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Red Lemonade takes a different approach to publishing. Want proof, you say?
The texts of our published titles are here for you to read, in their entirety. No lame limits. Really!

Time Race

Time Race
Edgar Cayce predicted the return of Atlantis in 1968. What really happened out on the water that year?

Other Works

  1. Happy Talk 2 weeks ago (Published)
  2. Forty Sentences, by Richard Melo. November 2011 1 year ago (Published)
Novels take ages to write. I am slowly, slowly posting chapters of my third novel. These are rough cuts of the first two chapters, and feedback is welcome, appreciated, and taken seriously. In time, the novel will be filled with dark humor, lefty radicals, cult figures, and rock 'n' roll. The early chapters stand on their own, and after Chapter 3, the various characters and plot elements mix together. Chapter 1 starts with a prophecy of the return of Atlantis in 1968, then takes on a completely different direction. Chapter 2 is a love story between members of the Manson Family and Up With People. Edgar Cayce and Charles Manson have off-stage cameos, as do Sea Monkeys. Next chapter appears in December.

Comments

Man, you weren't kidding when you said novels take ages to write. I'm working on one now that I first thought would be finished in time for Halloween, 2011, then Christmas, 2011, but now I'm not even predicting when it will be done. I'm constantly having to overcome the notion that I need to make up for lost time, since I didn't start writing seriously until I was around 50 years old. Of course, that notion is counter-productive. Like looking back at a bear chasing me, it only slows me down.
I hear you. I just blew a February deadline for a playwriting workshop with the same play I was hoping to have ready for the same deadline in February 2011. The good thing is that there's a good rush of endorphins when finishing a substantial project that can help keep writers going, even when days turn into weeks and months.
Sea monkeys! Richard, so far, due to all kinds of other projects, I've only read a small part of your new novel, but it seems very promising and I'm definitely going to read everything you've posted in the near future. Maybe I should do more rewriting online. My tendency is to not post anything until it's almost finished. Kind of anal, I suppose.
Hi Richard, This is a strong chapter. You say early chapter--could be the opening chapter as really pulls me in. It’s also structurally very tight. The Manson references are integrated nicely—we’re told about a Charlie before we know which Charlie. This whole scene is very cinematic. The dialogue is tight and reveals character indirectly. You establish tension well with the threat of the kitchen knife which is contrasted with the “babysitter pretty” girl who is holding it. I just have a small note--sometimes it was little difficult to figure out who was talking. On a re-read I usually got it though. Thanks for sharing this in-progress novel. I hope you will post more chapters. Best of luck with the project. Kathryn
Have any of you read Joan Didion's "The White Album"? It reminds me of Richard.
Thanks, Bill, that is high praise! I read White Album and Slouching Toward Bethlehem just in the last year, and am glad that influence is shining through!
really enjoyed this and hope you'll be posting more chapters
The new novel I'm working on involves hypnotists, dissenters, and rock 'n' roll. This is an early, freestanding chapter from the book that teeters between dark and light until the two become indistinguishable. The first line is one of my favorite sentences I've written, and you won't have to read far to get to the laughs & chills.

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