The Supernatural Week

It's arrived. As of today, my English debut novel The Supernatural Enhancements is on sale in US and Canada, published by Doubleday. And the UK edition will be available next Thursday 14, by Del Rey.

Also, US denizens, remember there are copies with signed and doodled bookplates available only through The Mysterious Bookshop in New York.

And that's it. It's been 27 months since I wrote it, 20 since it got an agent, 18 since she sold it, and about four since we finished editing, proofreading and tweaking. Thanks to all who shared my impatience, and let me take avail of this opportunity to thank heartfully some beautiful early reviewers who livened up these last weeks for me. 

It is a great honor to finally meet my first English-speaking audience. Thanks for your trust, I wish you enjoy it, and I hope to join you soon.



Meanwhile, in the author's house...

Never install a ball pit in the way between your bedroom and the toilet. You will regret it in the morning.


EN ROMANCE: Nada, que la edición norteamericana de mi nueva novela sale hoy. Y la británica, este jueves. ¿Y en castellano? ¡Estamos trabajando en ello!

Rik Fucking Mayall

Lots of big things have happened around here during the last week, but not nearly enough to eclipse this tragedy. Rik Mayall died.

To say this guy was a big influence is just a way to understate how much of his formula I stole to concoct my own. He was a screenwriter (among other things), whereas my screenwriting efforts are weak, but his writing style is more patent in my novels and stories than that of many literary authors I admire. And that's thanks to comedians like Mayall, who taught me that jokes are worth including in every kind of work. Rik and his adorable colleague Adrian Edmondson showed me a whole form of humor. Their rhythm and physicality are academic models to me. I can recite some of Richie and Eddie's dialogues by heart. I hold the central minutes of the "Nasty" episode of The Young Ones as one of the biggest achievements in comedy EVER. "Yes, we've got a vi-de-o!!"

And above all, I cherish the memory of an interview with a 26-year-old Mayall who said there would be no more Young Ones (after only twelve episodes of one of the milestones of British comedy, mind you) because that was done already, "and we want to move on and do something else". Slow clap for you, Rik. You taught me a form of comedy, a code on how much further to go, and an attitude. Thank you.