Useful if the book turns out to be shit

A horror novel printed on toilet paper - The nine-chapter tale is appropriately titled "Drop," and is the alarming story of an evil spirit that inhabits a toilet bowl, according to Takaki Hayashi, vice president of Hayashi Paper Corp.

"I've read the story and it's very scary," he said.

Suzuki has won acclaim as one of Japan's leading horror writers and was behind "Dark Water, "Spiral" and "Ring," the tale of a videotape that caused the death of anyone who sees it. "Ring" was made into a movie in Japan before being snapped up by Hollywood.

His latest work is set in a public toilet and plays on Japanese superstitions that ghosts and evil spirits inhabit the smallest room in the house, which is why they were traditionally relegated to the most distant part of the home. Parents still tell naughty children that a hairy hand will seize them when they have their pants around their ankles if they misbehave and drag them down into the dark water below.

Hayashi Paper has veered away from the more conventional pretty patterns on its toilet paper in the past, according to Mr Hayashi, in the past producing rolls containing information on what to do in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster.

The latest effort at toilet-time entertainment is printed in blue and is interspersed by splatters that are reminiscent of blood. The story is repeated over every 86 cm of paper and each roll costs Y210 (£1.40)

Once more unto the Fray

These days more and more author's are bypassing traditional publishers and publishing their books themselves to the digital platform, but controversial American writer, James Fray has gone a different route and ignored both publishers and the electronic medium.

writers are increasingly turning to unconventional ways to market their work.
There is the horror story printed on toilet paper, the novel composed of 2,000 tattoos etched on volunteers' skin, the unbound book in a box that can be shuffled and read in any order, and of course the numerous collaborative Wikinovels.

Now the bad boy of American letters, James Frey, has jumped on the bandwagon with the announcement that his next book will be published by an art gallery. Just 10,000 copies will be printed on paper, with an additional collectors' edition of 1,000 signed volumes.
Frey's original manuscript will be printed on canvas and displayed by the publisher, the Gagosian gallery in New York, alongside new artworks by several top American artists to illustrate it. They include Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Richard Phillips and Terry Richardson.

For those not able to afford the $150 (£93) price tag for the collectors' edition, Frey is also self-publishing his work directly as an ebook through Kindles, iPads, Nooks and eReaders. The bad news for the folks at Harper Collins, Random House and other big imprints is that, amid these new-fangled outlets, there isn't a publishing house in sight.

Frey said that his decision to bypass conventional book houses was partly in response to what he called the "greatest revolution in publishing since the invention of the printing press. Everything about how we make and consumebooks is changing very dramatically".
Frey is keeping very much in form. Since his first book, A Million Little Pieces, came out in 2003, the author has rarely been out of the headlines, with controversy following him - or being whipped up by him — like a faithful dog.

A Million Little Pieces was famously denounced by Oprah Winfrey after it was revealed that important parts of the memoir were fabricated.

More recently, he has been accused of running his latest writing venture as a Dickensian sweatshop.
The paper editions will come bound in either white or black leather with the cover typography resembling that of the Bible – which is no coincidence, as the title of the novel is The Final Testament of the Holy Bible.

It tells the story of Ben Zion Avrohom, aka Ben Jones, aka the Messiah, aka the Lord God. Yes, Frey, a master at the dark arts of stirring up literary controversy, has decided to make the central character Jesus in his second coming, with the book devised as the third volume of the Bible.
It is not the second coming as devout Christians would have envisaged it.
This one happens in the Bronx, where Ben Jones, a drunkard, lives in an apartment smoking dope and having sex with prostitutes and men.

One of the hardest tasks for the modern literary writer is getting their work heard over the cacophony of the internet. Frey appears to have found a canny solutionto that conundrum, by picking a subject matter that can be guaranteed to goad the Christian right into providing helpful angry publicity.
That's the other reason, he says, he has decided to go it alone: "This way I can take full control of what I do, both artistically and commercial. I've written controversial books in the past and publishers have [given] me no protection at all — they just threw me under the bus.

