After years of writing about television and its makers, I’ve turned to something more personal and inward: The Book of Revelations, a quiet, literary novel that follows one fractured life across decades through changing voices and memories. At its heart is a child whose world collapses in a single night, and the long, uneven aftermath—how absence reshapes identity, how the past refuses to stay buried, and how some promises, made in childhood, wait decades to be kept. It’s a departure from my usual work, more meditative than historical, more concerned with what lingers inside than what appears on screen.
It's my first novel in a decade, and I must admit I've thoroughly enjoyed my return to writing fiction. It was my first writing love, and even though I've been at the television beat for more than fifteen years, fiction remains my favorite type of writing. There's something liberating about building a world from the inside out—starting with the blank page, letting characters speak in fragments, trusting the reader to what's said, and what's left unsaid.
The first draft of The Book of Revelations weighs in at just over 70,000 words. (For comparison, The Electronic Mirror ran a little more than 80,000 words, including the appendix. That's still available, by the way, so if you don't have a copy yet, you know what to do!). Even though it's taken me only four months to write the initial draft, it's a story that's been with me for more than a decade, growing slowly and quietly, much like the life it follows: one careful sentence at a time, no hurry, no spotlight.
As writers like to say, now that the initial version is done, the real work begins: line-by-line editing, Beta readers, revisions, and probably two or three more passes through. Even though authors never like to say that their books are done, eventually The Book of Revelations will go to press, and then, hopefully, to your hands. If you're curious about how it took shape—early drafts, discarded scenes, the small decisions that shaped the final book—sign up for my monthly newsletter on the sidebar. I'll share updates, occasional excerpts, special offers, and the occasional glimpse behind the curtain, always keeping it brief and without clutter. And when the publication date comes, you'll be the first to know! As for what the future holds, I've already got a file full of notes for the next novel, and as long as the Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be working on the initial draft by the end of this year.
In the meantime, as you've noticed, work continues apace here at It's About TV. I won't pretend it's easy working on both projects at the same time; there are times when it feels as if I have very little left to share regarding television, but thanks to the wonders of TV Guide (and a fairly sizable backlog of posts), new posts keep popping up at the rate of four per week. You may have detected an increase in the number of reruns (or "encore presentations," as the business likes to call it), but in choosing them, I've tried to dip into the past, choosing articles from a few years back, ones that might not be quite so familiar to you. I can't promise that it won't continue this year; all I can say is that I'll do my best. Eventually, of course, this grand experiment in mixing television and culture will come to its natural conclusion, but until then, I appreciate your continued support, and as always, I thank you for being here. TV
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