GARTHNEWS

Reproduced as publicity clips only with permission from Penguin Books India. Not to be reproduced or transmitted thereafter without permission. Penguin Books India will be publishing The Complete Garth (as a 5-volume box set later in the year), under licence from Mirriorpix UK, for sale only in the Indian subcontinent and Singapore.

As promised, here is an up-date about the Penguin Books India publication of the ENTIRE GARTH SERIES, in a hard-cover boxed set: pub. date is scheduled for Oct/Nov and all 16,000* strips are going to be available for the astounding price of Rs 8600!! This is such a steal -- esp when you consider what the average graphic novel is priced at -- and it represents literally decades-worth of strip-stories. The CEO, Penguin Books was kind enough to permit me to reproduce the above strip from the series -- believe me, those of you who have never read GARTH, it is a series to die for -- and those of you who HAVE known him over the years, I need say no more. It's going to be a love-fest. Yum to the max.(*I miswrote this earlier, as 1600 -- which wouldn've been laughable, since the strip ran for many years)


AND ALSO ...
Today is special for me for another reason altogether -- it so happens that my most recent play, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, will be presented as a reading this evening at TUFTS UNIVERSITY in Boston, directed by Tufts alum BRENDAN SHEA. It's a short piece, about half-an-hour long and I wrote it with (Indian) high-school students in mind. However, at tonight's reading, it'll be performed by University undergrads (that's my assumption -- I'll confirm when I know) with a full cast of 12 members! I've never heard it read by twelve voices, so this IS going to be fun for me.

It was originally commissioned by Ratna Sagar for a high school text, but they felt it was a too non-classical for their collection (and of course they are right: it's set in the future, on a planet far, far away from our own!). Then SCHOLASTIC (India) accepted it for their own anthology, which will be out very shortly, perhaps as soon as a month from now. I'm kind of hoping that I will eventually be able to publish a stand-alone version of the play, complete with drawings of the costumes I have in mind for the characters -- it's meant to be a bit of a romp! -- but no firm offers at this moment.

TUESDAY MORNING -- the reading went off VERY well last night and I was very happy with the result. I will blog about it at greater length later today.