Are you looking desperately for the old GMP editions
to complete a collection? In our experience, here is your best shot:
Copies often change hands there, although it's also true they don't change hands cheaply. In recent years, since the DreamCraft editions have been published, the price of an original GMP Death's Head is around US$80 - $100 ... which is an improvement on the price years ago, then it wa 4-5 times that high! Incidentally, when you buy a Mel Keegan title second hand, via an eBay trader, from a link on this site — Mel Keegan will earn a royalty, which is extremely appropriate. A new window will open; search on 'Mel Keegan,' and you'll see what's available at this time. NOTE: few people auction their MK titles, so the first result in your search results window is almost certainly going to be be '0 results for Mel Keegan.' Don't be deterred: scroll down to the Ebay Stores. At the time of this upload, for example, you could buy four MK titles, including both the GMP editions of Death's Head and Equinox, at very reasonable prices! Happy shopping ... and good luck! (Tell us how you go.)
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It all began with DEATH'S HEAD, originally
published in 1991, in abridged form by GMP in the UK. A year later
came EQUINOX, the second of the
Jarrat and Stone books ... and then a ten-year lull while GMP,
as a business, wound down and merged itself into the much larger
Millivres-Prowler Group.
Not until Mel Keegan entered into the
current creative partnership with DreamCraft
Multimedia did the NARC books stir back to life, and they took off in
2004/05 the way they should have fifteen long years ago!
Next came STOPOVER, which we whimsically
called 'NARC #3.5," since it's a slim volume which falls between
SCORPIO and APHELION. It's the same length as most of the SF novels
of the 1960s — about 44,000 words ... and MK had actually
intended it to be the prologue to APHELION.
Halfway through the
writing, we all realized Keegan had 'done it again,' and the
novel was going to run way too long. We cut STOPOVER out of
APHELION and released it as a stand-alone early in 2007, while
APHELION followed along later.
The NARC books became not merely a possibility, but a reality,
with the DreamCraft reissue of EQUINOX, and a year later, the
restoration of DEATH'S HEAD. The project was an immense task,
but the book was shipped in March '04, and reception from
readers has been overwhelming. Advance orders were several times
more than we had expected, and the reader response has been
better than we could have hoped for (and we'd already had
high hopes to begin with).
Early in 2008, DreamCraft switched over to printing and binding in
the USA/Can and UK/Eur, using the services of the POD 'giant,' Lulu.com.
To celebrate the move, we struck an entirely new set of covers. Scroll
down to see them on this page, and click on each image to see the whole
wraparound covers, at much larger size. (Images are compressed and not too
large. Dial-up users may need to be a little patient — but we guarantee it'll be
worth the wait!
Mel Keegan's readers frequently disagree on what might be their favorite book or genre, but on
one issue they're solidly in agreement: gay-themed science fiction doesn't get any better than
this! (Having said that, however, we can hear a wail going up in the background, from the folks who
actually prefer the historicals. In fact, 25% of readers do prefer (gay) historical fiction, and
something like 10% read mostly only contemporary fiction. Guys — name your poison, as the saying
goes: the odds are excellent, you'll find it in these pages.)
The covers for the 2008 reissue of the whole series:
click to see the full wraparound jacket at large size...
Are you looking desperately for the old GMP editions
to complete a collection? In our experience, here is your best shot:
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