RUMCars Forum
General Category => Microcar News => Topic started by: Stuart Cyphus on April 20, 2011, 08:04:53 PM
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As some viewers over the past many years may recall, I have long just been about to become a published author with my Reliant three-wheelers 1935-2002 manuscript. It was as good as all done & dusted in 2006 with Trans-Pennine Publishing until first one disaster after another and death sunk the company. Always on the brink, my manuscript time & time again returned to the bottom drawer as the years creaked on. Other subjects & other intrests would move me on from the Reliant world but somewhere, somebody was clearly watching....
You may have noticed I have not been around much these past few months. In February I received, out of the blue, a letter saying that the former Trans Pennine projects had been picked up by Crecy Publishing of Manchester. There in the envelope was something I had never been able to wrest from Trans Pennine: A contract. But there were conditions. The manuscript had to be almost doubled in size within eight weeks, and more photos, many more.... Fortunately though I am not completely divorced from the Reliant world, and a quick call to Elvis Payne, of 3-wheelers.com & R3W saw him joining me as co-authour & so the last two months have seen our pens scratching often into the small hours.
Yesterday the official announcement of the book was made by Crecy Publishing, and today myself & Elvis make our official announcements, me here on the Rum Cars Forum & Elvis on R3W at this self same time. For those who wish further proof, click here;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reliant-Motor-Co-1935-2002/dp/1908347023
And here:
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=9781908347022
At long last our task is done. :) Now, on 30th July 2011 we cast it to the crowd
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I'll buy one! :)
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I'll wait til it comes in the library. ;)
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Congratulations to both of you, and I hope it is successful.
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Well done Stuart and Elvis. Now what was that song? "It's now or never" ;D Put me down for one of the first copies, please. TA.
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Congratulations! How might one go about acquiring an autographed copy after 30 July? After all, there is currently a Rialto available within twenty miles of my house...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270736663419 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270736663419)
All it needs is an engine and a fuel tank. Regrettably, all I need right now is not another project.
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Yep, should be a book signin', Yee Ha! (Oh sorry, that was a barn raisin'), at the National and at Reliant equivalent, is that this weekend though? All good advertising. So you cannot take special stock to Beaulieu? Pity, but could annex a bit of stand at the NEC later in the year. Should be no embarrassment to bang the drum if you skinned it.
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Dearv Stuart
Congratulations on your publishing achievements and I hope this is the first of many similar publications.
Would it be possible to sell some signed copies at the Open day at School House Farm on 31 July.
Perhaps Jean could persuaded to make it a Reliant dy as well.
Chris Thomas
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Yes well done Stuart. Looks like you will have to take a good many copies to Jeans in July. "Stuart and Elvis" has a good ring about it, a rock duo maybe? ;)
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Well done indeed Stuart and Elvis. I am sure a book signing corner can be found on the Open Day on the 31st of July and also a book review for RUMCAR NEWS (any volunteers?). Jean
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Dear Potential Book reviewers
The editorial deadline for the next edition of RCN is 15 May, so unless Stuart can supply a pre-production copy for review purposes it will not get into RCN 109. The following Editorial deadline is August 15th, just 14 days after the publication date so some serious reading and writing will be needed by the potential reviewer.
So does anybody fancy taking up the challenge?
Chris Thomas
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Of course the real money in books is to sell the film rights. Quinton Tarantino's 'History of Reliant' could be quite interesting! 'Carry on Piglet' anyone? Probobly better than the Hammerite house of horror home grown history with spot Micheal Ripper competition. Then there is the Bollywood version without a Reliant in so as not to upset religious minorities. Pixar version with American voiced hero, Tamwith', saving Birmingham, Alabama, from the Communist Koran fusion based North Korean baddie, Tuk Tuk. Then there is the merchandising which could ultimately see the Robin remade in Nottinghamshire or South Yorkshire thus starting production of the marque again. Personally I will settle for foot high cuddly Stuart and Elvis manikins.
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We're not quite sure how best to do the signed copies as Elvis & I live 80 miles apart & seldom go to the same events, but I daresay we'll sort something out once the first few books come off the press. Keep watching here for updates over the next few weeks.
Funny you should mention Pixar & Reliant Alan, have a look at the attached picture from "Cars 2"....
