Dear, gentle reader,
when we look back at our Cultural Essays, by Philip Mount, Donald Sturrock or Murray Shanks, so many of the contributions to The Poet’s Sweatshop, the little films we’ve done, and the blogs too, it’s with real pride we talk about Phoenix Ark Press, built from nothing and trying to be honest about the word, about publishing, about the climate we are creating. The sad truth though is that in their wrong belief in sure-fire bets, or the hunt for instant profits, the unbelievers haven’t come up with the backing needed to get our books out, to you gentle reader, and properly. So the dear, gentle founder has to turn to the business of getting a ‘job’ to keep afloat and fight on. But he’ll be damned if he’s going to give up on work already there, on the spirit of a Phoenix, that can only come again and again, and on a commitment to great story. So today he’s biting a difficult bullet and announcing that, mostly out of necessity, Phoenix Ark can currently only afford to publish straight to eBook. This means that our lead titles, Scream of the White Bear, Michelangelo’s Mouse, The Blood Garden, and Ice will be exclusively available on Kindle and other reading devices this year. I am truly sorry, especially to younger readers who may not have access to Kindles or Ipads, but it is the only way not to waste work, and get our stories out. David’s poor younger fans will probably have grown up and become head of Penguin by the time Scream finally comes out, but trust it will be all the better for that! On the other hand we think it may represent a new spirit, for a little Publisher to turn exclusively to ePublishing, but with a respect for story, and for quality that you do not see in so much of the tat that is being peddled in electronic format. We will see too if EBooks can get serious attention from the critical and reading public and perhaps Phoenix can lead the field in EPublishing. David is off to Rome again to ponder the muse, and find some inspiration for Phoenix, and Dragons in the Post.
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