Hi folks, just in relation to the Cape open submissions. In August I received word from Alex Bowler, the editorial director at Cape, stating that he liked my fifty page sample and was keen to see more. In the weeks following that he contacted me several times via email and over the phone discussing the novel. Essentially he loved the first half and thought that the second needed thirty thousand words of surgery. He encouraged me to re-submit in lieu of significant changes. At the end of October I sent the book back to Mr. Bowler having made the fairly radical revisions. In November he told me that he would be looking the book over once again in the lead up to Christmas. It appears my work is on hold pending review of the changes. Lilliput Press in Dublin are also considering the manuscript over the holiday period.
I thought I should chip in on the discussion in light of my experience with Cape. Alex Bowler has been very helpful and encouraging (whilst utterly frank) with me.
The novel is a literary fiction piece set in Bellevue Hospital in New York in 1962. It is called Return of the Man that Never Came Back.
Thanks very much.