Monday 20 August 2012

What on Earth are we going to put in this book, anyway?


From Joseph D'Lacey

Without revealing the table of contents, I did want to say little about the anatomy of Splinters.
            Ever since Cadenza Magazine accepted the first story I wrote in 2001, I’ve been dying to put together a collection. Without self-publishing, however, it became obvious as time went by that such a project was a big ask.
I’ve tested the water with two or three publishers over the years but they didn’t dig my work. Additionally, the short story ‘market’ is a tough one. People don’t buy anthologies the way they did when I was a young, voracious reader and you rarely see them prominently displayed in bookshops.
            Because it seemed an unrealistic expectation, I stopped giving the idea of a collection any real energy a long time ago. Isn’t it funny how sometimes, when you stop pushing, things just fall into your lap? Unbeknownst to me, Simon Key created Timeline Books and had me on his hit list. A few months ago, he got in touch with a proposition. The rest is interactive publishing history.
Or, at least, it will be after we release the book…
            I was concerned about the selection process, I have to say. If we didn’t see eye to eye on what we liked and what worked best, where would it leave us?
I sent Simon about forty tales in batches of three or more and when he’d read them all we met and discussed his responses. Of the ones he chose, some are previously published, others have never been seen. Some are satirical. Some are bleak. Some are funny. Some are gruesome. All of them are tales I’m proud to have written and I’m relieved to say that Simon has chosen the best of my short fiction from the last eleven years.
            For the moment, that’s all I can tell you but I sincerely hope you love them. Every single one.

Splinters is available to pre-order here

Friday 17 August 2012

A small announcement. Actually, bollocks to that, it's a huge announcement

I am delighted to anounce that Splinters, the collection of short sories by Joseph D'Lacey that we are publishing is now available to pre-order. We've set up this rather delicious microsite here.


Before I type any more, I'd like you  to click on the link please.


Go on.

OK?



OK.

It's rather exciting isn't it?

Joseph's going to put a post up here over the next couple of days that'll give you an idea of what to expect in the book, but I thought it'd be good to give you a taster. Which is why you can read one of Joseph's stories, 'Gaolbreak', on the site.

I understand that blogs are visited more if there are pictures of cats on them, so here you are.