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Nolan Press

Sarah Scharnweber

    “Sure, I want to sell-out, isn’t that the point?”
Billy’s head was down; his fingers continued slapping the keys filling the room with a rhythmic clicking.
“In the end, we are all doing it for a reason – to get paid.”
    Liv tilted her laptop screen down and stared at him from across the table, one dark brown eyebrow raised.
“Are you serious?”
Her mouth hung ajar and her brown eyes begged for an explanation.
    “Of course, I’m serious.
The only reason I write them down is because I think that I’m good enough to be paid for it.
If you don’t want to admit it, that’s fine; but, the bottom line is—we want to make a living doing it.”
    “Sure, I want to make a living doing it, but you have to understand that I wouldn’t be trying to make a living doing something this difficult if I didn’t love the work.”
She huffed, then lifted her computer screen and looked down as if she were going to begin working.
Then she lifted her face again, “You may be nothing more than a worthless sell out, I’m not.
I care about the work and if it sells, great.”
    “Okay.”
Billy muttered under his breath.
“I didn’t mean to piss you off.”
    She turned her brown eyes down to the computer screen as if in shame, “Thanks.”
    “For what?”
Billy’s voice was a bit annoyed, but he forced himself to curb his annoyance.
    “Because you didn’t mean to upset me, I just don’t like the idea that I might be a sell out and I snapped.”
She wasn’t trying to pick the conversation up again, but she didn’t know how to apologize without making an argument for her beliefs.
    “Okay, let’s just drop it.”
He looked back down at his screen and began typing again.
They sat that way, quiet, both of them typing away without a word.
    After a few hours of working in silence, Billy clapped his hands and looked up at Liv, “Finished.”
    “You’re ready to send out your letters?”
Liv was excited.
    Billy nodded, “I’m going to send it out to the places where I can e-query first and then I’ll send the others out when my paycheck comes.
I can send out three tonight.
    He tilted his head back down and began sending e-mails.

#

    The next morning, when Billy checked his e-mail, he had a message from someone that surprised him.
He stared at it for a moment, uncertain of why he would be receiving a message from Nolan Press, Ltd.
He thought about it and couldn’t even remember having sent anything to them, but the subject line read “Your Recent Submission.”
    Billy bounced up and down in his seat while he opened the message and began to read.
He couldn’t believe what it said, but he continued reading all the way to the end.
He stood up in front of his monitor, still staring at the words in front of him for a moment before he realized that he was awake and this was really happening.
    He sat down on the couch, readjusted himself in his seat and began reading the letter aloud to himself:
    Dear, Mr. Chambers,
    We are delighted to say that we would like to read your manuscript.
Nolan Press is a new and upcoming publishing company and we believe that you may be our first break-out artist.
Please, send us some sample chapters immediately. Please send chapters in-line text as we do not open attachments.
    Thank you, again for your interest in our company and we await your prompt response.
    There was no signature at the end of the letter.
    He looked up at the clock, hoping it was late enough to wake Liv.
It wasn’t.
He paced back and forth down the hallway that led to her room for several minutes.
He knew she would want to hear about this, but she was so angry in the morning and he didn’t want to deal with her shit.
He wrestled with the thought for several minutes before he stopped in front of her door and began to knock.
    She groaned from far inside the room, but he pounded on the door harder.
“You have to get up, you have to get up; you have to get up.”
He chanted to her, his voice low, but loud enough to resonate through the door.
    He heard several thumps and then the door opened.
Liv was wrapped in blankets.
“What’s your problem?”
Her voice was flat.
    “Guess who’s a step closer to a sale!”
He giggled.
    “No way.”
Liv rolled her eyes and pushed the door closed, but was blocked by Billy’s foot.
She glared at him.
“I’m not stupid, there’s no way.”
    “That’s what I thought, too, but someone sent me a letter.
It was from some company called Nolan Press; they asked me for sample chapters.”
    “Let me get dressed.”
She rolled her eyes again as she closed the door behind her.

#

    A few minutes later, she stepped up behind the couch and looked over Billy’s shoulder as he opened the email.
    Billy sat quiet while he waited for her to finish reading it.
    She stood upright and then bent back, cracking her spine as she did.
“Well, that’s pretty amazing.”
She leaned back in next to him; her breath warmed his ear.
“You don’t see anything weird about all of this?”
    “It’s weird that they’re interested in my story?
Why do you have to act like that?
It’s not weird; it’s wonderful; I’m going to get to sell-out!”
He puffed his chest up as he proclaimed this and dusted off his non-existent lapel.
    “I just don’t remember this company; did you query them?”
Liv knew that he hadn’t; in fact, she had organized his entire list of publishers and had even been the one to put them in the database for him while he put the finishing touches on his novel.
    “You just don’t want me to succeed before you.”
He was joking, but it held the serious weight of a joke based in reality.
    “Did you send them a query?”
Liv pressed; her eyes wide.
    “No, but that’s not the point; they are going to publish me.”
He seemed as if he didn’t want to admit what they both knew: this wasn’t a normal publisher’s offer.

