A Substack Novel Becomes a Book of the Year
+ a song (piano/vocals) about building a Kingdom Anywhere
One Year of Kingdom Anywhere
363 days ago, I wrote a Query Letter to My Substack Community after
and I decided to independently publish my latest novel, The Requisitions, via an imprint we chose to call Kingdom Anywhere.I’d felt a kindred connection to the word “kingdom” since my university days in Vermont, where I first witnessed the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain and the rolling verdant hills that allude to the region known as the Northeast Kingdom … but if Augusta and I chose the name “Kingdom Anywhere” for our indie press, it was because of the kingdom that we decided to build for ourselves.
In early 2020, after spending eight years on a waning manuscript, I rewrote most of The Requisitions during the pandemic. This was a revolutionary time for me because, as many of you know, in Spring 2020, Augusta and I fell in love via text messages and phone calls from across oceans and continents (yes, next year, that book is coming via Kingdom Anywhere; my earliest subscribers know the story starts in a bar).
When Augusta and I finally kissed for the first time five months later at Newark International Airport, we road-tripped around the Northeast and learned a profound yet simple truth:
So long as you believe in AND cultivate love (it’s a verb, not a noun), you can build a kingdom anywhere, global pandemics be damned.
One year onwards, Kingdom Anywhere’s limited edition of The Requisitions is but a memory collector’s item and the global edition is selling well, almost entirely thanks to this Substack community kingdom, which is why
until the end of the year, new paying subscribers will receive an updated edition of The Requisitions:
A Book of the Year Selection
Just a days ago, a fellow Substacker reminded me of a different kind of kingdom—an internal tranquility that has left me at peace with where I am as a novelist after dedicating years to writing (and publishing) The Requisitions in a way that left everything on the page.
The best way I can describe the novel is to defer to somebody wiser than me.
has built a substantial following over the past year via Beyond the Bookshelf, which discusses and illustrates the myriad ways in which In the spring, I was honored to read Matthew’s review of The Requisitions, but his kind words and generous spirit didn’t prepare me for the video he posted a few days ago, in which he chooses The Requisitions as his personal Book of the Year.
“A masterful work of historical metafiction set during WWII, The Requisitions intertwines the lives of individuals in Nazi occupied Poland with a contemporary narrator’s quest to unravel his family’s past. The novel explores complex themes of love, memory, and humanity amidst the devastation of war.”
Below is Matthew’s 4-minute video explaining his choice, and all I can say is thank you, Matthew. I’m deeply humbled and grateful to have met you in this Substack Kingdom last year.
Les Roches Noires
Last summer, I had the pleasure of vacationing with singer/songwriter
in Normandy in a home located next to a famed street called La Rue des Roches Noires (the street of the black rocks).The last morning before boarding the train back to Paris, I sat down at the piano and started improvising a simple tune. The voice memo recording on my phone was called “La Rue des Roches Noires,” and as I continued to play those chords, the song evolved into something else—a memory of crashing waves atop black rocks on Jewell Island, a nature preserve that I discovered while traveling with Augusta in 2020 in Maine.
A few weeks ago, I performed “Les Roches Noires” for the first time at my local Parisian dive, Au Chat Noir, where I first met Augusta on Leap Day, 2020:
Missing from that recording, however, for technical reasons of synchronicity, was “Les Roches Noires,” which is why I’m sharing a newly recorded version with you today.
On December 13 at 9 PM, I’ll be performing another collection of original piano/vocal songs Au Chat Noir. This time, however, I’ll be sharing the stage with
, whose home in Normandy and general songwriting skillz helped inspire “Les Roches Noires.” has written more songs and played more gigs than anybody I know. He shares a song every week on , but since he became the proud father of a joyous baby boy (Ryan wrote a song about Otto), Ryan hasn’t performed a single show for what I believe is the longest period in his life since he started playing gigs as a young teenager.Ryan is breaking that spell next week and it’s an honor to share the stage with him, so if you’re in Paris, come on down to the cellar Au Chat Noir on December 13th around 830pm.
It promises to be a special night. Voilà. That’s about the long and short of it for now.
Below, paying subscribers have access to the the complete lyrics of “Les Roches Noires” + a version w/ improvised blues harmonica (when I start blowing my first note it sounds like the wind and I dig it)
Paying subscribers can also register for Saturday’s Substack Paris Salon, a new monthly series (30 min lecture/30 min discussion) about literary Paris. This month’s subject is based on the recent essay I wrote about Zelda & F. Scott Fitzgerald—we’ll talk about their distinct prose styles, their brief life in France, and the all-too-American price of voting for pursuing wealth power as an end in itself.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of you in the Matrix.
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