Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air profile picture

Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air

A novel about love, memory, and 'ghosts'

About Me



About the author, Ronlyn Domingue
I was born and raised in South Louisiana, a place where the weather and the people are equally warm. I’ve worked as a grassroots organizer, project manager, grant writer, and teacher. A few of my short pieces have appeared in New England Review, Clackamas Literary Review, New Delta Review, and The Independent (UK). These days, I’m working on my second novel. (Thanks to Ganesh and St. Jude for requests granted.)
About the novel, The Mercy of Thin Air
New Orleans, 1920s. Raziela Nolan is in the throes of a magnificent love affair when she dies in a tragic accident. In an instant, she leaves behind her one true love and her dream of becoming a doctor--but somehow, she still remains. Immediately after her death, Razi chooses to stay between--a realm that exists after life and before whatever lies beyond it.
Seventy-five years later, in this ghost-like state, Razi takes residence with a troubled couple whose history mirrors her own. Her intervention in their lives forces her to face the truth of what happened to her beloved Andrew and the nature of her very existence.
Part love story, part ghost story, The Mercy of Thin Air is an exploration of our fragile human lives and memories.
Kudos
Finalist for the 2005 Borders Original Voices Award....
Book Sense Pick....Redbook Magazine RedBook Club Pick....Acquired in 11 other countries (see slide show above for jacket covers)....For more info, visit www.ronlyndomingue.com.
"This is that rarest of first novels--a truly original voice, and a truly original story."
--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of The Tenth Circle
"[E]ntrancing and ethereal."
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Through the alchemy of Domingue's rich, lovely prose we are transported back and forth through time."
--The Boston Globe
"Filled with vivid descriptions of . . . marvelous human sensations that people take for granted and that spirits can only wistfully recall, this is a novel that gets under ones skin."
--Library Journal (starred review)
"[A]n engaging tale. . . . In each plot, so different in time and place, Domingue takes a probing look at what produces strong and independent women."
--Booklist
"Domingue's vision of the shifting, shadowy world of the dead is convincing and surprisingly affecting . . . and stays just the right side of romantic."
--Daily Mail (London)
"Love and death come together in a mysterious union. Wonderful."
--Elle Magazine (Germany)
"I am 200lb tattooed ex-biker. . .that has no spiritual beliefs other than I believe in love. Your book made me cry so, it passed my test."
--Gerald in Illinois (fave reader comment to date)
Find it
If you have a local independent bookstore, please stop by to visit. Check out Book Sense to find a store near you. Another indie option, who runs with the big dogs, is Powell’s Books. And of course, there’s good old Amazon.com or your .. seller of choice.
For aspiring or soon-to-be debut fiction writers
Thoughts and tips are available on the For Writers page of my website. Hope it’s helpful.

My Interests

Andrew O'Connell. . . science.. . .psychology. . .physics. . . good books. . . short skirts. . . women's rights. . . feminism. . . rabblerousing

I'd like to meet:

Sigmund Freud

Music:

Jazz

Movies:

Anything with Charlie Chaplin

Books:

The Mercy of Thin Air
FAVORITES, in no particular order
Margaret Atwood (several)
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
F. Scott Fitzgerald (surprise...)
Housekeeping
by Marilynne Robinson
I, Lucifer
by Glen Duncan
For Her Own Good
by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English
A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeline L'Engle
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
The Fountainhead
by Ayn Rand
The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
John Irving (a few)
A Recent Martyr
by Valerie Martin
The Ogre by Michel Tournier
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
A String in the Harp
by Nancy Bond
Catfish and Mandala
by Andrew X. Pham
Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century
by Jonathan Glover
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Mark Helprin (especially short stories)

Heroes:

Suffragettes, birth control advocates, my mother

My Blog

My Book, The Movie

Naw, I don't have an option deal. Not even close. I was asked to submit a musing about who I'd like to see play what roles if The Mercy of Thin Air were made into a movie. Check out the My Book,...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Fri, 08 Jun 2007 04:27:00 PST

Promise to Feltus, on Death Row---publisher sought

I stood with my hand on the cold gurney-gray metal shelf under the screen separating us, trying for the third time to leave. He was in the closet-sized room opposite me. The bulb was out above his hea...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:40:00 PST

Inside the Mind of River Jordan

Last summer, River Jordan and I met at the author party before the Book Group Expo kicked off. We might have met earlier in the evening had we not glued ourselves to the respective small groups we ...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:22:00 PST

Download a reading...podcast for The Mercy of Thin Air

Ah, technology! You can download a podcast of me reading from The Mercy of Thin Air. Thanks to Paul A. Toth--who was great to talk with off-tape about the trials of the writing life--for inviting me t...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Sat, 31 Mar 2007 06:13:00 PST

The scent of book writing

There's comfort in ritual. Or at least familiarity, which is a prized scrap I'll chew to paste as this second novel develops. Like with the first novel, I'm prone to story revelations right before yo...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Sat, 31 Mar 2007 11:14:00 PST

Ultra-Lite entry: Hes real (enough) / Pulpwood Queens

FLESHED OUT? I've had readers tell me that they loved Andrew O'Connell, the main male character in MERCY, but I never expected to see what a recent cyberstalk of the book revealed. Visit the Booklust ...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:41:00 PST

Craft or conjure?

At the start of each semester, Jim Bennett, one of my former professors, tells his students that characters are galley slaves; they do what you tell them. I bristled the first time I heard this becaus...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:55:00 PST

Plagiarism and the pivot point

A familiar rhythm has set in with my work on the second novel. That is, there's little else I have interest in, other than the new book. My calendar has begun to look like the one I kept while writing...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:42:00 PST

Karma and the one-star review

A couple of weeks ago, I popped on Amazon to look up a novel I wanted my independent bookseller to get for me. (This is my M.O. I look up an ISBN, call him to order the book, and pick it up from his s...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:29:00 PST

Root Beer Revelation: DO BOOK TOURS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Day 29 on the Paperback Tour: Natchez, MS   When I ordered lunch that day, I opted for root beer instead of my usual water. Seriously, I hadn't had one all by myself in years. The bottle traveled...
Posted by Razi, from The Mercy of Thin Air on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:04:00 PST