... That was a fantastic launch day, the best I have attended and you carried of Joe Blake's absence with great skill..... Will never forget it. M.M.Oh yes, read the book, Joe Blake is a scoundrel!! J.G.
We went to Bob's book launch today. It was lots of fun. Bob was standing on a chair and Joe Blake (called his) mobile. The conversation was really a speech to us on the ground (about 100 people there). He asked Joe if he was going to make it to the launch and ... he wasn't. Then he said, "you're breaking up Joe, oh, OK, you're over Swanbourne." Little jokes like that.
Then he thanked the TAFE students who designed the covers. He has two different covers for one book. They had both done a beautiful copy of the cover blown up on photo paper for Bob. But Bob auctioned off each of them and gave the money to the students. They received $150 and $170 each. Not bad from your mates on an afternoon. I would have bid on them, they were cool.
Bob had his son help him put the first chapter on audio for us to hear. It was so funny. The book is titled Murder is Never Pretty, Even When the Corpse is a Blonde. On the inside cover it says, "Meet Joe Blake, Western Australia's best known detective. When a beautiful blonde is murdered in her suburban unit, the local police put a call through to Joe Blake, because nothing gets in his way. Joe always gets the bad guy. And along the way, he gets a few naughty girls, because Joe likes them naughty...very naughty." K.G.
Hey Bob, ... and I have been reading Joe Blake's books ...JUST WONDERFUL ! a great holiday for you to have met such a character and to indulge in his romps...true aussie stuff... Great launch of his being... congrats to you all for such a wonderful day, also fantastic thing to have instigated for design students wonderful start for them and the auction was a superb idea... thanks for including us in such a day... L + J.F.
Love Paul's cover...it's got a certain style about it. Good luck with this Bob. L.P.
Started MURDER IS NEVER PRETTY... today. Pal, it's a terrific read and you've done a wonderful job with production. ... Thanks for the invite! Would love to be there ... but I don’t think I can get time off work. Damn it. S.G.
Loved Chapter one, especially the lovely female introduction. J + R.B.
Sorry, but I couldn't come at it in any spirit. A big-noting protagonist who thinks it's fun to burn rubber loses me straight off. I didn't think the 50s style sexism worked as parody. But you might touch a nerve with some people. P.C.
Finished your book -- sorry I mean Joe's book--loved it. Will write a review and send off to SMH and see what they have to say. T.J-W.
I can only applaud your endevour. P.L.
It's funny, your first email happened to coincide with a recent interest I've had in tracking down copies of Larry Kent, Marc Brody and Carter Brown books with a tentative view to creating an Australian Pulp section. It looks like the Joe Blake books are going to slip straight into that genre. D.G.
Thanks for the invite, too bad its on the other side of the world, eh?... The website looks great. K.L.