Jon Sealy will read from his books at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, via the Crowdcast platform; visit fountainbookstore.com for details. (Photo by Kate Grossman)
Richmond writer Jon Sealy’s recent publications “The Merciful” and “So You Want to Be a Novelist: A Memoir & Manifesto” are related by more than authorship, though one is a novel and the other is a practical guide for those with aspirations to creating fiction. Both books investigate aspects of uncertainty and the complexities of motivation and character.
Thus, in Sealy’s third novel, “Merciful,” what occurs on a dark road in Overlook, South Carolina, lands on the desk of redheaded prosecuting attorney Claire Fields, who’s motivated to redeem her career after a prior loss. She muses on what provides the premise of the narrative, describing it as “a heart-wrenching story, complete with a mystery, a victim, a villain and an inquiry into the inner working of the human heart.”
Samantha Grace James, 19, riding her bicycle an hour after clocking out of her restaurant server shift, is struck and killed by a SUV driven by Daniel Hayward, who wants to believe he hit a branch or an animal — but the shattering reality is soon revealed. He waits a few days, goes a bit unhinged and lawyers up before turning himself in. The event cracks open the lives of everyone connected.
What surprised Sealy while researching is how often and how many people are killed by vehicular-cycling accidents. This includes the River Road death of cyclist Lanie Kruszewski in 2012 that dominated local news.
Perspectives rotate among those caught up in this circumstance. Looking over the story is Jay, a college classmate of Hayward’s, now a business consultant, who tries to understand how everything unraveled. Sealy examines social media voyeurism and “cancel culture,” hyper-excited local news coverage and enduring questions of the law versus justice, as well as whether reality exists outside immediate perception.
“The truth sometimes exists on the fringes,” muses the judge for the “Merciful” case to Fields, during an earlier chance meeting. “Not always. But sometimes.”
“So You Want to Be a Novelist” in part describes Sealy’s perceptions of the writing life (enjoyable, if challenging) and the publishing industry (a dispiriting game of Chutes and Ladders). First novels released with fanfare may enjoy a level of success, but authors then can’t find publishers for their second or third. (Sealy formed his own Haywire Books as an effort to address this problem.) The memoir/manifesto is divided into three sections analyzing the challenges of building a career, the aspects of craft and the business.
Don’t overlook the notes provided in the back of the guide. You’ll find the context for Samuel Beckett’s famous quote: “Fail better.”
“The bottom line is, people like a good story,” Sealy says, “but novels may turn into a niche interest, like opera or live theater. ... If you can live without writing, you might consider pursuing law or real estate, perhaps taking up power lifting or yoga for fitness and sanity — but if you’re a writer, you’ll write.”
