The book launch for If Only Tonight We Could Sleep was held on Sunday March 1 at the Broadcast Bar. Safe to say that the turnout was less than expected, but those who came were receptive and appreciative, not to mention appreciated. I read the entirety of “Debutante” and then excerpts from four other stories, broken up with a few musical numbers. We played two old songs I’d never previously found a home for (“Wouldn’t” and “The Tallest Poppy”), two songs from the first Blood Red Renaissance album Champagne Tragedy (“Amber & Ashes” and “Cemetery Girl”) and one rare but appropriate cover (The Cure’s “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep”). Many thanks are due to the folk who lent me their time and talents for the gig: my BRR and icecocoon brother Owen Gillett (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Lande “Velvet Jeanie” Marie (violin, accordion), and icecocoon/session master Brody Green (drums). Here’s a snap of us performing “Cemetery Girl” at the end of the set:
Snapshot by Meg Wright (aka Red Wallflower Photography)
There’s another reading event coming up, this one at Meg’s Bookshop in Port Pirie on Saturday March 28. Here is the Facebook public event page.
In other news, I have a non-fiction piece up on Kendall Reviews called “To Wish Impossible Things: The Cure for What Ails”, which you can read here; it’s about my enduring love for The Cure and the ways that band has influenced both my life and my writing. This Is Horror thought enough of it to include it in their 5 Must Read Horror Articles for the week! Also on Kendall Reviews now is my entry in their series The Graveyard Shift, where authors pick eight books, one album, and one luxury to take with them to their new job as cemetery caretaker; you can read my answers here.
“Supermassive Black Mass”, my novelette from Demain Publishing’s Short Sharp Shocks! series, is now available in paperback here.
Burning Love and Bleeding Hearts, a charitable anthology of Valentine’s Day-themed flash fiction and poetry to benefit those who suffered in the recent bushfires that ends with my longer story “The Ballad of Elvis O’Malley”, is now available here.
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep is now available in physical and digital formats through Amazon and Ingram online, and the paperback can be found in South Australia at Dymocks Adelaide, Dymocks Glenelg, Imprints, Clarity Records, Streetlight Adelaide, and Meg’s Bookshop (Port Pirie).
The first review of the book is in, and it’s four stars from The Book Lover’s Boudoir – you can read it here. There will be many more popping up over the next few months – I’ll keep you posted!
Wow, a bit of a linkfest this time – but they’re all worth following. Thanks for your attention, and I hope you’re all getting the sleep you need…
MxRxDx
Matthew R. Davis 