Local man in Nat'l Book Award finals

The National Book Awards announced the long list of finalists for the 2013 prize in Young People's Literature, and Fallbook author Tom McNeal is on it.

His "Far Far Away," the story of a boy named Jeremy and the "strange whisperings" he hears growing up in a town called Never Better, was one of 10 nominees announced Monday by the National Book Foundation, which presents the annual awards. The prizes, given in four categories, are among the most prestigious in American letters.

Critics have raved about "Far Far Away," with one reviewer calling it "a masterful story of outcasts, the power of faith, and the triumph of good over evil."

McNeal is also a noted short-story writer and the author of two critically acclaimed novels for grown-ups. He is married to the writer Laura McNeal. Her book "Dark Water" was a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature in 2010. The couple also have written several books for children together.

Tom McNeal's "day job" is in construction. He built the house in Fallbrook where he and his wife live. In a 2011 U-T interview, he noted the parallels between building and writing: "In both cases, you're trying to construct something you can live in for a long time, something that expresses your idea of home and permanence and beauty. And on the most basic level, one happens board by board and the other happens word by word."

McNeal's competition for the National Book Award is stiff. Other long-list nominees include Kathi Appelt ("The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp"), Kate DiCamillo ("Flora & Ulysses"), and Gene Luen Yang ("Boxers & Saints"), all previous finalists. In all, almost 300 books were submitted for the prize. To be eligible, a book had to be written by a U.S. citizen and published between Dec. 1, 2012 and Nov. 30, 2013.

The long list will be shortened to five on Oct. 16, with the winner announced on Nov. 20.

Winners also will be named then in the other three categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry.

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