It’s a dicey business in this day and age to write a novel about terrorism and terrorist attacks.
It gets even dicier when the book is published, in London, on 7 July.
As one of a growing number of works (such as Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) dealing with post-Sept. 11 terrorism, Chris Cleave’s first novel Incendiary was closely watched within the book industry. Cleave had already optioned the film rights in February. The book is being published in 15 or so countries. Print ads were ready for its July 7 U.K. release and posters for the novel were plastered throughout the London Underground.
Then the bombings occurred that same day.
All advertising was pulled by the publisher Chatto & Windus, a division of Random House. (The novel is scheduled to be released next month in Canada by Random House.) The ads showed the book’s British cover depicting smoke billowing up from a burning London skyline. Print ads for the book by British retailer Waterstone’s were also pulled, and Cleave has cancelled a number of appearances to promote the book.
Cleave is completely behind pulling the ads, but he’s not sure what to do next.
Yesterday, Cleave set up a website (http://www.chriscleave.com) asking readers about the novel, which is basically a letter to Osama bin Laden by a London woman who loses her husband and child to a fictitious terrorist attack at an Arsenal soccer game. “Is it disrespectful to the families of the victims for me to keep endorsing it? Or would it be a greater disrespect if I didn’t?”
Cleave says he’ll “do what people say. I really respect the opinion of readers in a situation like this.”
As they say, timing is everything.
(via BoingBoing)