John Purcell
@Bookeboy
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Following
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Author of five novels, including The Lessons & The Girl on the Page, pub by 4th Estate. Former Director of Books at Booktopia. Admirer of @tamsinsteelart .
Kent, England
Joined February 2010
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Barbarian invasion.
Exhibit A: The bookcases I built housing my book collection.
Exhibit B: How the new owners chose to use the space.
(I can never unsee this.)
738
418
6K
in memoriam
(I wrote The Girl on the Page in that much loved sanctuary.)
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Have you ever visited a place just because a favourite novel or story was set there? If so, where and what book?
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No wonder The Midnight Library by
@matthaig1
has been in the bestseller charts throughout the pandemic, it's the perfect antidote. Clever, fun, wise, moving and life affirming, if you haven't read it, and you're feeling bleughh, or not, I recommend you get yourself a copy.
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Yesterday I said goodbye to Booktopia after ten wonderful years. Today I have a book to write. Big thanks to all who made my years at Booktopia so fascinating - authors, colleagues, publisher types and assorted loons. The book industry is the best industry.
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@lizduckchong
Someone bangs loudly on the door. I open it. Flustered landlord strides past me & heads into the living room where my flatmates are drinking. He downs my glass of whiskey & sits. Loud banging on the door. I've been with you for hours, he says. I open the door to find the police.
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I don't know why people complain about Christmas shopping. Make a list. Go to a bookshop. Buy a book or two for each person on the list and a few for yourself. Some shops will even wrap them for you. Now your Christmas shopping is done. Nothing to complain about. Merry Christmas.
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Big news! My new novel, THE LESSONS will be published by
@HarperCollinsAU
in April 2022.
Big thanks to my publisher
@catherinefmilne
More details
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Just saw a reader's comment which said they thought most books in Oz sold between 500,000 and a million copies.
Not an unusual assumption. Unpublished authors used to call me in my last role and their sales expectations were similar.
Wouldn't it be nice.
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Phillip Larkin: 'Right, if I'm so good, give me an index-linked permanent income equal to what I can get for being an undistinguished university administrator'
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One of the great things about working in a physical bookshop, as opposed to other retail, is that you're generally only dealing with people who buy books. I'm not suggesting that book buyers are better humans but they are.
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I just finished the first draft of my new novel.
(Pause for applause)
As you were.
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My very talented wife Tamsin has just finished drawing Floyd. I think it's a masterpiece. She's taking commissions but is not on twitter. You can check out her work on Insta
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Is there a way to change the system in Australia so more published authors make a comfortable living from their writing?
Keeping in mind the odds against them: … 1/11
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For
#AuthorsForFireys
I'm auctioning a signed copy of the new edition The Girl on the Page & a proof copy (it's the naughtiest edition) PLUS a one hour phone chat about the book industry - an ask me anything kind a thing... Please leave bids below. Auction ends midnight Sat 11th.
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Trying to think of all the authors I have read because I heard about them here on Twitter. After ten plus years, it must be in the hundreds. Good times.
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Novels set in Sydney. Have you read any? What's your favourite?
Being a million miles from home + a chat I had on here about Christina Stead's For Love Alone got me thinking about Sydney novels. The picnic by the harbour at the beginning of Patrick White's Voss came to mind.
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Most bookshops will be closed for two days. Two days people! Have you got enough books to see you through? Do you have back up books in case the books you thought you wanted to read aren't actually the books you want to read? Think! Act! Buy more books today! You'll thank me.
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@hughriminton
Waves from the UK. You guys can see what's going on here, right?
Ending restrictions as cases soar, hospital admissions trend ever upwards and deaths rise. Watch and learn.
Rule: If Boris does something, do the opposite.
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There aren't many places willing to hold book events. It feels like there are fewer every year. I want to thank
@ReadingsBooks
for opening their bookshops to authors and hosting launches, talks, interviews and panels. Special mention to Chris Gordon, events manager for Readings👏
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You can read and read and read and read for years and still feel like you're just starting out and have read only a few of the thousands of books other readers are always telling you are must reads.
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Here's news! 'Sydney-based production company Causeway Films has acquired the film rights to John Purcell’s The Girl on the Page (HarperCollins)' Woo Hoo! More details
@BplusPNews
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This decade started terribly for me. I'd had to close my beloved second hand bookshop in 2009. In 2010 was working in customer service and making a pittance. The novel I'd been working on for five years kept being rejected again and again. I hated everyone. I was in a bad place.
