Lies You Wanted to Hear (28 page)

No, I can’t say that there is. Lucy turned out to be a lot more complicated than I had anticipated, so it was interesting to see where she would take me, but I don’t feel any closer to her than I do to Matt. Maybe it’s like having kids; you love each one and couldn’t possibly say which is your favorite.

16.
What’s the next book you’re working on?

It’s a novel called
The
Jukebox
King
, set in 1962 in Pittsburgh, where I grew up. My rock ’n’ roll novel. The protagonist is an inveterate entrepreneur who has a complicated relationship with his wife and two sons. I wrote a draft of it about fifteen years ago. Now I’m having fun revisiting it. There’s a good story there, but I feel like I’m a much better writer now.

I would like to thank the people who helped make this book possible.

My first mentor, the late Andre Dubus, never stopped encouraging me to make my work deeper and richer. Leslie Epstein, writer extraordinaire and poker pal, has been a constant source of advice and laughter.

Don Arbuckle read every draft of
Lies You Wanted to Hear
and occasionally talked me down off the ledge. His belief in my work, along with that of my friends Jack Herlihy, Pete Hogg, John Pennington, and Dan Roble has been unflagging.

Susan Barrett, Nat Butler, Donna Cameron, Joan Crockett, D.A. Hayden, Chris Konys, Jan Levin, Margot Livesey, Amelia McCarthy, Danielle McCarthy, Helen Peluso, Flippy Polikoff, Connie Thomson, Jessica Treadway, and Peter Weinbaum all read drafts of the novel. Their feedback sometimes made me sulk or argue, but their willingness to be honest with me ultimately made this a much better book.

Lt. Brian Grassey of the Natick Police Department assisted me in establishing various points of fact regarding Massachusetts law and procedure. Dale Smith, Linda Champion, and Dell Redington of the Morse Institute Library answered numerous questions, as did Maria Young, the librarian at Memorial Elementary School.

Libby Plum cheerfully printed many versions of the manuscript.

Adriana Flores made sure I got the Spanish right.

Debby Smullyan proved to be an incomparable line editor, rooting out typos that were hidden like termites on every other page.

Simon Lipskar believed in me when so many publishing insiders did not.

Walt Bode challenged me to take the novel to another level and offered insight and guidance every step of the way.

My agent Laura Gross looked me in the eye the first time we met and said quite simply, “This novel will be published.” Her unflagging effort on my behalf has been amazing, and I thank my lucky stars to have found her. Kudos as well to her very efficient assistant, Amaryah Orenstein.

Shana Drehs is just what I wished for in an editor. She has been enthusiastic and responsive, never demanding more from me than she asked of herself. Her suggestions about the text, which ranged from major cuts to small word changes, were wonderfully discerning.

The entire staff at Sourcebooks has been terrific: Katie Anderson, Heather Hall, Heather Moore, Valerie Pierce, Nicole Villeneuve, and the entire production and design team.

My artistic children, Meg, Brett, and Kelly Thomson, have all championed my work over the years and helped me keep the faith. Ditto for my stepsons, Brian and Kevin McCarthy, along with Jodi Sperbeck Thomson and Tim Edwards.

My wife Elizabeth never lost patience with my quixotic undertaking. (Well, almost never.) I cannot thank her enough for her many hours of careful reading and editing, and for her constant love and understanding.

James Whitfield Thomson grew up on the North Side of Pittsburgh and attended Harvard College on scholarship. After graduation he served three years in the Navy as navigator of a supply ship off the coast of Vietnam. Jim earned a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, writing his dissertation on the detective novelist Raymond Chandler. Following a brief stint teaching literature in academia, he joined a start-up venture as a salesman. The company’s rapid success allowed him to retire early and devote himself to writing. He has published stories in a number of literary magazines including
Agni
and
The
Ledge
and has been a Massachusetts Council for the Arts grant recipient. Jim and his wife, Elizabeth, live in a Victorian farmhouse outside of Boston and have five globe-trotting children.
Lies
You
Wanted
to
Hear
is his first published novel. You can find him on Facebook or at
www.jameswhitfieldthomson.com
.