Monday, October 30, 2006

For a minute there I lost myself

Yay. All done. I just sent the manuscript to the publisher. Let's see what they make of my attempts to link OK Computer with Barthes, Deleuze, Plato, Kafka, Blake, Gary Numan, Bret Easton Ellis, Albert Camus, the Eagles, Yoko Ono, Jeff Bridges, Czech dissidents, the collapse of the Thai baht and, uh, Snakes On A Plane.

It's already available for pre-order here and here. That's right, the cover was all done and dusted before they saw a word of text. Which can, of course, lead to confusion, as Jim Crace describes in the story of Useless America, his novel that never was, except in the murky backwaters of the Amazon, where passing fancies and misheard phone calls go to die.

14 comments:

Annie said...

Congrats. What do you do after sending a manuscript to a publisher? Do you go to the pub?

Anonymous said...

Well done Tim now I know what to get my aged aunts for Christmas.

'That Thom Yorke, he's lovely he is.'

patroclus said...

Ahh, congratulations Tim. It's already in my Amazon pre-orders shopping basket, along with Ben Hammersley's forthcoming tome.

What are you going to do now? Should we expect lots more CiF action?

Billy said...

Ooh well done. Do we, your loyal blog readers, get a discount?

Tim F said...

AR: No, I contented myself with a large Calvados and a slump in front of the telly watching Mark Steel.

RD: I love the idea of aged aunts singing along to 'Subterranean Homesick Alien'. But they may have to wait, cos it ain't out till April.

Patroclus: I'm trying to ration myself to one a week. Don't want to turn into Polly Toynbee.

Billy: You get a collective thank you in the Introduction. Now go off and put it in your Amazon like Patroclus did.

FirstNations said...

congratulations!!!!!!
congratulations!!!!!!
congratulations!!!!!!
congratulations!!!!!!

are there robots?

Molly Bloom said...

Congrats Tim! That's reet good that is. Hurrah!

Unknown said...

heeeey! congratulations! also thanks for having me a sneak peek, even if only a few pages :D

hola, now i've new book to excitedly wait for!

i'll be a proper fan and fly up there for your signature next month? then you can treat me for a drink.

Annie said...

hooray! You've sold it to me, (and I don't even like them that much, they have the same effect on me as on the suicidal priest in Father Ted.)

Tim F said...

FN: Many robots. Well, androids.

Molly: Thank you. I do mention Joyce, briefly, but Eliot gets more of a look-in. As does Sam B.

Tree: Be lovely to see you, old chap. A mini-blogmeet in BKK. Drop me a line beforehand, as next month is a bit busy.

Annie: Bugger. Forgot that bit. Oh well, it was The Bends, wasn't it, so not so relevant. And I hope it's the sort of thing that appeals to non-Radiohead fans as well. The idea is that it uses OKC as a springboard, to look at the whole idea of indie music, classic rock, political art, blah-di-blah.

Oh God, it does sound a bit pretentious, doesn't it?

Larry Teabag said...

Well done Tim.

Does RadioDread get a mention? I'm enjoying that a lot. Not sure it's quite as good as the Dub Side of the Moon, but it's excellent nonetheless - thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Garth said...

Congratulations Tim!

Tim F said...

Larry: Yes, there's a whole chapter on cover versions, and Radiodread gets a very positive mention. Alongside Brad Meldhau's 19-minute jazz version of Paranoid Android, the Bison Chips' a capella Karma Police and Exit Music done by an all-girl Belgian choir.

PI: Cheers, mate.

orange anubis said...

Congrats Tim, most exciting!