Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 187



Only Noblemtl

187.

“Noir Publishing······I see.”

Hearing the familiar word on the pay phone, I raised my finger and scratched my forehead. I couldn’t help but be surprised when the possibility I had suspected turned out to be true.

Late at night.

The darkness that spread out before my eyes reminded me of them.

Noir.

It is a term used to refer to a group of works with a dark atmosphere that deal with crime or social ethics. The word ‘noir’ itself means ‘black’ in French.

I heard that the founder of the company was French.

[Yes, it seems like the author really enjoyed the work. In particular, Henry Smith, who was there with me, talked passionately about the work for almost an hour, so I forgot that it was a business meeting and got excited and started talking too.]

“Well, that’s a relief.”

He said he went to a bar with a bunny girl concept, and he started talking about my novel there. What kind of atmosphere would it be like? I felt it was hard to imagine, and I laughed awkwardly.

‘Henry Smith.’

There are many people in the world with the last name Smith, but as soon as I heard the name, the face of my close roommate, Mr. John Smith, suddenly came to mind.

“So, how do you think things will go?”

[First of all, we will start publishing in the states that overlap with the Sun Belt within the next month······.]

“That quickly?”

[Yes. I heard you were confident.]

“What about the contract?”

[If the author gives permission, we were planning to do it at the meeting tomorrow.]

“······Why do you have to ask for my permission there?”

[When the story of publishing noir came up before, I think your expression hardened for some reason.]

I was amazed at Simon’s words without making a sound.

I think it could have been like that, but it’s amazing that he’s so considerate of people by remembering their expressions in a brief moment.

Is this guy the king of consideration?

“Well, I am a bit worried.”

Even though I had already made up my mind, I paused for a moment before answering.

I thought it was a courtesy to Simon for his consideration.

“Let’s give it a go.”

[I see. I heard that they are aiming to have it published in all major US states by the third or fourth quarter of this year at the latest. Oh, right. I have sent the revised part 2 that I mentioned by mail.]

“Yes······.”

I answered, feeling my shoulders slump slightly.

‘Oh, I don’t want to edit.’

It was a situation where I knew I had to do it as a writer, but I couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

Simon ended the call with a word of encouragement, and after a quick stretch, he went back to his room, thinking back on what he had just said.

‘Noir Publishing.’

Now, I felt like the scale surrounding me was slowly growing bigger.

Get ready to soar beyond your status as a household name within the state of California.

And outside of my control, there are all kinds of companies out there trying to manipulate me into something.

‘For now, it would be better to proceed with the contract with the biggest one among them.’

The flies will naturally fall off on their own. It would be better to take this history with me for the future.

And if it’s only a distribution contract, there’s no way they’ll be able to do much to harass me, so it’s better. Also, as I hoped, I’ll be able to find out how Archibald is working with you.

‘Are you thinking too politically?’

Well, you don’t have to check it yourself, you can just ask Simon or Julia.

Anyway, things are going as planned, so I thought I could focus on the trends of the SF literary awards at the end of the year and continue working on novel-related work.

As I was returning to my dorm room, concluding in that manner, John Smith, who had been sitting in his seat, jumped up like a puppy waiting for its owner.

“Oh my god, you’re here!”

“······okay.”

“Hey, what about my novel?!”

“Sorry, I haven’t read it yet.”

I answered with an expression that didn’t seem at all apologetic, even to myself.

Somehow, John Smith also started writing genre fiction, which made the group even bigger.

The four of us, Rebecca, Kate, and John, decided to hold a genre novel review event together… and I thought it would be more fun than I thought, so I accepted the offer.

“I’ll read it all today and go to bed.”

“Oh, no! You don’t have to force yourself to do that!”

“What? We were all planning to have a review meeting tomorrow anyway.”

I sat down in my seat, chuckling, and picked up the John Smith novel I had placed there in advance.

The title is ‘The Warrior’s Way’. The path of the warrior.

It’s a true classic.

Then, before reading, a thought suddenly occurred to me and I raised my head.

“Oh, John. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Yeah, yeah! The Warrior’s Way is a novel I enjoyed reading······!”

“No, not that one. Your father’s name isn’t Henry Smith, is it?”

“Huh? That’s right. How did you know?”

“············By any chance, Noir Publishing?”

“Yes! My father is the CCO!”

“Your father is really the Chief Creative Officer?”

“huh!”

Master John Smith answers with a bright smile.

This kid······.

‘So you had enough money to stay in a hotel in California for a month or so.’

The moment I realized that what I had been wondering was true and that a plot twist I hadn’t really paid attention to had been unraveled, I couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.

‘Even in a movie or a novel, if coincidences overlap like this, they’d be criticized for being complacent.’

However, it was also an undeniable truth that human life was full of coincidences without any specific hints or foreshadowing.

