8 March 2017
Hello!
And for the first time ever – it’s Elly here, not Sam.
Sam’s currently even busier than he normally is. As well as the usual everything, he's got a month to write the first draft of a 40,000-word book. It's called Enemies Of The People and it’s a list of the top 50 people who have so colossally fucked up the world for all of us. Donald Trump is there, of course. And Nigel (“eggburp-mini-hitler”) Farage. Sam was writing up Piers Morgan’s slot yesterday (seriously, that man?), and this morning he’s been barrelling through Milton Friedman. (Do you know who Milton Friedman is? I didn’t, but I do now – essentially because Sam keeps running downstairs and shouting things about him at me. … (Then he runs upstairs again, and tells me to BE QUIET because he’s WRITING).) Jeff Bezos is there. A few women make an appearance, too – including Theresa May and Marine Le Pen. But the list is 90% white men. … Who could have guessed?!
Anyway, all of this is a long way around to saying that, when I suggested that I write the newsletter this month, the look of relief on Sam’s face was so profound that I stifled the fact that I was only offering out of politeness – and so here I am. I’m afraid that I can’t do the funnies like Sam does. I also haven’t got his anarchic imagination – so Jeff Bezos won’t be appearing, and he certainly won’t be appearing with a little-penis-Jeff who himself is sporting another little-penis-Jeff, who is himself… and so on, into infinity. (If you want to refamiliarise yourself with that particular flight of fancy, click here and scroll down to the end.)
But we do have a lot of news.
Here goes:
First up, Gonzalo C. Garcia's We Are The End.
Here’s the limited black cover edition cover:
And here’s the paperback version (the version which will be available to buy in all good bookshops):
A bit more about We Are The End. It’s out with Galley Beggar in September, Gonzalo’s working on the final draft right now – and we’re getting all flushed and jump-up-and-downy at GBP Towers because (and this is the most important thing) it really is a fantastic piece of writing. Warm, humane, funny, true… seriously: this book rocks. To give you more of a sense of what it’s about, I’m going to paste the description from the AI we’ve just sent into our distributors:
Tomás' girlfriend has left him. She has, in fact, fled to Antarctica, leaving him alone in Santiago, where life is rapidly passing him by.
Tomás is a game designer – but he can't see his ideas through.
Tomás also works in a university – where he spends most of his time hiding under a desk.
Tomás’ flat is falling apart. The band he used to play in is doing annoyingly well. He drinks coffee though a straw straight from the pot because he can't find a clean cup....
We Are The End is the smart and funny debut from Gonzalo G. Garcia. It’s a novel which gives a new voice to the Millennial Generation – exploring the difficulties of finding your place in the world, and having to navigate it, too, with few guides beyond computer game narratives and the useless advice of the older generation...
With its Chilean setting, fresh themes and perspectives – and its willingness to play with form – We Are The End is unique. But it is also universal. Tomás' loss and longing resonate deeply, as do his jokes. There is something of Tomás in all of us – even if he’s someone who ends up sleeping in a tent in his own living room...
How’s that? I can tell you a few more things. First up, that Scarlett Thomas loves We Are The End too. She’s called Gonzalo a “unique and breathtaking talent”. Second, that the AI isn’t the half of it. There are many other wonderful things contained within its pages. Including Tomas’s father and an envelope and – once that envelope is opened – some pretty interesting photos... Anyway. Suffice to say: We love this novel – we’re pretty sure you’re going to love it too – and what we would love, especially, is if you could head to our store and pre-order one of the 500 limited edition black covers, which we’ve put online today. To reserve your copy, just click here.
(P.S. A few final words about Gonzalo. When we drove up to visit him recently – he’s currently based in Lemington Spa, and teaching at Warwick University – he fed us steak, laughed when our puppy peed on his carpet, and set our daughter up on his computer, where she played Minecraft to her heart’s content. And Sam was laughing so much at the jokes in the book that he almost cried.)
Right!
