This weeks increasingly inaccurately titled #shoutoutSunday goes to the one and only Graeme Reynolds. For two reasons. One is hyphen-gate (DYSWIDT?). For those of you who missed it... aw, hell, I cant summarize it better than the man himself did - take 5 minutes of your time and just click here: https://graemereynolds.wordpress/2014/12/14/hyphen-hate-when-amazon-went-to-war-against-punctuation/ Back? So, basically, a ridiculous situation, an impassioned and gloriously sweary response (though Ive been assured this was, by Mr. Reynolds standards, actually pretty laid back), job done, right? Well... then theres the whole going viral thing. Within 48 hours, the story was on The Telegraph, The Mail, and The Guardian, as well as being mentioned on Radio 2 (Simon Mayos Drivetime). In what I can only imagine was a moment of sublime surreality, the man himself was even interviewed for CBC radio (thats the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). In short, not just viral, but internationally viral. And you know what? Good for him. Because Ive been Facebook friends with Mr. Reynolds for a while, and I can tell you hes a very hardworking, dedicated, and no-nonsense writer, editor and publisher. One who cares passionately about the genre and writers rights. I cant think of a better mouthpiece to address the concerns of writers over issues like this, and Im grateful on behalf of the entire community that weve got a guy like this in our corner, fighting the good fight. The issue got fixed, but more importantly (I hope) Amazon got an important message - yes, quality control is important, especially in the era of self-publishing, but it has to be done by intelligent human eye, not algorithm. But I said two reasons, and the second one is frankly more important: Mr. Reynolds in an author. Specifically, hes the author of two werewolf novels which are the first two parts of a projected trilogy. And they are bloody good books. I picked up the audiobook versions of both stories, in a bid to supplement my podcast commute soundtrack with some actual stories, on the recommendation of the reader, Chris Barnes (he of prior Taking The Piss fame). Chris does another great job here. The books themselves are really good, solid horror fair - the werewolf descriptions are well written and strikingly visceral, the characters well drawn. In the first book, the children of 1986 in particular are incredibly well realized, and feel like very real, rounded characters. Combine the above with the precise, meticulous plotting of a white knuckle thriller, and you have a potent story. Greame noted that his new-found fame/infamy has so far not translated to additional sales. Hes way too classy to try and exploit this situation for more sales. I have no such qualms. Go and buy High Moor and High Moor 2 (trust me, youll want both). Yes, youll be supporting a staunch advocate and tireless worker in the indie horror community, but far more importantly, youll be treating yourself to a high octane double bill creature feature that is a powerful and worthy contribution to the continuing mythology of werewolf tales. UK: amazon.co.uk/High-Moor-Graeme-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B0068NOYM8/ US: amazon/High-Moor-Graeme-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B0068NOYM8/ PS - For a hyphen-free experience, I can recommend the audio-book version... ;)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 10:22:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015