"If controversy does arise, it'll be much easier for me to deal with as a self-publisherbecause I haven't got any shareholders to be beholden to. I'll just ignore it." Frey is certainly doing everything he can to provoke a reaction. He has chosen Good Friday for the publication date.

Disney's Yellow Submarine remake scrapped - All Together now - Yippie

Disney's remake of Yellow Submarine will now not go ahead, after the box office disaster that was Mars Need Moms - I suspect this is good news for Beatles fans as we didn't really want a Disneyfied psychedelic Yellow Submarine. After all the original movie is just perfect.

According to the Hollywood Reporter magazine Disney decided to pull the plug on the movie after Zemeckis's latest animated film "Mars Needs Mums" bombed at the box office over the weekend.

Zemeckis, the Oscar-winning director of Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and Cast Away, had wanted to use cutting-edge motion capture technology for the remake.

Normally a poor performance at the box office would only spell disaster for those attached to the poorly performing film. But Mars Needs Moms not only killed the Beatles movie from its producer, Zemeckis, it also may have killed any more more mo-cap films over at Disney, and dampened enthusiasm for 3-D computer animation aimed at kids. The mouse house spent around $175 million on Moms, and the picture only sold about $6.9 million in tickets in America. Combine the performance with the fact that Disney stopped supporting Zemeckis' mo-cap studio ImageMovers Digital after the suits viewed footage from Moms, and this may be the last we ever see of mo-cap from Disney. And while we're happy that the Beatles' CG bodies won't be marred by the Uncanny Valley, that doesn't mean motion-capture film-making is gone forever.

Daughter of Texas by Celia Hayes

Archive friend, Celia Hayes (she recently wrote a great piece for the Archive's John Wayne tribute HERE  and we interviewed Celia HERE )has a new book out, Daughter is Texas -  expect a full review here soon but for now here's the book's blurb and cover image:

A woman's life in Texas, before the cattle drives, before the Alamo. Before the legends were born. She was there, and she saw it all. On the day that she was twelve years old, Margaret Becker came to Texas with her parents and her younger brothers. The witch-woman looked at her hands, and foretold her future; two husbands, a large house, many friends, joy, sorrow and love. The witch woman would not say what she saw for Margaret's younger brothers, Rudi and Carl - for Texas was a Mexican colony. Before the Becker children were full-grown, the war for Texas independence would come upon them all and show no mercy. During her life, she would observe and participate in great events. She would meet and pass her own judgment on great men and lesser men as well; a loyal friend, able political hostess ... and at the end, a survivor and witness. But in all of her life, there would be one man who would ever hold - and break - her heart!

Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge

Marketed as a young adult title, Twilight Robbery will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys well written fantasy, no matter what their age.

It's a sequel to the bestselling, Fly By Night which I must admit I've yet to read. Indeed I don't think I would have read Twilight Robbery, had not the publishers sent me a proof copy. I didn't think I would like this but a few pages in and I was surrounded by story.

A black eyed orphan called, Myra, a poet who can't sell his work, a psychotic goose and a  dandy knight with personal problems - add them all together and you've got an inventive and compelling story. There were times when the whole thing reminded me of Terry Pratchett such is the absurdity of some of the situations, however any comparison is a little unfair since this is a totally original story, least I've never ever read anything quite like it.

Stephen King returns to Mid-World

When Stephen King's epic series, The Dark Tower ended with Roland completing his quest it seemed that was it for the series that King has called his magnum opus. However King has returned to the Dark Tower universe for an all new epic - the prolific author's written a new book in the 'Dark Tower' universe. The latest installment is titled 'The Wind Through the Keyhole,' and should be hitting retailers sometime in 2012.

With Roland's adventure complete, King has decided to explore a period of time earlier in the quest. The new novel follows what happened to the main characters between the time when they left The Emerald City at the end of 'Wizard and Glass' and arrive on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis at the beginning of 'Wolves of the Calla.'

Sherlock Holmes 2 title leaked

It seems that next Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes movie will be subtitled, A Game of Shadows. There are unconfirmed rumours that the film will also be show in a 3D version. The title was leaked to the press recently and is now listed on the official IMDB page.

Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty who is not Brad Pitt.