When Rob receives an email from an unknown woman, complimenting him on an internet book review, it leads to an unlikely exchange between two distant strangers. Rob is chronically unwell with a mysterious illness, while Rose lives on the other side of the country. But who is she? What does she want? And where is their friendship heading?
Through a series of annotated emails, poems, paradoxes, quizzes and quotations, Rob narrates the true story of how their lives came together in a way that is funny, touching and completely unforgettable.
If you would like to start reading "stranger and stranger" on-line please to launch a new window.
Robert McMullen is an author about whom little is known beyond what is
written in "stranger and stranger".
He was born in West Sussex (UK) in 1973. He became unwell in 1992 while
at university. Since that time he has been predominantly
housebound or bedbound. He is cared for by his parents
at their house in the Haywards Heath area of Sussex.
This is his first book.
See Below for questions and answers with Robert.
"stranger and stranger" has been self-published by the author through BookForce.co.uk.
BookForce.co.uk is the UK distributor. If you are a bookseller and are interested to stock "stranger and stranger"
please contact BookForce on +44 (0)207 529 3749 or email authorsales@bookforce.co.uk.
It is also available through BookSurge.com, a US based print-on-demand publishing company
which has recently been acquired by Amazon.
It is appropriate that this book should be published
through an Amazon company, as it was on Amazon.co.uk that Robert posted the review which led to the correspondence that this book describes.
Because "stranger and stranger" is self-published, the author is very much dependent on word of mouth for publicity.
If you have read and enjoyed his book, please CLICK HERE
to email this book to your friends
Legend has it that when Sissa Ben Dahir presented to King Shirham of India his newly invented game of chess, he was asked what he would like as a reward.
The grand vizier did not wish to appear too greedy and therefore made what seemed to the king to be a very modest request. He asked for a grain of wheat to
be put on the first square of the chess board, two grains to put on the second square, four on the third, eight on the fourth... and so on, doubling the number for each successive square until the 64th square.
Believing his wish to be easily fullfilled, the king granted it without hesitation and ordered a bag of wheat to be brought to the throne.
However, it was not long before the impossibility of the task became apparent. In order to complete the task they would have needed 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains (264), approximately equal to the world's cummulative wheat production for two thousand years!
With this mathematical principle in mind, Robert McMullen is asking everybody who reads and enjoys "stranger and stranger" to try to persuade just two other people to buy it.
-
What is wrong with you?
“Ever since I became unwell (almost all my adult life) every person
who has met me has done so with the foreknowledge of what is wrong with me.
This has meant that before getting to know me they have first had to get past all their
preconceptions associated with that label. One of the joys of meeting Ruth through the
internet was that I didn't have to tell her what was wrong with me, enabling her to get to
know the person behind the illness, before my personality was obscured and distorted by my
label. Not only did this help Ruth to get to know me, it also helped to remind me of who
I was at a time when I was struggling to remember. To reveal this label
now would not only deprive the reader of the same opportunity afforded to my correspondent,
it would also rob them of the suspense.”
- Is Robert McMullen your real name?
“No. I have decided to write under a pseudonym because of the vulnerability I feel as a consequence of my condition.”
How did you get the Lisa Jewell quote on the cover?
"Lisa Jewell was the first person to read 'stranger and stranger'. Having read her first book, 'Ralph's Party' I
went to her website where she offers some very helpful advice for unpublished authors. I was keen for my work to
be read by someone who knew nothing about me or my condition, so I took a chance and wrote to her enquire whether she would
be prepared to read my manuscript. To my surprise, she replied that she would, but she cautioned me that she was a) very busy and so it
might take her a long time and b) that she would be brutally honest.
In my covering letter to her I wrote, 'I feel I’m starting to write a defence of what has
yet to be attacked, so I shall waffle on no longer and simply let you judge for
yourself. Please do not be reserved in your criticism out of sympathy for my plight
(however you might perceive it). I will not be disproportionately upset to be told that
it is a steaming pile of proverbial. It has already served one purpose, and anything
further would be an unexpected bonus. I can take it.'
Later that day Lisa replied by email. Her response quite took me aback: '...this is a great story... you are a very good writer... I am seriously
impressed and seriously hooked and don't have one single negative thing to say.'
- Does Ruth know that you have written this book, and what does she think about it?
“Yes. This book was not only written with Ruth's consent but also with her full blessing and encouragement. By her own choosing, she did not read it until it was published.”
If you would like to pose a question to Robert, please use the CONTACT FORM. Further selected
questions and answers will be posted on this page in due course.
Please bookmark this page and visit again soon.