It’s easy to get taken for granted. If you’re around for long enough, do good work for long enough, people come to assume that ‘of course it’s good’ when you do something new, and are only waiting for ‘this one’s great’. It’s how anything gets overlooked, and I think it’s what happened to Terry Dowling and the two new stories he did for his collection Basic Black, which was published last year by Cemetery Dance.
Dowling added “La Profonde” and “Cheat Light” to Basic Black, and it garnered great reviews in the US, with Publishers Weekly giving it a prestigious starred review. And yet, somehow, here at home not a whisper. So far, the collection has barely received a whisper of mention, and neither story has ended up on any awards ballots or in any year’s bests. Given that the stories are good, I can only assume that this is because we’re used to having a writer of Terry’s calibre around, and that we sort of taken it for granted that he’ll be good. I don’t know.
Anyway, this makes the news that Terry’s story “La Profonde” will appear in Datlow, Link & Grant’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection particularly welcome: something that’s only highlighted by his being the lead-off name on the cover. Clearly the book’s editors and publishers know that they’ve got something pretty special, and see it as an advantage in the US. Hopefully we’ll wake up and realise that soon too. Oh, and it’d be nice if someone would reprint Basic Black, which was out of print within several months of publication. Everyone should have a chance to see the book. Dowling was, is, and remains one of our very best.
Note: Because comments don’t appear on the main page, thought I’d add that you can get a galley of Basic Black for as little as $US7.00 and a hardcover for as little as $US29.00. Not too bad.
Basic Black had a very small print run and is now sold out. I have not seen a copy and it’s only reviewed on ASif! because Leigh kindly reviewed his own copy. If something isn’t readily available, I think it’s unfair to say it’s been deliberately overlooked.
I didn’t say it was deliberately overlooked. I said it was overlooked, which is a different thing. I think, mostly, it slipped under the radar. It wasn’t easy to get, and the print run was small-ish. All true. Also true of every Australian small press title, ever. In fact, it probably had a larger print run than most Australian small press titles (at 750 or so copies), and was as available as any of them, given that you could buy it online from the publisher and amazon.com for some months. The only real difference between it and most Australian small press titles is that it was more expensive, and it sold out quickly.
I do stand by the statement that Dowling gets taken for granted a bit here at home, these days. Assumptions are made about the work, and it gets overlooked. Doesn’t make it deliberate, or any less real.
Oh, and I just did a quick test. An interested reader could get a copy from Clarkesworld Books in the US (http://www.clarkesworldbooks.com/book_1587671239.html) for just $US29.00 plus postage. That’s a bit less than $A40.00 for a signed limited hardcover. Not completely unreasonable.
And, cause I’m going nuts with this, if you spend $US7.00 plus postage, you can get a gally here (http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=terry+dowling+basic+black&btnG=Search+Froogle)
Jonathan–
I was on one of the judging panels (the Aurealis Award for Best Horror) that was apparently snoozing when we read Terry’s stories. The decision we came to reflects our considered opinion on the subject and was not made lightly. There was better work out there, in our opinion, and that’s the honest bottom line. It would be unfair of us to have come up with a shortlist any other way. Are you really suggesting we did otherwise?
Vive la difference, and all that, right?
Apart from that, I agree with you on every point. Terry is a major Australian writer deserving more exposure and respect. The book should be available in airport lounges.
Sean
Speaking of Mr. Dowling, and you, I just cracked into the Jack Vance Treasury yesterday and am loving it. My first exposure to his work and I must say that so far I am very pleased with your choices.
Hey Sean: I didn’t specifically mention, and wasn’t specifically thinking of, the Aurealis Awards. I know that you guys saw the stories, and I don’t doubt that you considered them and made a decision properly and appropriately.
That said, I stand by my basic point, which is that Dowling’s stuff is taken for granted and gets overlooked these days, not just for awards, but for general acclaim. Not many people seem to be talking about him the way they were ten years ago.
Carl V: Hope you love the Vance. I think it’s a terrific book, though I am prejudiced.
I think the big difference between Basic Black and other small press books by Australian authors is that this one I didn’t see on sale in the local bookshops. In Perth at least it had no exposure or presence at all.
If it has indeed sold out, and by the feel of things mostly to an American market, there’s definitely a window for one of the Australian small presses to do a reprint.
Very, very minor nitpick… it’s “Publishers Weekly”.
