It is going to be strange I suspect not to have another volume to look forward to. He has raised the bar so high with the first two I cannot tell you what a bitter sweet taste that final volume might have. As it is the second book left me in an Empire Strikes Back Fugue.Something happened which left me going Oh When Can I Read The Next Bit?
I used to ask friends "what did people use to describe fantasy settings involving Orcs and dragons and elves before Tolkien?" You know when people use the term Tolkienesque. You say it and people get what you mean. At least during my lifetime they do perhaps because the books have always been around. After these books Laurence's work will creep into my mind when I am struggling to describe a situation where the fantastic becomes married to the very normal and sparks fly. Donaghyesque. My spell check just threw a hissy fit. It is only when you see the marriage of the fantastic to the ordinary you know just how fantastic the ordinary is.I remember reading the first book and finding it such a break from their usual publications I wondered if Blackstaff knew just what they had on their hands. As I got to know Michelle and Stuart from that publishing house I realised they did. They knew way ahead of time just what they had in terms of finding a writer like Laurence.
Blackstaff will be launching Completely Folk'd from the Forbidden Planet International Store on Ann Street Belfast on Thursday 26th March between six and seven thirty pm with the author himself in attendance. As the first two books were launched in a similar fashion it seemed truly fantastic to go for a third. Fantastic. It is a word that crops up a lot when I try to describe the work of Laurence Donaghy.
Well, as my old ma used to say If You Want A Rocket To Get To The Moon You Have To Put Rocket Fuel In It.
The doors will be open wide and all will be welcome.
