Coaldale author launching new novel tonight

By Lethbridge Herald on July 7, 2022.

Justin Seward – Lethbridge Herald

Coaldale author Ryan Uytdewilligen is set to release his new fiction humour/satire novel, He’s No Angel.

The author is holding a signing tonight at Analog Books, ahead of the official release on July 26.

The novel is about Charlie Fritz, a hollow Hollywood talent agent, who is hanging on to his career by a thread.

It was after an embarrassing drunken time at a movie screening that he needed a comeback and ultimately a superstar client.

After 10 years of being dead, Fritz’s father Bernie mysteriously arrives in Los Angeles by taxi and doesn’t remember anything about his prior life but a cryptic message to share with those that would listen.

“It’s also a satire on Hollywood, which I mean I’m quite obsessed with classic film, classic Hollywood and I think just mixing all that together, and trying to have some sort of cohesive and relatable theme, in this case loss, I think it all came together to create the story that it is,” said Uytdewilligen.

He came up with the concept of the book five years ago which stemmed from the concept of “what if I was walking down the street and I saw my dad” after his dad passed away 10 years ago.

“Like just that reaction, like there would be so many questions and obviously a story there,” he said.

“And then the next question that I sprung towards was, what if I was looking down the street and I ran into my dad and he passed away and he didn’t remember me or anything about his previous life. I just thought that was an intriguing concept and I think you could go into different ways with that.”

When he tells people the book’s title, it becomes provocative.

“I think it definitely has a good aspect to grab attention in that way,” said Uytdewilligen.

“But, pretty much, it sums up the central, at the very simple essence of the book, is a guy who claims he is an angel or came back from the dead— is he or isn’t he? And it’s a lot of people trying to disprove it and even some people trying to prove it and it’s just trying to spark that debate.”

He said it’s been a long experience.

“Because a lot of people think, well, either they take forever to write the book and then it’s finally released or vice versa — it’s a quick process and it really wasn’t,” he said.

He’s No Angel will be launched tonight at Lethbridge’s Analog Books from 6:30-8:30 p.m.