{"id":28942,"date":"2012-09-17T06:57:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T11:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=28942"},"modified":"2012-09-18T06:55:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T11:55:33","slug":"van-wert-natives-first-novel-earns-positive-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/09\/17\/van-wert-natives-first-novel-earns-positive-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"VW native’s novel earns good reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Van Wert native Adam McOmber, whose first novel, The White Forest<\/em>, has just been published by Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>
Adam McOmber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The White Forest<\/em> is set in Victorian England and details the relationship between three characters: Jane Silverlake, a young woman who has the ability to sense, and hear, the souls of inanimate objects, and her friends, Madeline Lee and Nathan Ashe.<\/p>\n

The novel explores the relationship between Nathan and the two women, and their ensuing competition for his affections. However, Nathan\u2019s interest in Jane\u2019s \u201cgift\u201d also leads him to associate himself with a cult led by Ariston Day.<\/p>\n

When Nathan suddenly disappears, Jane must infiltrate the cult to find him before it\u2019s too late, while also coming to terms with who she is.<\/p>\n

McOmber, the son of Michael McOmber and Denise (Skevington) Wehri, earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Ohio University and a master\u2019s degree in fine arts from Indiana University in 2001, and has spent the last 10 years teaching creative writing at Columbia College, a small liberal-arts school in Chicago, while also editing the school\u2019s literary magazine.<\/p>\n

Noting that he learned a lot about writing from now-retired VWHS English teacher Elizabeth \u201cBitsi\u201d Clark, McOmber added that the best way to become a good writer is to write \u2026 a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a long time to do,\u201d McOmber has said of developing a unique writing style. \u201cIt took me nearly 10 years to get to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is also a lifelong reader, noting that it was his grandfather, Murray Skevington, who inspired him to read.<\/p>\n

The Van Wert native, who calls his writing style \u201chistoric with a strange fantastic bent,\u201d has used that unique writing \u201cvoice\u201d to create an almost mythological world within an historical setting that early reviews have called \u201cclever and beguiling\u201d and \u201ccommandingly erudite and imaginative.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is also being compared to Edgar Allen Poe, James Joyce and Isek Dinesen because of his dark, Gothic writing style and his use of language and imagery (click here<\/a><\/strong> for more praise of The White Forest<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The cover of The White Forest by Adam McOmber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although McOmber has previously published a well-received book of short stories, entitled This New and Poisonous Air<\/em>, The White Forest<\/em> is his first novel. He said having the book published by a major publishing house has been exciting, as well as a learning experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, I feel really excited about the release of The White Forest,\u201d <\/em>he said. \u201cPublishing a novel like this is something I’ve always dreamed of doing, so I feel like I’ve achieved a personal goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

McOmber added, though, that the process of promoting a book after it is written is also educational.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s amazing when you realize everything involved in putting out a book,\u201d he said, adding that publicity starts many months before a book\u2019s actual release.<\/p>\n

Not only has he already conducted a 30-person \u201cblog tour\u201d, but is currently doing a book-signing tour that began in Chicago at Unabridged Bookstore. A feature spread is also planned in the two major Chicago newspapers, The Tribune<\/em> and Sun Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

McOmber also said he is pleased with his book\u2019s reception so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White Forest<\/em> has been receiving great critical reception,\u201d he noted. \u201cEverywhere from Publishers Weekly to Library Booklist has reviewed the novel very favorably.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has also been a groundswell of positive reviews from independent book bloggers,\u201d McOmber said, adding that he is amazed at how many blogs there are out there today devoted to talking about and reviewing books.<\/p>\n

The Van Wert native is currently working on his second novel, as well as continuing to do publicity for The White Forest,<\/em> and added that he couldn\u2019t be happier with his first big publishing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouchstone, my publisher, has been so great at every step of the way,\u201d McOmber said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Van Wert native Adam McOmber, whose first novel, The White Forest, has just been published by Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone. The White Forest is set in Victorian England and details the relationship between three characters: Jane Silverlake, a young woman who has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-05 13:05:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}