Thursday, August 11, 2011

ZERO Plus One

It’s all gone a bit Declan Burke on these pages for the last couple of weeks, for which I must apologise to the Three Regular Readers - please bear with me, and normal-ish service will be resumed. But then, it’s not often I get to publish a book, or more accurately have one published on my behalf, which is what officially occurred last night at the Gutter Bookshop in Dublin, when Liberties Press released ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL into the wild.

  A very nice night it was too, and no one had an eye out, at least not to the best of my knowledge. The big revelation of the night was that John Connolly, when he hits form, lies not only through his teeth but through every pore of his body. That said, it was very nice to hear the very nice things he said as he launched our humble offering, especially as the Gutter Bookshop was thronged with friends and family who might have been a tad concerned that this whole writing malarkey was a complete waste of time. For me, at least. Anyway, the Dark Lord was joined by others of the Irish writing fraternity, past, present and future, including Arlene Hunt, Declan Hughes, Alan Glynn, Joe Joyce, Gene Kerrigan, Frank McGrath, John Kelly, Rob Kitchen, Alan Monaghan, Seamus Smyth, Ed O’Loughlin, KT McCaffrey and John Banville. The cockles of my heart were fairly toasted by the time it was all over, and heartfelt thanks to everyone who turned out to lend their support.

  What’s rare is wonderful, which makes the publication of one of my books particularly wonderful, to yours truly if no one else. That said, the good vibes emanating from a room full of family and friends made the evening even more special. An evening to treasure, absolutely, and thanks to everyone from far and near who sent texts, emails, tweets and all manner of communications to wish us well. You were there in spirit, folks.

  I’ve had quite a few queries about the availability of ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL in e-format, by the way, and last night also marked the official launch of the e-friendly version of the book. For those of you interested, the links are here:
ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL e-book on Amazon.uk



ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL e-book on Amazon.us
  So there you have it: AZC, very shortly to alight on a shelf near you. All we can do now is wish it a bon voyage, a fair wind and gentle beachings …


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Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.