David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock In Second Printing and Screenplay Development
David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock
In Second Printing and Screenplay Development
www.davideugeneperry.com
Acclaimed Mystery Thriller Is Best-Selling Book Ever for Pace Press
www.quilldriverbooks.com
18 February 2025 – Fresno, CA: Upon This Rock, by award-winning author David Eugene Perry, has gone into its second printing and additionally is in screenplay development and currently being shopped for distribution rights. It is the best selling book ever for Pace Press.
“The success of Upon This Rock has been one of the chief delights of my publishing career,” said Kent Sorsky, publisher of Pace Press/Linden Publishing. “It’s a real pleasure to see its continued appeal.”
The book won a Silver Medal from the coveted IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, recognizing excellence in book editorial and design, regarded as one of the highest national honors for independent publishers. In addition, it won a Gold Medal from the San Francisco Book Festival.
“I am deeply grateful to Kent and everyone at Pace Press for their faith and support,” says Perry. “To have the book continue to sell four years after its debut is deeply gratifying. Now, if we can just get the attention of someone in Hollywood!”
Perry is currently at work on the sequel to Upon This Rock.Taking place ten years after the events in Rock, the new book features the return of amateur sleuths and married couple Adriano and Lee. In addition, the enigmatic and popular Magda makes a repeat appearance, this time with a greatly expanded backstory and history. Entitled Thorns of the 15 Roses,like Upon This Rock, the book is inspired by real historical events. The new book takes place in two places: aboard a luxury cruise ship where Lee has been recalled to his previous job and in the small Andalusian town of Grazalema, Spain.
“I worked my way around the world by ship in the 1990s and have always wanted to set something at sea,” said Perry. “That, and the rich history of Grazalema, including the Spanish Civil War and aftermath, I hope will make for compelling reading. Plus, over the last few years, my husband, Alfredo Casuso, and I have become deeply attached to the town and its generous residents.”
This summer, Perry and Casuso will return to Grazalema, where he expects to complete the manuscript after several years of research.
“The theme of Thorns of the 15 Roses is forgiveness and reconciliation,” Perry summed up. “Two concepts much in need in the current world.”
Upon This Rock is an “elegant twisty thriller” (Armistead Maupin, author of the international sensation Tales of the City) and “the gay DaVinci Code, but a lot better” (Fenton Johnson, Guggenheim Fellow, author of The Man Who Loved Birds); Upon This Rock is “for those readers who love Italy and who love crime fiction” (Lucinda Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, author of Dickens’s Artistic Daughter, Katey); “Perry’s novel sparkles with campy wit but is written with serious clues that keep you reading. And, oh yes, because it is a mystery, there’s a killer of a surprise at the end. Move over, Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles. Welcome the new kids to the neighborhood, Lee and Adriano.” (Will Snyder,Bay Area Reporter); Upon This Rock is “a perfect read for anyone who is into thrillers, mysteries and historical fiction, like John Grisham and Dan Brown for sure.”(Ankita Dasgupta, The Bookworm Resort); “This is a wild read. Perry’s ability to build suspense is impressive and the denouement of this thriller will not just surprise you, but literally stun.”(Erika Atkinson, author of Ode to the Castro).
“You will not find a more exquisite, captivating, well written first novel than David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock. I was literally hooked from the first chapter. Set in the Italian city of Orvieto, Perry takes us on a roller-coaster ride that begins with the Sixteenth Century papacy of the de Medici Pope, Clement VII, and then quickly plummets us to the present day. A wonderfully addictive and engrossing story with brilliant characters and an ending that will have you perusing your favorite bookstore looking for Perry’s next novel”(Dennis Koller, author of The Rhythm of Evil). “You will not be able to put his book down. It is a page-turner from the first sentence until the twisted unexpected ending.” (Lynn Ruth Miller, author of Getting the Last Laugh). In short, David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock is “A potboiler thriller with nail-biting suspense” (Lew J. Whittington, New York Journal of Books); a “sexy, historical thriller” (Julissa James, Nob Hill Gazette); “a love letter to Orvieto like Tales of the City is a love letter to San Francisco” (Eric Jansen, SF Bay Times & Out In the Bay).
Perhaps Emmy Award winning journalist, famed Hollywood reporter Jan Wahl put it best: “Upon This Rock is fabulous. This historical thriller is a sexy DaVinci Code. I can’t wait for the movie.”
Upon This Rock by David Eugene Perry / 360 pages / $18.95 / Quill Driver Books, Fresno, CA.