Business & Tech

Pittsburgh Author Debuts First Novel: 'In Wake of Water'

Sarah Beth (Rem) Martin, and publisher The Artists' Orchard, LLC, will host a National Book Launch Party Saturday in South Side.

“Maybe it was this that was life’s cycle. A friendship which started on words praising life and ended on words welcoming death.”

The above excerpt of author ’s (penname SBR Martin) first book,"In Wake of Water," briefly demonstrates the central struggle narrated—one familiar to its very author.

“In Wake of Water” walks its audience through the life of a suicidal 26-year-old nameless female character, dealing with the loss of deceased family members and small-town surroundings.

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The suicidal female lead in Martin’s work is driven to die because she operates under the belief that death will unite her with her family.

Martin said she developed this character throughout the book as an example of an extreme and destructive reaction to the sense of longing that accompanies the death of a loved one.

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Martin’s mother passed away in 1999, followed by her sister in 2001 and her father in 2003. Over the course of five "fleeting" years, life as Martin knew it was no more, she said. She was no longer anyone’s child or anyone’s sister. She was just a girl who didn’t know what to do with herself.

She then found inspiration to write her first book—to use her own personal losses as a launch pad for the creation of a different story, where she could explore a wide array of human responses to death.

Martin said she never had suicidal tendencies, however she did demonstrate destructive behavior—bouts of depression and anxiety, which led to excessive drinking "to self-medicate her broken heart before finding more constructive ways to deal with her station in life."

The tightly-written, 155-page novel captivates its audience with emotion, rich vocabulary and intensely-colorful details.

Martin leaves no accessory incomplete.

One can nearly feel the “finely-woven navy blue cord, spatting out a stream of ruffled cream lace,” and see the “lilting floral bursts fair in hue” of a described duvet cover lying on a character's bed.

She said she feared and questioned death—much like her book’s central male character Tad.

A childhood acquaintance, Tad is asked by the nameless lead to help her die beginning on page one. As the book progresses, Tad gently listens and absorbs her words deeply. 

Not much of speaker, Tad's true thoughts are italicized between paragraphs and dialogue, developing an intimate bond with the reader.

Martin cited William Faulkner’s 1932 novel, "Light in August," as the model for her alternation between third person narration and first person thought.

The main character's relationship is outlined and intertwined throughout the novel with back-stories, cliffhangers and plot twists.

Martin zooms in on a 60-year-old character named Alice Worth.

She explains graphic details of physical violence and medical terminology that accompany Worth's fate, which she said were encouraged by her own response to post-modern author Chuck Palahniuk’s books, specifically "Fight Club" and "Choke."

Her sentences all well-crafted, interesting and direct.

Martin said she credits her post-graduate legal education, where case law studies showed how the mere placement, or misplacement, of a comma could dictate the meaning of an entire sentence.

Her warm, motherly instinct illuminates throughout the entire novel, especially in a poem written from mother to daughter. Surprisingly, Martin said she wrote the book prior to having children.

"In Wake of Water" reminds its reader life is short; life is delicate; life is what you choose.

It's a touching story, perhaps situationally semi-unrelatable to some, but emotionally relatable to all. 

It's a book to respond to, and revisit numerous times for myriad reasons.

For updates, notes from the author and/or pricing information, visit the novel's page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/inwakeofwater.

Stop by The Smiling Moose on E. Carson St. in South Side this Saturday from 5-8 p.m. to toast SBR Martin at the National Book Launch Party.

Full event details can be found .

RockStar Productions will DJ the event, which will also feature a live acoustic musical performance by Pittsburgh favorite Gary Musisko, as well as hors d’oeuvres and vodka drink specials.

"In Wake of Water" was published by Peters-based publisher The Artists’ Orchard, LLC.

Editor's Note: Sarah Beth (Rem) Martin writes frequent features on Upper St. Clair Patch, Peters Patch, Baldwin-Whitehall Patch, among other Patch sites.


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