Monday 15 September 2008

3 Lunatics for the price of 2

You have to be a little mad to be a writer, so says someone I chatted to over the weekend. I couldn’t disagree. I mean, apart from having the sort of imagination you only find in one other place, i.e. an asylum for the insane, writers have to be stubborn and single-minded as well as absently so, to believe that someday the fruits of their ill-judged labour will be plucked off the branch and showcased on the 3 for 2 table at the local Waterstones.

And bugger me if it doesn’t actually happen.

This lunchtime I strolled down to the Waterstones in Orchard Square and was very pleased to find in the 3 for 2 sale not only the paperbacks of Faye’s Cover the Mirrors, but David Isaak’s Shock and Awe, and Annabel Dore’s Great North Road, pretty much sat next to each other. Unfortunately my wee phone has the photographic resolution of a ZX81 so I didn’t take a photo of it, but my goodness… it looked bloody impressive. Maybe I should re-name this blog “3 for 2”?

10 comments:

Faye L. Booth said...

It's always nice to hear these things, so I genuinely thank you for letting us know. It reassures me!

David Isaak said...

Well, hot damn, buckaroo, that's there's great news. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hearty congratulations! The two MNW books I could not pick up coz Will told me they were out of stock and I had to wait for the paperback editions were "Cover the Mirror" and "Shock and Awe". Now I can ask friends to pick it up at 3 for 2! Also Len's book was not in stock. Is it available now? Faye, I have spent years teaching "Goblin Market" at the university and I was particularly interested in your novel!

no said...

Oh wow, I had no idea MNW was doing so well! So are Cover the Mirrors, The Herring Seller's Apprentice and Shock and Awe the big sellers of the MNW output so far, then? Or is that all hazed in mystery?

Alis said...

I believe the appropriate response to this, after H.Simpson Esq is 'Woo Hoo'!! Fab news guys - huge congratulations!

Brian McGilloway said...

Great news and well deserved. I'll be keeping an eye out on this side of the Irish Sea the next time I get near a bookshop.

Congratulations.

Tim Stretton said...

Our long march begins...

Congratulations, chaps!

Frances Garrood said...

Very well done! I think the 'Ryanair of publishing' critics will now finally have to shut up!

Faye L. Booth said...

Suroopa - I'm flattered, thank you. I doubt I can stand up to Rossetti, but it's great to be mentioned in the same breath in any context!

Aliya - I have no idea which books have topped the MNW charts, come to think of it. Borderlands would be in there as well, I would expect?

David Isaak said...

I don't know who the sales leaders are. (Certainly not mine in hardback, although it seems to be doing well in paperback.)

Like Faye, I'm guessing Borderlands leads the pack in the UK. Jonathan Drapes' Never Admit to Beige did fairly well in its day, helped by being Five Live's Book of the Month plus some support from Borders.

If you include overseas biz, though, I think Eliza's Playing with the Moon has outdone everybody...