The Times on Company
I am sick. But I have a conference call to L.A. about my Syrup
screenplay so I’m up and at my keyboard, with a glass of orange juice to
my left and a bowl to hawk up phlegm into on my right. (Sorry. That line
between what other people find interesting and what they really don’t want to
know? Sometimes I have trouble tracking that.)
I open up my e-mail client and see, oddly, a lot of new mail. And most have “New York Times” in the subject line. Some also have “congratulations” or “rave.”
And I don’t open any of them. I just sit there, stunned, unable to believe what a ridiculously lucky streak I am on.
I finally give in and check Amazon.com. Company’s sales rank has jumped to 22. If I’m reading this right, at this moment it’s the fifth best-selling novel, behind Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, that damned Kite Runner, and—yes, of course—Stephen King’s Cell.
This is so amazing I have to run into the bedroom and wake up Jen.
We make too much noise and Fin wakes up, too. I hold her while we read the New York Times review. It’s by Janet Maslin and is jaw-droppingly good. And it actually says:
“Company” is Mr. Barry’s breakout book
If there is such a thing as balance in the Universe, tomorrow I am going to be hit by a bus, bankrupted, and disemboweled.
Comments
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Tim Ashwood (#595)
Location: Sydney
Posted: 6250 days ago
Awesome, and more than worthy of three exclamation marks.
Tim Ashwood (#595)
Location: Sydney
Posted: 6250 days ago
Joel Kelly (#1517)
Location: Canada
Quote: "www.ingenioustries.com"
Posted: 6250 days ago
I think she liked the book. I never finished Catch-22, but I read Company the first night I got it. Though, Catch-22 was longer.
Kristen (#1157)
Location: Jersey
Quote: "Insert quotation here."
Posted: 6250 days ago
Location: Fremont, California
Quote: "www.caffeinatedmuslim.com"
Posted: 6250 days ago
Good review as well. Although, I do disagree with her about the donut. It did deserve all that attention! Hehe.
Paul (#104)
Location: Connecticut, USA
Quote: ""Don't fight it son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating. " --Brazil (1985 movie)"
Posted: 6250 days ago
Paul (#104)
Location: Connecticut, USA
Quote: ""Don't fight it son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating. " --Brazil (1985 movie)"
Posted: 6250 days ago
Paul (#104)
Location: Connecticut, USA
Quote: ""Don't fight it son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating. " --Brazil (1985 movie)"
Posted: 6250 days ago
Kristen (#1157)
Location: Jersey
Quote: "Insert quotation here."
Posted: 6250 days ago
Robert (#413)
Location: Los Angeles
Quote: "A positive attitude will not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
Posted: 6250 days ago
Matt (#61)
Location: Chicago
Posted: 6250 days ago
P.S. Max, Chicago yearns for you tragically.
shabooty (#637)
Location: D.C./V.A/M.D.
Quote: "I will shake your foundation. I will shake the f**cking rafters. Nobody'll be the same -Danny Bonaduce ....& go visit my blog @: http://www.shabooty.com"
Posted: 6250 days ago
and let Xzibit pop your collar too :)
Location: Hobart
Posted: 6250 days ago
Greg Karber (#1568)
Location: gregkarber.com
Posted: 6250 days ago
I miss you already, Max.
Drew D. (#1045)
Location: Melbourne, Vic., Australia
Quote: ""A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a danish.""
Posted: 6250 days ago
Matt (#61)
Location: Chicago
Posted: 6250 days ago
Ahem, that is not to say Max doesn't kick ass.
Pete Clamiston Nessi (#927)
Location: Chicago
Quote: "04dana14na"
Posted: 6250 days ago
That'll be the day.
Nick (#1991)
Location: Vietnam
Posted: 6250 days ago
Lapse (#86)
Location: Brisbane Australia
Quote: "You're adopted and we hate you."
Posted: 6250 days ago
That's great news for you though Max... How far are you underway in the next book :P
Any news on when it will come out in Australia yet Max? so I know whether it is worth spending the extra $30 getting a copy imported?
Hobbie (#1359)
Location: Cornwall, England
Quote: "There was a little man in his hair!"
