Topic: Disgusting Bliss book

[Lucian]

I hope it’s not too flagrant a breach of the non-advertising rule to mention that my book on Morris is out on 1 April. It’s called Disgusting Bliss.

But I’m hoping this is on-topic – the book starts with On the Hour, goes to the Brass Eye Special, oh and includes loads of stuff on CM’s early years, radio etc.

Thanks to everyone who’s been so helpful with info and this place in general was packed with useful info and links and stuff.

Cover below – it’s by Darren Wall, who does stuff for Hot Chip among others. Would like to know what you think! Thanks, Lucian

[Paaaaul]

April Fool's Day? LOL!





^{[Hi Lucian, Thanks for the info. Enjoyed Ginger Geezer. Will be getting this. Over and out]}

[mini goatbix]

Congratulations on the book.
Can you tell us a bit more about it please? Did you have contact with Morris about it? Were you able to get his side on things or was it all down to research? Ta in advance

[The Boston Crab]

Why did you write this book?
Thanks.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

Good work writing a book. Nice cover too.

I echo above people's questions too - how much contact did you have with the man himself and those around him?

I shall almost certainly buy it as it seems its done with passion rather than commerce in mind given your previous Stanshall book - but I'd like to get an idea of how "official" it is.

[Lucian]

thanks for the responses! hope you like it!

It's totally unauthorised. I met with CM - largely, I think, coz he liked my book on Bonzo Viv Stanshall (Ginger Geezer - I'm really not doing well at this not-advertising business, still another comedy legend and all) and Morris was absolutely delightful in person, very encouraging, if entirely disinterested in being written about. He didn't do an interview in the end, although - in what you might say was a Morris-esque fashion - he never actually said he wouldn't.

His friends and colleagues are very loyal and most checked with him when I asked for interviews. He always said they could talk to me and they were all very illuminating. Had he been actively against the idea of a book I'm sure they'd have said no.

I wanted to write about CM because I was interested in what was behind that particularly unsettling comedy he creates. How he evolved it. That sort of thing. As well as being a big fan!

[Waluigi]

Hope if anything gets cut they can be fucked to re-do the index this time.

The cover is gash, it looks like something a Nu-Rave homosexual would tote about.

And I hope you’ve got an editor who knows the difference between ‘disinterested’ and ‘uninterested’, cocker.

Apart from that, good on ya sir and excellent timing.



_{Hope tygerbug doesn't spot this thread.}

[DJ Solid Snail]

I've pre-ordered this and look forward to reading it, but I'm not overly keen on that cover either - it only vaguely resembles the bloke, to my eyes. And how long has the sub-title 'The Brass Eye of Chris Morris' been kicking around? It's... weird, frankly, given that 'brass eye' is a euphemism for one's arsehole (I think), and immediately conjurs an unpleasant mental image. Is there a double meaning I've missed?

Anyway, well done. If it's good, I hope it does well. Speaking of which, how many copies are you hoping to sling?

[Ambient Sheep]

Thrilled to hear that the book's going to be out at last, and your reputation for writing a good biography precedes you...but I'm sorry to say I'm not a big fan of the cover either, mainly because it's not a good likeness of the man.  Not thrilled with the colour either.  Font & layout are fine though.

Good luck with it, and thanks for the info so far!

[boxofslice]

I concur.  I'm glad this book will exist but that cover art has to go.  Is it too late to change?

[An tSaoi]

Why is CM melting?

[Tiny Poster]

It is indeed an awful cover. Hope the content is better.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I agree. Even the style would be juuuust okay if it looked a bit like him.

[Fa Cé-La]

I hate to say it, and I don't want to be a downer or anything, but I can't think of a single genuinely worthwhile biography that was written with the same restrictions that you've faced (living subject but no direct access to them). Such books may exist but I should imagine that even the very best of them, given the circumstances, would be missing certain key aspects from the overall narrative, whether it be through lack of access to information, self-censorship of the interviewees, legal issues, or whatever. They nearly always feel like filler to me. For example, with the research aspect, compare what Peter Evans had to play with with what Roger Lewis had at his disposal for their respective biographies of Peter Sellers. And when it comes to the matter of self-censorship, this...

