Vengeful Longing in America

I've just realised I let the US publication date of A Vengeful Longing go by without remark. It was last week, the 12th. What did I do to celebrate? I went to London Zoo with my daughter's school trip. It was exhausting, but Claire said it was 'the best school trip ever', so it was worth it.

Anyhow, luckily for me, David Isaak was not so inattentive. True to his usual generous form, he was out book-spotting, despite being, as he puts it, in the middle of nowhere. More pictures, and other news of what David's been up to, on his blog.

Oh, by the way, I have no idea who those lovely people holding copies of AVL are. If they'd like to identify themselves, I'd be more than happy to send them a signed bookplate each.

Over to David.

I've decided to hand this plog post over almost entirely to David Isaak, author of the gloriously outrageous high concept thriller Shock and Awe.

Once again, David's been out Axe-spotting:





David writes:

A couple of pictures of the US paperback version of Axe at the biggest local bookstore, the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble, which is a building about the size of the Pentagon.

Being in the New Mystery section is a good thing, an honor conferred on few paperbacks, but they only had one copy. On the other hand, they don't put you face-out in the New section if they only ordered one copy, so that implies they only had one copy left. That also seems like a good thing.

A young lady who worked in the store asked me, politely, what I was doing with the camera. "I know him," I said by way of explanation, pointing at your book, "he's from London. I'm going to send him the pictures." She seemed suitably impressed by one or more of those three facts, and stood by while I got on with my photos.

He was even kind enough to devote a whole post on his own blog to the paperback edition of The Gentle Axe. I share his frustrations with American amazon.

Nothing to do with me or my books (hey, come on, David!) his latest post on Oregon place names is hilarious.

All I can say is thank you David, for all your sterling work.

In the meantime, there was a review of A Vengeful Longing in The Telegraph on Saturday, alongside (well, just underneath) a review of my fellow NLHCW* Lee Jackson's The Mesmerist's Apprentice.

Apparently I have "a knack for showing the dark side of the city", which "bristles with depravity and deception, lunatic bureaucracy and melodrama..." Nice to have a knack for something.

*North London Historical Crime Writer

Macmillan New Writers.

There's a new blog site for writers who have published with Macmillan New Writing. That includes me, of course. So I went over and posted something about writerly anxiety. But as usual, I find that what I wanted to say has been far better expressed by David Isaak, author of the brilliantly written thriller, Shock And Awe.

If you're a writer, why not pop over and add your own thoughts?

P-day for David-I

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.)

The Axe, snapped in California.

Some photos, courtesy of the impressively determined David Isaak.

David Isaak, Axe-spotter extraordinaire.

My thanks go to the indefatigable David Isaak. Indefatigable is only one word you could use to describe the man and it hardly does him justice. But I chose it today, as opposed to any other epithets (e.g., generous, engaging, perceptive and frequently laugh-out-loud funny) because of his efforts in tracking down a copy of the American Axe. You can read all about it on his blog. His post even features an intriguing photo of the soon-to-be-bestselling author of Smite The Waters (Macmillan New Writing, September 2007), in a Magritte-style pose with his copy of The Gentle Axe. If you haven't bookmarked TOMORROWVILLE yet, I advise you to do so immediately. You won't regret it.

Anyhow, thank you David. Your efforts really were above and beyond the call of duty. And the photos you sent are helping me get my head round the fact that this is really happening, after all.

By way of a gift for David, and for everyone who has stumbled onto the plog today, I thought I would share with you an eggy diorama made by my daughter and two of her friends for Easter. It's a depiction of a traditional Easter scene, featuring Yoka from Egg Wars. I hope you like it.