Novels
Some books I'm still trying to sell and/or am still working on:
In All Her Father's Guns, I sought to write an American novel by devising a plot around those issues -- guns, abortion, imperial plutocracy -- that were uniquely controversial in the U.S. as the American Century was coming to an end. Here are a few quotes about this book from writers who've read it...
"I rarely even smile when I read, but All Her Father's Guns had me laughing out loud. It's a wonder that a wit so dry can keep topping its own hilarious invention, page after page. And yet, for all the satirical surrealism of this Englishman's portrait of America, Warner's characters draw you in: they start to breathe, they make you care, and you end up feeling strangely moved. This is truly a distinctive achievement." -- Tamim Ansary
"In All Her Father's Guns, James Warner does to America's political extremes what Tom Wolfe did to the '80s in The Bonfire of the Vanities. Smart, provocative, hilarious." -- Kemble Scott
"You'll love All Her Father's Guns, the story of a venture capitalist and an academic whose words collide. It's full of bizarre and hilarious plot twists and larger-than life characters you won't be able to forget." -- Christine Comaford-Lynch
"I very much enjoyed this satire of the American Nightmare." -- John Grant
"All Her Father's Guns, by James Warner, is a terrific novel. It's literary, rollicking, fast-paced, funny, and deeply moving." -- Frank Baldwin
My reading from this novel at the 2006 Litquake festival was selected to be broadcast on 91.7 KALW as part of a writers' voice special. You can listen to my Litquake reading as played on KALW on the excellent DubLit site.
Another novel I have out there is Amber Versus The Skeleton, kind of an Alice in Wonderland for children of divorce. I'm also close to putting the final touches on an ambitious book about a cult and an Amazonian tribe, and am making headway with the definitive post-9/11 Gothic insect thriller.
Contact: james jameswarner net
"And
faith in the novel has this, at least, in common with faith in
God: in both cases, you can always tell the genuine article
because it will always be riddled with doubt." -- Jonathan
Coe
"Our deep selves welcome our catastrophes." --
John Updike