His friends and colleagues are very loyal and most checked with him when I asked for interviews.

... doesn't bode well.

It's odd to me that you didn't really push for an interview with Morris since arguably the only thing that your kind of book can actually have over a book like Lewis' is that you've got this option. Miles' book about Paul McCartney is, in my opinion, a good example of this sort of thing, where Miles gives you the barebones and McCartney offers up the memories. You're getting nowhere near the whole story, but it's still interesting to hear McCartney's take on events. A book done in this fashion about Morris might be interesting in the same way. But then unfortunately with Disgusting Bliss you haven't been able to make that happen for whatever reason.

You say you wanted to write this book because you were interested in Morris' brand of comedy and wanted to know how he evolved it. How could you hope to get to the bones of this without access to the man himself? How are you going to have the slightest idea of his process when you're only speaking to people who have worked with him, people who, from the sound of things, are still friends with him, would like to work with him again, and so on, and who, most importantly, probably don't even know the first thing about his process? Were they doing research on him at the time of their collaborations? I write bits and pieces and often in collaboration with another writer. I have not once told her how I came up with an idea in any meaningful way. We'd never get anything done if we were constantly analysing where this shit (and it's often shit) comes from. How an idea comes to me often barely makes sense to me and I would really have to think about it if anyone ever wanted some kind of life cycle of the idea or whatever. Also, now that I think about it, didn't Morris do a great deal of his work on his own?

This might all sound like an attack of sorts (and I think I might just have an issue with this kind of biography in general) but I guess I'm really just interested in why you proceeded with this book given the apparent incompatibility between what you wanted to achieve and the restrictions that you had to deal with.

[thecuriousorange]

Sorry, but I just have to say that I also hate the cover. The fonts and colours are fine, just not Chris Morris's "face". I looks like the back of ET's ballbag. Hopefully there will be the chance to rectify this is its ever gets made into a paperback.

[Glebe]

Ooh. Ooh, I'm all excited.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

Changed my mind... Ignore this post.

[Lucian]

thanks for all these responses! No way the cover is going to change. Even if it does look like the back of ET's ballbag! I absolutely love it, but appreciate that it and the title is not to everyone's taste!

Fa ce-la: I think your reservations sound very pertinent for the biographies you discuss and I hope that when/if you read the Morris you'll feel that I have overcome them. L

[JPA]

I actually quite like the cover. Think I'll be picking up a copy of this when it's released.

[Jumble Cashback]

Hey, Lucian.  Just thought I'd mention (in case you've scoured the archive posts for mentions of your book while it was in the development stages) that I recall giving you a bit of a hard time for the delays in the book's production.  It was a bit unfair of me, so I apologise.  Glad to see the book is complete and I do like the cover.  I will be awaiting my copy eagerly.

[QDRPHNC]

I like the cover. And I dislike anyone who thinks otherwise.

[Ambient Sheep]

Literally judging a book by its cover.

No.  Literally judging the cover, by the cover.  Given the praise heaped upon Lucian for his Stanshall biography, I have high hopes for the book and will be getting a copy, regardless of the cover.  (Hell, I'm enough of a Morris fan that even if I didn't think the book was going to be excellent, I'd buy it anyway.)

I've already made my views on the cover very clear, but that in no way affects how good I think the book inside it's going to be.

Let's just hope casual browsers feel the same way.

</sense-of-humour failure>

[Capt.Midnight]

This might all sound like an attack of sorts (and I think I might just have an issue with this kind of biography in general) but I guess I'm really just interested in why you proceeded with this book given the apparent incompatibility between what you wanted to achieve and the restrictions that you had to deal with.

Coz he like the Chris Morris.

[Lucian]

There seem to be more against the cover design than in favour. I hope casual punters will be intrigued enough to pick it up and apart from aesthetics I was encouraged that the publishers thought enough about the design to commission new artwork. It's not just a stock celebby photo. Also, it's going to have a special metallic ink which will give it a 'brass' lustre in print.

