“Kindred Intentions”, the English edition of my action thriller “Affinità d’intenti”, was published six years ago. It was a slightly different novel from my previous ones, as it was the result of a sudden idea and a very quick first draft.
It was the end of October 2013 when I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo again. It’s a challenge against yourself to write 50,000 words of a novel between November 1st and November 30th. The year before I had succeeded with “The Mentor” (of course, I mean the original Italian version of it), the first draft of which I had then completed in the following month, starting from an idea that had been in my head since 2010 and that I had had time to elaborate. But in 2013, I didn’t have the faintest idea what to write.
I don’t
remember exactly when it happened, but at a certain point, I imagined the
opening scene of “Kindred Intentions”,
which starts with a bullet brushing the
head of the protagonist. After thinking about it a bit, I was able to
identify the end of the story, but I was missing everything in between!
Therefore, I threw myself into writing, following a bit the suggestions of the characters (Amelia Jennings and Mike Connor), who find themselves in a situation of danger after another, with few pauses, many people killed and a lot of black humour.
I completed the first draft on 28 November, that is, in just 28 days. I remember that I was so inspired that I was able to produce about 2000 words in just over an hour, so I didn’t have to work so hard to get to the end. Looking back now, it seems impossible to me. The details of the events unfolded in my mind from one day to the next. And it’s no coincidence that this fast-paced novel unfolds in a span of just 24 hours. It doesn’t leave you the time to think, just as I hardly had any when I wrote it, and therefore it tends to surprise the reader with its twists and turns.
Now, seven years after the Italian publication, I decided to revise this book to propose
it in a new edition (the changes
concern only the extra texts, not the novel), with a brand-new cover and a new
format: hardback.
Being not
particularly long and not belonging to any series, it was the best choice to
start experimenting with this format.
I took the opportunity to rework the concept behind the original cover, this time using photos. In this regard, I used the shots by Sandro Williams Photography and Aleksey Sokolenko, bringing them together in a new graphic composition.
The result
is what you see in the first picture.
The other photos are from the Italian edition
in hardback, but the English one is identical, except for the language.
That symbol at the base of the spine is the icon version of my new logo, which will soon appear also on my website, both in this way and in its extended version.
I also added graphic elements inside; in particular, I inserted a small image in the colophon, in the chapter numbers and the drop cap at the beginning of each of them.
My intention was to create a book that was also beautiful to look at as well as to read. And maybe to make it a good gift idea for a thriller enthusiast!
The new hardback edition can be purchased for $17/£13/€16
at Amazon and $17 at Barnes
& Noble.
As for the
e-book, this too was updated to the new edition, both its content and cover, and
is always available at major retailers.
The old cover, which I am fond of, since I drew it myself, remains in the first paperback edition from 2015.
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