing the story behind the events that influenced your novel, though it's such a shame to hear it was someone close enough to you to have had such an impact. And also upsetting to know that you are correct in how our culture perceives right and wrong and where the "right" falls in the eyes of the gun wielder as well.

I think one of the things I liked the most about The Shooting is how you give us the wider, ripple-effect perspective of that particular act of gun violence. It's the stuff we never hear about in the media, the painful part of what events led us up to the shooting and how that shooting's aftermath moves through the families and communities.

It was devastating at times, and incredibly eye opening.

Lori wrote: "Great conversation going on here! What a cool thing to come home to!

James, I enjoyed hearing the story behind the events that influenced your novel, though it's such a shame to hear it was someon..."

Thanks, Lori! The ripple-effect thing was something that really broke the book open for me when I finally stumbled upon it. I was thinking a lot about how we misunderstand each other, or ourselves. And the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us. We live in our own versions of realities. Something happens and one person's version of what happened is completely different from the next person's. That feels more and more true today.

Also, I was interested in the bigger scheme of things -- the cosmic mechanism of the universe, to get all hippie about it. We might think we understand cause and effect, but we often do not, because we cannot see beyond our limited perspective. So it's interesting we think we have enough information to make fatal decisions about who's a bad guy and who's a good guy. I was interested in what "bad guy" truly means. And what "good guy" truly means. They are not as simple as some would like it to be.

Clayton his parents stay with me.Everytime an innocent child is killed especially the slaughter in Chicago the sadness of parents hysterical in front of the cameras.also the fact that Claytons father was a physician but do to our bureaucratic laws could not practice.This family seems to have jumped off the front pages.

The good guy bad guy concept the label is something I do think about.My husband has been a prosecutor &Then a criminal defense attorney.When you see both sides when you meet victims ,defendants things are not quite as easy to judge.My husband is often faced with the question how can you defend criminals which shows how society judges anyone charged with a crime.

I am maybe going out on a ledge here, but I did not find a definitive bad guy. The closest I could come to bad guy was Lee's father. I saw how each other character could have done something different to change the outcome. Lee was processing thoughts as he was taught. Clayton's family should have made sure every tenant knew about his sleepwalking. Lee should have realized he was in need of help and if not there were people he dealt with that knew.

I think Jenny went to far telling her workers to check Clayton's family papers. That was blackmail.

As I said before everyone has a flaw. That was the beauty of this story. I don't think you could really hate anyone - except for those that raped Clayton's mom. It was a well balanced story.

Thank you James for an almost unbiased novel on a very important issue. I say almost unbiased because we all have biases and they are not necessarily bad.

Chris wrote: "I think Jenny went to far telling her workers to check Clayton's family papers. That was blackmail...."

She more than had them check ... she forced them to state they were illegal when the attorneys told her - TWICE - that the papers were in good order. She just out and out wanted revenge.

I think she wanted to have her way and did not really care about the hurt the family was feeling. She used them for her own devices - which she justified to herself that was best for them

Hi James! I enjoyed the story you presented. To delve so deep into such a current controversial topic right now takes a lot of guts. I did find one issue (that I obviously got over it). Do you not like quotation marks? In the beginning of the story I struggled to figure out what was being said and what was being thought. If forced me to read with much more thought.
In the first section of the book, the use of the "c word" surprised me. I am not at all offended by that word. It is just so taboo. Did you plan on using this word from the beginning and if so, did you ever get negative reactions about this word?
Other than the aforementioned To Kill A Mockingbird, do you have any other influences in your writing? In your off time who do you like to read?

James, earlier in the conversation, Book Concierge poised the question about the switch from a larger publisher to a smaller one.

As a huge fan of the small press community, and of NYC, I have to ask... what are some of your favorite readings or events to hit up in the city? Do you do the 'literary scene' thing very often?