Publisher of the Month: Chroma
"CHROMA is an exciting addition to Black & White Publishing’s ambitious publishing programme. It builds on the strength and success of the company, with its history of best-selling titles in a wide range of categories, which include: biography, genre fiction, true crime, Scottish classics, children’s and humour. We have been delighted by the reception of Psychoraag, one of five of our titles to feature in the recent The List 100 Best Scottish Books of All Time, and we intend to publish all of our CHROMA titles with the same care, precision, confidence and ambition."
Campbell Brown, Director of Black & White Publishing
Last August, Black & White Publishing, an independently owned publishing house based in Edinburgh, the first World City of Literature, proudly launched CHROMA – an imprint showcasing brilliant new voices in fiction.
The first title was Ewan Morrison’s The Last Book You Read, an audacious collection of stories set in the UK and USA. Ewan was described in Arena as a ‘Scottish purveyor of erudite filth’ and in the Sunday Herald as ‘frankly manky’. Elsewhere, his work was compared to that of Iain Banks, Raymond Carver, Charles Bukowski, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Douglas Coupland.
Other CHROMA titles have included the paperback edition of Suhayl Saadi’s acclaimed Psychoraag, which was first published as a Black & White Publishing book. It was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize this year along with GB84 by David Peace and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, and was one of the inspirations behind this initiative.
The chilling novel These Are Only Words from Simon R. Biggam was published in February to comparisons with early Ian McEwan and, in 2007, Stephen Thompson’s novel Meet Me Under the Westway will enthrall readers of Nick Hornby with his honest, funny book about ambition and friendship.
- The Last Book You Read And Other Stories
This is a collection of short stories that straddle several postmodern urban worlds, including those of New York and Glasgow. Although each can be read as a discrete tale, they are subtly linked through their themes. - Meet Me Under The Westway
Jem, an aspiring playwright living in bohemian Notting Hill, dreams of being a success but, after years of struggle, is still no closer to achieving his objective. And, just when he thinks things can't get any worse for him, the career of his best friend and fellow playwright begins to take off. - Psychoraag
Taking place during the six hours of a radio broadcast, this is the mythic, yet utterly modern tale of a raga-rock DJ who finds his and his family's ghosts catching up with him. - These Are Only Words
Biggam's narrator is a city-centre shopworker who cultivates a facade of blandness to hide a secret life of watching strangers and colleagues. An urban chameleon, a Tom Ripley for the new millennium, an insanely gifted technofreak: Biggam has created a sociopath for our time.
