PHOENIXVILLE RISING was not the first title for my new novel.  In fact, that title arrived pretty late in the game. Because the book was not about PHOENIXVILLE.  

Well, it was and it wasn’t. I’ll get to that in a minute.

In the early versions, the book was called IT ALL COMES BACK. One of the novel’s primary themes is shared history.  The story itself moves back and forth in time, between the beginning and end of a steel mill, a timeline in which history often repeats itself.  As it says on the back cover: “the past is always present ...”

IT ALL COMES BACK.  Evocative, purposefully vague. For many early readers, that title worked quite well. 

Now, it’s true, I was writing about Phoenixville, the steel town outside Philadelphia, but because I wanted to avoid being locked into a specific geography or certain landmarks, I fictionalized Phoenixville in that early manuscript.  “Phoenixville” became “Wiltondale” -- named for Elijah Wilton, the (fictional) founder of the iron mill and the Pennsylvania community that arose around it. [Wiltondale, by the way, was the name of the community swimming pool we belonged to when I was a kid in Baltimore.] I needed creative license to rearrange reality. In PRESUMED INNOCENT and his subsequent novels, Scott Turow created Kindle County as a stand-in for Cook County, for much the same reason. Everyone knew he was writing about Chicago, but he didn’t want to be locked in. I got that.

But make no mistake, I was always writing about Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.  Yes, French Creek is a little wider and deeper in my story than it is in reality and I know the Dogwood Festival doesn’t happen in the fall, but I needed these “incorrect” elements in there for creative reasons.  So I changed the town name to Wiltondale and gave myself the freedom to move mountains (literally) at will.  

Then I had a conversation with George Pelecanos, one of my favorite novelists and a guy who writes about Washington D.C. better than anyone. I’ve heard Pelecanos say in some interviews that he is trying to “document” his city through his crime fiction. For Pelecanos, setting is story. So, when I mentioned that I was writing about a fictionalized version of Phoenixville, Pelecanos told me--in polite but very direct terms--that I was making a colossal mistake.  If I had any confidence in my ability to write about setting, then I HAD to write about a real place, not some fictionalized version of a real place.

He was right. Pelecanos is always right.

So, I went back to the manuscript. No, it wasn’t just a matter of a Find & Replace swap of “Wiltondale” with “Phoenixville.” I had to rewrite the entire book, diving deeper into the town, giving the story a real sense of place, bringing out the true Phoenixville.  Readers will find anachronisms in the story -- the Dogwood Festival remains in the fall, the Firebird Festival occurs on the same weekend, and even the fictional founder, Elijah Wilton, still lives -- but for the most part, “Wiltondale” is burned to the ground.

And yes, thanks in part to George Pelecanos, from the ashes of Wiltondale arose PHOENIXVILLE RISING.

PS: Phoenixville itself used to be called Manavon.  But that’s a different story.

Oh yeah!! We have a winner of our very first giveaway for an Advance Reading Copy of my debut novel, PHOENIXVILLE RISING!

CONGRATULATIONS
KIM K. of Pennsylvania!

Your autographed proof edition of PHOENIXVILLE RISING is on its way.  Enjoy the read!

And the rest of you Early Risers, hang in there. More opportunities to win are coming soon. You just have to be on the email list for your chance to win. You are on it, right? If not, go ahead and join right now. No spam, no address sharing, no inappropriate photos. Just good, clean fun. And free books!

Writing a novel is a solitary business. It's all about getting the story out of your head and onto the page. But what about the pictures you have in your head, the images you see as you tell your tale? That's a little trickier. Especially when it comes to the critical design of the book's cover.

Fortunately, I got connected with the immensely talented Larry Geiger of Larry Geiger Design.  I am thrilled with the result -- and judging by the comments we've already received about the cover for PHOENIXVILLE RISING, so are you!  

I thought you'd enjoy reading the story behind this "spectacular" cover ...