Life is truly unpredictable.

***

Seeing John love genre novels since he was young, his father always ‘advised’ him to study literature formally if possible.

If you are interested in the field, it would be better to learn proper writing from a professional institution or an authoritative source. Writing is no longer an art but something closer to a manufactured product, so it is definitely helpful to create a career that can be a means to prove yourself and your connections, regardless of your skills. No matter what path you take in the future.

Instead, if possible, avoid becoming a genre novelist. The pay is low, there is a lot of hardship, and success there is as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

Do you understand?

······And John Smith thought that his current situation was not entirely unrelated to his father’s ‘advice’.

John Smith, a freshman creative writing student at Stanford University.

In fact, Stanford’s name was not very big in the American literary world. That’s because Stanford was a research-oriented comprehensive university and did not prioritize literature like the University of Iowa.

However, the value of the Stanford sign itself was so great that it could not be easily ignored.

It’s been about a year since I started attending that university.

John, who grew up in an environment where he had to be exposed to pure literature to an excessive degree due to his father’s ‘recommendation’, tended to write works that were neither here nor there, but rather closer to bizarre works, in every class.

In fact, his novels were harshly criticized by many of his peers.

But I thought I was finding my own way, because at least ‘God’ consistently gave me interesting feedback about John’s writing.

‘Shin’ and ‘SEEN’ at the same time.

A contemporary of John, he was already a hugely successful writer despite his young age, contrary to his father’s ‘advice’ that it would be difficult to succeed as a genre novelist.

His work, which he encountered upon coming to California, greatly inspired John Smith, and naturally led him to take a deeper interest in genre fiction.

But if you write a genre novel and ask for a critique, is this a gathering where God accepts it?

“I can’t stand this!”

John Smith smiles brightly and raises both hands.

In front of him, Rebecca Wong and Kate Moore couldn’t help but be dumbfounded. And their reactions were each in their own style. Rebecca frowned slightly, and Kate just smiled faintly.

After gathering at the cafe, Shin thought as he observed the reactions of the three people who began to differ.

‘Cheerful John Smith is an apex predator.’

He was a nerd who was obsessed with power ratings.

“So, how was everyone’s novel?”

“Ah, um. Yeah. Warrior’s Way?”

“Don’t hesitate to tell me! I get told off a lot in real life!”

John Smith gives a thumbs up.

‘What did they call this? ‘It’s funny.’

God thought calmly again in the somehow vague atmosphere.

‘The Warrior’s Way’.

It was an original genre novel by John Smith, and the genre was sword and sorcery.

The story deals with the confusion and growth experienced by the protagonist, who was the son of an ordinary blacksmith, who admired knights and loved swords, but discovered that he actually had a talent for magic.

The atmosphere was light and filled with anticipation.

God’s first assessment was like that, but the other two people’s thoughts were completely different.

“This isn’t the end, is it?”

John nodded at Rebecca’s question.

“Huh! We haven’t even entered the capital city yet!”

“I guess that’s why. Something, I don’t know.”

Kate looked at the page and placed a hand lightly on her cheek.

The god averted his gaze, trying not to show his displeasure at the gesture that clearly showed his mask.

“And if the main character has a talent for magic, why is the title of the novel ‘The Warrior’s Way’?”

“Oh, I wanted to point that out too.”

Rebecca, sitting across from her, agreed with Kate.

The manuscript John had copied and handed over was densely checked with underlining, circles, and even writing. Shin tried to ignore the countless messages that said, “Why?” written in the middle of it.

“Uh, um. Because the main character wants to be a warrior?”

“why?”

“Being a warrior is every boy’s dream!”

“······I feel like something just doesn’t click.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“······.”

John, who said he could tease me as much as he wanted earlier, quickly becomes sullen.

God, who had mercy on him, finally stepped in to resolve the confusion.

“I think the structure itself is great.”

“Really?!”

“I guess I’m looking forward to how this problem will be resolved, given that the main character is talented in magic, but dreams of becoming a warrior himself. Of course, being a magician is cool, but if the inner conflict that arises from wanting to become a warrior is well resolved, it would be an interesting story.”

“Yeah! Isn’t it cool?!”

“······?”

“huh?”

Rebecca reacts with a surprised look, saying, “Huh?” and Kate smirks disgustingly while wearing a mask.

God explained using the reactions of those two people as examples.

“The problem is that there are people who think this way.”

“······ah.”

“The explanation was vague overall. And actually, for Sword and Sorcery, it was very······ um.”

He wondered how to explain it, and the god frowned for a moment.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised while reading it.

‘The Warrior’s Way’, contrary to its extremely classic title, is a special work that twists the existing sword and sorcery style and clichés of wanting to become a hero.

The problem was that it felt like a unique and strange work in many ways that current readers could not easily accept.

