[LM24] New Le Mans novel just published!

[cathelly]

'24' is a brand new motorsport novel just published on the internet. The book is a thriller based on the Le Mans 24 hr race, following the fortunes of a new GT team as they build up to the race - it's brash, fast and sexy, full of political intrigue, and packed with vivid racing sequences and authentic technology. You can buy the book on CD Rom or by direct download to your computer from www.nospine.com. Read exclusive extracts from the novel at http://uk.geocities.com/twentyfournovel

[Aysedasi]

Is this pure advertisement? Tell us about yourself, cathelly - what's your connection with the new book? If I feel that this isn't a proper information-passing post, I will pull it.

[Liz]

"Geocities" eh? This is an advert for a self-published novel, I think. Not a bad idea, actually. Maybe I'll post my Ferrari stories on my website and invite people to buy them!

[cathelly]

Hi, my name's mark and I'm responsible for the message concerning the Le Mans novel. Sorry, I didn't really think of it that way but I suppose technically it could be construed as an advert. The message was more to test opinion - The mainstream publishing industry have given me good feedback but claim that there is no interest in motor racing fiction, or to put it another way, and I quote, 'that lot don't read.' I disagree, and I'm wondering what subscribers to your chat room think. Please accept my apologies and pull the message if you think fit - I could post another one without any details about where to buy it if you would be happier with this.

[Aysedasi]

Thanks for coming back and giving us more info Mark. The fact is that most people who post along these lines are never seen again. Blatant advertising is (at least) frowned upon here, but if you're just seeking to draw our attention to a good novel which is clearly on-topic, then fair enough, I wouldn't propose to delete the post. But...... are you the novellist?

[cathelly]

Thanks very much for your reply. Yes, it's me! I actually earn a crust as a musician and an artist/illustrator (motorsport scenes and classic cars, naturally) and 24 is my first novel. Motorsport and Le Mans in particular have always been a total obsession since I was knee-high to a typewriter... I'm currently wrestling with a homepage for the book which includes some sample pages. I'd love to get some feedback from likeminded folk, in particular to the question... would anyone want to read a motor racing novel if they could find a half-decent one? (there's some utter trash already out there...)

[cybersdorf]

Darn it, someone beat me to the punch! I'll write a screeenplay, then
Some day, people, some day...

[Aysedasi]

Good stuff Mark. I'm happy that we should bring your efforts to the attention of the folks here. I'd like to read it myself, so I may pay you a visit for the extracts first! Best of luck with it, in any event.


(But does the book include the trials and tribulations of spectators at Le Mans? )

[Liz]

Originally posted by cathelly
'24' is brash, fast and sexy, full of political intrigue

I'm not interested in "sexy" or "political intrigue" -- I'd rather read a good racing novel that's about racing. Or one of those "melange" novels that contain vignettes; this about drivers, this about mechanics, this about spectators, this about the radio guys ... you know the type. There are very few good racing novels (what I'd call good racing novels) being written and it might be fun to write one here on the forum - each of us take a turn adding a "vignette" and see if we come out with a novel at the end of the day.

I have friends who sell "e-books" through a registered company and they say it is probably the coming thing.

[Fab]

I'd like to read a "reportage" book about Le Mans : all the things we don't see, or the race inside a Team...

[cathelly]

Hmm, interesting. You might find 24 more interesting than you think, because actually it is a bit 'melange-y' in structure. There are chapters which are written from journalists' points of view - 'reproductions' of articles about the team from imaginary magazines and newspapers. There are also quite long sections about setting up the car, aerodynamics etc., lots of inside-the-team detail, testing, and long racing sections. The last 3rd of the book is basically on-track at Le Mans. I wanted to make it quite different in structure from your normal novel.
The 'sexy' bits were always a bone of contention (excuse the pun) in my mind. I didn't want it to be gratuitous and I didn't want them to be really cliched. The language a lot of novels use to describe sex makes me cringe, and you won't find the word 'engorged' anywhere! In the end I left in the scenes which I thought were important to illustrate Martin Stone's character as an anti-hero, capable of the most irresponsible act, and as his closest 'friend' in the book finally observes, a selfish b*****d...
Thanks for the feedback. You're right - extending the concept to incorporate lots of other points of view would be interesting.

[Aysedasi]

Was Martin Stone based on any particular real-life driver(s)?

Perhaps you don't want to say even if he was?

[Fab]

A good novel was published in the early 70' in France, about the start at Le Mans of a small team (Alpne, in fact !) including the young Jean-Claude Andruet (who will become later a great rallyman and class winner at LM)... no romance, but the difficulties of a small team, and the fears of a young pilot (rain and night)... I like to re-read it, despite of the fact it was done for middle age child (10-12 years I think)...

[Aysedasi]

In English, I suspect that I'm really a "middle-aged chld", Fab! (At least Mrs. Aysedasi probably thinks so!)

[cybersdorf]

Aren't we all

The trouble with fiction about motor racing is that either it tries to be extra flashy and exciting, and falls back into a soap opera on wheels - which usually turns the racefans away; or they at least aspire to give a truthful picture of what actually goes on in the paddock, and that will then turn everybody else away because it's just not exciting enough. I can't say I really like any of the novels I know about motor racing. But that's probably because I'm a racefan, and will notice blatant inaccuracies. The very early ones - the trashy paperbacks and newspaper "cliffhanger" serials from the 20s or so - are usually the most entertaining because they are refreshingly naive; the bad guy bites the bullet, and the hero wins the race and gets the girl. Today the public knows so much more about what motor racing is (though F1 et al. try to shut them out again) that you just couldn't get away with this anymore.

Besides, the best stories about racing are written by the racing itself - 11th hour heartbreaks at Le Mans, comebacks from the deathbed, nailbiting battles all the way to the chequer (yes they still happen occasionally). And plenty of tragedy. It's tough for fiction to better them. And if you turned them into literature or movies, no-one would believe them.
("Let' see now - this is a 3 hr race, right - and the guy in the black car tries to catch the guy in the yellow car for a whole hour, everyone else drops out until these two are in the lead, and then on the last lap the guy in the yellow car runs out of fuel two corners from the end?? How cliché is that..." - Czech FIA GT round 2002).