4 May 2016
Hello,
We’ve got so much news it’s frightening. I don’t know where to start. I have no idea where I’m going to end. At this early stage of the letter, I fear I’m going to spend so long writing that another whole bunch of news will have arrived before I get to the end. And I’ll have to add that in. Making it even longer. And then more news will arrive. And it just keeps going, rolling on: sore fingers, more typing, more news. Actually there won’t be an end. This is it for me. Sitting here, typing these words that you will never read, because I’ll never get to a point that I’m able to send them, fretting, not even lifting fingers from my keyboard to pull my hair, getting an increasingly big complex about how long this first paragraph is, when it doesn’t contain even the singlest little mite of all that news I’ve got to get to, and oh god, what have I become? What. Have. I. Become?
That’s enough of that, huh?
Let’s get to the news.
First, a little glowing happiness. We signed a new writer. He’s called Gonzalo Garcia. His novel is called We Are The End and it made us feel so wonderfully amused and so sweetly sad and so bowled over in admiration that we couldn’t do anything but take him on. I’ll tell you much more about this book when the time comes. But for now there’s the joy of all that potential about to be realised.
Now a tinge of sadness - but also pride. We were naturally disappointed that Alex Pheby didn’t win the Wellcome Prize last week, since we’re convinced he deserves every award going. But the winner seems very fine - and we’ve been reminding ourselves, too, that it was great to be on such a prestigious shortlist in the first place. The fact that Playthings - as the Wellcome recognised - is also a contribution to our understanding of history and science just adds to its weight and power. Especially since this is first and foremost a brave and exploratory novel and work of art.
Those who have already been converted to this mighty book will be interested to know a few great things have recently come online that you might want to look at. Alex wrote a fine article about the novel for The Psychologist. He also spoke to Adam Biles recently at Shakespeare and Company. Have a look a their podcasts in your app, or explore their soundcloud page . There’s lots of other fantastic stuff there too. Like our beloved Paul Ewen. Adam recently also spoke to Don Delillo. That’s right. Don Delillo.
Meanwhile, we’re nervously awaiting to see if Anthony Trevelyan’s glorious novel The Weightless World gets onto the Desmond Elliott prize shortlist. And let’s see how the rest of the calendar goes.
Talking of prizes, Ríona Judge McCormack, the winner of our short story prize, scooped the Hennessy New Writer Award over in Dublin last week - accompanied by one of our longlistees, Chris Connolly, who took the Emerging Fiction Prize. Hooray!
There’s also another bit of news from our short story prize shortlist, this time in the form of Jessica Greenman. Wonderful Jessica. Is she a short story writer, or is she a prose poet? Or just her own kind of unique and glorious thing that we couldn’t possibly categorise? Whatever she is, what we can tell you is that she’s currently developing a new project which draws on a medieval genre: florilegium (a kind of compendium of excerpts, with illustrations), and also Emily Dickinson’s ‘fascicles’. We think that Jessica’s the real thing – utterly original – and to say that we’re excited is an understatement.
Speaking of the gloriously uncategorisable, we’re also starting to put together our big Autumn release.
And when I say big, I mean big. 620 pages. Monster size, monster ambition and monster gaping maw, that will grab you as you run away, flip you up into the air, open wide and swallow you whole into a strange, unlit zone you didn’t even know existed and now we’re in amongst the digestive juices, it’s probably time to break free of this monster-metaphor, but let me just say again: it’s big. It’s fat, uncompromising and gloriously eccentric. Which is as it should be – since it’s a retelling of Don Quixote combined with a recreation of the Peasant’s Revolt – a gleeful hybrid of science, pseudo-science, absurd theory and profound, ingenious philosophy. Here’s some more info, from our recent AI:
Don and Is career around Essex and London, tilting at windmills, abusing petrol station assistants, fighting with each other and everyone around them. They are on a quest – as far as Don is concerned – to reveal the truth about history (Don says there's no such thing) and to uncover the secrets of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen... But Is – like most of us – isn’t really sure what Don is talking about. And all he really wants to do is get through to the next day – and back to his family. Both of which turn into extremely tricky propositions, as Don takes him ever deeper into danger, and the very structure of reality (as well as the narrative of Forbidden Line itself) begins to turn against them both....Forbidden Line is a challenging, dazzling intellectual achievement. It’s also book about love and companionship, a novel simultaneously touching and hilarious. Above everything else, it’s a pleasure to read – even if it also makes you feel like you’re on a careering train, with all the stops and destinations rubbed off, and no idea where you’re heading...
