an Italian review of THE DEVIL’S AGENT
Blogger Alex McNab Girola reviews my novella THE DEVIL’S AGENT. Via the wizardry of Google Translate:
Interesting story of medium length, self-produced by Jonathan Moeller, The Devil’s Agent is a variant nice and tasty on “sell your soul to the devil in exchange for success.”
The story mocks all those writers who scorn electronic self-publication, and who think that the only dignity resides in publishing traditional, the classic that we all know…
The Devil’s Agent is funny, well written, an urban fantasy that plays on the foibles of writers, artists and alleged hacks and their many unbearable manias. Among demons, angels, trains passing through the afterlife and Horsemen of the Apocalypse there is little to be bored. The story, while not offering a particularly original plot, manages to get an outline tasty and appealing. Recommended especially to those who think that self-publish is a “choice to losers”
I’m grateful Mr. Girola enjoyed the story, because THE DEVIL’S AGENT is a bit of a meta-joke. Let me explain.
I originally wrote THE DEVIL’S AGENT back in 2003. In its original version, the protagonist, Paul Krieger, makes a pact with the Devil to get his book into print. The Devil rejects Paul’s manuscript as unsuitable for publication, but by attempting to sign the deal, Paul creates a paradox that threatens to destroy several universes. To find out what happens after that, read the story. 🙂
Anyway, I tried unsuccessfully for a couple years to sell the novella, but I eventually gave up and forgot about it.
But 2011 rolled around, and I started doing ebooks. I remembered THE DEVIL’S AGENT, and decided to turn it into an ebook. Of course, nine years had passed, technology had changed, and the novella now had one huge plot hole – why would Paul make a deal with the Devil to publish his book when he could simply self-publish it? So I made some revisions, and turned Paul into the sort of snob who would never self-publish, who would not be satisfied until he had found a “real” publisher to publish his book.
The meta-joke is that all of my books are self-published ebooks, and I have no interest any more in finding a traditional publisher for them. So I am grateful that after almost ten years, THE DEVIL’S AGENT found a reader who enjoyed it.
-JM