Please Forgive Me / Don't Forget Me

I found out I was going to have a short story published for the first time in January, 2008. I remember vividly the email dropping into my inbox, and reading it for the first time, hazy, taken aback, not quite believing the words the kind soul at Aesthetica Magazine had written. From then on in it was a relatively easy affair. I signed a contract – the first professional contract I had ever signed – and returned it to their magazine offices, all but ready to plaster on a bit of red lipstick and seal the envelope with a sexy kiss.

A month later, on February 1^st, ‘Rain on Film’ appeared in print and was distributed, modestly, to Borders and WH Smith stores across the country. My dear Grandmother arrived at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena earlier than any other human being and snapped up every copy they had on the shelves. In Manchester, my future girl-wife, Laura Harper, handed real English money across the counter in the Cornerhouse bookshop. Meanwhile, somewhere on Oxford Street, me and m’friend and colleague, Paul Thomas, were all but ransacking the bookshops looking for a copy… To no avail. And it wasn’t because all the copies in London had sold out. It was because they didn’t have any – at least not in the places we looked. (Luckily, print magazines with a bit of money behind them send you a few contributor copies for gratis, and I got my hands on one when I returned to Coventry.)

I’ve been published a few times since then, both in print and online, and I’m proud of each and every story. But there was something about that first “success” that has remained unparalleled.

Until now.

On March 17^th, 2011, I sent a story called ‘The Drowners’ to Monkey Puzzle Press, a publishing house based in Boulder, Colorado. I can’t remember how I first came across them. I spend a lot of time ‘surfing the web’ (to use a ghastly and completely unacceptable phrase) to find publishers with whom my work might fit. On 8^th June, a man named Nate Jordon emailed me to say that he had recently read the story, and would I be interested in releasing it as a chapbook with Monkey Puzzle. Positioned as I was on the settee in my flat, all unsuspecting and self-doubting, I read, then re-read, the message and responded with a very definite, ‘I’d, like, be WELL interested…’

If you’ve ever had the good fortune to collaborate artistically with someone you’ve never met, you will know how pleasurable an experience it can be. In the three months since Nate first got in touch about doing the book we have exchanged forty-two emails. He is, I am happy to announce, one of the greatest composers of the email message I have ever come across.

At one point during our correspondence, Nate asked me about what we should do for the artwork. Having already been knocked out by the flyer Michael Fennell designed for the Cannes screening of ‘The Girl is Mime’, I politely begged him to read the story and sketch some designs for ‘The Drowners.’ So he did. And they were fucking BRILLIANT. Like, really fucking brilliant. Overnight, he cast a little spell and presented me with two amazing ideas for the sleeve – both of which were more wonderful than I ever could have imagined. We agreed on one and sent it over to Nate for his appraisal. His reply:

Brilliant! I really dig the cover design - my personal aesthetic is to keep things simple - (as the Buddha says, "The most simple is the most profound.") - it has impact and strikes the curiosity - and I think the title is genius, and says it all without decoration.

Well, I can’t take credit for the title. It is stolen – wholeheartedly and, like all the best plagiarists, without remorse – from the Suede song of the same name. Maybe Dave Sexton can take some credit for introducing me to that band (the 90’s Smiths) one exquisite evening when, once upon a happy time, we lived together.

But let it be known: I am incredibly proud of this collaboration. It is brought to you, Earnest Reader, with love and joy. Accordingly, I will sign off with the following comments –

To Michael Fennell – Thank you, genuinely and kindly, for endowing ‘The Drowners’ with such beautifully fitting artwork. You never fail to inspire and amaze.

To Nate Jordon and Monkey Puzzle Press – It is the pleasure and the privilege of the writer to be invested with your confidence, hard work and support. You do great things.

And to you, Dearest Reader – Your support, interest and – let’s not be shy – hard cash is appreciated more than you will ever know. Please visit Monkey Puzzle Press as often as you humanly can. Tell your friends and lovers about them. Together, I am sure we can keep half-drunk writers and super-sexual readers happy for a long time.

I’ll shut up now.

P.S. This one is for our Nate -

http://monkeypuzzlepress.com/books/the-drowners/