As per our new system, we’re printing 500 black-covers copies for Galley Buddies and people who pre-order direct from our site. A different paperback will be hitting the stores too. But the black-covers are the special ones - the limited editions, insider-only versions… (and, vitally, the editions whose sales aren’t vulnerable to high-street discounts or returns, and allow us - and our writers - to keep going). They’re lovely too.
We’re also working on Adam Biles’ Feeding Time. Elly’s busy doing the final copy edits as I type this note - and is quietly chuckling to herself as she does. No mean feat of funny-writing to still make her laugh after seven reads. Go Biles!
After that, it’s off to the typesetter. Then, it’s proof time. Then, it’s print time… Then, the delivery man will be banging at the front door. … Until then, and if you want to get your hands on one of the black-cover editions, head here and order now. Of the 500 printed, there are now under 100 left.
Looking a bit further into our release schedule, you might also be interested to know that Preti Taneja has been talking about India, King Lear and her forthcoming novel We That Are Young on BBC’s The Essay. She’s also just been shortlisted in the Saboteur Awards for her excellent novella, Kumkum Malhotra. Go Taneja!
But hey! That’s enough forward looking. Let’s rewind this thing too. Some of you may remember a a couple of previous releases in our Singles Club from James Clammer? Well Andersen Press have just released his debut novel Why I Went Back and it’s a stonker. Elly stole it from me almost as soon as it came through the door and adored it, and we think you might too. It’s categorised as Young Adult fiction - but as any lifelong Cure fan will tell you, young adults know best about an awful lot of things… In case you’re wondering about James’ writing, I'm going to follow-up this email tomorrow with some free books of his previous Galley Beggar outings so you can see for yourself. I hope you enjoy them.
I told you this letter would be long, didn’t I. Are you still reading? Thank you. And well done. Because there’s another load of goodness barrelling down the tracks. This crazy thing from Jarred McGinnis:
As often, I don’t want to say too much about it, because I don’t want to give away the surprises. Let’s just say it features the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. And when Jarred asked her permission to use her image and poetry she very kindly said yes. And called him a “sick bastard.” How’s that for an endorsement? You can pick up the ebook for just £1.
Okay. Look at this!
It's on. Elly's going to be on stage battling with our authors. It's going to be great.
As well as battling Influx, we’ve got a lot of good things going on at this festival. I’m going to be talking to Stefan Tobler from And Other Stories and Jen Hamilton-Emery from Salt about the silver age of indie publishing. Heck, we might even call it the golden age by the time we’re done.
I’m also going to be talking to Paul Ewen and Adam Biles about getting into the heads of characters who just don’t look at things the way we do.
The rest of the time, Elly and me will be walking around enjoying the beautiful setting in Greenwich, and taking in the other fine writers they’ve got lined up (have a look at the timetable here.) Please join us!
Okay. Phew. Almost finally, I’m happy to say another £150 has accumulated from the ebook Refuge, which we'll be donating to Medicins Sans Frontieres in the next few days. Thank you!
Finally, I know a lot of Galley Beggar readers supported The Big Green Bookshop after they had £600 stolen from their store. So thank you for that too. It was overwhelming and wonderful how a nasty incident was turned into something good.
I have a feeling that I have more to tell you, but that will just have to wait as I’ve taken up a heckins of a lot of your time. Just one more thing before I go. Jeff Bezos is in your kitchen! He’s going through your cutlery drawer. He’s sharpening your knives! He’s waiting for you. He’s got the blender out, and keeps muttering about how he’s going to make a ‘you-smoothie, primary ingredient, you.’ He’s looking for the bleach. He’s looking for the scissors. He’s looking for the glue. I wish Jeff Bezos wasn’t in your kitchen. I wish he wasn’t there at all.
Fondly,
Sam
PS
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 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.)
Secondly, please be our friend! Become a Galley Buddy. It's a good deal for us, and a great deal for you.
Thirdly, to donate to Galley Beggar Press and earn yet more of our gratitude, click here.
Fourthly, go on, buy a postcard set. They're lovely:
Fifthly: I just read a great book in the 33.3 series about the making of Pavement's Wowee Zowee - one of my favourite albums. I've been spinning the heck out of it as a result, and it just gets better.
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