Have you ever wondered how an author and editor communicate with each other? Have you ever wondered how a book started its life when it left the author’s hands and then was hacked to bits by the editor and/or publisher? Have you ever looked around and thought gosh, what I really need is a big stack of loose paper with lots of doodles and red marks all over it?
Do we have an opportunity for you.
During the process of editing the début novel by John Llewellyn Probert, The House that Death Built, a great number of things were scribbled on a stack of paper upon which the original draft of the work was printed from the file as it was initially submitted by author. Then I started doing a combined edit / proofing / smart-arse comment effort as is my normal wont.
Once I’d finished doing all of that – including a few attempts at sketching something in the story, which I normally never do, but did here in an attempt to understand a couple of bits in the plot – the stack of paper was sent off to the author for him to go through and make changes.
Once he’d stopped screaming to Lady Probert about the frequency of red pencil marks resembling a blood-splatter pattern, he set himself to the task of going through the paper, making many of the changes suggested, ignoring a few of the more arcane punctuational preferences his publisher seems to like, and occasionally making a comment on a page or two in reply; plus adding to one of the drawings demonstrating his own considerable artistic skills!
So, what does all that look like, exactly?
Now some lucky person other than the author can find out.
WIN THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT … and more!
All you have to do is buy a copy of The House that Death Built directly from the publisher’s site, before October 31st and you’re automatically entered. Yes, any of the three editions qualify you: paperback, hardback, or even the eBook edition (as long as it’s the *.ZIP file version, as identities of the purchasers through Kobo and Amazon can’t be tracked).
Here’s what the story is about: The Dark Manor isn’t just any old haunted house. Built on the site of a stone circle, from bricks saturated with pain and agony, windows that have seen terror beyond insanity, and doors that would scream if the wood from which they were fashioned could voice the appalling acts to which they have been witness, the house was designed with evil in mind and deliberately constructed to bring William Marx, the wealthy industrialist who built it, into contact with the spirit world.
But Marx hasn’t been seen since he entered the repository of death and madness that is The Dark Manor, and neither have any of the people who have gone looking for him. Now Sir Anthony Calverton has purchased it and needs the place investigating properly, which of course calls for some proper supernatural investigators.
You are cordially invited to join Mr Massene Henderson and Miss Samantha Jephcott, specialists in paranormal adventure, as they embark on their most perilous case to date.
Who will survive The House That Death Built?
Only time and the pages within will tell…
Here’s what you could win:
- Cover art by Stephen Upham
- the original manuscript, which has been written on by the editor and author as they crafted the final form of the book
- plus! “Copy #1” of the Limited Hardcover Edition (be the envy of your friends everywhere!)
- plus! a copy of Wicked Delights, John Llewellyn Probert’s previous title from Atomic Fez!
- plus! …something else from inside the vaults of Atomic Fez
LIMITED HARDCOVER EDITION DETAILS
Includes, exclusive to this edition, the Author’s ‘Afterword’ about the genesis of the book as well as its writing and influences! Only 100 individually numbered copies, signed by both the author and cover artist, dust-jacket over burgundy binding cloth, with both title and author’s name stamped in gold on spine, and free posting and packing.
So … there you go! Everyone entered is guaranteed at least one price: a copy of the début novel from award-winning, highly skilled, and frequently silly author John Llewellyn Probert! … because you just bought one, you see. It’s just that easy!
If you’re interested: The House that Death Built
