Monday, January 29, 2007

The Publication Curse

I am beginning to scare myself. Since the publication of my book on immortality on January 22nd, the two oldest people in the world have both died. On Sunday night Emma Faust Tillman expired at the age of 114. She had only held the title for a week. A 115-year-old man in Puerto Rico checked out a few days earlier. I fear for the well-being of Yone Minagawa, a Japanese lady who is now said to be the world's oldest person. Years ago, on the set of The Sheltering Sky, Bernardo Bertolucci warned me not to come near his film as 'it is contaged'. Perhaps my book is the same. But, what the hell, buy it anyway. You've got to die of something.

3 comments:

  1. Now that you mention it, I had to collect the parcel that contained your book from the local sorting office, and when I was reversing out of my parking spot I nearly squashed a pedestrian. It also fell off my mantelpiece yesterday, mysteriously, and just missed my one-year old. And I haven't even started reading it yet! Maybe health and safety guidelines are needed or a special discount on a hard hat with every copy sold.

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  2. What I want to know is, where the heck is my copy that Amazon.UK said it shipped over a week ago? It's packaged with "Between the Lines" (cop show recommended to me by Maxine C.) and some old Tom Stoppard plays. Where has the package stopped en route to my house? Is someone else reading your book, watching Neil Pearson, tossing down Stoppard bons mots? Qui sait?

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  3. Amazon did seem to sell out at one point - good - but don't seem to have restocked very rapidly - bad. Let me know when it arrives.

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