Colorado Springs, CO. This nice lady, Roxy, bought both my book and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. She said, “I hope they don’t both give me nightmares.”

Here we are, Pub Day! The Longest Night hits bookshelves today. It feels strange and exciting to finally reach this point. I started writing when I was about five years old. I have wanted to be a novelist ever since that time, and it took about three decades, but it’s happened.

The run-up to publication has been a happy one, with The Longest Night named a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Authors” pick and the Amazon “Featured Debut” for January 2016. I’m very grateful for all this, but the book would be nothing without the most important folks of all — the READERS! So thank you for your interest, thank you for reading, thank you for your love of what I think is some of the best stuff in the world: books, and talking about them.

For more on The Longest Night and my writing process, check out a piece I wrote yesterday for Medium.com (“Men at Work: The Unexpected Freedom of Writing Male Characters“), read a review I just love on Peter Molin’s fabulous blog Time Now, and read an interview with me on Deborah Kalb’s “Book Q&A” blog.

The Longest Night is available at your local independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble, and through Amazon as a new release/pick of the month! (Ten bucks off the hardcover right now– don’t miss it!)

Big thanks to everyone who’s read, commented, or posted reviews – I’m grateful for all of it.

-Andria

A few folks have mentioned to me that they’d like to give a copy of The Longest Night as a gift for the holidays, but there’s one wrinkle — the book comes out 2 1/2 weeks after Christmas. Should you find yourself in this terrible bind, I have a solution!

I’ve made up these nice, glossy little cards you can give in a box or envelope letting someone know that you’ve pre-ordered them a copy and that as soon as the book comes out in print on January 12th, one will be sent their way.

I’m sending these out as a courtesy so if you would like any, just drop me a line at longestnightbookclubs@yahoo.com. I’ll pop them in the mail for you. I can write a note to the recipient as well.

Happy Holidays!

Spotted on Pinterest: A young woman with impeccable taste in bangle bracelets, shoes, and — in my humble opinion — literature!
“I am enjoying the beautiful Fall day outside and nearing the end of The Longest Night by Andria Williams. What an interesting story….my kind of book.”

Enjoy the Fall weather, kind reader, and your book!

“It’s hard to believe The Longest Night is Andria Williams’s debut novel. Her command of language, character, and plot—the three essential ingredients for a riveting read—is extraordinary. The Longest Night is about the fragility of a marriage, a Cold War nuclear accident on the plains of Idaho, and the stresses on a military family during deployment, and it takes on each of those things with all the robust storytelling energy of the great Russian novelists of the nineteenth century. This is the book I will be pressing into my friends’ hands this year when they ask me what they should be reading.”—David Abrams, author of Fobbit

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I’m grateful to David Abrams (author of the hilarious, brilliant Fobbit and the man behind The Quivering Pen, a terrific blog about books) for these kind words. He also listed The Longest Night as one of his “Favorite Books of 2015 (So Far)” — I’ll gladly tolerate his slight cheating on my little book’s behalf even though it doesn’t technically come out ’til early 2016. I love how he paired a quote with the cover image:

The Longest Night
by Andria Williams

It was improper to be lonely; it was improper to be bored; it was improper, most of all, to be filled with anything like longing.

It caught me by surprise — in a good way! Blogger, reader, writer, runner, teacher extraordinaire Amy Bermudez (author of the popular blog Army Amy) reviewed ‘The Longest Night’ and made my day. Her thoughts? See for yourself here… and thank you for reading, Amy!

Huge thanks to anyone who stopped by here on the suggestion of Siobhan Fallon — one of my favorite writers and an invaluable supporter of military spouses. I’m the author of a novel called THE LONGEST NIGHT (Random House, 2016).

THE LONGEST NIGHT is set in Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1959. A young Army nuclear specialist named Paul Collier arrives in Idaho with his family — wife Nat and two young daughters — in tow. Fresh out of reactor school at Ft. Belvoir, he’s been assigned to a small training reactor at the Idaho testing station. It should be a fairly straightforward job, but his incompetent boss, Sgt. Richards, causes a world of trouble for Paul while his boss’s unhappy wife, Jeannie, makes life hard for Nat. When Paul’s suddenly sent on deployment, Nat’s loneliness — and the prying eyes of the Richardses — threaten her marriage, while problems at the reactor pose danger for the whole town.

While a work of fiction, THE LONGEST NIGHT is based around events that unfolded at the SL-1 reactor in Idaho Falls on January 3rd, 1961 — the U.S.’s first and only fatal nuclear reactor accident.

David R. Gillham, author of City of Women, has said, “The author’s thrilling storyline will keep you turning the pages, while her ability to inject a sharp dose of hope, fear and desire into the most innocent of scenes will take you captive. I loved it.”

And Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members, wrote, “Engrossing, witty, dynamic, and beautifully written, The Longest Night is a real-life literary thrill ride that unfolds in the shadow of a poorly functioning nuclear reactor. Andria Williams’ characters — particularly the 1960s military wives — are portrayed with extraordinary intimacy. This is a lovely, harrowing, and original novel; you will want to read it in a single night.”

This web site is under construction, but there is a little bit of info up under the “author” and “reviews” sections. Feel free to “follow” this blog so that you’ll be notified of new posts by email when things get rolling. Also, come on by and check out my blog about books, the Military Spouse Book Review.

I’m so grateful for your interest. Thank you!