#

    For the next two days, Billy touted himself as a published author to anyone who would listen.
Liv tried to let him bask in the limelight and enjoy his success, but the prospect of this being some nut who was trying to take advantage of Billy—or worse—was a very real threat.
    It wasn’t long before Billy received as second email that wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic.
    Dear Mr. Chambers.
    We regretfully cannot take this story in its current state.
Due to the large volume of stories that we have already accepted, with male protagonists, we will be unable to publish your story if you continue to have a male main character.
We understand that you work is something of a labor of love and without that love, you would not be working to be a novelist, so if you cannot make the suggested change, we will understand; however, we will have to decline to take your novel if it remains in its current state.
    Thank you again for your time.
    Billy wanted to cry.
He didn’t want to make Danny, his main character, a different person, but he did want to be published.
So, he spent that night and the following night changing Danny to Delinda and masculine pronouns to feminine ones.
    Three mornings later – one week after he finished his story, Billy sent his full manuscript to Nolan Press.

#

    Six days passed before Billy heard from Nolan again.
Though he thought about them daily, he was relieved each day that he didn’t receive anything from them
    When he opened his inbox, his heart dropped to his stomach, this email was serious; it wasn’t from the generic company email; it was from Eric Shore, Contracts Division.
    Billy was excited.
He almost didn’t want to open it alone.
He wanted to go and get Liv before he opened it, but she wasn’t home and he couldn’t wait.
    Dear Mr. Chambers,
    My name is Eric Shore; I work as a contract writer for Nolan Press.
I would like to thank you for your submission, but we require you to make a few changes before you will be offered a contract for your novel.
Please, feel free to look over the comments I have left for you – these should be very reasonable – and if you feel that you can make the suggested changes, we can talk about opportunities.
    We thank you again for your interest in Nolan Press and would like to continue to work with you in the future.
    Billy rested his head in the palm of his hand.
“You just have to do what they ask.
You knew this could happen and you said you’d do whatever it takes.”
    He turned back to his computer and opened the list.
There was a long list of little changes, suggestions that he found mostly realistic. After skimming the list, he found only one problem; with the last suggestion: 376. Kill William.
    He searched the manuscript, looking for a William, but found none and after hours of worrying and searching, figured it must have been a mistake.
He pushed his way through the changes, skipping the final one and deciding it would be best to leave it unmentioned and hope they would overlook it.
    Three hours passed and Billy received another email from Nolan Press; this one was from another member of their staff: Sheila Perkins, Editor.
    Billy closed his eyes and clicked on the message.
He looked up at the wall clock, hoping that he would be able to wait until Liv came home; but it would be a few more hours before that and he didn’t want to wait.
He turned back to his computer screen.
    Dear Mr. Chambers,
    We find it dreadfully upsetting that you were unable to follow the editorial staff’s suggestions.
We would like you to kill William as per editor suggestion, number 376.
As you did not complete this task, we will withdraw our offer.
If you would like to respond to this decision, you can email me at this address.
We are willing to work with you.
    Thank you for your repeated cooperation
    Billy sat on the couch and thought about how he should respond.
After several minutes, he clicked reply and started typing,
    Dear Ms Perkins,
    I thank you for your consideration on this matter.
I apologize for any trouble I may have caused, but I sincerely don’t see a character by this name and feel that it is impossible for me to comply with your request.
If you would like to send me details on this change, I would be glad to oblige and change what is needed.
Please accept my full apologies for this misunderstanding and I am very sorry for any time you have lost due to this issue.
    Billy sat back and closed his eyes.
After only a moment, he heard a familiar noise; he had received a new email.
He lifted his head and looked up.
“Sheila Perkins, Nolan Press, Ltd.”
    He clicked on the email and read it.
It was short and to the point,
    Dear Mr. Chambers,
    We will send details on the editorial suggestion 376: Kill William via courier within the hour.
Thank you for your cooperation.
    Billy laid his head back, closed his eyes and waited for his delivery.

#

    Liv walked into the apartment and put her keys on the table.
She sat her purse down, flipped through the mail and called out to Billy.
“I saw your car out there; why are you so quiet?”
    The apartment was still.
    She looked into the living room.
Billy lay on the couch, his head was cocked back.
She wondered what he had been doing when he passed out there.
    She walked to the couch, readying herself to grab him by the shoulders when she saw the streak of blood that led from his head, down the back of the couch and pooled on the floor beneath him.
    There was a hole in his forehead and his neck was tilted at an unnatural angle; he held a manila envelope against his body.
She slid the manila envelope from under his arm and opened it.
Inside was a single piece of paper with one line typed on it in large print: “#376: Kill William”

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