Dispatch from the Razor's Edge, the Blog of Michael Stephen Fuchs
2006.04.12 : Reading Redux!
or "The Death of Launch Parties"

"And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,
End in what All begins and ends in – Yes;
Think then you are TO-DAY what YESTERDAY
You were – TO-MORROW you shall not be less."
                 - Omar Khayyam

"What the hell, I've been waiting twenty years for something interesting to happen."
                 - Celeste, THE MANUSCRIPT

And so at long last, a week after publication actually, we had our third and final launch party. This one was put on by the truly lovely gentlemen (David and Daniel) who run Goldsboro Books in central London – the UK's leading specialist in signed first editions. (I've signed something on the order of 150 of mine for them so far.) They have this fantastic tiny little space crammed with first-edition Hemingways and whatnot, in a little bookshop-stuffed alley between St. Martins Lane and Charing Cross Road. However, they rented out the restaurant across the way for this nice event. The best bit was it was the only launch party that was totally open, so I could invite as many friends and partisans as I wanted. Tons of my lovely mates turned out. Sara photographed them.



© 2006 SLPP

Afterwards, naturally, we all repaired to The Wheatsheaf in Fitzrovia (Orwell's local) for pints and good conversation. Lamentably (or not), I think everyone was far too busy drinking to hold a camera. Adaora showed up! – fresh from the triumph of the debut of her feature film, RagTag at the ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto! (And with Gigi – fresh from climbing Kilimanjaro – in tow, no less . . .)

Anyway, a million thanks to all who turned out, for all the really lovely support, and for making it such a fun evening. And thanks as always to all at Macmillan for being the greatest. And special thanks to Goldsboro, for being so nice to us (and for selling an awful lot of books .

And, oh, finally, I can't resist pointing out that the first (erm, not-entirely unsolicited) customer reviews are now up on the Amazon page. Cheers, guys! (Well, you know, whoever you guys are that wrote these things . . .)
Really sweet picture of Uncle Chris and Aunt Valerie – who not only turned out yet again, but actually got there before I did.         (hide)
Me, erm, scratching my back. I wasn't exactly in fine form this evening. To my right you can see a bit of Barney (aka St. Barnabas) – and to the right of him, a bit of young hotshot Macmillan editor (and totally lovely guy) Will Atkins (with the impeccably-trimmed beard).         (hide)
Here are some heads. (One of them's Barney's.) I just like this shot. It gives a nice sense of the packed cocktail-party feel of this thing.         (hide)
Me doing my bit. In front of the now rather over-exposed backdrop. (Here are my introductory comments, as I recall, if you care to read them.)         (hide)
Me doing my bit, with the flash turned on, and thus in focus. (I looked rather better blurry.)         (hide)
Me, yes, yet again.         (hide)
An all-too rare Anne-Gaëlle sighting! Everyone's very favourite charming and glamourous (and overworked) Frenchwoman sweetly turns out in support. (In a scandalously sexy skirt/fishnet/boots combo, which sadly escaped the camera.)         (hide)
The back of St. Barnabas again. (Saints are retiring?)         (hide)
Jolene came out! Yay! So did Stu!         (hide)
Most of the rest of Team Fuchs: Richard "Hilbs" Hilburn, Paul Edmondson, Henry "Henly"/"'Ennery" Clout, Sinea Lew, "St." Barnabas Palfrey, and Alistair "Ali" Keddie – happily making the most of the nibbles and champagne. (Which David of Goldsboro actually popped over to La Belle France to pick up. Any excuse, I suppose.)         (hide)
So I went back across the street to inscribe (or "line" as they say - write out a random line from the book) some copies for some collectors – or, more probably, the types of guys who flog these things on eBay. And Adaora called, charmingly late and charmingly lost as usual, so I was trying to guide her in. And Sara took this very cool shot through the window of the shop.         (hide)
And plus this close-up. I think I'm actually leaning, or nearly, on a stack of my books.         (hide)
And but so while I was over there, and not even around for it, my mates sweetly toasted me. At least Sara was on station!         (hide)
And Henry sweetly thought to hold up the book. And plus Jolene half-faced the camera, which is worth the price of the exposure alone.         (hide)

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about
close photo of Michael Stephen Fuchs

Fuchs is the author of the novels The Manuscript and Pandora's Sisters, both published worldwide by Macmillan in hardback, paperback and all e-book formats (and in translation); the D-Boys series of high-tech, high-concept, spec-ops military adventure novels – D-Boys, Counter-Assault, and Close Quarters Battle (coming in 2016); and is co-author, with Glynn James, of the bestselling Arisen series of special-operations military ZA novels. The second nicest thing anyone has ever said about his work was: "Fuchs seems to operate on the narrative principle of 'when in doubt put in a firefight'." (Kirkus Reviews, more here.)

Fuchs was born in New York; schooled in Virginia (UVa); and later emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived through the dot-com boom. Subsequently he decamped for an extended period of tramping before finally rocking up in London, where he now makes his home. He does a lot of travel blogging, most recently of some very  long  walks around the British Isles. He's been writing and developing for the web since 1994 and shows no particularly hopeful signs of stopping.

You can reach him on .

THE MANUSCRIPT by Michael Stephen Fuchs
PANDORA'S SISTERS by Michael Stephen Fuchs
DON'T SHOOT ME IN THE ASS, AND OTHER STORIES by Michael Stephen Fuchs
D-BOYS by Michael Stephen Fuchs
COUNTER-ASSAULT by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book One - Fortress Britain, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Two - Mogadishu of the Dead, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN : Genesis, by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN Book Three - Three Parts Dead, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN Book Four - Maximum Violence, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN Book Five - EXODUS, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN Book Six - The Horizon, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Seven - Death of Empires, by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Eight - Empire of the Dead by Glynn James & Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN : NEMESIS by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Nine - Cataclysm by Michael Stephen Fuchs

ARISEN, Book Ten - The Flood by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Eleven - Deathmatch by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Twelve - Carnage by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Thirteen - The Siege by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN, Book Fourteen - Endgame by Michael Stephen Fuchs
ARISEN : Fickisms
ARISEN : Odyssey
ARISEN : Last Stand
ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 1 - The Collapse
ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 2 - Tribes
Black Squadron
ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 3 - Dead Men Walking
ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 4 - Duty
ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 5 - The Last Raid
ARISEN : Fickisms ][ – This Time, It's Personal
ARISEN : Operators, Volume I - The Fall of the Third Temple
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