GREAT News: DISSIDENT Goes to Simon & Schuster!

 

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!

Simon & Schuster bought my book! More specifically, the very cool Adam Wilson at Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint acquired my teen thriller Dissident in a two-book deal negotiated by my wonderful (cue the chorus again) agent, Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency. I couldn’t be happier!

Two months ago, I posted the great news that ABC Studios had optioned Dissident as a TV series. CBS Network purchased the show, with two excellent people, Tripp Vinson (Red Dawn) and Michael Seitzman (North Country) producing. It’s a rare thing, an unpublished book getting optioned, and all thanks go to Tripp, who fell in love with the book and invited me to a great lunch, where we discussed his vision; to my film agent, Joe Veltre of the Gersh Agency, who got the book into Tripp’s hands in the first place and who bought me the best-tasting beer I ever tasted when we met at a bar to discuss the deal in progress; and, of course, Christina Hogrebe, who first championed Dissident, helped me ready it for the market, and brought Joe onboard. For all these people and countless others, I bleed gratitude. 

And yet, a whisper of dissatisfaction tempered my joy. Getting optioned and triggering a TV series was unbelievably awesome – an undreamed dream come true – but the real dream, the original dream, remained unsettled. For years and years, I worked on my craft, doing everything I could to become a better writer, and my not-so-surprising dream was to write novels for a major publisher.

Ever read that old Langston Hughes poem, the one spoken by the “dreamkeeper”? The narrator advises readers to give him their dreams, so he might wrap them up in cloud cloth and protect them from the too-rough fingers of the world. For much of my life, I stored my dream with him. I read a ton and wrote every day – millions and millions of words, mostly stories and random scenes and doomed novel attempts – but until fairly recently, I kept my true dream under wraps. People knew I wrote, knew I published stories, and then knew I was trying novels, but for the longest time, I didn’t dare to confess my true dream, to write books for a major publisher, to make my living telling stories full-time, and to see my books on the same shelves as other authors I’d read and loved. Considering that even so limited a search as authors whose names also started with “Di” brought up names like Philip K. Dick, Charles Dickens, and James Dickey, you might understand why I was a little sheepish about confessing my dream, my ambition. To put those things to words seemed almost a guarantee that the too-rough fingers of the world would break my dream into itty-bitty pieces.

But I also knew the warning expressed in another of Langston Hughes’s poems, “A Dream Deferred”:

 

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

A couple of Christmases ago, when my father passed away (Mom’s been gone almost twenty years now), I took inventory of my life, sat down with my wonderful wife, and committed to action. I didn’t want to defer my dream any longer. Christina agreed. I poured all my time into writing, joined an M.F.A. program at Seton Hill University, and even started telling people my intentions. Carting my dream out into public made me vulnerable, but it also stirred my fighting spirit. Now that I’d announced it, I was going to do everything in my power to make it happen. Ten months later, I finished writing Dissident.

I’ve blogged about everything past that point, and the ITW folks have been nice enough to feature my success story on their site, so I won’t go into it all again here. It’s been a crazy, dizzying time, never happier than this moment.

I’m absolutely ecstatic to see this dream come true, to find not only a home, but the right home and the right editor, for my book. It’s the best thing I’ve ever written. I do love the characters and their dark, little story, and I’m having so much fun, playing with sequel, planning it and roughing out some of the early chapters and jotting down those occasional half-scenes that leap up, demanding immediate attention. I’m looking forward to every step of the road ahead but most of all to seeing Dissident out in the world, both as a show and as a book.

I’ve already mentioned a number of people to whom I’m deeply indebted: my agents, my producers, my new editor, and most of all, my incredible wife, Christina. I’ve been blessed with the greatest friends in the world, some of whom I need to thank right now. A huge thank you to Matt Schwartz, who first helped me to understand, commit to, and plan my dream and then helped me during literally every step along the way. Thank you to everyone at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, who believed in me and made me believe in me. To my first readers: Todd, who’s so paranoid he wouldn’t want me using his last name; my brother, Jeff, who’s never failed to pump me up about my writing; incomparable genius and great friend Adam Browne; my dear friend and sharp-eyed editor, Elaine Prizzi; my first teen reader (and incredibly insightful critic), Kenzie Briglia, and her dad, Dr. Ron Briglia; and again, my wonderful wife (and unflinchingly honest critic), Christina. To everyone at Seton Hill: Chris Von Halle, who provided the most thorough critique I’ve ever read; my critique partners, Swea Nightingale and Don Bentley; and my mentors, Victoria Thompson, Tim Waggoner, and David Shifren. To Dr. John Dougherty and Dr. Gary Della Zanna, who helped me understand pharmacology, brain science, genetics, medical technology, and transhumanism. To my author friends and mentors, who were never too busy to answer a call or an email when I needed their guidance: Jack Ketchum, Jonathan Maberry, Lisa Scottoline, John Hornor Jacobs, Chris Shearer, Jacob Keir, Lissa Price, and especially Doug Clegg and Melissa Marr. You guys were, and are, amazing. Thank you!

The funny thing about thanking people, though, is that by making the list finite, I’m leaving off a number of people who also deserve thanks: my family, all the Troublemakers and Anxious Appliances, my Necon family and Thrillerfest friends, important teachers from the distant past, former students and coworkers who rooted me on, and many others. Thanks to all of you, mentioned and unmentioned, who’ve helped me and believed in me, who’ve taken my calls and answered my emails, who’ve prayed for me and hoped for me and shared, who’ve given me feedback and given me rides, who’ve shared in my disappointments and joys, and to anyone who didn’t laugh when I confessed my publishing dream.

I know this has been a long, rambling, and probably self-indulgent post, but I’ll tender no apologies, not when I’m so thankful and so excited to find my dream a reality and my book at Simon & Schuster.

As they arise, I’ll post updates here and on my brand-spanking-new Facebook author page, johndixonbooks, which I really hope you’ll take a second to “like.” I’ve also joined Twitter, but I don’t really have that figured out yet, so for now, I’m pretty much just reading others’ tweets. If you’re on there, please let me know, and I’ll “follow” you. During a recent Simon & Schuster “author bootcamp,” I glimpsed the tip of the exciting yet daunting social media iceberg bobbing in my future. Whatever the channel of communication, I’ll continue to keep you guys in the loop. Thanks, as always, for your time, enthusiasm, and friendship!