The news is only just beginning to sink in. Readers will know that Paul and I hastily revised our publication schedule for 2013 in order to get a proof copy of what had been titled The Red Fog in Lenny Picker’s article Ripping Yarns into the hands of Publisher’s Weekly’s editor in time for an October review date.
I hadn’t been very optimistic: after all, it was seen as a self-published book (which it really wasn’t, as it had been published before in 1988 in French, and I didn’t write it) and a print-on-demand trade paperback to boot. Yet not only was it accepted, it received a starred review in the October 7 issue. I tried unsuccessfully to find a copy to take to Paul, as I was about to fly to Paris to spend several days with him and other friends.
A ‘Q&A With Paul Halter’ appeared in the October 28 issue, followed by a request from the PW media editor for a photo of the cover, which I dutifully sent. When I enquired the reason, I was stunned to learn that my print-on-demand paperback, published by my one-man-band enterprise Locked Room International was up there with the mainstream mystery publishers in the November 7th issue
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‘Self-publishing’ has well and truly arrived!