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Unwanted advice: 1st, don't write if you don't absolutely have to. It's a shit life with no rewards for those not completely blinded by their obsession for writing. 2nd, if you're one of the obsessed, don't give up (not that you would or could) the best is always yet to come.
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Is it fitting that the last book I finish reading this year is
@matthaig1
's How to Stop Time? I think it might be. (BTW great holiday read, if you're wondering.)
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@clairegcoleman
Nope. But I do object to him, and his fellow detainees, not being treated as human beings by our government.
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My wife has just posted a new drawing on Instagram. A recent commission. Look at those eyes! Follow her for more.
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Every year at Booktopia we read a lot of great books. This year we've decided to share some of the best books we've read. Visit A Year of Good Reading to see our top picks for 2018 👉
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Virago founder and author Carmen Callil has died aged 84. Thank you for enriching my life.
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My new novel The Lessons (April 2022) has a cover. And what a cover! Impossible to miss. I absolutely love it.
And it's user friendly.
Scene: local bookshop.
Cust: Do you have that new book by that author who wrote that other book? It's yellow, if that helps.
Pre-order now.
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FOUND HER!!! Local farmer found her a couple of miles away!! Thank you everyome!!!
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I have to be honest here, I keep buying books when I already have more unread books than I'm ever going to have time to read. Does that make me some kind of criminal?
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My reading has never been just for fun. Some people will think this sad. But I have always read with a purpose - to understand this world better & to understand myself better. Reading is my vocation. I don't always enjoy what I read, but I never fail to learn from it.
#amreading
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Big thanks to
@clarebot
at
@FitzcarraldoEds
for steering me in the right direction with the Nobel Laureate, Annie Ernaux. Life changing reads. Loved every single one.
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Thank you for all the support yesterday. I have been in a self imposed exile in Kent now for almost two years now. Writing a novel in a kind of vacuum. I have always written while working full-time. This new life is so quiet. Just me and the page. It's nice to know you're there.
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Take time out today to read for an hour. Reading is contagious, if others see you immersed in a good book, they'll want to start reading too. Love the
@AusReadingHour
initiative.
#readinghour
#TaketheTime
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Authors often don't have any idea how many books they are selling. I remember congratulating an author on her amazing sales. She had no idea. Next day I got a call from her publisher, have you been telling our authors their sales figures?
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Friends! I'm going to auction a signed copy of the new edition The Girl on the Page and a proof copy (it's the naughtiest edition) tomorrow for
#AuthorsForFireys
- also, would anyone be interested in a one hour phone chat about the book industry? An ask me anything kind a thing?
Getting queries about how
#AuthorsForFireys
works:
- Twitter is the auction room.
- You are your own auctioneer.
- Dispatch the item (or service) to the highest bidder after receiving proof of donation.
- Starts tomorrow, ends Saturday.
- You're the best, you know that?❤️
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If bookshops were like pharmacies...
Customer: I'd like to buy this copy of
#Ulysses
.
Bookseller: Have you read
#JamesJoyce
before?
C: No
B: Are you taking any Bloomsburys at the moment?
C: What?
B: We recommend
#Dubliners
&
#APortraitoftheArtistasaYoungMan
before taking
#Ulysses
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Love a bad review. This one makes The Lessons sound like the work of the devil. I am seriously considering hiring them to write my press releases.
'Do not read this book it will corrupt your soul!'
Yes, please. I'll take two.
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The downsizing your book collection prayer:
.
Great librarian in the sky grant me the serenity to pass on the books I cannot read; courage to keep the books I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.
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I want more books.
And more time to read them.
And more books.
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The dire numbers from US publishers & the admission from Oz publishers that publishing is a gamble only makes me love this business more, not less. It can't be tamed. And most publishing is about the belief someone (who could make more money elsewhere) has in a manuscript.
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You know, this full-time writer gig isn't as psychologically precarious as you guys made it out to be... Everything's fine. Live footage of day two on the job coming through now 👉
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@edgar_a_bitch
I was in a bar in Spain when news of his death hit. The toughs in the bar had no idea he was gay. My mistake was inadvertently informing them of this very obvious fact.
