Out of Synch

By Cheryl Morgan

As far as I can see there’s only one book being published in August that I have previously reviewed due to publication elsewhere. Ah, but what a book. After all the hard work that Jeff and Ann have been doing on promotion, Shriek: An Afterword, will finally be available in US stores. The book is due out the weekend of FinnCon, and will be accompanied by screenings of Shriek: The Movie at various venues around the world. More information can be found on the official movie blog.

No one I know works harder to promote his books than Jeff VanderMeer. This could easily get very tiresome, but everything that Jeff does is creative and fun. Rather than taking a Puritan line and turning my nose up at any promotional activities, I rather wish that the vanity press crowd would try to learn from Jeff’s success. If I’m going to be bombarded with requests for reviews I would much rather that they be entertaining than embarrassing or offensive.

Of course knowing my usual attitude to movies, I’ll probably hate Jeff’s as well, but at least I enjoyed all of the hoo-ha that surrounded the making of it. And regardless of the promotional stuff, I still think the book is wonderful.