I have been very fortunate during more than 20 years as a full-time author in that virtually every book that I have personally submitted for publication or have been involved with in some capacity has duly appeared in print. During the mid-1990s, however, there was one notable exception to this successful trend.
It was provisionally entitled The Great Mystery Atlas: A Pictorial Guide to Mysterious Creatures and Places. I had been contracted by a leading British publisher (whose identity for reasons of professional confidentiality and courtesy I shall not disclose here) to write the text for it, and an artist, Stephen Player, had been contracted to prepare its illustrations. With a very significant cryptozoological and zoomythological content, this large-format, full-colour book, aimed at older children and early teenagers, promised to be a noteworthy addition to the literature as well as a good seller.
Left-hand page of the 'Land of the Yeti' spread
Hence I lost no time in writing its complete text, which was greeted with great enthusiasm when received and read by the editors, and for which, happily, I was paid in full very shortly afterwards.
Right-hand page of the 'Land of the Yeti' spread
Unfortunately, however, certain aspects of the book's production that were completely unrelated to my contribution experienced some apparently intractable problems, as a result of which the entire project was shelved, and then subsequently cancelled. Having already seen and approved the first two double-page spreads for it as well as a draft version of its front cover by then, I was very disappointed by its cancellation, because their sumptuous appearance suggested that the complete book would have been truly spectacular.
Left-hand page of the 'Bigfoot Territory' spread
Sadly, though, it was not to be, and today all that I have to show for what might have been are those spreads and the cover. So now, as a ShukerNature exclusive, here they are – from the book that got away.
Right-hand page of the 'Bigfoot Territory' spread
NB: because the spreads' pages and the cover were bigger than A4-size, whereas I only have an A4-size plate on my scanner, I have been unable to scan them in their entirety – some text and images around their edges have been cut off during the scanning procedure.
All illustrations included here (of the spreads and cover) are jointly copyrighted to the publisher, Stephen Player, and myself.
It was provisionally entitled The Great Mystery Atlas: A Pictorial Guide to Mysterious Creatures and Places. I had been contracted by a leading British publisher (whose identity for reasons of professional confidentiality and courtesy I shall not disclose here) to write the text for it, and an artist, Stephen Player, had been contracted to prepare its illustrations. With a very significant cryptozoological and zoomythological content, this large-format, full-colour book, aimed at older children and early teenagers, promised to be a noteworthy addition to the literature as well as a good seller.
Left-hand page of the 'Land of the Yeti' spreadHence I lost no time in writing its complete text, which was greeted with great enthusiasm when received and read by the editors, and for which, happily, I was paid in full very shortly afterwards.
Right-hand page of the 'Land of the Yeti' spreadUnfortunately, however, certain aspects of the book's production that were completely unrelated to my contribution experienced some apparently intractable problems, as a result of which the entire project was shelved, and then subsequently cancelled. Having already seen and approved the first two double-page spreads for it as well as a draft version of its front cover by then, I was very disappointed by its cancellation, because their sumptuous appearance suggested that the complete book would have been truly spectacular.
Left-hand page of the 'Bigfoot Territory' spreadSadly, though, it was not to be, and today all that I have to show for what might have been are those spreads and the cover. So now, as a ShukerNature exclusive, here they are – from the book that got away.
Right-hand page of the 'Bigfoot Territory' spreadNB: because the spreads' pages and the cover were bigger than A4-size, whereas I only have an A4-size plate on my scanner, I have been unable to scan them in their entirety – some text and images around their edges have been cut off during the scanning procedure.
All illustrations included here (of the spreads and cover) are jointly copyrighted to the publisher, Stephen Player, and myself.
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What a beautiful looking book this would have been. Pity!:(
ReplyDeleteWhy not try to get it re-published elswere?
ReplyDeleteDamn, I would've loved to read that one!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. I could probably re-use the text, which is entirely my own work, but the ownership/re-use of the combined text, illustrations, and layout would be very complex to resolve. I may look into it later, as I admit my interest in the project has been revived after looking at the spreads and cover again. Until now, they'd been stored for years in a big stiff envelope, unopened and virtually forgotten by me until I came upon them recently while looking for something else.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a lot of your greatest discoveries have occurred while looking for something else. It's cool when that happens, when you're looking around the house for something and then you discover an old relic like this and start walking down memory lane. What exactly were you looking for, out of curiosity?
DeleteAll the best, The Thinker
Scan them in two halves and merge them!
ReplyDeleteLong time reader, first time commenter.
ReplyDeleteDr. Shuker, you really should try to get this book published again! I for one would jump at the chance to own a copy.
What is the name of that Inuit dog with scales?
ReplyDeleteIf you were ever to consider publishing this I'd definitely buy!
@Chris Clark - I've tried that in the past, but never with much success, and as the background layouts of these pages are so detailed, it would look a mess if they didn't merge perfectly.
ReplyDeleteA pity it didn't work out, but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If that doesn't work, third times a charm. I don't know if there are any sayings about four, though...
ReplyDeletePlease try to republish, though. Your books and blog are awesome. I follow the Eclectarium and ShukerNature all the time. Keep up the good work!
Mr Shuker! Please let me buy a copy of this book, this is marvelous. There is a world-wide syndicated radio show called "Coast To Coast AM" that features exactly this kind of content and those millions of listeners (like me) would absolutely buy this book. I'm certain George Noory, the host, would help you publish it. I really want this book, it is so valuable and fascinating on so many levels!
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, I should've said "Dr. Shuker." Bless you & keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThe Inuit dog with scales is the aziwugum, and I've just written a short ShukerNature blog post concerning it, which you can access here: http://karlshuker.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-aziwugum-inuit-dog-with-scales-from.html
ReplyDeleteKarl. Karl!! Are you there, over?
ReplyDeleteGood, I think there is still hope for your book-that-woul-had-been try contacting the guys who made this site http://irregularbooks.co/
Thanks Nicky, but as noted above, the publisher who commissioned these spreads owns the copyright to the layout design, so no other publisher could produce the book using them.
DeleteI am still interested in this book. By any chance is it available for me to purchase now?
ReplyDeleteSadly, no - as I mentioned earlier, the publisher who commissioned the spreads owns the layout design's copyright, so there's nothing that I can do in terms of getting it published in that same format.
DeleteI can say for a certainty I would have loved that book as a child. I still would. :D But I don't have any space for books these days.
ReplyDeleteIs the illustrator of your book Stephen Player this man:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.artistpartners.com/portfolios/stephen-player/
http://playergallery.com/playergallery/Stephen_Player.html
https://www.instagram.com/s.player/?hl=en
Or was it something else?
I don't know, we never met or communicated, and in any case the rights to the book were owned by its would-have-been publisher, not by either myself or the artist. So the book can never be published except by the publisher, who chose not to go ahead with it.
Delete