PRESS RELEASE-------------------------------------------June 15, 2008 9:00 pm
CLQuarterman on behalf of its client, Philip Blackpeat, author of The War of Art,
invited several publishers to participate in an auction for the right to publish his
next novel, 2020, which has already been the subject of speculation in a recent
story in Legal Bisnow entitled “Future Bestseller?”
The new work is snatched from today’s headlines at the end of the American
Empire. 2020 is set in Washington, DC in the year 2020. The US has been
subjugated by the three "lesser" powers of China, India and Russia. The new
Fresh Start party takes over and swiftly puts on trial those responsible for what it
views as the crimes of the displaced regime: preemptive wars and torture. In
addition to the former leaders (including the President and his cabinet), the
defendants include people who merely profited from the old regime, such as
lawyers and lobbyists. The narrator, a Washington lawyer, is one of these
defendants. The story goes through the lawyer’s trial under the new regime and
surprisingly changed environmental conditions, providing totally unexpected twists
and imagining a plausible but frightening future that exposes the very nature of
guilt and evil and challenges its historical treatment.
Select publishers were invited to submit their interest in the manuscript by 5:00 p.
m., Eastern Standard Time, on June 27, 2008. The second round will close by July
7, 2008.
About Mr. Blackpeat's first novel, The War of Art: Kirkus Reviews proclaimed it
“subtle and smart.” The National Herald said it was a tantalizing mix of “political
conspiracy, legal thriller, and art world mystery, which ends with a bang.” The
Legal Times noted that most pleasing about The War of Art was the “wealth of
erudition on display.” The Washington City Paper praised its “twists and turns.”
The New Mystery Reader Magazine declared “this is quite a well-written book with
a fascinating premise.” Odyssey Magazine concluded that Blackpeat is “a new
talent to watch out for.”