At least twice as many Chinese as English have now bought and read the book - a small irony for a story with plenty of word play, riddles and stuff!
Are English publishers /agents too sniffy or hung up on Lewis Carroll (it had been ‘likened unto’ by various commentators - which apparently raises some hackles) or reluctant to take on a story that does, some say, require a modicum of intelligence (LCD), thus would only appeal to parents not kids themselves?
That latter flies in the face of all those kids at my signings (before they were brought to an abrupt halt late 2012 by the then new MD of Waterstones) who, 80%+, literally begged their money bags to buy the book, sometimes without success, such as the two in Durham who sat reading my book for over half an hour before their mum returned, loaded down with fashion shopping bags, only to hustle them out of the door despite their pleas! Two kind old ladies a moment later, when I asked if I might tell them about my book, replied, “No need. We have watched those children for the last half hour not lift their heads out of the books, so we will have four copies, thank you!”
Such tales cut no ice with the case-hardened risk-averse gatekeepers of the publishing industry, however, denying the next generations of kids the opportunity to try this 176-page nonsense adventure with its 80 plus pencil sketches by the author.
Just for fun, here are some of those who WERE allowed to try it!
And here’s a sweet girl who went all the way back home in Redhill to collect every penny she had and returned to buy my book!
And the lovely lady who bought it for her baby...
And when “The White Knight on his charger” came to visit...
And possibly my very last signing before I too was “signed off” by Warblestones.
Oh, nostalgia! When the re-invigorated chain’s manifesto announced...
There was this!
Well any statement may be open to Fifty Shades... of interpretation!
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