Kosmos

by Adrian Laing

Overview

Expect the unexpected at every turn of the page. Kosmos is a story like no other. Completely different, charming, and an enormous amount of fun." - Cemetery Dance

Rookie barrister George Winsome, young and arrogant, defends an old boy who thinks he’s Merlin on a manslaughter charge. The riotous trial turns Merlin into a celebrity; money, greed and ambition take hold of George and his partner Heather until the secret of Merlin’s past is revealed as the spirit of Saint Yves intervenes to ensure George and Heather follow their true paths.

‘Kosmos’ is a modern-day jury trial, a feel-good love story and a spiritual journey involving Saint Yves, Nemesis and Merlin.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePresses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787580510
Publisher:	Flame Tree Publishing
Publication date:	11/30/2018
Series:	Fiction Without Frontiers
Edition description:	US paperback edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Adrian Laing brings his life-long interest in law, psychology and Arthurian mythology to his fantasy novel Kosmos. He is also the author of an impressive range of other works – from the comprehensive and widely acclaimed biography of his late father R.D. Laing, to the satirical novel Rehab Blues and numerous legal works.

Interviews

What is the book about?
A young, ambitious lawyer whose first trial is a manslaughter case involving an old boy who thinks he is Merlin.

What are the underlying themes?
Ambition, greed, redemption, love, magic.

Did you base your characters on anyone you knew?
Yes, the ‘esteemed pupil master’ in Kosmos is based on my real pupil master, Laurence Giovene. Laurence read an early draft and was so taken by it he was reading passages out loud to his friends at dinner parties.

Nearly every character in the book is based on someone I know (to varying degrees) mainly from my days at the criminal Bar.

Who influenced you most in the writing of the book?
I was encouraged by friends and family from the beginning as well as colleagues from HarperCollins including Eddie Bell and David North. Jonathan Lloyd, MD of Curtis Brown, was very helpful in the book’s early stages.

Is there any advice you can give someone starting to write?
Find whatever route works for you. Keep going. Be prepared to let go of material if needs be, as difficult as that may be. I find it’s easier to create a visual image of a scene before writing. Also, do not underestimate how much work goes into a writing a full-length work of fiction. It really is a long haul.

Where did you write?
At home.

Did you write in silence, or to any particular music?
I prefer absolute silence or as near to it as I can get. Certain noises I can live with for example falling rain. Or a cat purring. But a slow drip of water is a killer to my concentration.

Did you find it hard to write? Or harder to edit your own work?
Not once I’ve got going, it’s the getting into it that’s difficult. Editing is the easy (almost enjoyable) bit; it’s the initial hardcore creativity that’s hard work.

What was it like to be edited by someone else?
If the editor is into the work and is editing in the right spirit, it’s a treat. It’s a relationship thing.

What are you writing now?
I am writing a story about a bipolar politician who becomes PM and goes mad, in the sense of extreme psychosis, whilst in office. I’m trying to keep it serious and not fall into farce.

I am also working up a play ‘The Symposium’ which is an intense dialogue between R.D. Laing, David Cooper, Michel Foucault, Nietzsche and Freud who are waiting outside the Pearly Gates while St. Peter decides who should be let into Heaven and who should go to Hell. (You did ask!).

Editorial Reviews

"Author Laing, a lawyer himself, is of course strong on the nuts, bolts and arcane tool box of the legal system. He also displays an enjoyable relish for the grubby realities of how and where the law and its representatives ply their trade. If you want to know what it feels like to walk into Brixton prison and interview a prisoner in a cell, its sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere then he’s an expert witness. Merlin remains an elusive figure throughout the book, sometimes shambling and mildly pathetic, at others assertive and strong. By degrees we learn to accept him by his own definition and Laing gradually fleshes out a mythological Scottish back story that begins to swell like a rising dawn over the Callanish standing stones. As the novel unfolds we find a moral strand running through Merlin’s Celtic polytheism that asserts itself at a critical moment when grasping financial opportunism threatens to overwhelm George and Heathers' better instincts. At his best, Merlin is an external emblem of our own instinctive inner voice, the one we often ignore to our cost."

Ian Pattison

"Expect the unexpected at every turn of the page. Kosmos is a story like no other. Completely different, charming, and an enormous amount of fun."

Cemetery Dance

"What we have here is a heartwarming tale of redemption, with an absolutely fantastic array of characters, that I already miss, and a brilliantly plotted story, I have to admit. I loved it." - Don Jimmy Reviews

"Expect the unexpected at every turn of the page. Kosmos is a story like no other. Completely different, charming, and an enormous amount of fun." - Cemetery Dance

From the Publisher

"What we have here is a heartwarming tale of redemption, with an absolutely fantastic array of characters, that I already miss, and a brilliantly plotted story, I have to admit. I loved it."

Don Jimmy Reviews

"Adrian Laing has concocted a tale of awe-inspiring wonder. The cover is awesome, but the story is beautiful. I don't read the synopsis before I start books; I go by the book cover alone. It makes the reading experience more exhilarating. I like to live dangerously. For me, KOSMOS is one of the biggest surprises of 2018."

Cedar Hollow Reviews]#