News Archive

What this means: whether a bookstore has copies on its shelves or not, it can order some. So feel free, if your bookstore doesn't have a Syrup, to demand they get some. Pound the counter, too. That makes you more persuasive.

To all those people who wrote in for the SaveOurSyrups e-mail campaign: thank you so much! Your support really helped.

I don't yet know when the new Syrups will be available. If you'd like to be notified when the book comes out, e-mail SaveOurSyrups@maxbarry.com.

11th: The film option period has expired, and I don't see any Syrup movie posters around featuring Matt Damon, so I must have the rights back. This means I get to sell them all over again, which isn't a bad deal, really. Apparently some writers make a pretty good living just re-selling film options to their books, with no film ever being made. Not bad work if you can get it. But... I'd love to see the film get up.

There's some interest from a few different production companies, so we'll see how we go.

Thanks to those people who have written in about their Herculean struggles to find a copy. It seems that Amazon are out, but Barnes&Noble.com have a few left; apart from that, your best bet is probably picking one up second-hand.

In the long-term, there are two possibilities: either I convince Viking to crank up the presses again, or I get the rights back and find a publisher who will. Since I'm now with Doubleday, this might even work out pretty well.

There are also some new Author Notes in Syrup Extras for those of you who like to marvel at how I ever managed to finish a novel with thought processes like these.

But I do have some excellent news on the new book. If you've been dying to know what's next, you should check this out right now.

My new agent is Luke Janklow, of Janklow & Nesbit. This means I can deliver my long-awaited next book (I keep telling you people, it's coming) to my publisher. How this process works is I send my editor a copy, and once she's distracted by it, Luke grabs her, flips her upside down, and shakes her until all the change in her pockets fall out. We grab the money (which is called an "advance") and split. The process for selling film rights is very similar except you have to say "babe" more often.

As things start to happen in the coming months, I'll report it here. And if nothing's happening, I'll make up some wild rumors to keep things interesting.

I've also added an Other Books section, since the most common question I get asked is: "Are you writing another book?" (Right after that is: "What's taking you so long?") It's spectacularly devoid of information, but you can take a guess at which of six possible books I'm writing. (I don't tell you if you're right, you just guess. It's a little cruel.)

Everyone else, read the book first. You should be ashamed.

The smaller, cuter, Aussie paperback comes out in a couple of weeks time, and I'll be doing a reading at Readings Books in Melbourne on 29th June.

You know how when you stand a book up, the writing on the spine faces left? Well, German books face the opposite way. Either that, or Fukk is the result of a really big screw-up. (I just found that interesting.)

The Australian mass-market paperback is due out in a few months' time, and I love the new-look cover. I have so many different Syrup covers now that I'm going to make up a special page for them all. Until then, you can compare the US hardback and forthcoming (June) paperback here -- and boy, that paperback's really getting its butt kicked in the voting.

That's so cool -- thanks L.A. Times!

And one other thing: the German-language Syrup is coming out shortly, under the name Fukk. That gives me an alarming amount of adolescent enjoyment.

12th: Back to Australia after five months in the US! I had such a great time in the States, but boy, it's good to be home again. Syrup is already on the bookshelves here (and wow, it's everywhere I look), although most of my publicity stuff won't happen until September. (I argued hard for a Godzilla-style teaser campaign, starting to build about nine months before publication date, but you won't believe how obstinate these publishers can be.)

6th: It's publication day! Woo hoo!

14th: Less than a month until Syrup hits the shelves, and new reviews (below)!