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I'm a Labor man. Have been all my life. I believe governments should even the playing field. I believe in taxes. I believe in the power of the people. Most of our rights have been won by sticking together. There should be no need for
#authorsforfiries
or
@celestebarber_
funds.
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Your friend/colleague/someone you know only via social media/family member wrote a book. What can you do to help?
📖Buy it, read it, find something to like about it
📖 Recommended on social media & in person
📖Write a Goodreads review etc
📖Gift it liberally at 🎄🎅🎁Xmas
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I would like to scream at a pile of blank pages and the meaning of that scream be suddenly and miraculously represented in 90,000 spellbinding words.
#amwriting
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Scrolling through twitter each day & reading threads & discussions on random topics feels like self-harm. Reading books by brilliant people (mostly women at the moment) is intellectually stimulating, uplifting, challenging, enriching and inspiring. Highly recommended the latter.
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Looks more and more like a book every day. You know, this thing might actually happen...
#thegirlonthepage
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Took stroll through the older streets of Canterbury today and found this very wonky bookshop. It's probably famous but it was new to me.
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I have spent half my life in bookshops of one kind or another. Bookshops are my sacred places. They are agents of change, of reassurance, of delight. They are essential to democracy. They are proof against tyranny. Visit a bookshop today.
#LoveYourBookshopDay
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I have just written a very off the cuff (ie amateur, unqualified) examination of why authors aren't being paid a living wage in Australia. Probably all wrong. Should I post it?
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No one cleans a bathroom like an author with a book to write cleans a bathroom.
New proverb or AirTasker sales pitch:
No one cleans like a procrastinating writer.
You have to ask: Is it procrastinating writer clean?
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As I reveal the cover for my new novel
#TheGirlonthePage
I must thank
@catherinefmilne
of
@HarperCollinsAU
who has championed this book from conception to completion. Thank you!! (Out in October)
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I have stayed at home during the pandemic. For the sake of my sanity I've read books, listened to music, watched films and TV series, scrolled social media and read bookish articles. The only thing I'm not entirely sick of is books. Novels in particular. They're bloody marvelous.
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I'm told the advance reading copies of my new novel The Lessons have just been sent out. The nervous wait begins.
Then on 13th April the finished product will go on sale. I am enormously proud of this book.
Pre-order at your local bookshop or online here
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They really don't tell you about all the waiting. There should be a course in how to wait. Or at least a chapter - How to keep functioning while you wait. Because patience runs out. Then anxiety goes to work like termites nibbling on your self-belief. And then what have you got?
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If some incredibly astute millionaire picked me to run a new publishing house I would look for my staff among the bookseller classes. I would even pay my team to work one day a week in a bookshop. Booksellers were the first publishers after all.
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Today is
#loveyourbookshopday
. A great way to celebrate bookshops today is to invite lapsed book buyers to visit a bookshop with you. Take a group! The bookseller will do the rest! Love books? Love your local bookshop.
@BooksellersAU
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Hanging out with bestselling crime writer Candice Fox is the best. She tells us freaky stories. Her new book, Liar Liar, co-authored with legend James Patterson, is out now.
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My talented wife has been at it again! She just finished this drawing - yes, drawing! 😲😲 I think it's amazing. Talent + hard work. Follow her on Insta for more and to see how this drawing came together. She is taking commissions, too.
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Seriously, stop and look at this drawing. Really look. I know she's my wife and all, buy holy hell Tamsin's good. Commission her to draw your dog or cat or turtle or dung beetle right now.
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Gave a talk on my novel The Girl on the Page today. Afterwards, at the signing desk, the first person to approach opened with, 'Which particular mental illness do you suffer from?'
#writinglife
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Thank you
@clementine_ford
for writing this brilliant book. I do hope Boys Will Be Boys reaches the widest of audiences. This is a book which starts a conversation we all need to join. Things need to change now.
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I'm creeping ever closer to calling time on the edits of my new novel The Lessons. The advanced reading copies will go out soon. Then after final checks the book I have been working on since 2019 will go to print. The Lessons will be in bookshops April 2022.
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1
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Can someone please invent a machine into which you pop your manuscript and moments later out pops a synopsis and a
compelling blurb/book description? Oh, and comparison titles. Ta.
(If one already exists, link me baby!)