Hmmm, foot-high cuddly Stuart & Elvis manikins.... Why am I getting scenes from Dr Who's "Spearhead from Space" & "Terror of the Autons" going through my mind... :)
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We're not quite sure how best to do the signed copies as Elvis & I live 80 miles apart & seldom go to the same events, but I daresay we'll sort something out once the first few books come off the press. Keep watching here for updates over the next few weeks.
Funny you should mention Pixar & Reliant Alan, have a look at the attached picture from "Cars 2"....
Hmmm, foot-high cuddly Stuart & Elvis manikins.... Why am I getting scenes from Dr Who's "Spearhead from Space" & "Terror of the Autons" going through my mind... :)
They also had a Janus in Cars 2, you probably saw it, its on the foirum.
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Great minds think alike, there. If only they would employ me in Hollywood they could have the benifit of all my ideas rather than just a few! I might even turn to going to a synagogue as it seems to help. Has Hollywood done the life of the Prophet Mohammed yet?
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Has Hollywood done the life of the Prophet Mohammed yet?
No, but the animated series SOUTH PARK had the Prophet (peace be upon him and blessed is his name) appear on the show dressed in a Bear costume so you never really saw his form.
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We're in the Tamworth Herald... :) Not quite sure how to get the attached pdf file up the right way, as this is how I received it, but turn your head over over a bit & it should be ok. ;D
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" theres a guy works down our chip shop swears he,s Elvis , but he,s a liar and i,m not sure about you ." apologies to the late, and much lamented kirsty mcColl
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Click view , top left corner and rotate anticlockwise.
All good publicity Stuart, good for sales although It looks like you are being upstaged by Elvis, you only got a solitary mention. Quick, jump up on stage and start gyrating the pelvis! :D I always prefered Carl Perkins anyway! :o Seriously, I hope its a runaway success for you both and inspires you to write more.
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Click view , top left corner and rotate anticlockwise.
All good publicity Stuart, good for sales although It looks like you are being upstaged by Elvis, you only got a solitary mention. Quick, jump up on stage and start gyrating the pelvis! :D I always prefered Carl Perkins anyway! :o Seriously, I hope its a runaway success for you both and inspires you to write more.
Thanks Bob, as I mentioned to Stuart, due to my interest in local history and all things Reliant, I seem to be in this particular paper quite often. As a result when I mention something to them they go through old articles to obtain background information. I sent them a photo of the book cover and information about the book. For the story they unearthed a photo from several years ago that I have never seen before and information about me along with quotes from past articles.
As you say though, its all good publicity for the book. :)
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" theres a guy works down our chip shop swears he,s Elvis , but he,s a liar and i,m not sure about you ." apologies to the late, and much lamented kirsty mcColl
But before that and when he was the famous Elvis he had microcars. Not sure if that ran to a Reliant.
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The press are bound to like the name Elvis, Stuart should change his name to Jedward ! Yup, Mr Presley had a KR 200, and I believe it is on show at Gracelands, he called it "a cool buggy". RIP Kirsty McColl.
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I have an article here written by Elvis Presley that mentions his 3-wheelers
http://www.3wheelers.com/elvispresley.html :)
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The press are bound to like the name Elvis, Stuart should change his name to Jedward ! Yup, Mr Presley had a KR 200, and I believe it is on show at Gracelands, he called it "a cool buggy". RIP Kirsty McColl.
I would have thought Jimmy Somerpeel of Comunards might be more appropriate.
or Mick Hucknall of Simply Read
There is a guy down works down our chip shop swears he's a Messerschmitt but he's a liar I'm sure its an Isetta. Still lamenting my Krusty Mucky Coil
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An update on the Reliant book....
Despite the fact that Elvis & I worked our socks off to meet Crecy Publishing's deadline of 30th April with 20,000 words & 100 photos, we had a message a couple of weeks later whereby they had discovered that their template for the new range of Nostalgia Road books was set to only 13,000 words & 90 pictures! (This from a company with 40 years in the book production business behind them, but I digress).
