J. Conrad Guest profile picture

J. Conrad Guest

jconradguest

About Me

Robert Porter is enjoying the fruits of success: a best-selling detective novel featuring a hard-nosed detective circa 1947 named Joe January , and a lucrative contract for the sequel. But his world comes crashing down around him when he witnesses his wife’s infidelity.
As Porter sinks into a morass of grief over her abandonment, only one person can help him regain his self-esteem and dignity. One man alone can help Porter set things right... and that person’s name is Joe January . But he doesn't even exist... or does he?
Why the critics are reading January’s Paradigm:
“J. Conrad Guest has taken the heartbreak of sexual betrayal and turned it into a romance-fantasy… Readers will not be able to put it down.” — Current Entertainment Monthly, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“Here is Guest’s sheer mastery of the art: he has created a character who transcends boundaries of reality and fiction, who pops through the shell of the author’s skull and speaks to him…” — Zinta Aistars, LuxEsto, Kalamazoo College alumni magazine and author of three books.
“Prompted by his detective’s instincts and the photograph of a woman who seems strangely familiar, January begins his search for the reasons behind his existence. His quest will take him down numerous and occasionally violent paths: there’s a beast lurking at the periphery of this, Robert Porter’s alternate reality.” — Ellen Tanner Marsh, New York Times best-selling author.
My writing credentials include January’s Paradigm , first published in 1998 by Minerva Press, London, England (see an excerpt in my blog). I've completed One Hot January and January’s Thaw, the second and third books in the January series. Several of my short stories and non-fiction pieces have appeared on Internet publications, including Cezanne’s Carrot, Saucy Vox, Riverwalk Journal and Redbridge Review. Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine published Mother’s Day: Coming to Terms with the Cruelty of Parkinson’s, a memoir chronicling my mother’s battle against Parkinson’s. I also provide manuscript evaluation and editorial services, and am on the editorial staff at insolent rudder.
Edited with GOODFELLA™ CODES

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Other creative types... authors, agents, publishers, musicians

Music:

Most anything that doesn't fit into a box. I've partied with Dave, Chris and Iola Brubeck; Thelonious Monk, one of the founding fathers of Bop; Robert Lamm, since CTA - very much looking forward to his bossa nova project; Brian Setzer and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy for keeping alive the Big Band era; Little Feat for refusing to record music to make the suits happy.

Movies:

Too many to list them all; but a few include The Fisher King - Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, and Amanda Plummer turn in outstanding performances under the direction of Terry Gilliam; Letters From Iwo Jima - Clint Eastwood's masterpiece; Once Upon a Time in the West - Henry Fonda plays the darkest character of his illustrious career, ably supported by Charles Bronson and Jason Robards; Silverado - probably my all time favorite western; Bull Durham - possibly the best baseball film ever made; I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy - Cagney's finest role.

Books:

So many books, so little time: Victory by Joseph Conrad - a classic in any era; Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe; The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre by Dominic Smith; the Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe; The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco; You Know Me Al by Ring Lardner; Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley; The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson; Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke; With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge; Saving Milly: Love, Politics and Parkinson's Disease by Morton Kondracke; Possession by A.S. Byatt.

Heroes:

“Heroes” is a term that I feel is overused, but certainly the world can use more of them. That said, there are a handful of people I admire: Zinta Aistars simply for her wonderful way with the word. Markus Rutens for finding himself and for finding the courage to dream; his sister Lorena for living more life in her twenty-six years than most people do in their entire lifetime. Anyone with the courage to show their patriotism by holding accountable those in office and not just follow the leader. Oh, and retired Red Wing Steve Yzerman — for playing the game the way it was meant to be played: with passion and a sense of fair play; for playing his entire career with one team; for his humbleness both on and off the ice; for being a fine spokesperson for the game; for what he does for the community.

My Blog

Publishing in the 21st Century

I received a rejection letter this week for the new novel I'm shopping  a form letter that apologized for its own informality before it told me, "Thanks but no thanks." I waited approximately six wee...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Thu, 01 May 2008 07:27:00 PST

About Dad

If I could write a letter, to me, and send it back in time to myself at age eight, the subject line would read: Three things you should know about Dad. One: His bark is worse than his bite. His eight...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:41:00 PST

Opening Day!

For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.  Song of Solomon...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:59:00 PST

J. Conrad Guest Joins Staff of Impact Times

J. Conrad Guest has joined the staff of Impact Times magazine, a place where the book of knowledge is rewritten through one article and one picture at a time by people like you and me: writers, p...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:29:00 PST

Hearts Despair

Ryan had been playing Microsoft Hearts for ten years, since he'd gotten his first home computer in 1998  back in the last century  he often mused aloud. When he'd gotten a laptop at work several yea...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:15:00 PST

Writers write

It's been said that writers write because it is what we must do. Yet some writers write for a paycheck. I recently picked up Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. In he...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:52:00 PST

Go Where the Creativity Takes You

It's always a pleasant surprise, when one is working on a major writing project like a novel, when an idea sprouts from virtually nowhere. I tend to do some of my best brainstorming from the comfort ...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:02:00 PST

Sexism in the Cigar Industry

Like it or not, sexism is alive and well in the 21st century. If you don't believe me, just consider the movies Hollywood turned out this year: Superbad, Knocked Up, and The Heartbreak Kid, just to n...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:59:00 PST

Baseball Balm

I'm convinced: Many a war could be avoided if the leaders from nations would only sit down over a cigar and perhaps their favorite evening beverage  bourbon, scotch, wine  to discuss their differen...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:57:00 PST

Running on Faith: Sunday Morning Musings

Many disparage the notion of faith with respect to spirituality, God, and the concept of something beyond death  another plane of existence. Faith in life's tangibles is far easier to wrap our finge...
Posted by J. Conrad Guest on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:25:00 PST