"End of the Line" - The next great American novel?

[Green Bay Paddlers]

I'm not sure.  However, I can't get to his website "www.railtale.com" for some reason.  It seems to have been taken offline?  I sent the author an email inquiring about it. 

[ValleyX]

I wonder how the author is getting along today?

[Green Bay Paddlers]

Just finished the book.  It's quite good and worthy of a read.  I liken it as a cross between "Da Vinici Code," a "Tom Clancey" novel, and "Silver Streak." 

It's definitely a fun summer read.  

[Anonymous]

Kem,

Thanks for the info. I look forward to reading it during those long nights this winter.

Dave

[ValleyX]

You certainly stuck to your guns and believe in what you've done. Doubt that I could make that leap but everyone's situation is different and you must have enough resources to make that leap. Best wishes to you.

[rvos1979]

K. L.,

Looking forward to reading your book, sounds very interesting.

Randy

[Anonymous]

Dave:

Book released end of November if not a little before. You can pre order at Amazon.com with a price of 14.93. If you click through my website to get to Amazon I get another 4%.

Simon and Schuster is the distributer and they have national reach for Barnes and Noble et al. Problem is that the print run is such that there might only be one or two copies at each Barnes and Noble so your best bet is always Amazon.

Thanks for the interest

Kem Parton
Starving author

[Anonymous]

K. L.,

Is the book out already? And is "End of the Line" the title we should look for at the local Barnes and Noble, et al, or is/was that just a working title? And what is the cover price? Thanks.

[Murphy Siding]

Thank You. That was interesting.

[Anonymous]

Enough!

Well, first of all the article is incorrect in that the bad guy is not a fired engineer. One poster said that instead of the same old pablum we ought to tell the story of living conditions for the average railraod workers...well, it does, and that's one of the reasons I've been getting support from the train service employees unions (both UTU, BLE whom I spoke to rousing applause at their conventions, and both unions have given cover quotes for the book).

The reason I wrote the book is that there have been about 5 railroad novels in the last 30 years, all written by non-railroaders, all of them awful in my opinion (For my money the last good railroad flick was Emporor of the North). This book is different.

As to why I was fired. Just about everyone on the railroad I worked at knew I was writing this book. I had vetted it through very senior people over several drafts, any one of them in a position to raise the red flag if there was a problem. I was so assured there wasn't a problem, I was advised it wouldn't be improper to take it to the CEO for a cover quote. I did just that. It was subsequently passed around to a handful of very senior executives who decided after 5 years, when the book was weeks from going to the printers, (and no time for appeasing changes) that they had a problem with it. So I'm told, basically, that they love my work, but if I publi***he book I can't continue to work at the railroad. The choice I had was to buy the rights back from my publisher and kill the book or I would lose my job.

And what did they object to? Some pretty innocuous stuff. They didn't like cubicles being described as "dehumanizing pods" and junior railroad staff called "corporate butt boys." I kept telling them it was fiction, they kept telling me it was about them. They said "we don't screw our customers, work our train service employees to the point of fatigue, and aren't quick to blame the train crews whenever something goes wrong." I said" if you aren't like that, why do you think the book is about you?" Never really got an answer to that unless you count being fired.

For plot purposes, I had to make the railroad in the book ( which is obviously not any existing railroad as it runs coast to coast) bad enough that someone would want revenge.

Thing is, if I'd killed the book and bought off my publisher, what would have stopped the railroad from firing me 2 months later for no particular reason? Then I'd have no job, no book, and be out a considerable amount of money for buying off the publisher. What choice did I really have? It had already been whispered back to me that my friends were being told to distance themselves from me, and their was some general avoidance of other officers. I found out later, according to my union contacts, that my railroad had actually sought the advice of other railroads as to what they should do with me.

Aside from the above, what I was being asked to do just didn't seem right. For the record, I was making good money (I was a Director in labor relations), and I knew at the time it was a horrible financial decision to defy management. But, like I said, it just didn't seem right. Once in a while you have to stand on principle, though doing it to often will bankrupt you.

I've had many railroaders and quite a few journalists who've read the book essentially vouch that, as a thriller, it as as good as any on the market, railroad or no. The product is good enough, but somewhere along the line a first time author has to catch some kind of a break for it to take off. I knew at the time that no one is going to buy a book because it cost some railroader his job (well, a few of the union guys maybe), and that it had to sell on quality. The quality is there is you stop prejudging based on the pablum of the past.

Incidently, I've been trying to get a hold of the editor of Trains to send him a galley copy of the book, but I haven't been able to reach you. If you happen to see this and are interested, my email is [e-mail]

K. L. Parton

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

Creative sarcasm is not for the weak minded.

So what's your excuse???

FOFLMAO...

LC

Tough day in Gym Class, Poindexter?

