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Frank Cotolo
November 21, 2013 |
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Elder Kelder's first book, Destiny Rides Again, is part two of the second book he claims to
be writing, which is Destiny Rides. Why Kelder is writing the sequel to the book he hasn't
written yet is the subject of great concern in today's literary circles.
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I met with Kelder on a few recent occasions to discuss the controversy. I asked him the first time
while we dined at Smulkins on Bainbridge Bay. Kelder ordered clams and I had the sweet Vile Fish.
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"You have shaken up the literary world," I said.
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"Isn't it amazing," Kelder said, "that other writers would be upset that I broke the common thread
of sequels. I would have thought they would be happy because it opened up any number of
possibilities for their own writings."
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"Yes, but writers are peculiar and sometimes traditionally motivated through no fault of their own
but rather by the inspiration that directs them to move as others move."
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"Well," Kelder said, "whatever the hell you meant by that could be important but I just wanted to
write a sequel first and then write the original."
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I rubbed my chin, took a fork full of Vile Fish and said, "But by writing the sequel first you
automatically make the book the original and the second book you write becomes the sequel."
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"In any other book that would be true but in my book, the sequel, that is, the first book, picks
up where the book that hasn't been written, which is part one, ends. So there is no way that when
both books are written that anyone can read the sequel and not feel it is the sequel even though
it was written before the original."
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A week later we met at Baranski's Modular Cafe, west of Standford, and Kelder had the shellfish
soup while I chomped on a Scornsbee Steak sliced on a bed of lettuce.
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"I read the book again," I said to Kelder, "and I am wondering about part one while I am into the
second page of the sequel, I mean the first book you wrote."
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"That was done on purpose," Kelder said. "I need the reader to know nothing about the characters
or the location of the story..."
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"It takes place in Nileville, correct?"
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"That's what you think until you read the second book, which is part one. Then you get the full
picture."
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The next time we met, Kelder felt like Italian food so we went to Amargeddio's in Plainstack, which
is at least fifteen miles from the nearest Slovaky Rest Stop. Kelder ordered pasta with pinagetti
sauce and I had the bolla bena boasta boola.
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"People are picketing your publisher," I told Kelder, "because they love the sequel, that is, the
first book, but protesting the time it is taking for you to write the original because, as one
reader said, and I quote, 'We don't know what is happening in this book but we cannot put it down.'"
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"See," Kelder said, "the first book, which is the second book I will write, is a best seller before
I write it."
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"But all of this will be moot after you write the original because both books will be available.
Then people will read the second book, the sequel you wrote first, second and the second book, the
original, first. So the effect you are aiming to have will not exist."
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"Yes, but what if I don't write the original, that is, the second book, and only let the sequel
exist?"
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It left me speechless and I wondered if Kelder was serious. Either way, it will be fascinating to
find out about the original, that is, the second book he will write, which is temporarily titled
Destiny Rides. Until then, the sequel is available and being optioned as a motion picture,
hat is, as the second motion picture, to follow the first motion picture, which will be a film
version of the book he is yet to write, that is, the original.
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Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme
Cotolo
Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address:
frank@148.ca.
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