Craig Russell is well known in Brandon as a lawyer, actor and director of plays, and now, he can add novelist to that that list. His first foray in young adult fiction has been successful. "Black Bottle Man" was picked up by Great Plains Publications, one of four publishers that Russell approached with his manuscript.
"He's quite an amazing talent," said Great Plains Publications editor Anita Daher. "He's got such a sense of story. I'm very excited about his book coming out."
Thanks to her support, the novel underwent very few changes and was published within months, rather than years as is usually the norm.
"It was such a clean manuscript. It only needed a few months of going back and forth, and it was ready for publication. What was fast was the decision-making. From the very first read, it absolutely blew me away," she said. "It was one of those stories that I wanted to read from
beginning right through to the end."
She describes "Black Bottle Man" as very original with a distinctive and strong main character, great pacing, balance and very clean language.
"It isn't what you usually see in a first-time author," Daher said. "We sat down at an editorial meeting and I said: 'I love this!' and the boss said: 'Well, that's good enough for me.'"
Novelist Craig Russell will give a reading of "Black Bottle Man" at Pennywise Books, 1031 Rosser Ave., at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, April 28.
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