The good part of yesterday evening was a fine party thrown by Gollancz to celebrate their 50th birthday. They were supposed to be launching the SF Gateway project and the new, online version of the SF Encyclopedia at the same time, but apparently the software is running a little behind time. John Clute was a little under the weather and couldn’t make it, but Dave Langford looked remarkably calm. Presumably he’s seen Martin Hoare and I sweating over software launches on many occasions before and knew how low key their issues were in comparison.
Dave mischievously suggested that the problems with the encyclopedia were due to the last minute addition of an entry for Emerald City, but if Gollancz were being besieged by legions of angry fans they hadn’t managed to find the party to picket it.
Having seen some concern from by Australian friends I did corner Darren Nash, the digital products manager for Gollancz and therefore the prime architect of all this, and inquire about availability of Gateway books Down Under. He assured me that they should be available, and promised to chase up any problems that people were having.
While the Gateway itself isn’t actually open for business, all of the Gateway books appear to be available on Amazon. The UK publishing industry was patting itself on the back on Twitter about something called “Super Thursday” with over 200 new hardcover books being launched yesterday. Gollancz launched well over 1000 ebooks on the same day. Ha!
I confess that I failed to frock up for the event. The prospect of having to wear a cocktail dress and heels for a day trip into London did not enthrall me, so I went for an alternate form of smartness instead (black top and trousers, red jacket). Justina Robson, however, was magnificent, especially the shoes. I hope someone has pictures.
I did consider trying to interview a few folks, but there was so much background noise I could barely hear myself speak, let alone other people. Sorry.
Anyway, congratulations to Jon Weir for putting on a fine event, to Simon Spanton for taking on the speechifying duties, and to Darren for some awesome products that are almost ready for launch. It was also great to see so many friends.
Very kind words, Cheryl thank you.
And to show that I’m as good as my word: despite the lurking attentions of a nascent hangover, I did some checking this morning and can confirm that the SF Gateway eBooks are now ‘live’ and for sale on Australian retailers’ websites.
angusandrobertson.com.au and borders.com.au have them, I can’t check Amazon or Apple as my browser/account is in the UK, but I’m confident they’re fine based on UK coverage. No sign on dymock.com.au but as the other sites are OK I’m assuming that’s to do with their systems not ours.
I encourage my countrymen to go forth and read!
Yay! Go forth and read, Australia. (Yes, even Collingwood fans.)
Collingwood fans?! Hmm. Well, I’m not sure about that. . . 😉
I’m encouraging them to learn to read.
How can Gollancz be 50? What are they counting from? Victor G founded the original company in 1927; it’s passed through various owners recently and the latest iteration, as SF/F list, didn’t happen till 1998; I’m not spotting any particular significant shift in 1961 (Victor died in ’67). What am I missing?
In 1961, after Gollancz published Martin Amis’s ‘New Maps of Hell’, editor Hilary Rubinstein, Victor Gollancz’s nephew, introduced a regular, ongoing list of science fiction titles, and the company has published an SF list since that year, hence the 50th anniversary in 2011.
Ah, right. Thanks, Darren. (I met Hilary once, back when he was Brian Aldiss’s agent. Ooh, that feels long ago…)
I have been in fairly recent correspondence with Gollancz’s John Bush, who I met in 1967, when he attended NYCon 3 in NYC. Bush, now retired from his second career as head of a charity for blind Nigerians, is alive and well and living with his daughter in Ottawa, Canada.