Portnoy’s Not Complaining

It’s fair to say it’s been a busy couple of months for Arlene Hunt. Not only has she published her latest offering, THE CHOSEN, but she and her husband decided to bypass the traditional publishing route to set up their own publishing company, Portnoy Publishing (and no, it’s not a Philip Roth reference). Happily, all the hard work seems to be paying off: THE CHOSEN is the ‘Book of the Month’ for TV3’s Ireland AM book club, which is fantastic exposure for the book, Arlene and Portnoy.
  The good news for readers is that there’s more than a terrific read in prospect if they get involved. If you pen a review of THE CHOSEN and submit it to Ireland AM, you’ll be in with a chance of winning a laptop. Nice. For all the details, clickety-click here …
  Meanwhile, Arlene was on RTE’s Arena arts programme recently, talking with presenter Sean Rocks about THE CHOSEN, and the decision to go it alone set up her own publishing company, despite the fact that she’d been published for many years previously by one of Ireland’s most respected publishing houses. Given all the yakkity-yak about the future of publishing and the changing dynamic of the relationship between authors and publishing houses, it makes for fascinating listening. Clickety-click here for more …

How Cool It Was, How Cool …

You’ll forgive me, I hope, for rattling on about ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL yet again, but there has been a flurry of activity - by my standards, at least - surrounding the book since it launched last Wednesday, when Arlene Hunt, Declan Hughes and Alan Glynn (right, righter and rightest) were among those to make it along to the Gutter Bookshop (and yes, that is the Dark Lord, aka John Connolly, skulking menacingly in the background).
  First up, there were two very interesting reviews indeed on Saturday, from the Irish Times and the Irish Independent. If I’m perfectly honest, I’m still a little bit stunned by the reaction; you do hope for decent reviews (well, any reviews at all, really) when your book appears, but those two were far beyond anything I’d let myself hope for. Sample quote: “ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL isn’t quite like anything you’ve ever read, in any genre.” For the full skinny, clickety-click here …
  Also on Saturday, the Evening Herald was good enough to publish an interview with yours truly, which was terrific in itself, but had the added bonus of being published under the header ‘Paint It Black’, which just so happens to be my favourite Stones track. Coincidence? I think so. For the interview, clickety-click here …
  Another interview, this one of the radio variety, comes courtesy of the good folk at RTE’s Arena programme, which was actually broadcast on the night of the book’s launch. Sean Rocks asks the questions, and the considerably-less-than-dulcet tones of yours truly can be heard doing their best not to make a complete hames of answering. One click takes you there …
  Meanwhile, the team at writing.ie hosts yet another interview with me, and thanks kindly to them. That interview, by the way, comes with a bonus of offering the opportunity to win a free copy of ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. For the interview, click here; if you want to bypass my blatherings and go straight for the freebie, clickety-click here …
  Lastly, but by no means leastly, the venerable Dana King conducts an interview with a difference over at One Bite At A Time, which opens up with allegations of a SWAT team arriving to break up the AZC launch on Wednesday night, and goes downhill rapidly from there. If you’re interested, you know what to do …