That's Greek for "Good day" to you less-travelled types than Nicky and myself, jetting around the world, effortlessly crossing datelines while we sip ice-cold booze from airplane aisle trollies and negotiate complex publishing deals for obscene amounts of money on our cellphones.
But, you know . . . it was genuinely wonderful to get back, and I truly never thought I would ever say that about work. The thing is, doing what we do and working with all you folks out there in Pea-ess-land, is just a pure joy—and it's particularly satisfying to return to the office and find that Mike has kept everything in the absolute very best order. In fact, it seems that books have been flying out of our storage facility in record numbers—Bravo, Mike!—but there are still a few older titles that we'd like to scratch from the inventory. So I'm going to let Mike give some additional titles for you to try out. Hey, it's summertime, right, and the vacation season is fully upon us . . . so treat yourself to some things you wouldn't normally consider. It could change your life.
For the record, I think I changed mine a little—book-wise—while we've been away . . . and all thanks to Ramsey Campbell.
After repeated mumbled threats from Ramsey (and keen to try something a little different), I finally gave in and bought Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes—Ramsey has been raving about Ishiguro for a couple of years but I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it . . . and boy am I fed up that I left it so long. Nocturnes is a delight in every sense of the word . . . five novelettes (and no, it's most assuredly not genre) which, in the words of the cover blurb, are about "music and nightfall". Superb. Go buy it pronto. Ishiguro wrote The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go—which I'll be starting soon—so believe me, I'm a firm convert.
Of course, I read a few things that didn't move me (hey, we were away for two weeks remember!) and we'll say no more about those . . . but the other two that pressed all my buttons were Ravens by George Dawes Green and Michael Harvey's private eye thriller The Fifth Floor: I read Green's The Caveman—aka The Caveman's Valentine—many years ago (three books in some 16/17 years: this man is *not* prolific) and loved it. And Ravens, with its sparkling Elmore Leonard-ish dialogue, is every bit as good. And in Michael Kelly, Michael Harvey has, for my money, come up with a PI who's almost as breathtakingly wonderful as Bob Parker's Spenser. There are a couple other titles with the same character so my order is already in. Yours should be, too.
Now, while I was away, Paul was down at the big ABC comics show at the Royal National Hotel in London showing off the first copies of Chamber of Chills Volume 1, the long-awaited debut volume in PS Artbooks' ambitious (reckless? screwball? downright barmy?) Harvey Horrors reissues programme. The response he got—with just three copies of each state flown in (the bulk is scheduled to dock at Felixstowe on 7 July and we're aiming to have all orders mailed out by the middle of the month) was euphoric. When Paul told me how good they looked—when I called in from Greece—I knew right there and then we'd got a winner. But now that I've seen the book myself, well . . . I think you're gonna be pleased.
The traycased edition is almost gone now and the slipcased state is half-gone, so bear that in mind when you're considering whether to take a shot. Pre-order pages for Witches Tales Volume 1 and Tomb of Terror Volume 1 will be up early next month and priority will be given on the signed states to those who signed up for Chills.
After repeated mumbled threats from Ramsey (and keen to try something a little different), I finally gave in and bought Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes—Ramsey has been raving about Ishiguro for a couple of years but I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it . . . and boy am I fed up that I left it so long. Nocturnes is a delight in every sense of the word . . . five novelettes (and no, it's most assuredly not genre) which, in the words of the cover blurb, are about "music and nightfall". Superb. Go buy it pronto. Ishiguro wrote The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go—which I'll be starting soon—so believe me, I'm a firm convert.
Of course, I read a few things that didn't move me (hey, we were away for two weeks remember!) and we'll say no more about those . . . but the other two that pressed all my buttons were Ravens by George Dawes Green and Michael Harvey's private eye thriller The Fifth Floor: I read Green's The Caveman—aka The Caveman's Valentine—many years ago (three books in some 16/17 years: this man is *not* prolific) and loved it. And Ravens, with its sparkling Elmore Leonard-ish dialogue, is every bit as good. And in Michael Kelly, Michael Harvey has, for my money, come up with a PI who's almost as breathtakingly wonderful as Bob Parker's Spenser. There are a couple other titles with the same character so my order is already in. Yours should be, too.
Now, while I was away, Paul was down at the big ABC comics show at the Royal National Hotel in London showing off the first copies of Chamber of Chills Volume 1, the long-awaited debut volume in PS Artbooks' ambitious (reckless? screwball? downright barmy?) Harvey Horrors reissues programme. The response he got—with just three copies of each state flown in (the bulk is scheduled to dock at Felixstowe on 7 July and we're aiming to have all orders mailed out by the middle of the month) was euphoric. When Paul told me how good they looked—when I called in from Greece—I knew right there and then we'd got a winner. But now that I've seen the book myself, well . . . I think you're gonna be pleased.
The traycased edition is almost gone now and the slipcased state is half-gone, so bear that in mind when you're considering whether to take a shot. Pre-order pages for Witches Tales Volume 1 and Tomb of Terror Volume 1 will be up early next month and priority will be given on the signed states to those who signed up for Chills.
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