Daniel Cohen has written and published his first book before he’s even received his degree.
Cohen, a senior majoring in marketing in Binghamton University’s School of Management, is riding a wave of relief and excitement after his fantasy novel, ‘The Ancillary’s Mask,’ was officially published by Black Rose Writing last Thursday. To Cohen, this is the culmination of two years’ worth of passion and perseverance.
‘It was an idea that just popped into my head ‘ I was selling cars at the time and I had a lot of downtime at the dealership so I decided to try and write something,’ Cohen said. ‘I got a few chapters in and it was good ‘ I went abroad to Prague and finished there.’
The novel is about an 18-year-old whose mentor discovers a strange connection between the teen and a mystical flower of legend.
According to Cohen, the novel’s main objective is to instill hope in the reader, something which Cohen needed to do for himself in order to get through the publishing stage of his book.
‘I sent it out to a couple of people to edit and tried to get it published,’ Cohen said. ‘After 30 rejection letters or whatnot, a publisher in Texas liked it and they asked for the manuscript.’
Cohen said that he could not get through the process by himself, so he looked to people important in his life such as his family, his girlfriend, his fellow salesmen at the car dealership and one of the owners of local book store River Read Books, Connie Barnes. Cohen noted that Barnes was especially important in getting his book picked up.
When Cohen finally got the book published, he was initially struck with disbelief, which soon turned into happiness.
‘I didn’t actually believe it when I saw the letter back from them,’ he said. ‘I looked into them a little bit more and I saw that my stuff actually fit in with the rest of their publishing cataloging.’
Cohen actually did not intend on going to college to become a writer, stating that he ‘figured why not try and branch out creatively ‘ it started out as killing time at [his] job.’
His major in marketing, however, did play a role in his decision to ultimately go on the path to becoming a writer.
‘I saw it like ‘ if I can do it for me, I can do it for other people,’ Cohen said.
Cohen received a positive review from Kirkus Reviews, a long-standing and well-known book review magazine.
The review stated that ‘Cohen should be lauded for finding a way to weave myth into the story without making it feel heavy-handed and for offering young readers a story that moves along at an engaging clip in a very readable style while underscoring a message about the potential within all of us.’
Cohen was able to unlock his potential as a writer and hopes that he can be influential in helping aspiring writers do the same.
‘From someone who’s never taken a creative writing class, it’s all about tenacity. You just have to keep plugging and plugging until you get where you wanna go,’ Cohen said. ‘If I can inspire anybody, that’s more than I could ever dream of.’
Cohen will be promoting his book at a signing event Nov. 20 at River Read Books on 5 Court Street.