Hi, How Are You

An introduction to Cutting the Stone and me, Daniel Parisi

Me with Persephone

Talking about writing a book is a lot like writing a book. You get a similar shiver of accomplishment, of writerly pride. You (sometimes) get the admiration of the people you tell. Every time you talk about writing a book, you take another step toward building a conception of yourself as a writer.

But what you don't get is a finished book. Eventually, the gratification of talking about it will reveal itself to be empty calories. It may taste good, but it ain't the real thing.

For the last five years, I told very few people I was writing a novel. I feared the empty calories, that I would sate my creative urge with false satisfaction but produce nothing. I vowed not to talk about it unless there was something to talk about.

Now there is. I signed with the incomparable Sophia Ramos at New Leaf Literary over the summer and we spent the fall working on my book together. It’s out on submission now and I finally feel comfortable enough to talk about being a writer without feeling like a total poser.

So with that, welcome to Cutting the Stone, a newsletter by me, Daniel Parisi. I plan to use this newsletter for two purposes: to keep you all updated about my books in the future and to write about the various books, movies, and historical/cultural/political ephemera I'm interested in at the moment. The plan is to publish something every two weeks. If you're interested in following my writing, hit the ol’ subscribe button, won’t you?

What you’ll find in this newsletter

• Updates on my novels, behind-the-scenes peeks at the writing and publishing process and any news related to my books and writing career.

• Thoughts on books, film, and other media I’ve enjoyed (or developed an annoyingly strong opinion on).

• My amateur photography and even more amateur illustrations.

• Interesting bits I’ve come across in my research: historical anecdotes, cultural detritus, strange arcana.

• Some occasional advice for writers on how to navigate publishing, if I find I have anything useful to say.

• Pictures of my cat. I know a lot of you freaks will love that.

What you won’t find in this newsletter

• Writing advice, at least in the sense of “How to write compelling characters” or any mention of the word “tropes.” You’re better off figuring that stuff out on your own. I find overly prescriptive writing advice useless. The totality of my writing advice can be boiled down to this: Read a lot. Write a lot. Finish what you start.

• Anything related to my journalism. I have covered the fashion industry for years now and I really like what I do, but you won’t find it here. If you want to read my reporting on the fashion industry, read it on Glossy.

• A paywall. I’m honestly just happy you’re signing up at all. Everything will be free until further notice.

So what’s the book about?

Glad you asked. It's a standalone adult fantasy novel set in a secondary world inspired by the ancient Mediterranean. Here's the query that got me my agent, which I think serves as a fairly good pitch to readers as well.

Nothing comes without sacrifice. Ermes knows this in his bones. As a child, he was strapped to the sacrificial altar with a knife aimed at his heart until he was rescued by the merchant captain Demetria. Twelve years later, Ermes has found an adoptive mother in Demetria and a surrogate family in her crew.

But the cult that nearly killed Ermes as a child hasn’t forgotten him. When one of its members tracks him down again, Demetria lets herself be captured and cuts Ermes loose on the open sea, urging him to forget her and put his past to rest.

Alone and adrift, bleeding from wounds both old and new, Ermes cannot forget the woman who raised him nor the debt he owes her. With the cult behind him, Ermes travels across the scattered islands to find Demetria and learn the true purpose of the ritual that nearly killed him all those years ago — a truth that involves both a sleeping god and Demetria herself.

Ermes finds a kindred soul when he travels alongside a runaway prince. Both men understand what it’s like to be haunted by a bloody past. But just as their relationship begins to deepen, Ermes gets the chance to trade the prince’s life for his best shot at rescuing Demetria. Nothing comes without sacrifice and Ermes is willing to tie himself to the altar to get Demetria back. But is he willing to be the one holding the knife?

ACROSS THE MIDNIGHT SEA combines the tight character focus and Hellenistic setting of Madeline Miller's CIRCE with the grounded approach to secondary world fantasy found in Guy Gavriel Kay's ALL THE SEAS OF THE WORLD.

It's a very personal story and one I've poured many years’ worth of research and work into. I'm proud of it and Sophia believes in it. I hope editors love it and, most importantly, I hope you love it as well.

I’m also hard at work on my next book, a fantasy spy thriller inspired by everything from Umberto Eco to the Dreyfus Affair. I draft and research at the same time and I’m already collecting lots of interesting bits that I plan to write about here, like the dispatches of Russian revolutionary Victor Serge and the false unions set up by the Tsarist secret police in the time before the February Revolution.

If any of that sounds interesting to you, take a look at this convenient subscribe button. Thanks for reading! Talk soon.

Danny