Michael Lindsay's 'Faith in the Halls of Power' And he was a fun character to write, probably the most fun I've had so far as a writer.Read an excerpt from The Poe Shadow and learn more about the book at Pearl's website.Ĭheck out the MySpace page for Quentin Clark, the protagonist of The Poe Shadow. The Baron's announcement 'I am the one' helps me bring out themes of the complex and sometimes messy relationship between literature and reality (is there a real Dupin? Must there be one? Can there be two?), and also the question of who controls a literary property once an author dies, something that's always interested me. 'But I am the real Dupin - I am the one you have sought all along.' He pressed his hands together as though in prayer, then let them curl into a double fist. 'I can tell, Monsieur Quentin, you have got yourself in an awkward position,' Dupin said.

Page ninety-nine occurs during the introduction of the second 'Dupin,' the contender for the title named Baron Claude Dupin. What made me want to tell this story was the idea that there would be two characters who claimed to be that real Dupin. Auguste Dupin, to investigate Poe's death. The Poe Shadow takes place between 18 and focuses on a fan of Edgar Allan Poe named Quentin Clark who wants to recruit the 'real' model for Poe's detective hero, C. That was chapter nine for this (wow, page ninety-nine comes in chapter nine - how about that numerology!).

What do I mean?įor each of my novels so far, there has been a scene that sneaks into my head early on in the writing process (or even in the outlining stage) that epitomizes the novel as a whole for me and helps me nail down the tone, style, and plot that I want. Ford, The Poe Shadow's paperback 99 lands in my 'epitome' scene. Still, I'm happy to say, out of coincidence or hypnotic deference to Mr. Actually, when writing a book you have little sense, if any, of what page anything might end up on, because of unknown fonts and layouts to be chosen by the publisher, and because continuous editing until the book is finally printed. And, hey, it is one of my favorite parts of the book! I didn't plan that. There are actually two different page ninety-nines for The Poe Shadow - in the hardcover and in the paperback - but because the paperback is out more recently, let's stick with paperback 99. Pearl applied the ' Test' to The Poe Shadow and reported the following: His highly anticipated second novel, The Poe Shadow is another New York Times and international bestseller. Matthew Pearl's debut novel, The Dante Club, has been an international bestseller translated into more than 30 languages.

The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl