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Rachel Louise Adams's avatar

I loved this--your description of 1968 is amazing! Is it part of a novel?

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Stuart Smith's avatar

Thank you Rachel!

Yes, or at least, it was part of a novel - Valentine Klimt and the Revolution of Love - until I chopped it out and buried it in the back garden at midnight. It's never easy to kill your darlings.

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Rachel Louise Adams's avatar

Wow, I'd buy the book if I read that title! Maybe it was a digression in the main story, but I hope it turns out to be its own story.

BTW, I just read your bio and died laughing XD ^^

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Stuart Smith's avatar

I should definitely put a health warning on that bio.

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Rachel Louise Adams's avatar

You kill me ^^

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Stuart Smith's avatar

Yes and no ... the Valentine/Valentine's Day connection is a handy start to the story, but her opinion on the whole 'soppy card-fest' and the 'colour' provided by the descriptions of smoggy London work just as effectively sprinkled elsewhere. The darling I still want to resurrect is the bus conductor, who otherwise has no bearing on the plot. Maybe he'll show up in the sequel (Valentine Klimt: From Clapham With Love).

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Rachel Louise Adams's avatar

Hey, you know, for ten years I sat on a deleted scene for a character in one of my teenage-writer years, and I wound up making her a character in my debut novel. Waste doesn't exist in the trade!

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Madeleine Armstrong's avatar

I like this character - hope we get to hear more from her!

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Stuart Smith's avatar

Ah, you goad me into a comment...

I hope so too. Somebody close to me (you can guess who...) keeps telling me to finish one book before I start another. Despire that, I have two Valentine Klimt sequels on the go along with all the other stuff. Call me mad...

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Liz S's avatar

Not mad. Enthusiastic :-)

I too hope to hear more from Valentine.

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