Hello!
We've just had our fourth birthday. We've made it! And we couldn’t have got here without the superb support our readers have shown for our writers. So thank you, profoundly and seriously.
Less profoundly, and less seriously: four! We’re old enough to have learned some swear words and use the big toilet. But not so old that you wouldn’t put it past us to lie down in the street and start screaming for sweeties. We know a few more things than when we started out, but we sure as hell aren’t mature. And that’s a fun place to be.
Of course, when you do things on the small scale that we do, things can also seem precarious and exciting. Often, we only really feel as good as the last book we put out. But the thing about that is that the last book we put out is chuffing ace! I had the great pleasure of speaking to a group of people called the
Suffolk Book League this week and handed round a copy of Feeding Time and just felt a lovely wave of pride, like I do with all our books. All that fine writing we’ve been able to help put in the world.
Of course, my opinion about Adam is hopelessly biased, but I am now in a position to offer considerable back up from more neutral and more authoritative sources. Here are two of our favourite newspaper reviews so far:
The Observer say that Feeding Time is a “savage comedy” and:
"Outrageously comic, often verging on the surreal... Readers, as much prisoners of Biles’s world as the residents are of Green Oaks, are forced to confront the most disturbing and shameful aspects of human nature"
The Sunday Express say:
"Feeding Time also achieves the fabled but rare mark of the really funny book by making me laugh loudly enough on public transport to draw annoyed looks from the other passengers. The story often borders on the surreal yet you feel that Biles has caught the truth about old age in a way few writers can bring themselves to do."
Some fine literary blogs have also come through, alongside reader responses. Jackie Law on
Never Imitate called it "rare and imaginative". Steve Himmer on
Neccessary Fiction called it a "thrilling novel of resistance". Meanwhile we've had readers email to tell us (and do email! it's always lovely to hear from you) that the book is "mental", that they "can't put it down", and that it is a "masterpiece of scatological disgust". Three cheers for that... Oh and
BookMuse have just given it a glowing review and their coveted Recommended Read Award. We’re hoping for more good things soon too. Go Adam!
Meanwhile, if any of you are lucky enough to be in Paris next week, there'll be a launch for Feeding Time at Shakespeare and Company on the 20th. For anyone who lives in the west country, Adam will also be here in the UK, at Spike Island in Bristol on the 24th November. Tickets for £5 (£3 cons) available
here.
Right! On to another important message. There are now two weeks to go to enter our short story prize.
Please, if you are a good writer, know a good writer, or know someone who may know a good writer encourage them to
follow this link! This is a big thing for us - and hopefully a big thing for whoever wins it. The prize is £1000 or 12 months of editorial support. The winning writer will also be profiled in the Bookseller, which goes out to thousands of editors, agents, and industry professionals every week. And, we also hope that we’ll be able to work with the shortlisted, longlisted, and winning writers some more in the future (alongside many of the very fine entrants). Several of our short-listed writers from last year have gone on to contribute to our Singles Club. One is publishing a novel (such a good novel!) with us next year. And we’ve just loved working on editorial with our wonderful winner Ríona JudgeMcCormack, who is another genuine and exciting talent.
We have already received some brilliant entries - but always want more. The calibre of the longlist and shortlist last year was down to the overall quality of the writing entered - and the more fine writers we have, the better the prize will be. In just its second year, the prize already has an excellent reputation - but we want to make sure that that standing keeps growing, offering our finalists CV brownie points and a substantial springboard for their careers. And: giving us all the pleasure of reading fine stories too.
Okay. On to other things. On to sheep growing out of plants:
Yes, this will make sense, and matter to you, when it appears in our next book. That book is called Forbidden Line, it’s massive, we’ve just sent it off to our typesetter (who is so talented and skilled I almost believe he has mystic powers), and we’ve been enchanted afresh. More on this one soon. Much more. For now, the usual drill: limited editions are available for pre-order
and they are beautiful.
Right! That's about it. I wanted to send this newsletter slightly earlier than usual this month because we wanted to give that last important push to the short story prize. The one disadvantage there is that our next Single release isn’t quite ready, so I hope you won’t mind if I send an extra (shorter!) letter about that in a week or so.
Before I go, I hope I can encourage anyone in London to come and see the mighty Alex Pheby talk to me and a roster of talented authors and editors at the
Triskele festival on Saturday.
And one more thing. I have to tell you that curiously, I’ve found my love for Jeff Bezos waning following the result of the EU referendum here in Blighty. The decision of so much of the adult population to opt for Dumbkirk and to turn away from our friends in Europe has left me unable to obsess about my old sparring-partner as much as I’d like. But don’t worry! I’ve found a new darling and delight in Nigel Farage. And in the spirit of the Leave campaign I’ve even been able to compile a few interesting ‘facts’ about our own little Hitler. Here they are:
1) When Nigel Farage jumps in the sea, fish die.
2) Sometimes, Nigel Farage wakes up at 3am and cries. But instead of tears, Laughing Cow cheese comes out of his eyes.
3) When Nigel Farage opens your fridge, your bacon turns green and starts to smell of old wanks.
4) Nigel Farage ate the last chocolate in your box and burped in your face.
5) Instead of toes, Nigel Farage has five piggy-noses on each foot, which constantly relay information to his brain about the stench inside his brogues. That’s why he’s always pulling that face.
6) When Nigel Farage achieves his annual orgasm, he bellows out the lyrics to Herman’s Hermits 1967 hit, No Milk Today.
7) Nigel Farage is made out of sausages. Which were, in turn, made of sawdust and entrails and 350million rat droppings in a weird factory in Essex where the foreman’s son is also his uncle.
8) Nigel Farage is an absolute disgrace.
9) Nigel Farage’s wife and kids are scared of him.
10) Nigel Farage is a fascist.
Fondly,
Sam
As usual, I'm also going to use the end of the newsletter for a few more adverts, where you can safely ignore them, or kindly indulge me, depending on your fancy:
Firstly, please be our friend! Become a Galley Buddy. It's a good deal for us, and a great deal for you. Our subscription service helps us ensure that we can support our writers and takes away some of the fear of pushing against literary boundaries. It also helps you ensure you get beautiful limited edition, collectible books by fine writers on tap.
Secondly, please join The Singles Club so we can pay writers to write. Here's the blurb:
We have a fantastic subscription system set up for our Singles Club so that you now only have to make one payment to get hold of 12 stories. But how to go through the ins and outs of paypal payment systems without boring the dirtbox off you, I don't know. Probably the best thing to do is to head over to the relevant page on our site, where I've tried to give a brief, but to the point explanation, and to take it from there. The important things to know are that:
(1) Subscribing saves you the trouble of going to the site every month to get your fix of superb ebook literature – we'll just email you the files every month.
(2) Subscribing (so long as enough people do it) will enable us to start giving our authors money up front on for each story. Yes! We are going to pay people to write short stories. It's like the golden days of the 1920s. Only they'll be in electronic book format instead of Strand magazine… Anyway! You get the idea. This is a mighty fine way to keep authors doing what they do best – entertaining you.
(3) It costs £12 a year, or £1 a month, or less than a meal in Pizza Express. (Unless you have a voucher.)
Thirdly, donate to Galley Beggar Press and earn yet more of our gratitude, click here.
Fourthly, Elly and me wrote a book called Literary London. A lot of people have said very nice things about it, and it's available in our store.
Fifthly: Have you listened to the new Wedding Present album? It's pretty durn chunky guitar great. I'm so pleased that David Gedge is still going through painful breakups. Makes the world so much better for the rest of us.
Add new comment