Oops. Fixed.
there didn’t seem to be a lot of promotion for BASIC BLACK, either, jonathan, and you can argue that that plays a roll in it.
however, i think the thing that might be the case is that a large portion of it was reprinted from BLACKWATER DAYS and AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE NIGHT. it’s kinda unfair to argue that such reprints are overlooked here when they were acknowledged when the original books were released. (and it’s a real shame that BLACKWATER DAYS isn’t readily available for people, since i think it’s dowling’s strongest work.)
i guess i made my point poorly, ben. while basic black is an example, my real point was the we take dowling for granted, and tend to assume that his stuff is of a certain quality level, and then overlook it. not deliberately, but like an elephant hiding in plain sight. of course dowling is good, of course his stuff will be interesting, so we don’t need to say it, discuss it, or even necessarily review it etc.
i do agree, though, that the book wasn’t well promoted in this country, or anywhere. it came and went with little fuss. i suspect that most of the copies went into libraries in the US because of the PW review, and to collectible book dealers, which is kind of a pity.
I read and enjoyed the two new stories from Basic Black. Both were well written, moody stories.
That said, I didn’t find either of them moved me or left me thinking much. I definitely felt there were better stories published this year (imho of course)
As for whether he’s taken for granted, I think probably most authors are taken for granted once they reach a certain level… if a newcomer had published Cheat Light they probably would have been lauded as a hot new talent… but then the same could be said of any other story by a “name” author, Simon Brown or Lucy Sussex for instance.
My personal theory is probably a simple one. Compared to authors of his timespan (roughly) like Dedman, Sussex, or Brown, Dowling published less, and while it’s good quality, I can’t think of a story that’s blown my socks off in recent years by Dowling, the way Leviathan, for instance, did.
All just my opinion, mind. I still hear a lot of people praising Dowling so I don’t think he’s quite as forgotten as you might think…
Jonathan: I haven’t seen the book, but I’ve seen Ellen mention it very positively a number of times.
I’ve started a Terry Dowling entry over at wikiquote.
a quick follow-on to ben’s comment: i’d love to see someone, somewhere reprint blackwater days. it’s dowling’s best book, pretty much. i know i’m biassed because i got him to write it, and because eidolon published it, but i think it really is what he does best. if you knew how few copies of this world fantasy nominated book were published, you’d weep.
that’s neat meika!
hey ben payne: i’d say lucy is rather underappreciated too, for what it’s worth.
well, the wikiquote page been edited already and the contextual details are now in the discussion page.
How many copies of Blackwater Days were published? I’d bet that I’m the only guy on the block (city? state?) who has one.
Roger Silverstein
Well, I don’t know where you are, but sadly there’s a good chance you’re right. I don’t have the exact numbers here, but it wouldn’t have been more than 300 copies.
someone go POD it!
there’s no excuses these days for no backlist (except lack of time)
Anyone wants to do it, I have a few pieces of advice born in experience.
I’m very pleased that BASIC BLACK made the Stoker ballot.
Me too.
300 copies? Sounds more like miniscule than very small. People are really only making that many copies of his books?
Sounds like it may as well be POD, bound to end up selling more than 300 like that eventually you would think?
Both BLACKWATER DAYS and ANTIQUE FUTURES were close to being POD. In both cases, the total initial print-runs were about 100 copies. I think there was one reprint of ANTIQUE FUTURES and two of BLACKWATER DAYS, taking total copies to 200 of AF and 300 of BWD, though that might be higher than the actual numbers. This was mostly because AF was only supposed to be a promotional item available at WorlCon in Melbourne in 1999. No-one has wanted to reprint it since, sadly. BWD wasn’t reprinted because the publisher was running out of steam. In both cases, though, the rights belong to the author. He could arrange to get them reprinted anytime, elsewhere.
Interesting. Perhaps he doesn’t want to, then? I would think if I was an author and had done all that work, selling some more would be good. (Promotional Items notwithstanding of course, I guess that is a different story).
Might sell more than 100 just to other authors that like it?
I mean, I have a friend who vanity published an ordinary poetry collection who sold more than that.
Such tiny numbers do seem a bit like vanity publishing, although with getting paid something, presumably. Beer money?
Is this common for Australian small press type books to print countable-on-the-digits-of-your-average-household type numbers? (if you include the pets).