Fred: It's odd that you should bring that up now. I did read that post at the time and it was very disheartening and I've sort of remembered it, which is a bit pointless I guess. You do put your heart and soul into something like this, maybe that's it, but I also know of course that the existence of such a project isn't always going to meet with approval! So thanks for coming back on that. Anyway, had it not been so late it wouldn't have come out at the same sort of time as Four Lions and renewed interest in CM - which I'm sure has a moral somewhere, although I'm not sure 'incredibly lucky' is really a moral.

[Ambient Sheep]

There seem to be more against the cover design than in favour.   I hope casual punters will be intrigued enough to pick it up and apart from aesthetics I was encouraged that the publishers thought enough about the design to commission new artwork.

Indeed - in these cash-strapped times, that's a real compliment they've paid you.  And to be honest, if any casual punter knows the name "Chris Morris" and has an interest in him, he'll pick up the book regardless.

Mind you, these days, due to the internet, the beast known as "the casual punter" exists less and less, so it matters less now than it might have once done.

It's not just a stock celebby photo.

Indeed not.  I nearly said in my first post -- but didn't have time then to dig the photo out -- at least it's not:



:-)

Also, it's going to have a special metallic ink which will give it a 'brass' lustre in print.

Ahh!!!  Now, that makes it a lot better.  To be honest, the colour as reproduced here was very unappealing, but realising that it's going to be a metallic brass colour changes my opinion quite a bit.

Still not keen on the "likeness", but I suppose it could grow on me.

Anyway, had it not been so late it wouldn't have come out at the same sort of time as Four Lions and renewed interest in CM - which I'm sure has a moral somewhere, although I'm not sure 'incredibly lucky' is really a moral.

Heh!  Yes, by accident or design (the former, it seems), it seems it's been very nicely timed for you.  Hope it goes as well as it deserves.

Any idea of an RRP yet?  Come to that, what format is it coming out in: hardback, or trade paperback?  If the former, will it be the usual year before the paperback comes out?  (If so, there's your chance to add an extra chapter covering the reaction to Four Lions and sell some extra copies!)  Sorry for all the questions...

[Paaaaul]

http://www.find-book.co.uk/1847371388.htm

Disgusting Bliss: Chris Morris and the Rebirth of Satire
 
Written by: Lucian Randall
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Published: 08 July 2010 - wrong
ISBN: 1847371388 | ISBN-13: 9781847371386
RRP: £12.99 | Binding: Paperback (304 pages)

[Ambient Sheep]

http://www.find-book.co.uk/1847371388.htm

Ta.  The subtitle's wrong as well, but judging from the rest of the page, the RRP seems accurate.

[ziggy starbucks]

I'm still saving up to buy Louis Barfe's books.......

I'll get round to buying this at some point in the future, it looks good. Until then, can somebody else buy it and record an abridged audiobook version which is completely free. Thanks

[Jemble Fred]

I'm too broke to buy it, but I'd certainly read it and do all the voices on CaB radio if someone sends me their copy.

I do a great David Schneider.

[Lucian]

Thanks AS! I do hope there will still be browsers who will pick the book up and find the humour of his work funny enough to seek out more of it. That's almost as important as appealing to confirmed fans.

Oddly, that photo you included was used in the first jacket design. I felt that there was a real danger it made the book look like a cuts job and was delighted when they completely rethought it.

The correct details are now up on Amazon I didn't include want to push my non-advertising luck, but as you asked ;-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disgusting-Bliss-Brass-Chris-Morris/dp/1847371388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&tag=cookdandbombd-21&s=books&qid=1265619283&sr=1-1

It's a paperback, but hopefully there'll be a smaller paperback edition later. I don't have any plans to include Four Lions - the book concentrates on the years up to the special. I have a sense of everything since being very different since then in terms of CM focusing on narrative and developing character. When I started the book it was too early to assess how that would pan out and I doubt I'll revisit that now.