Bio
I grew up in Lexington, Virginia. I received an English degree from Columbia University and a Finance MBA from NYU.Once a film scout for Paramount Pictures, I have worked in business development and strategy roles at the New York Times advertising group and The Nielsen Company. I am now a strategy executive at social media technology company The Pluck Corporation.
I live in New York City with my wife and son.
Please drop me a note. I’d especially love to hear from anyone who enjoyed the book; folks from reading groups, schools, and bookstores; or anyone wanting to share a scary story, or a research gem to place on the site: justin@justinevans.com
A few friends who helped
Writing a novel can feel like a group project. Here are some folks who helped me immensely:Holley Bishop
Holley read the book and over a salad, on a bright April day, gently pointed out the obvious: “Justin, if the book is in the first person—shouldn’t you cut these four chapters told in the third person?” She saved me from a basic and stupid error, and also helped cut the book by forty pages. Holley’s book about honey, Robbing the Bees, has sold more copies than I can dream of, and was very well-reviewed to boot.
Heather Byer
Heather read the very first draft and was a thorough, frank, and invaluable editor. She made two comments I still chuckle over. First, I had connected the hallucinatory “Friend” to young George’s memory of a Halloween costume, and as a result chose to name the doppleganger, in a climactic passage, “Devilmask.” Heather wrote in large pencil letters: “BIG MISTAKE.” As a result I picked the less florid moniker “my Friend.” At another point—in one of the scenes at Tom Harris’s house—I chose to take a prolonged detour of the dead father’s college career, the backstory on Finley Balcomb, etc. You even meet Finley’s wife, a blonde with large breasts. Heather’s marginal note read “This brings your story to a screeching, grinding halt.” Out went another forty pages. Heather’s pool memoir, Sweet, is an delightful, revealing read.
Jim Piazza
Jim and I would have editorial sessions over pints of beer at Café un Deux Trois, in the theater district of NYC, near where we used to work together at Paramount. Check out Jim’s latest book.
The book “Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice for Writers,” by Besty Lerner, was a critical starting point for this book. I recommend it to any writer, pro or am.
