This past weekend, my novel ‘A Vast, Untethered Ocean’ debuted! I was overwhelmed by the positive response and support that I received from readers. I’ve included the author’s note that introduces the novel below:
Every story I’ve ever written has come with an “Aha!” moment—a deciding event in which I realize, quite suddenly, “I’m going to write this book.” Although I can’t remember the date, I know when that moment occurred for A Vast, Untethered Ocean. It was roughly 5:45 AM as I was homeward bound on my morning run. I heard a line spoken in my ear by the main character as he addressed his husband, perhaps the most important line in the entire story which succinctly summarizes the entire purpose of our protagonist’s journey. I stopped running to look around, the sun just beginning to show signs of rising, and thought, “that’s it.”
Not only did the line I heard make it through every round of editing (thankfully), but that experience became a theme of sorts for Brooklyn’s story. Life is a flurry of events, some of which you remember because they’re BIG and IMPORTANT, some of which you forget because they’re mundane—and others which are so fleetingly insignificant that, naturally, you remember them forever. Everything gets muddled up and you can’t recall exactly what happened when or which way you’re going to go now. But every so often, you get a moment of perfect clarity (hopefully), and a few more things make sense to you.
This is a book about grief. It’s also a book about figuring things out. It’s about thinking you were going to be an astronaut, but becoming a machinist instead. Thinking you were always going to have someone by your side and then waking up one morning to discover they’re gone forever. I don’t need to tell you that life is full of the unexpected. You’ve probably figured that out for yourself. But I hope through all the muddled memories, the twists and turns, and the indecision; that the people you encounter in your life bring you moments of clarity which help you see the way forward.
Whether they be real people—as they so often are for most—or a voice in your head on a late summer morning.
RD Pires 