Moving on to our other writers. Next up, Preti Taneja. I think you know from last month’s newsletter just how cock-a-hoop we are over Preti. And stoked about We that are young. I don’t want to repeat what Sam’s told you already – but what I will say, while I’m here, is that since Christmas Preti and I have been working fairly intensely together on the final draft of We that are young, and that it’s been an amazing experience. It’s not just that watching – and having a very small amount of input into – the final stages of a novel coming together is an honour and a revelation. It’s also just brought home to me again just what a superb writer Preti is. She’s fierce, engaged, absolutely focused – and what she’s created in We that are young (for those of you who didn’t catch last month’s newsletter, the novel is retelling of King Lear set in modern-day India) is something that’s powerfully poetic and angry and also utterly, utterly readable. Preti had a wobble the other day. She was worried that she was writing an airport novel. Sam and I had a good chuckle over this (because seriously – and as I said to Preti – wtf?!) – but later, we had a think and could sort of see where she was coming from. Because what Preti has essentially created in these final drafts is a rare thing: A piece of literature – and literature of the highest order – which is also a compulsive page-turner. … It’s just – oh god, it’s brilliant. And it’s important and prescient too, for all kinds of reasons, but also because this is about a gold-gilded family dynasty and intergenerational violence and corruption – and hey, look at the shit going down in the White House… I can’t wait for this novel to come out. Can’t. Wait.
Here’s a picture of the limited edition black cover:
If you want to read a damn fine (and important) book, support a new author, and support us – do click here and pre-order your own copy.
So! I have some other things to tell you, too – not least because it’s been a lovely week for Galley Beggar, and Galley Beggar authors, in the press. To start with, I popped into the local newsagent the other day and picked up a TLS – only to find a very fine review of Paul Stanbridge’s Forbidden Line. “A hefty and highly entertaining read”, “A novel that bursts with invention” – these are some of the nice things the piece had to say. And what is there to say, in turn? Very little, except damn right. (And thank you, Matthew Parkinson-Bennett!)
It’s also the announcement for the Republic of Consciousness Prize tomorrow night – which Paul is on the shortlist for – so spare a thought for him around 7pm. He’ll be there, along with Sam, and whatever happens we’re very proud to be part of this wonderful new award, surrounded by so many excellent authors and small presses. (NB: Those of you who don’t as yet have a copy of Forbidden Line – believe me, you’re missing out. "A cross between Chaucer and Douglas Adams" is what the RoC judging panel called it. Ha! Click here and bag yourselves a treat.)
(NB: Paul came for a stroll with me and the dog yesterday. He made me laugh about the apocalypse. It appears in his next book, which he's 15,000 words into. Oh boy!)
Finally, the GBP Short Story Prize – and its winning author, Yelena Moskovich - received a great boost last Friday, when the Bookseller ran a double-page profile on Yelena and the award. Here’s a screenshot of the piece:
The write-up itself was excellent, and we’re doubly pleased because the primary motivation for the award is to offer a platform for the writers on the long- and shortlists. That Yelena should appear in the Bookseller like this – a publication that goes out to tens of thousands of people every week – is a wonderful thing indeed.
There’s more to come, too – because the Greenwich Book Festival have very kindly invited us to hold our prize-giving event at the festival this year. So for those of you who would like to hear Yelena read her winning story – as well as meet the other writers on the long- and shortlists, and listen to them in conversation with Chris Power – do pencil 27th May into your diaries. We’ll have more concrete details, including how to book tickets, next month.
That’s it from me for now – but take care, and keep fighting the good fight!
Fondly,
Elly
P.S. To our (beloved) Singles Club subscribers, eagerly awaiting their monthly story: the Club is on hold this month, but over the next couple of days you’ll be receiving a bumper pack to keep you going – all of the stories on this year’s GBP Prize long- and shortlist. Enjoy!
PPS:
PPS
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: Sam is currently upstairs listening to Future Islands as he types and cackles. I know that when he's alone in the bathroom, he dances like their lead singer in front of the mirror. I know he does.
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