A Note on Publishers

I never give much thought to the publishing houses that produce the books I read. In fact, I hardly every know or wonder where my books come from.

I know that Bloomsbury published Harry Potter, and that Voyager published The Farseer trilogy (and everything else that I ever cared about and held dear as far as fantasy goes. I also know that Vintage Books picked up Fifty Shades of Grey, because anyone in the literary world who in any way indorses this piece of illiterate arse gravy should be boiled alive, along with all their relatives (in fact, they are now on my black list, and I will never buy a book that was published by them).

It wasn't until very recently that I became at all interested in publishing houses. This happened mainly because I was looking for a place to buy a decent translation of Huysman's La-Bas - a book I have read and loved, but do not own. It was during this research, that I came across a publishing house called Dedalus Books. Looking through their list of titles proved to be very rewarding.

They specialize in the La-Bas style books, the grotesque and arabesque end of literary genre. They were the ones who published Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf - one of the best books I've read in the last 5 years.

I now own two more titles from their list:

In a city of sultans, seductresses and apes, Balian of Norwich is pursued through a maze of streets by the Father of Cats, Fatima the Deadly, Shikk the half-man and many others. The Arabian Nightmare pervades the darkness of medieval Cairo. It haunts the labyrinth of its streets. It is a dream without awakening, a flight without escape, a tale without end.

Robert Irwin originally found fame as a translator or Arabian Nights. So there you have it.

Rreinnstadt is a place which exists nowhere - the conception of a 18th century prince who devotes his time, and that of his subjects, to laying down on paper the architecture and street-plans of this great, yet illusory city. Its inhabitants must also be devised: artists and authors, their fictional lives and works, all concocted by different departments. When Schenck, a worker in the Cartography Office, discovers the 'existence' of Pfitz, a manservant visiting Rreinnstadt, he sets about illicitly recreating Pfitz's life. Crumey is a daring writer: using the stuff of fairy tales, he ponders the difference between fact and fiction, weaving together philosophy and fantasy to create a magical, witty novel.

Sounded too delightfully mad for me to walk past it.

And there you have it. I know pay much more attention to publishing houses. If I really like a book, I look the publisher up and see what else they have to offer. So far, Dedalus Books are a brilliant gem among rubble.