Agent Nat Sobel scouts author Stuart Neville from Thug Lit!

[Josephine Damian]

Stuart Neville, my Prince of Darkness, and the writer formerly known as "Conduit," has landed an agent - and not just any agent - but literary powerhouse and legend, Nat Sobel.

His agency, Sobel Weber Associates, New York, represents a few scribes you might have heard of: James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, American Tabloid), Joseph Wambaugh (The Choirboys, The Onion Field, Hollywood Station), Pulitzer winner Richard Russo (Nobody's Fool, Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs), F.X. Toole (Rope Burns - adapted for the screen as the multi Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby - and Pound for Pound), Robert Jordan (the Wheel of Time series), Tim Dorsey (the Serge Storms series), and many more.

Oh, Nat also loves him some cats. My kind of guy.

And how did Stuart get on the Uber agent’s radar? I’m going to steal a bit of Stuart’s thunder and reveal to my blog peeps that Mr. Sobel scouted him on the Internet. That’s right – a big name agent was scouring the online crime magazines and plucked our man from obscurity. (of course I’ve been singing Stuart’s praises loud and clear since last fall when I first read his work in Agent Nathan’s Bransford’s writing contest). To those of you that don’t believe agents are poking around the world wide web looking for The Next Big Thing – here’s your proof. Here. Is. Your. Proof.

So do stop by and give a big shout out to the literary world’s best and brightest rising star!

http://conduitnovel.blogspot.com/

*shake my booty*

Having already read Stuarts’s manuscript (it already holds the distinction of being only one of four books I liked well enough to finish this year) GHOSTS OF BELFAST, I can tell you it’s nothing by clover ahead for this blessed son of Northern Ireland.

[Dave Zeltserman]

That's a great story--thanks for sharing it.

[Josephine Damian]

Dave, there's been some debate over whether or not agents are poking around the Internet paying attention to our chicken scratchings - this certainly shows that at least one agent is.

And kudos to the ThugLit crew who helped put Stuart on the map.

[Dave Zeltserman]

I know agents look at these web-zines--I've pointed out stories I've published on Hardluck to agents in the past, and in some cases they've contacted the writers.

[John McFetridge]

Thanks for posting this. It's good news for Stuart, of course, and also for online fiction. There's always been a feeling among some that it's giving away writing for free - something we shouldn't encourage. I seen free online fiction as samples of work.

I just read the story. There's a character in it named Eddie Coyle. Nice hat tip to George Higgins.

[Josephine Damian]

John: I had a much touted conversation with Donald Maass where I asked him about blogs and MySpace and if he scouted people online, and he said no. Yes, I get that's not the same as asking him did he read online crime mags - but his reply gave some people the impression that agents were just too busy, too overwhelmed to pay attention to anything writer's post online, so Stuart's news provides a different perspective.

[Josephine Damian]

Angela: I'm thinking ThugLit should rename the joint Schwab's Drugstore. lol