Man Booker Madness

What has caught your eye about the Man Booker longlist? The number of indie publishers? The breadth? The depth? The welcome appearance of small or indie publishers ? All of these have been mentioned in various quarters, but it was when I put my feet up with yesterday’s Telegraph Review  that it came to my notice that from a list of thirteen, five have not yet been published. Well, Man Booker  judges have rarely been influenced by best-seller lists, but surely anything being discussed as a potential literary gem should at least be available to the common man?

And what about bookshops, how galling for them to be asked for a longlist title and be able to offer only a pre-order? I think the guilty publishers – presumably trying to drum up business in advance of any real trial by market – should be given a smart slap on the wrist. Or maybe the rules just need to be changed. All in all, another sign of the book industry being in a catastrophic state of confusion.

Although there is an interesting footnote. Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart, NYP in paper back, has been out since 2012 on Kindle with a Limited edition hardback available from the Lilliput Press. Now it’s with Doubleday who presumably knew a good thing when they saw it.

Good to know that at least some of this influential list has had a previous life. Sounds like a good read, too.

I’m writing this in a season of some difficulty for WordPress  users. Some unknown difficulty with WordPress software, or servers, or, as they woud prefer, external factors (ISPs? browsers? goverment agencies? – don’t laugh, this is a serious proposition) UK users are having a tough time posting, viewing or managing their sites. There is never a good time for this to happen, and in my case I was on the point of launching a new site linked to a Very Exciting Project, all of which (the site not the project) has now ground to a halt.

As the first serious outage of WP in my six years membership, it’s a blow, but the kind of thing we have to live with in the online world.  I’m hoping it’s something silly like the heat. Hopefully I can still rabbit on here until things cool down.