The BURIED Book Club discussion

Tom Mallin is an unjustly forgotten author who, at the age of 43, had his first novel Dodecahedron published in 1970 by Alison & Busby(I contributed a review here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...). A play Curtains was produced in the same year and was later published by Calder. A&B also published Knut (1971), Erowina (1972), Lobe (1977) and Bedrok (posthumously published in 1978). None of the books have been reprinted although I have hopes that Dodechedron will get a reissue before too much longer. Most of the books are available from abebooks etc. at reasonable prices and are well worth a try.

A modest example of the early efforts to UNEarTH a book, Mallin's slim Dodecahedron received a small new spark back in July 2012 with a whopping six reviews, up from a whopping ZERO reviews prior there to, and subsequently three more. NOT BAD.

We await Declan's shepherding through the publisher's house a Mallin Omnibus Edition. thnks, ALL.

Let the unearthing (and hopefully nu-hearting) recommence with another Mallin that, though purchased just now from Ireland, is naught Erin but Erowina. let's see how it compares to the his earlier, um, nun-hate rig.

Mallin's own cover design for Erowina, which seems to have been his third published novel, a sprawling life-by-stylistically-diverse-parts on a much more human downward trajectory than the (to me) more mechanistic one in Dodecahedron.

Incidentally, the list here includes some 14 more presumably unpublished Mallin novels: http://tmallin.blogspot.ie/2008/04/wr...

Hi
I am the son of Tom Mallin and fascinated by the discussion. I hold all the authors' manuscripts - published and unpublished - together with all his papers and newspaper cuttings. If interested please get in touch
www.mallin.blogspot.com Rupert Mallin

Rupert wrote: "I am the son of Tom Mallin and fascinated by the discussion. I hold all the authors' manuscripts - published and unpublished - together with all his papers and newspaper cuttings. If interested ..."

Thanks for stopping by, Rupert. Do you have any plans to get your father's work back in print? That list of his unpublished novels on your website is also quite enticing.

I second that question, wholeheartedly!

unBURYing news! Knut has been republished by Verbivoracious:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Thanks to Rupert for his assistance during the process. He has provided an intro to the reprint, helping lift some of the mystery around Tom's life and works.

MJ wrote: "unBURYing news! Knut has been republished by Verbivoracious:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Thanks to Rupert for his assistance during the process. He has provided an intro to ..."

!!!

Merci!

Yay! It's a great book, too -- I just finally found a copy of the old edition and have been reading it now. Thanks Rupert!

MJ wrote: "unBURYing news! Knut has been republished by Verbivoracious:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Thanks to Rupert for his assistance during the process. He has provided an intro to ..."

That's very exciting MJ. Do they plan to reprint any of the other novels? Or, even more enticing, any of the unpublished work?

Yes indeed . . . planning to reprint all the novels, and hopefully some of the unpublished if it's available.

MJ wrote: "Yes indeed . . . planning to reprint all the novels, and hopefully some of the unpublished if it's available."

Nice news. I think I'm owing Verbi a few transactions here soon.

Further Mallin UNBURIED, his masterpiece Erowina is available, with an intro from Nate. This is his most experimental work, an essential read for fans of the encyclopedic novel (wink to NR), and one of the highlights of British avant-garde's heyday (1963-1973):
http://www.verbivoraciouspress.org/er...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Verbivoracious wrote: "Further Mallin UNBURIED, his masterpiece Erowina is available, with an intro from Nate. This is his most experimental work, an essential read for fans of the encyclopedic novel (wink to NR), and on..."

Oh yes this is most excellent news. Do I understand correctly, that more Mallin is slated? Dodecahedron?

amazon has a weird image for his Erowina ::
http://www.amazon.com/Erowina-Tom-Mal...

anyone?

15-day info lag from distributor to distribution channels, should be fixed shortly.

If I only I was able to draw such realistic t-shirts for my book cover designs.

Last year for my birthday I got a copy of the Verbivoracious Press edition of Erowina from a friend and it's taken almost a year to get around to it; but I'm really glad I did.

It's a shame Mallin isn't more well known--I can't see the audience for his work being massive, but it's certainly too small as it is. If I enjoyed Erowina should I have a look into his other works? If it's psychological and experimental, I'm in.

I wrote a review of my thoughts here, if anyone's interested.

(P.S. I enjoyed your introduction a lot Nate, but imagine my surprise to see you're a fellow Seona Dancing fan! Best thing Gervais has ever done, bar none.)

Erowina is a bona fide masterpiece. You might be interested to read this interview with Mallin with Alan Burns

http://www.verbivoraciouspress.org/to...

It really is! I feel that Mallin put the most heart and complexity into this out of all his novels, but the others are interesting as well, such as the icily formalist Dodecahedron.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful review, as well, and for even bothering to engage with my reflections on the layers of the novel.

I've had this new wave Gervais avatar for so long here, that I barely remember why actually. Seona Dancing was pretty great, but I think it may also have been a reminder that its okay to switch creative paths when needed.