2014 has begun, and after the come-down and hangover of the New Year, a tonic is necessary to fortify us for the year ahead – maybe even hair of the cynosure. And so we continue the astronomical theme with which we brought 2013 to a close, and start 2014 with the release of The Galaxy Club, by Brendan Connell. Set in seventies New Mexico, this is a booze-soaked stranger-comes-to-town tale with the cosmic picaresque vision of Wu Cheng’en and the grit of Jim Thompson. Buried treasure, dragons, and naturally plenty of car chases, are leavened with beat poetry and hard-boiled in a bed of noir, to bring the reading world the Great New Mexican Novel it never knew it was waiting for. Join the club by picking up a copy here.

Details of the prize draw may be found at the bottom of the announcement. Readers in London, please also remember that Jeremy Reed, author of Chômu books, Nothing But a Star and Here Comes the Nice, will be performing live with The Ginger Light at The National Portrait Gallery in two days time (on Valentine’s Day) at 18.30, admission free.

Prize Draw for an inscribed copy of The Galaxy Club

The results of the Nothing But a Star prize draw are as follows: ADW, of Lancashire, England, is the winner of a specially inscribed copy of Jeremy Reed’s Nothing But a Star, which should be on its way to him soon.

For this month’s prize draw, we are offering a specially inscribed copy of Brendan Connell’s The Galaxy Club. For all those unfamiliar with them, here are the rules: To be entered for this draw, please sign up here to our mailing list (or using the ‘Free updates’ widget on our home page) and send an e-mail with the subject heading ‘We are stardust’ to info at chomupress dot com. If you are already on our mailing list, of course there is no need to sign up again – simply send an e-mail with the ‘We are stardust’ subject heading to the address mentioned. Only one entry allowed per person. Deadline for draw, the 28th of February, 2014.

Please remember also to sign up to our e-mail list for Chômu news and exclusive author interviews delivered directly to your inbox.

November is here. There must be something in the air. On the 14th of this month (two days ago), The Who’s Quadrophenia: The Director’s Cut was released, a re-issue of the 1973 ‘mod opera’ and the tale of a young Mod called Jimmy. Today we look into the future and go also a little further into the past, with the literary fireworks of Jeremy Reed’s Here Comes the Nice, the tale of the Face, the proto-Mod who came out of nowhere with a quantum leap of style, and who may have leapt the bounds of time itself. Get the low-down on the High Numbers by picking up a copy here.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly have this to say of the novel:

Pop culture revivals and obsessive style nostalgia are extrapolated to an almost frightening degree in this speed-rush of music, drugs, and time-travel mysticism. Paul is a journalist in a dystopian, gray, near-future London. As he works on a biography of 1960s fashion designer John Stephen, Paul begins running into a mod archetype called the Face, still young, riding his decked-out Vespa among the armored limousines and roving “hoodie gangs.” Is the Face a time traveler, a meth addict obsessed with the last generation’s fashions, or, like the aging bands and politicians, trying desperately to freeze time? Reed’s portrayal of the 1960s—the clothes, the language, the sex, and the music—is surreal and perfect. He doesn’t shy from the queer side of mod culture and accurately portrays the legendary young bands as kids, both amateurish and brilliant. Either a critique of retro chic or its most extreme expression, this page-turner is a volume knob-turner as well.

The legendary Jeremy Reed, with Here Comes the Nice, shows us the brilliant supernova of his creativity is still expanding. In a work that takes the reader back to the raw early gigs of The Small Faces, The Rolling Stones, The Pretty Things and The Who, and forward to the collapsing brink of the near-future, the time-travelling Mod has never been more NOW.

To add to the excitement, there is also the Here Comes the Nice book launch at Jamboree, 566 Cable Street, Limehouse, London, featuring Jeremy Reed performing with The Ginger Light.

Prize Draw for uniquely inscribed copy of Here Comes the Nice

We would also like to announce a prize draw for a signed and uniquely inscribed copy of Here Comes the Nice. You may know the drill by now, but here it is again: To be entered for this draw, please sign up to our mailing list (using the ‘Free updates’ widget on our home page) and send an e-mail with the subject heading ‘The Nice’ to info at chomupress dot com. If you are already on our mailing list, naturally there is no need to sign up again – simply send an e-mail with the ‘The Nice’ subject heading to the address mentioned. Only one entry allowed per person. Deadline for draw, the 30th of November.

In further news, and on the subject of The Orphan Palace, we are very pleased to announce that Issue #117 of Rue Morgue magazine contains as spotlight feature on Chômu Press, which includes a look at The Orphan Palace and an interview with Quentin S. Crisp. It also has a very fetching image of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera on the cover.

Coinciding, by chance or fate, with the Quadrophenia Director’s Cut box set next week, we have the release of Jeremy Reed’s brilliant Here Comes the Nice, more details of which will follow on the 16th of this month. For those living in London, or able to travel, don’t forget that there will be a book launch at Jamboree on Cable Street, featuring Jeremy Reed performing with The Ginger Light.

John Elliott Interview by chomuradioarchive

Last and not least, something calling itself the ‘Chomu Radio Archive’ (thanks to Joe Campbell) has uploaded a long, in-depth, audio interview with Chômu writer John Elliott. John Elliott talks to Quentin S. Crisp about Philip K. Dick, Lovecraft, Oulipo, John Calder, Queneau, Georges Perec, and many other things.