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Them: Sorry, John, but I only received the 100,000 word manuscript. Do you have a synopsis you could send me?
Me: Oh, that is the synopsis. A truck is delivering the manuscript.
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Yes, I am meant to be writing. And no, I have no idea why I bothered to compile this list. But I did, so make of it what you will.
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How difficult it is for a writer to end a novel satisfactorily. Quite a few of the novels I've read this year would be better if left unfinished. Ending a truly original flight of fancy is the hardest. Better that the publisher pretends the author was hit by a bus mid-sentence th
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Over the last month I have been visiting bookshops and I have to say, book people are the best people. In every store - be it a chain or an indie - I have met fun, engaging, interesting booksellers who clearly love their job. And the stores!? Bloody gorgeous. Visit one today.
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Started reading this. Only a few pages in. But, fuck.
In other unrelated news, in order to spend more time with my family, I am retiring from writing. I mean, what's the point.
#RevolutionaryRoad
#RichardYates
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My structural edits had been going along nicely. Today I removed a scene, then put it back in. Then rewrote it. Then took it out. Then put the original back in. Then deleted it. Then started afresh. Then decided none of it was necessary. Now I'm sure it's essential. Beer please.
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Audiobooks save me from going nuts on my daily commute to work. I go through a lot of audiobooks in a year. But it is not the same as reading. These last few days of continuous reading have made that very plain. I feel connected to the books I have read. They are part of me now.
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Big thanks to the ABC Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange for facilitating my Melbourne book launch last night at
@ReadingsBooks
. Sarah's interview with me was recorded and will be available soon. Huge thanks to everyone who attended. Especially those who travelled a fair distance.
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My new novel, The Lessons, is in bookshops from today! 🎉🎉
Why not jump straight in and read the first few chapters here>
Big thanks to the team at
@HarperCollinsAU
especially my publisher
@catherinefmilne
.
Order here:
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Having kept all of this in mind, is there a way to change the system in Australia so more published authors make a comfortable living from their writing?
11/11
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I gave an out of luck alcove some purpose.
(I mean, who'd want to stay a useless alcove when you could become a bookcase?)
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Anyone want to publish my memoir of my time as a bookseller? I haven't written yet, but by God it's good. It has books, and book talk, and writers, and more books, and funny bookish anecdotes and a few saucy book takes, and publishers, and readers, and even more books. DM me.
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What's your view on novelists using footnotes? (I'm all for it)
This is Robert Glancy in Terms & Conditions.
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There's a tendency in the book industry to be always looking out for the next big thing. ATM each debut seems plastered with 'Thriller of the Year'. I'm here to tell you that
@michaelrobotham
's The Other Wife is in a league of its own. The Other Wife is the Thriller of the Year.
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I like the novels of experienced, long lived, authors, too. This debut fetishism is great for the media, but I worry about the brilliant writers whose only story is that they are consistently and quietly brilliant over a long and productive lifetime.
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Our little dog Daisy has gone missing at the small lake between the villages of Stanford and Sellinge in Kent, UK. If you see her please DM me. She is a rescue and is anxious and only loves her mum. RT please if you're in the area. Thanks.
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'Stealing the work of other literary writers & passing it off as your own, is not a fast track to financial security. You’d be better off trying to write a crime novel set in the outback, like everyone else.'
Me trying to explain the latest lit scandal>
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Reading newly bought books while books I've had for decades and haven't read watch.
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I read and recommended There Was Still Love by
@FavelParrett
way back in June before it was published. Well, it's out now and you should buy a copy today. It's a great choice for book clubs, too. Favel's writing is something special and There Was Still Love is BEAUTIFUL.
0
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Jack very much wanted to go outside to eat birds. I wouldn't let him. I like birds more than I like cats. I explained this to him then took his photo.
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After three hours on the run, facing danger at every turn, Daisy retreats to the safety and comfort of her igloo. Goodnight.
3
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You know who gives good podcast?
@Patrick_Ness
gives good podcast.
@sarahmcduling
and I were enthralled and delighted. But we forgot to get a photo with Patrick so we won't have proof this happened until Monday when
@brone08
uploads the podcast.
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Literary authors should be able to fake their own deaths from time to time just to get a real idea how well loved they are and to be reminded how much their work means to so many people. It's too fucking late after they're really dead.
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