Fortunately, I started working with Larry Geiger at Larry Geiger Design. Larry did the terrific cover design for the CHESTER COUNTY FICTION anthology and I loved his work on that book and other creative projects. 

Larry liked my initial concept for the cover--the death and rebirth of a man and a town--so we started looking for stock photographs of a phoenix rising from the ashes. Nothing was quite right.  Everything looked a little too "fantasy" or Tolkien-esque. It was frustrating. We couldn't translate the image in my head onto the page.

Then, Larry suggested he illustrate the firebird himself. 

This was a quick first pass, just to show what he might do. 
I loved it.

This was one of Larry's first full versions of the firebird and I thought it served the critical dual purposes of catching the reader's eye and supporting the novel's theme of rebirth and resurrection.  We tweaked the definition and colors.

At this stage, we also started to play with typefaces and placement.  We liked the feeling of a typeface that was hand-drawn or painted, in keeping with one of my key characters, who is an artist.

We experimented with other fonts and title treatments across the firebird's chest.  We tried different colors as well.  All in an effort to make sure the cover grabbed attention and the title stood out -- especially when shrunken down to postage-stamp size, as it will be on amazon.com.

This was the design that really made it all seem real. Larry texted this to me late one night and I just stared at it. The image I'd had in my head for so many years was now right in front of me. The book finally had a cover. 

There was one remaining issue: although I loved Larry's perfect illustration of Phoenixville's iconic foundry building, I didn't think the silhouette said "milltown" enough.  Still a little more work to do.

I was very fortunate to find a designer who wanted to work in a spirit of collaboration.  One morning, using some of Larry's earlier illustrations as a guide, I drew this silhouette of the milltown I was envisioning and emailed it off to Larry.  We were almost there.

The final result, with the full panorama of the town stretching across the front and back covers.  The image of rebirth/ascension, the milltown silhouette, the treatment of the promotional copy on the back, and of course the majestic firebird ... it all works. And I couldn't be happier!

(Note: There is even a space at the top of the back cover for a quote from a New York Times-bestselling author who read the book.  But you'll have to wait for another blog post to find out more about that!)

Want to get a sneak peek of my debut novel, PHOENIXVILLE RISING, weeks before it hits the shelves? 

Just sign up for the ROBBCADIGAN.COM email list! 

Between now and the October book launch, I'll be sending out occasional emails with the story behind PHOENIXVILLE RISING, news about upcoming readings and signings, and some surprises just for "Early Risers." Simply click on the orange button in the sidebar, fill out the form, and your first email will be on its way. 

I promise I will never spam you or share your email address with anyone else.  And of course you can unsubscribe at any time. But why would you want to?

Just by signing up for the mailing list, you become an "Early Riser" and are automatically entered into a drawing to receive a FREE Advance Reading Copy of PHOENIXVILLE RISING in paperback or ebook. So, what are you waiting for? We'll select a random winner every week or so. Keep watching your mailbox and visit this website from time to time. The next winner could be you!

PHOENIXVILLE RISING is only weeks away!  My debut novel is set for release in October, 2013. The book will be available in trade paperback and ebook from amazon.com and other select retailers.

In PHOENIXVILLE RISING, a man looks back on the hometown he tried to escape and the friends he had back when they were young delinquents just beginning a descent into lives of crime.

The Furnace Boys ruled the abandoned mill after Phoenix Iron & Steel left town. They wasted time with petty crimes and hollow talk about one day getting out. But shoplifting Hershey bars from 7-11 and boosting car radios for spending money was child's play. When a new evil entered the picture, life in Phoenixville took a much darker turn.

Things seemed so much simpler back when the mill was just beginning. When the town was prosperous and the life of a Furnace Boy was spent tending the fires in the new foundry. But when Civil War arrived in Phoenixville, the lives of the original Furnace Boys--and those who loved them--would never be the same.

The beginning and the end of a steel mill, two civil wars, as told through two generations of Furnace Boys. PHOENIXVILLE RISING. No matter how far you run from yesterday, rebirth may be just an illusion.