Posted: 6250 days ago
Well done Max, and try not to let it go to your head... this is the sort of fame that drives people mad. Though if you do... write a book about it.
Location: Morristown, Indiana
Quote: "Why do I blog? Simple, because Max Barry blogs."
Posted: 6250 days ago
I HATE MAX BARRY. HE SUCKS AS A WRITER!
Man, it's amazing how controversy can be a great marketing tool. Whoever has started reading this probably thinks that I really hate max barry.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK, CHARLIE KAUFMAN...AND MAXX BARRY?
Anyways congradulations Max Barry....well deserved, this. By the way, you should definitely sellout if you can do that in the book world...you know, stop blogging for the fans and try to make as much money as possible, and definitely do the Oprah thing. It's the only way to get to number #1...get on her book club, just don't claim that company is non-fiction like that a million little pieces book.
Also, now that you are moving to the top, you should consider another book tour...that doesn't just fly over chicago and mock it. I don't know why but for some reason, I just get this mental image of Max Barry sitting in the window seat of a plane saying, "I can basically see all my Midwest fans from right here. No need to stop in and say 'hello'." Then he does one of those evil laughs that lasts a long time.
-adam
Chris (#2156)
Location: Melbourne, Aus
Quote: "somebody said something once. i can't remember what it was."
Posted: 6250 days ago
i'd say get well soon but i kinda like the whole karmic thing that's punishing you for letting your book be so fashionably ex-pat. if George Bush wasn't president of the Un-aited States, i'd accuse you liking America better than Aus. What gives? When do we get it? I can't help noticing that you never answer that question.
Hobbie (#1359)
Location: Cornwall, England
Quote: "There was a little man in his hair!"
Posted: 6250 days ago
(P.S. If anyone needs me, I'm hiding from all of the now very mad, very flatulent Chicago Max Barry vigilantes.)
Rod McBride (#688)
Location: Gardner, KS
Quote: "www.MidwestRockLobster.blogspot.com"
Posted: 6249 days ago
I still say 'Syrup' is my favorite of the three, and I suppose my hardback of it just went up in value as a hip collectable. But Im getting a bit impatient for you fourth book, so you better get back at it.
Location: SF, CA
Quote: "Good sex is like good Bridge: if you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." -- Mae West"
Posted: 6249 days ago
John Doe (#797)
Location: Live from Omicron Persei 8
Quote: "You're just jealous because the little voices only talk to me."
Posted: 6249 days ago
So you're basically saying that you toil endlessly for months-on-end to make an awesome novel, and then you credit it to luck instead of skill? ::baffled::
Max Edmands (#2105)
Location: Woodstock, NY USA
Quote: "You? No! -Famous last words of Asmodean"
Posted: 6249 days ago
Gregor (#1182)
Location: Toronto
Quote: "The righteous man is beset on all sides by the tyrannies of evil men."
Posted: 6249 days ago
God, your head must be so big...
Next you'll be talking to Clive James as a buddy...
David (#1848)
Location: Texas
Quote: "Delighted!"
Posted: 6249 days ago
It is nice to be among the early maxbarryianists, as the rest of the world comes around.
And Heller only managed ONE book worth mentioning! A hack, compared to Max!
AJ (#1866)
Location: Portland, OR
Quote: "Who said life was fair (or some shitty thing like that)"
Posted: 6249 days ago
So Max, when you get on Oprah, are you going to get us all(your loyal devoted fans) tickets to the show?
=)
John Morris (#346)
Location: Penn Valley
Quote: "to be or not to be"
Posted: 6249 days ago
Monkeywright (#1732)
Location: Los Angeles, Californi-YARGH!
Quote: ""China is Here?" I don't even know what the hell that means! - PS - visit scenic www.monkeywright.com"
Posted: 6249 days ago
This has been a kick, watching a young author move from relative obscurity (which, I understand, is a small town in Australia), to his big break. Now, we all await Max 3.0, in which he becomes a cardigan-wearing stuffy literary snob who's too good for the masses and frequently drops tidbits like "I've been mentioned in the New York Times with Joseph Heller. IN THE SAME REVIEW!" into conversations.
Way to go max. Come back to LA soon!
Kalle (#1278)
Quote: "Sex is herital. If your parents never had it, chanses are you'll never have it either."
