Local author and long-term Woking resident Andy Caulfield writes and publishes his work under the pseudonym Cory Y. Standby. Interestingly, his pen name is an anagram of StorybyAndyC!
With a second book ruminating on the horizon, Andy tells us about his debut auto-biographical book, 50! THE LIFE, LOVES & PSYCHE OF A MALE MID-LIFE CRISIS: Volume 1 - The Journey which he originally published in 2015. The book received some great exposure upon publication and was the subject of a Daily Mail article which you can view HERE. Regular readers of this blog are advised to prepare themselves for something very different!
About the book:
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Publisher
: XLIBRIS (5 Mar. 2015)
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Language :
English
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Paperback:
284 pages
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ISBN-10:
1499095880
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ISBN-13:
978-1499095883
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Dimensions
: 15.24 x 1.8 x 22.86 cm
Review of the book
One of the many delights of this book by ‘Cory Y Standby’ – a memoir about his life and lessons to this point of being – is that it is related as a second-person story. British author Andy Caulfield makes his literary debut with this book using Cory Y Standby as a nom de plume, and that is one of the reasons the book works so very well in communicating those aspects of making it to midlife – it is near reportage and thus credible and forgiving at once. And it is hindsight in bloom.
Or as ‘Cory’ explains in the Prologue, ‘The concept of writing this book has been swirling around the author’s head for years. The transition from random thoughts to some kind of outline structure and then actually committing to paper and recounting the tale itself makes an elephant’s gestation period seem like the blink of an eye by comparison. Although it is at the very least a semi-autobiographical tale, all real names have been changed to protect the innocent, especially the extremely guilty. As the saying goes, ‘the truth will out’. Fortunately, the truth is (from a legal perspective) a defence. There is some poetic licence in the telling of the tales, but the facts are accurate, and the incidents recounted are all real events which occurred. No doubt many will speculate as to who, what, when, where, and probably even why – but that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it? This is the story of life. It is about love and relationships, the importance of family, about how real life and human emotions invariably mess each of these up. It looks at death, divorce, and dating; losing loved ones; family feuds and other intertwined issues; grief and stress and how we seek to cope (or spectacularly fail to do so) with all that fate and fortune throws at us on our journey through life. It is a series of personal anecdotes intertwined with the author’s view of the world, both as it happened and especially now that he's older and hopefully much wiser. It is written with the benefit of hindsight. If he’d had such clarity and understanding at the time, much of it would never have happened. But he didn’t. As we all know: ‘To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid’ (Anonymous). The aim has been to strike a balance between the book's main themes and recurring messages, alongside some kind of chronological overview of his life events, particularly his relationships with women. The purpose is to seek to explain why he did what he did, why he made the decisions he made, and if possible, to understand and explain it all more clearly now, looking back with a more rounded view of the world. It is not intended to be hugely introspective or overly personal but more a series of examples to show how to paraphrase the saying, rarely does each element of your life go well at the same time. Many people endure far worse in life; he knows that he has been lucky.’
That is a sample of the manner of the style of communication this book of significant quotations from a wide variety of people along with personal observations/confessions/lessons follows throughout.
He divides his thoughts much as his life has been parcelled: Childhood and Teenage Angst, Deaths and Births: Marriage and Divorce, Drinking and Dating: Secretaries and Strippers, Growing Older: The Penultimate Chapter? But in the end, we know that this confessional/memoir-esque novel will continue as the title names it as Volume 1.
Very fine writing, filled with as much wit as angst, humour as hurt, and so often resulting in ‘Oh yes’ type responses from the reader. Read, reflect, laugh and learn from a man who knows how to communicate – even through a moniker! - Grady Harp, November 2016
See more reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25515792-50
Quickfire Interview
1) When did you start writing 50! THE LIFE, LOVES & PSYCHE OF A MALE MID-LIFE CRISIS: Volume 1 - The Journey?
Late 2014/early2015
2) What was the inspiration behind the book?
My emotional roller coaster ride through life!
3) Can you describe your route to publication from concept to completed novel?
I was told to find a literary agent but got pro forma thanks but no thanks from
so many I decided to self-publish, having been recommended to look into it. I
just kept writing over the months while I was waiting to hear back, so by the time I looked at the self-publishing route, I was nearly finished with the manuscript.
4) What ideas do you have for any future books?
Further Volumes of the story as it unfolds!
5) Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend?
I used Xlibris. I don't know how they compare to others, but they did a decent job of what I wanted then.
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