Bell uses him to illustrate that desperate times call for desperate measures. Can they be physically courageous? Morally courageous?” That is certainly the case with Connor. They are forced then to figure out how to navigate that.” He thrusts his characters into a “situation that spirals out of their control. But Preston could only protect Connor for so long, urging him to “just produce something.”īell says he enjoys creating characters who lead “regular, recognizable lives” until “something tragic happens to them. Preston showed up on Connor's doorstep with Grendel, a leash, and dog food, announcing, “I think he'd be happy living with you.” Indeed, Grendel has been a wonderful companion for Connor, who has regularly taken him on walks in the neighborhoods around the campus. “Preston the Politician,” as folks at the university call him both behind his back and to his face, even gave Grendel, the dog Preston initially rescued from a local shelter for his own family, to Connor, claiming his daughter was allergic. He has also been a good friend, compassionate and patiently giving Connor time and space to work through his grief. Preston White, has been more than Connor's boss. Every time he sits down to write, the same story begins pouring out of him about a mother and child dying in the ocean. “Why would they want a middle-aged guy with a huge blank spot in his publication record?” Connor just hasn't been able to draft a book or even a few stories, understandably struggling just to keep functioning on a daily basis. And it is highly unlikely that any other reputable college will hire him. Without tenure, the university will let him go. Unless he does, he will not be granted tenure. In academia, the rule is “publish or perish.” Connor published a collection of short stories while a graduate student, but has been at the university for seven years without publishing anything. Kill All Your Darlings explores several themes, among them the fact that Connor, a professor beloved by his students who lost his wife, Emily, and Jake, their fifteen-year-old son, suddenly and tragically, has been unable to write. He outlines his novels in order to have a security blanket just in case the book does not go where he plans, noting, “I'm always surprised by things in the book.” The title of his latest novel, kill all your darlings, is actually a quote from William Faulkner, referencing the need for authors to judiciously and, perhaps, ruthlessly, edit their work. in creative writing from the University of Cincinnati. He co-founded and directs that university's Masters in Fine Arts in creative writing program. And bestselling author David Bell explores the lengths to which those in power will go to cover it up.ĭavid Bell has penned ten previous novels, including Somebody I Used to Know, Since She Went Away, Bring Her Home, Somebody's Daughter, Layover, and The Request.Īcademia is a subject with which Bell is familiar since when he's not writing thrillers, he is a professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Sadly, sexual harassment still runs rampant in academia. and risk everything.Īs the body count rises, must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student's manuscript. He can admit he didn't write the book and lose his job. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing campus scandal and faces a dilemma with no good outcome. Connor passed her manuscript off as his own, gambling that she would never return.īut she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, and threatening to expose his deception.Īnd the book implicates him in an unsolved murder that occurred two years ago because of the striking similarities between the crime and Connor's just-published novel. There's just one problem: Connor didn't write the book. But he finally manages to publish his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman. One of English professor Connor Nye's brightest students, Madeline, disappears for two years and is presumed dead.Ĭonnor has been struggling for years to write, still mourning his wife and son.
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