God thought that this work would be even more popular in the future. In a future where novels full of clichés are flooding in, this kind of ‘moderately twisted’ work has become the new mainstream.

‘And since it’s a twisted work, I have to explain it well.’

The most regrettable thing was that the writing itself felt a bit sloppy because that part wasn’t approached cleverly.

I think it might be because I just wrote it down without thinking too much after coming up with an idea.

Still, it had its own charm, and if someone helped it along, it seemed like it had the potential to be a hit in the market.

In addition, the fact that this novel is only in its first chapter was also a factor to consider when reviewing it.

Unlike Rebecca, who had written a complete story, John had written it as if it were the ‘first chapter of a serial novel’. So it was natural that no one would understand it properly. The story suddenly stopped.

After a moment of silence, Rebecca raised her hand.

“Wait a minute, God. I have a question. What is ‘Sword and Sorcery’?”

“It’s a subgenre of fantasy.”

Shin continued his explanation, feeling that somehow this was becoming more and more of a real club activity.

In fact, it is not a perfectly established word, because there is no clear standard for dividing it.

One thing is certain, of all the fantasy genres established in the ‘modern’ era, ‘sword and sorcery’ was the first.

This term was coined by a famous genre literature writer named Fritz Leiber······.

“It is said that the term first appeared in a reply to a letter from Michael Moorcock, who was considering what to name the franchise for the Conan saga, a series of novels written by Robert E. Howard.”

“Teacher, I have a question!”

John Smith was so excited that he threw himself into a skit.

God decided to adjust things appropriately for the time being to set the mood.

“Yeah. What is it, student?”

“Then what is the difference from other fantasies?!”

“The difference is that they mainly deal with heroic epics. That’s why sword and sorcery is sometimes called heroic fantasy. In addition, there are high fantasy, low fantasy, dark fantasy, and various other fantasies, depending on their characteristics. If this continues, ‘toasted goober jam fantasy’ could come out.”

“Hoo.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. Why do you make that distinction?”

Kate Moore answered, pretending to be interested when she wasn’t at all.

“Establishing categories is the most important thing in cultural development. Even in music, it is divided into classical, pop, and jazz, and even within jazz, there are various genres such as swing, bebop, and cool. And each has its own reason for being created and why it became popular in that era. That is called the era’s spirit.”

‘The Conan Saga’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ are completely different works.

Although they are said to be linked together under the framework of fantasy, should we say that the way they express the content and reveal the author’s color is completely different?

If the Conan Saga is a heroic fantasy that deals with the life of the hero Conan, then The Lord of the Rings is a work that focuses on the flow of a large world······I personally thought so.

“Oh, God! Explain in a little more detail! Where do you think the differences between the Conan saga and The Lord of the Rings come from?!”

“hmm.”

The god, who had been thinking for a moment, opened his mouth.

I think this much would be okay as a hint.

“I heard that Robert E. Howard was bullied as a child?”

“······.”

“······.”

The atmosphere becomes solemn for a moment.

God continued speaking as if to relieve it.

“So, I think he thought that in order to overcome the various hardships that come with life, you need to have big, beautiful muscles and strength. As a result, he created the barbarian character ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ and when that character became widely known through comics, he became a beacon of hope for many bullied boys across America.”

Vicarious satisfaction.

It is a term that is commonly used, but few people truly understand its depth.

“Tolkien’s works are like that too. They are about good overcoming the hardships of evil and achieving peace and happiness. Even if we leave aside the profound settings of his works, I think his works provided hope and a little joy to people who were experiencing all kinds of wars and awe and fear of nature at the time. Tolkien himself must have grown up in that kind of environment.”

Before they knew it, everyone was silently listening to what God was saying. Starting with John, Rebecca, and even Kate, who had been secretly indifferent to the topic of swords and sorcery.

An explanation so fluent that you can even feel a slight sense of distance.

His deep insight into his field of expertise and the way he confidently expressed his arguments based on it gave three people an instantaneous awakening.

‘Ah, this is what a real writer is like.’

John Smith.

‘I underestimated the field of genre.’

Rebecca Wong.

‘This kid really······. I hate to admit it, but I think he definitely has his own standards.’

Even Kate Moore.

In the midst of all this, God glanced at John and said.

“In other words, genre is the embodiment of desire. So I think that in order to properly use genre, you have to think about what desire you want to express. In that sense, I want to ask this question. John, what kind of desire did you have as a writer when you wrote this novel?”

“······Shit.”

John couldn’t hide his excitement, and he raised his hand and ruffled his hair.

And as they pondered God’s words, Rebecca and Kate also looked deeply troubled.

Looking at them, God thought.

‘And how you convey your desires is also very important.’

As I was talking about genre theory to lighten the mood of the discussion, I naturally felt a desire to quickly revise ‘Country of Loser: Part 2’.