The secret book I’ve been banging on about is still…secret. But I can tell you this much about it:
Five years ago, I wrote The End on a manuscript. It’s the sort of thing I like to do quite often and, very occasionally – extraordinarily occasionally, in fact – nice people pay me for doing it (as long as they feel the blathery bit before The End is also nice).
This particular manuscript was the result of a collaboration with my excellent friend and gifted screenwriter, Jeremy Drysdale. Actually, the whole thing was his idea.
I don’t like to collaborate, especially not on novels. To me they’re a very personal thing. But turning this idea – originally, a screenplay that Jeremy pitched to Aardman Animations – into a full-length work of fiction was the best fun I’ve had with my trousers on and not in a pub.
Incidentally, the producer at Aardman on the fateful day of the pitch meeting found the idea somewhat unnerving. The poor man had to ‘go for a bit of a walk’ to recover. I don’t know. Some people, eh?
So, we finished the manuscript and got on with the desert-march that is laughingly known as ‘attracting a publisher’. And what do you know? Five years later, we made it all the way across that desert with no success whatsoever.
BUSINESS. AS. USUAL.
That’s a bit unfair, though, because this is the ultimate Marmite book. You’ll either love it or hate it. Perhaps you’ll even need to go for a bit of a walk after reading it.
Whatever the case, as soon as the jacket art is complete – a matter of days now – and we’ve created the final files, we’ll be revealing the cover and sending out e-copies to reviewers.
You can expect the Kindle-only ebook in under a month.
More soon…
Joseph D'Lacey 