As the reader can no doubt imagine, this caused no end of difficulties for us both as with a sharp reduction down to 17,000 words there rapidly proved to be nowhere else to go without loosing the very point of the book. But still we had to cut more But there was a silver lining to this cloud. After some negotiations, we have persuaded Crecy Publishing to extend the title into two volumes, being: The Reliant Three-Wheeler 1935-1973 and The Reliant Three-Wheeler 1974-2002.
This way, we do not loose any of the detail of the original work and can expand much further upon the latter days of the Reliant company, something never before done in print as of yet.
We have just completed & returned the reworking of volume 1, and this should be out on the shelf as planned within the next couple of months. Stay tuned for the ongoing developments of volume 2....
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Well done Stuart but does this mean we will have to shell out twice as much money for the books?
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Well done Stuart but does this mean we will have to shell out twice as much money for the books?
Lets put it this way, it means Elvis & I get more royalties.... ;)
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Stuart,
When are you going to do a Peel book?
It's not as if there's loads. There's not even one!
Ergo a space in the market...
P
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Stuart,
When are you going to do a Peel book?
It's not as if there's loads. There's not even one!
Ergo a space in the market...
P
Good idea, then I can plagiarize it, as is allegedly traditional, and make more money than the original author.
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Well done Stuart but does this mean we will have to shell out twice as much money for the books?
Lets put it this way, it means Elvis & I get more royalties.... ;)
Do a book about Goggomobils and it Isar 'bout several Royalties.
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An update on the Reliant book....
we have persuaded Crecy Publishing to extend the title into two volumes, being: The Reliant Three-Wheeler 1935-1973 and The Reliant Three-Wheeler 1974-2002.
This way, we do not loose any of the detail of the original work and can expand much further upon the latter days of the Reliant company, something never before done in print as of yet.
We can only trust that the Publishers remain wedded to the deal and Root becomes a published author twice over - and Elvis of course. As such any further projects become more possible. Not only that a talent should be used if the rewards or pleasure of the end product is achievable. The trick is to bend the talent to trade for tasks you have not the ability to do but wish to have the advantage of. No reason why this cannot be achieved. There are a few MIcro owning pen wielders.
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The editorial deadline for the next edition of RCN is 15 May, so unless Stuart can supply a pre-production copy for review purposes it will not get into RCN 109. The following Editorial deadline is August 15th, just 14 days after the publication date so some serious reading and writing will be needed by the potential reviewer.
I now have received the first proof copy of Volume 1 from the publishers which is currently sat on my computer in pdf format. Who wants to step up & do said review for RCN?
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STOP-PRESS! The first advance copies of the book is back from the printers & Elvis & I received our preview copies this morning. We think some booksellers are already selling copies as witness a seller on eBay knocking out no less than five copies between 11am & 3pm.
Those who have asked about mail-order signed-by-both-of-us copies, limited numbers will be available after Sunday 11th September from both me and Elvis and also from the Tamworth Information Centre. Stay tuned for further details of how to order these signed copies direct from me after that day. We may possibly be able to do another, ad hoc, signing at the NEC Classic Car Show in November but this depends on us both being present on the same day! Again, watch this space for further updates...
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The first advance copies of the book is back from the printers....
Congratulations! Autographed copies will be available for international shipping, yes? I don't believe I'll be near Tamworth any time soon.
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Autographed copies will be available for international shipping, yes? I don't believe I'll be near Tamworth any time soon.
Yep, we'll ship 'em anywhere. :) This time last year you were approximately 2,000 miles closer to Tamworth than you are now & me 2,000 miles further. Doesn't time fly.
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Dear Stuart
Your book will be on the next Foyles book list obtainable through the Rumcar Book shop at £7.16 + postage
Chris Thomas
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heard on bbc traffic news tonight that there are major holdups around tamworth - did they get their copies at the visitor centre early ;D
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LATEST NEWS: The first page proofs of Volume 2, "The Reliant Three-Wheeler 1973-2002" have just been received back from the publishers by Elvis & I for proof reading & index compiling. Though we say so ourselves, Vol 2 looks pretty good from here, and is of course the first time the post 1973 story has ever been fully told in print...
Watch this space for the official publication date, possibly around April 1st.
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Dear Stuart
Great News, Dont forget to let me have a copy to review. Too late for the next issue of Rumcar News.
Chris Thomas
Rumcar News