Posted: 6249 days ago
J/K. Gjolly good show! Seems like Nationstates worked out for you!
Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Why are the pretty ones always insane?"
Posted: 6249 days ago
It doesn't cost anything *like* $30 extra to have Company imported to Australia. Use Amazon: with std int'l shipping (2-3 weeks) it's $US15.61 plus $US4.99 shipping. That's about $AU28.00 all up.
Then consider that the avg price for a hardback novel in Australia is $AU45.00 - $AU50.00 and you see you're actually saving a money. Even if it's only released here as a trade paperback (months from now) as Jennifer Government was, it'll cost at least $AU32.00. With the current exchange rate it's actually cheaper to buy US hardcovers via Amazon than trade paperbacks from local publishers. Crazy, eh?
And, yes, Company's worth it.
disturbed_kiwi (#977)
Location: New Zealand
Posted: 6249 days ago
Or willing to share a password?
Drew D. (#1045)
Location: Melbourne, Vic., Australia
Quote: ""A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a danish.""
Posted: 6249 days ago
Location: SF, CA
Quote: "Good sex is like good Bridge: if you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." -- Mae West"
Posted: 6249 days ago
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=467658
ryandake (#2199)
Location: scenic monterey, ca
Quote: ""The rest is not our business.""
Posted: 6249 days ago
still, i'm very glad to see your star ascend! been a fan since Jennifer Government (1st US Edition, hardback), tracked down a copy of Syrup, recommended you to many many friends.
congratulations! looking forward to your next with glee :-)
Keely (#1602)
Location: easy-peasy-24.livejournal.com of course!
Quote: "I always wanted to see the lights of Broadway... but then you get there and they're really kind of annoying."
Posted: 6249 days ago
Congratulations Max--all my favorite things are being mentioned in the NY Times nowadays: Nellie McKay, Max Barry, that 'High School Musical'... I can't believe it. Sales rank #5. That is amazing, congratulations! Maybe now my NationStates friends will finally read Jennifer Government.
I knew of you before you got all big and famous, though. By about eight months to a year. NationStates did its job!
Justin (#2009)
Location: Halfmoon, NY
Quote: "Max(x) is awesome!"
Posted: 6248 days ago
Lapse (#86)
Location: Brisbane Australia
Quote: "You're adopted and we hate you."
Posted: 6248 days ago
serious??? Bloody Angus and Robertson trying to cheat me out of my money <_<
Rob H (#2200)
Location: Melbourne
Posted: 6247 days ago
Just for the record, I prefer Max Barry to Joseph Heller. That's right! I've said it!
+1 to Melbourne.
Jake (#233)
Location: Boston
Posted: 6247 days ago
:D good for youuu, baddd for jake, :(
Jake (#233)
Location: Boston
Posted: 6247 days ago
http://library.minlib.net/search/aBarry%2C+MAX/abarry+max/1,3,8,B/holdings&FF=abarry+maxx&1,,6
haha they still have your name with 2 x's though
Jim (#1813)
Quote: ""What was the significance of the Erie Canal?" "In the cosmic sense, probably nil." Calvin and Hobbes"
Posted: 6246 days ago
Location: Darwin, Australia
Quote: "Inconceivable!"
Posted: 6246 days ago
I read half of Syrup on the plane to Alice on Tuesday, and the rest that night. I have now loaned to my friend (who says he is enjoying it) and now Max has a new fan! I am nearly finished Company (mostly completed on the plane on the way home today) and it is a very enjoyable book!
Thank you Max for the enjoyment you have brought me!
M
Rob H (#2200)
Location: Melbourne
Posted: 6245 days ago
Your a little off with the shipping cost. Amazon's telling me that it'll cost $27.59 inc. S/H. That's around $40 Australian. Nevertheless, mines on it's way. I'm usually a paperback kinda guy but I'm willing to make an exception in this case.
Lancer Kind (#1547)
Location: Redmond WA
Quote: "Be nice to the man with the gun."
Posted: 6241 days ago
Jason Wallwork (#675)
Location: Peterborough, Canada
Quote: "If it ain't broke you're not trying hard enough."
Posted: 6201 days ago
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