Weatherglass Books: Newsletter #1
Finding talent really is the most exciting and rewarding thing. My co-publisher Neil and I started Weatherglass because we shared a belief that mainstream publishing is missing a trick. The big houses are increasingly driven by the remorseless logic of the market, meaning that many books that deserve an audience are left unpublished. In particular, the types of books that Neil and I most like are often overlooked, even if their intrinsic literary merit is acknowledged by those who reject them.
Now is not the time to unpack the various elusive meanings of 'intrinsic literary merit', but, having read scores of submissions, I feel confident in stating that you know it when you see it. We have already found a set of wonderful, serious, witty, beautiful, fascinating books, and, gratifyingly, we are getting to bring them to our readers.
Our first three books have great diversity of subject matter and tone, but what they all share is a complete uniqueness of voice. This last term is as hard to pin down as 'intrinsic literary merit', but again, once you come across it it's unmistakable. I think it comes down to a single human being trying really hard to speak to you as honestly as possible. There are plenty of people out there who can 'write well', but what distinguishes our authors is that you can feel the power and sincerity of their impulses in every sentence: in each case, there is a sense that this story just had to be told.
In addition, our books all speak to some really big themes, but always through the means of character. I think that the books we truly love present us with imaginary people who become as real to us as people we know. As a teenager I was torn between music, cricket and books. Holden Caulfield, Tess Durbeyfield, Adrian Mole, Catherine Sloper, Lucy Pevensie, Billy Fisher, Katherine Lind, Hamlet (of course), Elizabeth Bennet and Edward Ashburnham were as present and demanding on my consciousness as Morrissey and Viv Richards. The study of literature at university tries hard to make us forget, but novels are about the people portrayed within them. Any old thing can have an important theme. Compelling works of fiction dramatise the lives of characters and make us deeply concerned about the fate the author describes for them. All Weatherglass's books so far display this quality: we see the people, we hear them and most of all, we're fascinated by them.
Cold New Climate by Isobel Wohl is our first novel, scheduled for April 2021. Isobel is originally from Brooklyn but studied as a visual artist in London. Neil found some short stories she'd written and thought she had the makings of a very fine novelist. We asked her to consider writing a book and we were pretty much stunned when it came back to us. We'd rarely read a debut of such assuredness and brilliance. You can tell she's an artist: some of the observations have a Van Eyck-ian attention to detail. But she also has a fantastic ear for dialogue, a subtle and compassionate sense of character and a salutary seriousness of purpose. The end of the book is an absolute artistic coup. We could not be prouder that this is our debut novel.
Our second novel, The Angels of L19 by Jonathan Walker, is also full of music. But what really compelled us about this story of a group of Evangelical Christian teenagers in the 1980s was its bravery. Against an utterly convincing rendering of Liverpool in the 80s it renders the conflicts between everyday life and demands of spiritual experience with great originality and power. As a novel it could not be more different from Isobel's but the two books share many characteristics: they are observant, thoughtful, funny, empathetic and, most of all, they are honest.
We'll publish one work of non-fiction in 2021: Play It Hard by Luke Meddings, an original, highly intelligent exploration of the music of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys as they all influenced each other (and tried to out-do each other) in the miraculous period of 1963-67. Luke has been immersed in this music for years and he has delivered a book that expresses his insight and love with a very Beatles / Dylan / Wilson combo of sweetness, wit and virtuosity. As well as being packed with telling biographical material, it will make you listen to the music in whole new ways: I can't think of a stronger endorsement than that.
Angels and Play it Hard will come out in the autumn of 2021.
provisional artwork: covers revealed very soon
We have other books on the way, but for now we'd just like to say thank you for signing up to our newsletter, and an especial thanks to those of you who have become Founder Readers. Your support is truly appreciated. There is always optimism when you start a new business, but optimism tempered by the feeling that the whole thing could be a complete disaster. In the current climate it seems focusing on doom has become a widespread habit of mind. Weatherglass is a small repudiation of such gloominess: Neil and I are doing something we love, and something we think has value. At the very least, the future looks very interesting. So far, we think that our optimism is justified, and having you sign up is a crucial validatory factor. We really can't wait to get Cold New Climate in peoples' hands and be off and running.
Best wishes to all,
Damian