It’s here! It’s finally here! After six-plus years of writing and rewriting, the Silent Symphony is finally available for purchase!
This novel is quite different to the Bright Report series – those are short stories with a heavy humour angle. The Symphony is a different beast. While there are moments of comedy between friends, on the whole, it is a serious affair.
So, what is the Silent Symphony?
The Symphony defies conventional definitions of genre (which only really serves to organize a book store – in my opinion) – therefore the best way to classify it is: Literary Fiction.
This is a dangerous term. Mostly because some people call this ‘serious fiction’ while others call it ‘snobby fiction’. The literal definition is “work with literary merit” – this is not for me to decide at all. I want none of that. To me, Literary Fiction chases a central idea/concept/metaphor/message without relying on genre tropes.
Central Theme of the Symphony
I wanted to explore the intersection of art and truth – especially when truth is altered, and artistic expression is suppressed. I wanted a narrative with hidden elements and references. Especially the kind of situations where understanding the reference was key to unlocking the secret.
I wanted to write a book where – at the end – a big secret is revealed, you can read it again and realize that the clues were there all the time.
After many iterations and struggles, I think I achieved this and more. It’s up to you to judge if it was successful.
I don’t want to give anything away – not just yet. Suffice to say, a knowledge of the classics – Greek mythology will help you…unlock some doors.
On that note, I might release a special edition or something with an appendix (or annotations) discussing/revealing these secrets. Let’s see how it goes.
Similar Books
Now we have genre. The next thing people want to know is: are there similar books? If I like this and this, will I like your writing?
This is another tricky question to answer. In terms of the narrator – think The Book Thief. Death doesn’t narrate this, but it is close – as we shall shortly see. As for plot … this is tricky … think Rent meets Midnight’s Children (minus the superpowers, plus the politics) meets the slowly building melancholy of Catcher in the Rye. It’s really not exactly like one of these things, but that should give you some idea.
Part of me feels that if there was a book exactly like Symphony, I would not have bothered writing it.
The Music of the Symphony
To create additional meaning (and to sprinkle additional clues), each chapter is titled with a song. These aren’t just for show. The lyrics of the song is relevant to some extent – thematically or metaphorically. It’s hard to explain without giving too much away.
To get a taste of the songs in the Symphony, find the playlist here.
Preview Chapters
As I did with the Bright Report, I did a wonky book launch where I discussed some of the above and read two preview chapters. Check out the video below and let me know what you think.
Over to you
What do you think? Are you interested in the Silent Symphony? Please share your thoughts below. If you have a friend or two who might be interested in this kind of thing, I would appreciate a share.
The novel is available in Paperback and Amazon Kindle. Additionally, it is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Cannot wait to get my copy