Tag: Books

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New cover for the next Max Cámara novel

UK publication is due in June 2012.

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Kalila and Dimna

I've been reading the second instalment of Ramsay Wood's masterly retelling of the ancient Indian classic, Kalila and Dimna. This collection of stories and tales, many of which involve animals, has gone under several different names over the centuries (The Fables of Bidpai, or the Panchatantra), and is often cited as one of the most influential books in world literature. Aesop, Kipling and The Arabian Nights all owe something to its rich cornucopia of anecdotes. Here is one of my favourites: Once upon a time there was a madman who was convinced he was dead. Nothing his doctors said would convince him otherwise. He lay on his bed, stiff as a board, refusing to listen to them. 'Go away. I'm dead,' he'd tell them. One of the doctors had an idea. 'Do dead men bleed?' he asked the patient. 'No, of course not,' said the mad man. The doctor grabbed the man's arm and pricked it with a knife until blood started to flow. 'Look!' he said. 'Blood.' The man sat up, amazed. 'My God,' he said. 'Dead men DO bleed!' This is the second in what Wood promises to be a trilogy, telling the ancient stories for a modern audience. I can highly recommend it. The full title is Kalila and Dimna: Fables of Conflict and Intrigue

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German edition

The German edition of Or The Bull Kills You has just arrived in the mail. Title: La Muerte. Looks great. You can see it by clicking here.

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New book title

The second in the Max Camara series of detective novels will now be titled A DEATH IN VALENCIA in both the UK and the US. So please ignore any previous comments about a book called Some Other Body. That title came to me in a dream as I was writing the book, and it kept me going through some of the more obscure moments when I wasn't so sure which way the novel was going. But it has been decided that the new title will work better on both sides of the Atlantic. Eso es lo que hay as they say in Spain.