Last week I wasn't concentrating very hard so I missed the official publication date of Shock and Awe by David Isaak. But that's okay. As David himself suggests, official publication days are fairly nominal things.
David is a special guy for many reasons, but in publishing terms he's special for being the first US-resident American author published by Macmillan New Writing (nice banner there, by the way, David). The twice published Michael Fuchs may be a yank, but lives here in London. I know because I've seen him wandering the streets.
David is a generous supporter of other authors, as well as being an extremely well-read, charming and civilised chap. He's given a lot of thought to the art and craft of writing, and regularly shares his thoughts on his blog, which I wholeheartedly recommend. I first made his acquaintance online, as so often is the way these days, at a website called Absolutewrite. I was coming under attack for signing with MNW, which was seen by most of the absolutewriters as the devil's own imprint. Single-handedly, David came to my defence. Of course, he had a ms in submission there himself, so that may have had something to do with it. But his open-mindedness, patience and good-humour were obvious.
When David was over in the UK earlier this year, he took time out to venture to the wilds of north London to come to a bookshop event I was doing. We fell into a pub afterwards and had a good old chat. It was great to meet him in person at last.
I wish him the best of luck with Shock and Awe. I'm looking forward to picking up my own copy next week, and getting stuck into it as soon as I have got the proofs for my next 'un out of the way. (Yes, that's what I should be doing instead of being here blogging.)
2 comments:
Thanks for the kind words, Roger. Actually it was the assaults on MNW that drew them to my attention in the first place--I'd probably never have know about MNW if it weren't for all the controversy, but the big cloud of smoke drew my attention.
I knew you had another Porfiry in the works, but I didn't realize it was coming so soon. February? Who knew? (Apart from you, of course.)
Hi David. My pleasure. So that's how it was? I wasn't sure whether the chicken or egg had come first. In which case, all that nonsense had one very good outcome.
Yep, the new one will be out next Feb. I found out the traditional way. By looking on amazon! (June in the US, I'm told, btw.)
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