Publishers Weekly. Review. With a star on it.

Publishing is an odd business. Here I am with a new book so freshly out I don't even have a physical copy myself yet - and the most exciting thing in the inbox is about another book, three months down the road. Which Publishers Weekly has just reviewed, as they do, way ahead of time for the benefit of libraries and bookstores, who should be sharpening their ordering-pencils as we speak: for lo, PW stuck a star on it.

This is kind of a big deal, recognition-wise: especially for a book from a small press, as this is. (Bill Schafer of Subterranean sent it to me, lovely man that he is, though this is not one of his own stable; it comes from Lethe Press. Or will do.)

Anyway: pull quotes. Brenchley charts the treacheries of the sea and the human heart in this haunting collection ... Deceptively light, allusive titles (“Junk Male,” “ ’Tis Pity He’s Ashore,” “Villainelle”) give away little of their stories’ knotty emotional depth. The discursive, sharply detailed style permits a remarkable control of tone ... This clever and subtle collection...

Or you can just read the whole thing here. You should probably go and do that, rather than listen to me babbling about stars'n'stuff. I haven't even had coffee yet.

(But you could pre-order the book here on Amazon.com, should you want to. Starred review!)

Sauce!

In other news, you know how incredibly annoying those posts are which say "oh, and I have some other good news, that I can't share with you until someone else announces it"?

Well, yeah. That.

In an obvious but always-effective distracting manoeuvre: why is it that a pinch of sugar and a dash of balsamic will always improve any tomato sauce ever? Regardless of what else goes into it? It shouldn't even be enough to notice, let alone to lift the flavours so significantly, and yet it always does.