19.5.09

14 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Bravo, Martin. A wonderful achievement- a review in the New York Times. I put in my recommendation.
Bests
Lis

Kauders said...

I was surprised and delighted to see this when I opened the paper on Sunday morning. And on a day when the lead review was given up to Janet Frame—a book which, I happen to know, had great difficulty finding any publisher at all in the US...anyway congratulations!
Simon During

Martin Edmond said...

Thanks Lis. And hello Simon. I have wondered at the identity of the mysterious Kauders. It's a good review I think - picks up on aspects of the book hitherto unremarked.

pb said...

It's those multifarious selves again - now they've hived off to NYNY - where next ?

Happy for you Martin.

Unknown said...

Its really good to see your work getting out there, Martin - congratulations - here's to an expanding edmond consciousness and readership

Adam Aitken said...

Excellent bro, I am glad the NYT agree with me that its a great book! My fav.

Adam

Martin Edmond said...

... almost as good as seeing The Supply Party at Sydney Airport.

Kay Cooke said...

That's great Martin - congratulations. I'm sure there's more to come too.

Larry Buttrose said...

Great stuff Martin, well done! I think The Supply Party will get an even better notice too when its time comes.

The Paradoxical Cat said...

By the way that is bullshit about the Frame novel having trouble finding a publisher in the USA.

But typical NZ tall poppy nonsense, as I guess you'll discover if you, like Frame, insist on keeping on churning out masterpieces.

Well done!

Kauders said...

My sense that it wasn't easy getting a publisher for the Frame novel comes from the literary agent who is responsible for the Frame estate account and hawked it around the NY publishing houses for months before finding anyone interested. It's true! And what that has to do with tallpoppies god only knows.

The Paradoxical Cat said...

Well if that's so it only goes to illustrate the truism that the quality of a book will be in inverse proportion to the eagerness of a mainstream publisher to handle it.

The US market is quite insular and very few Zilders have managed to crack it at all. It is surprising that the Yanks have taken so warmly to Frame's very British little novel, and for a manuscript to find the right publisher within a matter of months doesn't seem unusually long in international terms.

The fact is that the Frame novel was published in the USA and had a very favourable leading review in the NYT. Hence it looks like tallpoppyism when someone indulges their urge to question the praise by cutting the thing back down to size...

Luca Antara is a masterpiece, and so is Towards Another Summer - why make it a competition? Why not celebrate?

Kauders said...

I 'm a Kiwi who lives in the US. One Sunday a few weeks ago I picked up my New York Times' book section to find, amazingly, that Janet Frame had the lead review and Martin's book received intelligent praise a few pages in. I posted a comment here saying how absolutely great that was, all the more so because it had been difficult for Frame's book to find a publisher. Tall poppy cutting down? Inappropiate cavilling? Inventing invidious comparisons? I just don't see it....

The Paradoxical Cat said...

My apologies to 'Kauders' for misreading the tone of his comment.

It's so easy to get the "wrong end of the stick" in a casual internet exchange.

However I too have my sources and knew the story of the Frame novel was more nuanced than his anecdote suggested. The US territory was negotiated as part of a multi-book deal, and there were complex issues around the backlist, so I think that the agent made a really good fit with an appropriate publisher quite swiftly under those circumstances.

Congratulations again to Martin Edmond on the well-deserved critical attention. Hope to see more of the same for the thirst-quenching Supply Party!