Eight is not enough for Sudbury author Sean Costello, whose eighth published novel “Last Call” hits bookstore shelves on Oct. 17.
The semi-retired anaesthesiologist is already 70 pages into book number nine and is showing no signs of slowing down, with plans to write full time when he leaves the medical profession for good.
“I love nothing more than to write, I'm glad to be semi-retired and can't wait to retire,” said Costello.
“I think that once I have the time I'll be doing like I do on my days off and writing from about nine until four.”
Last Call is a thriller that focuses on a 20-year-old woman named Trish who is being hunted by a savage serial killer. It's described as a story of lost innocence, sociopathic obsession and moral redemption.
A self-described hobby writer, Costello got into the writing game quite late and admits that he only became a lover of reading while he was in medical school.
He went on to write three books while signed to a major publishing deal, but the birth of his son in 1992 was reason for a reevaluation.
“They (publishers) wanted me to be putting out a book per year,” said Costello. “Maybe if I had been in my 20's I would've pursued it, but back in those days the aim was to be putting out a steady stream of writing and I was working 60-hour weeks so it wouldn't have worked.”
Costello went on to publish a pair of books, Sandman and Finders Keepers, independently, as he did with his latest work. The independent avenue is one where Costello says he feels more comfortable, with the absence of deadlines and a more relaxed editing process.
With nearly 30 years of writing under his belt, Costello has seen the writing industry, like many others, go through changes.
“With the advent of electronic books the competition is just crazy, it's tougher and tougher to emerge,” said Costello. “There's promotional things you can do like offer an electronic copy of a book for free then the next one for 99 cents. The other key is to write a series, with recurring characters, but that's never really been my style, each of my books is an independant story with new characters.”
Last Call will be available from Kobo and Amazon, as well as in Chapters in about a week.
Costello will be in store at Chapters on Oct. 17 between noon and 4 p.m. to sign copies of his latest work, he will also be doing a book signing at Coles on Nov. 14 between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
For anyone who isn't familiar with the author's work, he advises that they might not be for children and they come with an R-rating.
“If you're offended by some off-colour language then they might not be for you, but the reviews for the books have been very positive,” said Costello.
For more on Costello's work visit him online at www.seancostello.net.
If you sign up for his mailing list you can get yourself a free copy of Last Call.
