Saturday, November 8, 2014

New Author Site

Still in "coming soon" mode, but check it out:

http://andrewroeauthor.com/


Sunday, October 19, 2014

Galleys!



I got my first glimpse of the galleys for The Miracle Girl last night. I attended the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show and had a wonderful time. I'll be heading up to San Francisco next week to attend the Northern California version.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The Miracle Girl is now available for preorder

I guess this is really happening: You can preorder The Miracle Girl here.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

A novel update

First of all, there's a new title: THE MIRACLE GIRL. It was hard switching after having had the previous title (BELIEVERS) since the novel's inception many years ago, but I truly believe this is the best title for the book. 

Second, the audio rights have been sold(!). 

Third, I've been invited to attend some book seller conferences (in San Francisco and Los Angeles) in October, which will help start promoting the book. 

Fourth, galleys (preview copies that are sent out to reviewers, media, etc.) are imminent. 

And lastly, there's now an official publication day: April 21, 2015. It seems like a long way off, but I'm sure it will be here before I know it. 

In the meantime, I'm plugging away at a new long-ish thing.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Blurbs!

I've been fortunate enough to get some very kind, very generous blurbs for my upcoming novel...

“Look at Andrew Roe’s BELIEVERS from one angle and you’ll see a story of a family split apart by a devastating accident: a beleaguered and grieving mother, a guilt-stricken and adrift father, a comatose young girl who requires more from them than they know how to provide. From another, you’ll see an incisive and insightful critique of America at the millennium and today, investigating where we put our faith and why. From another—and this is, I think, the greatest of Roe’s achievements in this captivating and assured debut—you’ll see a memorable feat of intense and widespread empathy; Roe inhabits dozens of characters (principals and minor players both) who are desperate to believe, hears their voices, and reveals to us their deepest needs and wounds and hopes, and he does so with unfailing kindness, generosity, and wisdom. It’s a novel about what it means to be human, to be lost or broken, a little or a lot, and to seek connection and hope and maybe even transcendence in the world around us.”

—Doug Dorst, author of S. and Alive in Necropolis

“To believe or not to believe—that is the question facing all who are touched by Annabelle, the comatose “miracle girl” at the swirling center of Mr. Roe’s dazzling debut. But BELIEVERS is more than an exploration of the mysteries of faith. It’s also the unforgettable story of one family’s struggle against tragedy. The result is an uplifting miracle of a book.”

—Will Allison, author of Long Drive Home

“In Andrew Roe’s BELIEVERS, we’re reminded that the desire for miracles always connotes dissatisfaction, even as it articulates a hope. Roe deftly explores this paradox with clean, sharp prose; the novel’s intuitive, shifting structure (providing not only different character’s perspectives, but press releases, documents and, really productively, comments on web message boards) generates a multi-faceted exploration into what it means to believe. Also—through Anabelle, the child at its center—Roe’s novel examines the strange responsibility of being believed in. A stunning, confident debut.”

—Peter Rock, author of The Shelter Cycle and My Abandonment

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Colum McCann Quote

Quote of the day/week/year from Colum McCann: 

"There is nothing more substantial to place against the cruelty of the world than language.”

More McCann goodness here. (I'm currently reading his latest novel, TransAtlantic.)

Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Wigleaf Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions 2014

Yes, it's already that time of year: Wigleaf has announced its annual top 50 (very) short fictions list.

Lots of great writers included, such as Jim Ruland, Lauren Becker, Mary Miller, Ravi Mangla, and Jared Yates Sexton. 

My stories "How to Talk to Children About Death" (published in fwriction) and "The Memory Thief" (published in Atticus Review) also made the long list.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

BELIEVERS Update

Here's a quick book update…

The publication date for my debut novel, BELIEVERS, is now scheduled for mid to late April 2015.
 

So in about a year from now, it will be officially out in the world. The copyedits have been finished, and I recently had my first meeting with the amazing Algonquin team (marketing, publicity, art direction, etc). I feel very lucky to be "debuting" with such a well-respected and caring publisher.

Over the summer, we'll be looking at page proofs and covers. Galleys (preview copies for reviewers and booksellers) will be available in October. And some blurbs have already started to come in.

So yes, progress!

Friday, April 11, 2014

New Story: "Later Then"

Hello long ignored blog! Did you miss me?

Today I have a new story up at Wigleaf (I heart Wigleaf). It's called "Later Then."

This story also happens to be an excerpt from my novel, Believers, which should be out a year from now, more or less. 

I'll post an update on the novel soon.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Rhythm of the Words

"It’s definitely about the rhythm of the words and how they sound together, writing one sentence and then another and another and cutting something immediately if it doesn’t feel true. I come from a family of musicians and—while I have no musical abilities of my own—I think I inherited a good ear. It’s also obsessiveness. I’ll spend a lot of time working on a single sentence, debating over a dash or a colon, etc. I want things to be perfect. I know nothing will ever be as perfect as I want it, and this is very sad, but sometimes I can get close."

Don't miss Matthew Salesses' interview with Mary Miller (via the Rumpus). 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Babies

All this week Five Chapters will be publishing daily installments of short story "Babies."

You can get started with part 1, which is available here

Happy reading! 

Update: part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5 also now available. 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Bob

"Bob worked at The Dairy. Not a dairy dairy with cows and milking devices and such, but a place we called The Dairy, because, I think, its official name was something like The Something-View Drive-Thru Market and Dairy. This was the mid-1980s, when there were still drive-thru markets..."

I don't write much nonfiction these days, but I have a short essay-ish thing over at BULL. It's called "Bob, or When the Nights Are Both Long and Short," and you can read it here.

If you went to high school with me, you might recognize some of the names and places.