[Anonymous]

The Numb3rs tv show episode awhile back had a presumed deceased train engineer as the bad guy.

[chad thomas]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

Creative sarcasm is not for the weak minded.

So what's your excuse???

FOFLMAO...

LC

[Anonymous]

The only problem I have with the novel (based on the newswire description) is that the bad guy is a fired engineer. If anything, it would be a fired engineer who would become the hero by outing the corrupt management. The bad guy role would be more aptly portrayed in the form of a management mole ostensibly employed as an engineer.

[Anonymous]

Creative sarcasm is not for the weak minded.

[Train Guy 3]

na

QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding

futuremodal: have you been hittin' the sauce this evening?[:-,]

I think futuremodal hit the sauce before noon today.[:p]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding

futuremodal: have you been hittin' the sauce this evening?[:-,]

Forgot to take his lithium again...

LC

[Anonymous]

Maybe he hit "use or lose" status with his smilies? [shrug]

[Murphy Siding]

futuremodal: have you been hittin' the sauce this evening?[:-,]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by upchuck

DOES BIGFOOT MAKE A CAMEO APPEARANCE?

LOLLZERZ LYK YA HE MAKS A CAMEO APPRNCE N HES LIKE WOH BIG SCARY LOLOLOL```!!!!~!~!!!!111ONE!!!!!ELVN!!!!111! [;)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

I can't tell you how impatient I am for your review. Perhaps you can get an advanced copy of the book.

For you, I'll make a special request. After I peruse the advanced copy, I might just start in on a screenplay, and then we'll have the next great train movie.

If its as good as your posts, it will be in theaters for, oh about 30 seconds...

FOFLMAO...

You MUST be kidding...LOL....

LC

I'm envisioning one of those dinner theater, interactive shows. Locally, they do something like Frank(?) and Tina's wedding, where the crowd gets involved in the story. I'm not the theater type, but if there's dinner and beer involved......[;)]

Good idea. That's a practical way to test out a screenplay and refine it as necessary.

I was thinking of using a little artistic license for such a screenplay.

(The characters mentioned in the following absract are purely fictional, and are not intended to represent actual individuals)

I would develop a character (oh let's see, let's call him/her "Elcee")[}:)] who likes to hide behind the cloak of anonymity whilst shooting orphans[sigh] in the back sniper-style[xx(]. He/she does this all from a secret[X-)] location under a tanker full of urea that somehow got sidetracked in a long abandoned railyard overlooking an orphanage. He/she is assisted in the devious plot to shake down local farmers[C):-)] and coal consumers[:O] (the orphanicide is just a diversion to keep the local "keystone cops"-esque STB agents[%-)] off track) by a local vagrant we'll call, hmmm let's see, how about "Ilky"[D)] who eagerly does the bidding of his evil overseer. The case is finally broken when the ghost[angel] of Casey Jones leads the surviving orphans to the two ne'erdowells, who are subsequently "ballasted"[B)] to oblivion by the gang of enraged orphans[:(!]. The movie ends with a big party[tup][dinner][{(-_-)}] as grain gets shipped out and coal gets shipped in by new rail service providers[alien][alien][alien], while the ghost of Casey Jones[8D] chugs off into the sunset.....

[Anonymous]

Needs a new title, but I wish it well. Theory of "no such thing as bad publicity," after all.

[Murphy Siding]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

I can't tell you how impatient I am for your review. Perhaps you can get an advanced copy of the book.

For you, I'll make a special request. After I peruse the advanced copy, I might just start in on a screenplay, and then we'll have the next great train movie.

If its as good as your posts, it will be in theaters for, oh about 30 seconds...

FOFLMAO...

You MUST be kidding...LOL....

LC

I'm envisioning one of those dinner theater, interactive shows. Locally, they do something like Frank(?) and Tina's wedding, where the crowd gets involved in the story. I'm not the theater type, but if there's dinner and beer involved......[;)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

I can't tell you how impatient I am for your review. Perhaps you can get an advanced copy of the book.

For you, I'll make a special request. After I peruse the advanced copy, I might just start in on a screenplay, and then we'll have the next great train movie.

If its as good as your posts, it will be in theaters for, oh about 30 seconds...

FOFLMAO...

You MUST be kidding...LOL....

LC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

I can't tell you how impatient I am for your review. Perhaps you can get an advanced copy of the book.

For you, I'll make a special request. After I peruse the advanced copy, I might just start in on a screenplay, and then we'll have the next great train movie.

[jeaton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

I can't tell you how impatient I am for your review. Perhaps you can get an advanced copy of the book.

[Anonymous]

So many derogatory opinions, and no one has even read the thing yet! I at least will wait until I read it to decide if it is a worthwhile literary endeavor or fodder de jure for the Bill Moyer types

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

Sounds like the author reached "The End of the Line" himself...

LC

Oh the irony [(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D] too funny