Status on Last Days

From Brian Evenson:I heard from Victoria Blake, my publisher, that copies of Last Days have arrived to her, which means I should see the final copy soon and that it’ll start appearing in stores and online any day now.  So, I’m in that odd moment where the book both is and isn’t alive:  it exists, it made it into the world despite the economy, initial blog attention and advanced reviews have been good; but people aren’t holding it in their hands yet.  Now I’ll wait to see how things click with readers and other reviewers.  I’ve got an excellent introduction from Peter Straub, so hopefully that will get a few people interested in the book that didn’t know it before.Every book is a new experience, but this one feels newer than most.  I’ve had a book with an introduction before—philosopher Alphonso Lingis wrote an introduction for Altmann’s Tongue—but that was a reprint; this is the original edition.  Cover artwork is by filmmaker Karim Ghahwagi, from one of the stills he took when he was doing character stills for his screenplay for the novel, so that’s new.  I got not one but two reviews in Locus, so that’s new.  I’ve never published a book that was an expansion of a previously published chapbook, so that’s new. Alongside the paperback, we’re doing a simultaneous limited edition hardback, with each cover personalized by hand by my, so that’s new.  Borders is filing the book in the Horror section, so that’s new:  I’ve been in Mystery and Literature before (and in SF for the Aliens novel I did), but never Horror, though I’m very comfortable there.  And Underland Press is new as well—I’m their first title, which feels both very exciting and like stepping into the unknown, probably for both of us.  It’s been a pleasure to have Last Days published by someone who really believes in the book, and the support and professionalism have been very high.  Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all the hard work will pay off, and that the book will get into the hands of readers who will be willing to brave its weirdness…Read a free PDF here.