Very grateful for the reviews on my new book "If Only"

Hello everyone.

I have not blogged for a while, but thought to write a quick blog about the wonderful reviews on Amazon.  It clearly attracts only intelligent and eloquent people. The latest is from Jaideep Prabhu a wonderful; review of IF Only on Amazon.

Here is part of the review Jaideep has written.

"I have just finished reading IF ONLY. I waited until the Christmas break so I could give it my undivided attention and read it in one gulp (as it were).

It’s a wonderful novel, with many different facets that I’m still in the process of digesting.

First of all, it is entertaining. I kept turning the pages, wanting to find out how things were going to turn out. The characters are memorable, as are the worlds Vizinczey describes. He does a brilliant job, for instance, of describing the inner workings of a large business, and all the ruthless machinations of those at the top. He also conveys in many moving ways the ups and downs of a long marriage, especially a childless one."

You can read the rest of the reviews via the link below.

https://goo.gl/rHuWI1

Having such wonderful reviews around Christmas has been a lovely xmas present and can only hope more people provide reviews on Amazon or other sites.

My tribute to A.A. Gill

He was a great writer.  Some of the best writers today are columnists. This discipline of limited space freed them from the waffle that makes most novels unreadable. The book “Prince among the best”, A.A. Gill has an easy read- concise style and at the same time has a twist in every sentence. A.A. Gill’s other book “A.A. Gill is away" - is the best and wittiest travel book ever - it keeps you glued to the page.

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Jeremy Clarkson said that the world is a less intelligent place since he died. I would add that his books will keep in intelligence alive. “A.A. Gill is away” is going to be read for a long time. It is in every bookshop, which means people are asking for it and they will keep asking for it.

He was killed by tobacco at the young age of 62. He quit smoking 15 years ago, but it was already too late. Let his tragic death remind smokers who think they have plenty of time to quit, that tomorrow maybe already too late for them.

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Mark Twain and San Francisco

I think Mark Twain was the greatest ever American writer and seeing readers from San Francisco picking a quote from him following my Pinterest, prompts me to reminiscence. My previous novels In Praise of Older Women and An Innocent Millionaire were world bestsellers – except in the USA – selling more than 7 million copies. (I got some rave reviews in America as well, and sold in the US alone more than 1.5 million copies of my novels, but under the radar so to speak – for reasons which had more to do with politics than literature.)

An Innocent Millionaire portrays corruption in New York, inspired by the villains who were still in power. It was published just before the opening of America’s yearly Book Fare that happened to be in San Francisco that year.

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Harold Evans brought a thousand copies to the Atlantic Monthly Press boutique which booksellers who stopped by could pick up for free. The 1000 copies were picked up within an hour. It was the most spectacular start – unmatched by any other book at the Fair. It was the talk of the day in the huge barn. Harold Evans, my publisher, was in 7th Heaven, but the NY Times in its report of the opening day of the Fair, didn’t even mention that my book was there. It was the beginning of the big silence of the New York media that more or less killed the novel in the USA.

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I got a wonderful review in The San Francisco Chronicle, and all across the country, but these couldn’t overcome the silence of most of the NY media. In Europe and Latin America they claimed I was the new Balzac, some compared the novel to Monte Christo in reverse, while another critic wrote “Vizinczey portrays all the worms of the Big Apple”.

 I don’t like writers who focus their critical eye on the poor and the young – they, by and large, can hurt only themselves and certainly cannot hit back. I focus on worms in power. (“Vizinczey’s NY attorneys make Balzac’s shyster lawyers look like little orphan boys,” wrote a German critic). I make no money from An Innocent Millionaire, it is out of print, but you can pick up a used copy on Amazon quite cheaply.

I hope you will also take a look at my new novel, IF ONLY. It is available only in Britain so far, but Amazon US carries it and you can read sections of it free.

You can view and purchase a copy of my new book here

S.V.

New book released - If Only

I haven't written a blog for years - I lived in my novel If Only, which is finally printed and ready for readers. I revised the novel for decades and now I think it is perfect. Fifty years ago I published In Praise of Older Women myself because no publisher believed in it as much as I did. Now I’m publishing If Only because no publisher believes in it as much as I do.

I am reassured in my high opinion of the novel by the responses I received to the manuscript from preeminent figures in the literary world. Four of them are quoted on the back of the jacket and I am quoting them here as well to give the readers some idea of my best and most accessible work.

“There is so much here it is hard to know where to begin. A high comedy of magic and revenge on earth and in the heavens, IF ONLY seduces the reader into a landscape as recognisable as today’s business pages and as credibly fantastical as Swift or Mark Twain. Jim, the compromised hero, is, like Voltaire’s Candide, a foreigner wherever he goes. Stephen Vizinczey is razor-sharp and fiercely funny as he describes Jim’s adventures in the worlds of old and new money, where the cruelty of ruthless idiots is justified in defence of rewarded greed. Nightmares and visions unravel in translucent, witty prose. Along the way, he shows pity in unexpected places and consistently fights the fight on behalf of the universally threatened: classical music, marriage, literacy and children. Admirers of Vizinczey’s novels and essays have waited a long time for a third novel to match In Praise of Older Women and An Innocent Millionaire, and this, triumphantly, is it.”   MICHAEL RATCLIFFE

“IF ONLY is beautifully written and utterly compulsive. The opening is brilliant and Neb is a wonderful invention. I normally hate everything one can call science fiction but Neb works beautifully, mainly because he’s funny. The novel as whole is dark and bitter. Swift and other great satirists would approve. The description of modern corporate life is masterly. The ghastly Norton sums up everything one hates. As for Ward Bunting… I say dark and bitter (there is a lot of tragedy and unhappiness) but like all good fairy stories it ends happily. CHRISTOPHER SINCLAIR-STEVENSON

“Golden remarks and passages are scattered liberally through the text. The chapters about Comet Claudina and Jim Taylor’s drowning are particularly fine. A Swiftian satire for the hedge fund age. The narrative seems nailed to the floor, highly realistic about people losing their jobs, to the point where an escape from sordid reality makes an impact, and the second part of  the book soars suddenly skywards. The mixture of harsh truths and  escapist fantasy is unique and beguiling.”   GEORGE WALDEN

“I discovered Vizinczey in a bookstore in Strasbourg and was so fascinated that I was determined to become his Italian publisher. Vizinczey has a rare gift: He is able to blend disparate threads of the plot, never uses a word too many; he is incisive and profound; he describes men and, even more impressively, women with a few memorable brush strokes. His new, moving tale is, again, rich in both irony and emotion."   CESARE DE MICHELIS

You can now purchase a copy of my new book via my website at http://www.stephenvizinczey.com/

Readers can lead a rich life without having a lot of money, simply by reading great books. Still, I’m glad I have as few rich readers who are paying £120.00 a copy of the first hardcover edition which is printed in only 100 copies. I hope, both for my sake and their sake, that those hardcovers will be worth a lot more in a few years. The first paperback edition was printed in 5000 copies with a retail price of £14.99. Those who buy the paperback from my website can do so with a click for £12.00, as long as their address is within the UK. For European addresses outside the UK a postal charge of £5.60 has to be added. International mailing charges (i.e. outside Europe) will be £7.50. The retail price of the e-book version is £9.99.