This week at Valley Press, #42: 'Views from Yorkshire'

Dear readers,

A huge week here – lots of stuff going on behind the scenes (which I'll tell you about in the future), and plenty going on in front of the scenes too (if that's a phrase?), which I'll tell you about today. Strap yourselves in!

As promised last week, the editors of our Yorkshire Anthology have presented their finished manuscript to me, and it is looking brilliant. We gained an editor in the process; the anthology's instigator Miles Salter has been joined by fellow VP poet Oz Hardwick, and together they've brought the thing home.

So I can now announce the 66 writers whose poems feature in the book; they are listed below in alphabetical order. Some names will be familiar, some will be completely new to you, and can you spot any laureates..? (I should say, I'm yet to email most of these poets with the finer details and confirmation, so this is provisional for now.)

Amina Alyal, Bruce Barnes, Matt Black, Helen Boden, Pat Borthwick, Jo Brandon, Carole Bromley, Michael Brown, Anne Caldwell, Becky Cherriman, Neil Clarkson, David Coldwell, Oliver Comins, Joey Connolly, Julia Deakin, Janet Dean, Carol Ann Duffy, Ian Duhig, Antony Dunn, Mike Farren, Rachel J. Fenton, Kate Fox, Dave Gough, Cora Greenhill, Doreen Gurrey, Martyn Halsall, Mike Harding, Oz Hardwick, Ian Harrow, Yvie Holder, Andy Humphrey, Carol Rowntree Jones, Will Kemp, Pauline Kirk, Peter Knaggs, Gill Lambert, Patrick Lodge, Char March, Fokkina McDonnell, Andrew McMillan, Ian McMillan, Rob Miles, Pete Morgan, Helen Mort, Paul Munden, James Nash, Marie Naughton, Ian Parks, Stuart Pickford, Clare Pollard, Robert Powell, Wendy Pratt, Davina Prince, Lesley Quayle, Bethany Rivers, Miles Salter, Peter Sansom, Michael Shann, Jane Sharp, John Siddique, Hannah Stone, Matthew Hedley Stoppard, Nick Toczek, Fiona Ritchie Walker, Sarah Wallis, Mike Watts

The whole 'anthology' business is rather complicated, it turns out; I don't know how Emma keeps them coming at such a pace!

The official release date for this anthology is August 1st, Yorkshire Day, and that's when you'll be able to buy it in Waterstones etc. (they like a lot of notice). However, because the book is part of our 2016 Arts Council project, which ends in April, I need to start selling copies ASAP, and hold an event related to the book next month.

Luckily, Headingley Literature Festival (that's an area of Leeds, non-locals) have stepped in to help with the latter; so we'll be launching the book on Saturday March 18th, from 7.30pm, at the New Headingley Club. Tickets are £4, and include entry to the next event, which features the hugely talented novelist Anna Chilvers. If you can't make it, you can pre-order the book here, or come along to another event later in the year.

In an unexpected twist, the festival organisers have invited me to take part in another event earlier in the day; titled 'Pitch and Pen', it involves authors pitching their books in person to three 'industry professionals', including Kevin from Bluemoose and Alison Taft. We then choose a winner, who gets to slip their submission into my still-significant 2016 pile, from which I'm slowly populating the 2017 and 2018 lists. If you're interested in pitching, details are on the Festival's website.

Let's pause for breath now, and look at a photo of our new office, which has been up and running since Monday:

So tidy, isn't it – and filled with promise! Last week I hinted at a 'new face' who might be seen there, and today I'm pleased to introduce Elizabeth Stanforth-Sharpe, who has joined the Valley Press team as 'Director of Publicity'. We all know how important publicity is for a book's success; a bit of luck there can be the difference between 200 sales and 2000, so having someone devoted to this pursuit seems like a great step forwards. (It's also an area I'm guilty of neglecting in years gone by ... it comes after all the production steps, and there's never enough time to do it justice.)

Local readers may know Elizabeth for her acting work, but her career has been spent in marketing, publicity and promotion – at one point, for royalty – and she's also a published writer, who studied Creative Writing at Hull University. She's qualified and enthusiastic; what more can we ask? You'll be hearing from Elizabeth soon on Facebook and Twitter, if you follow us on those (and when I remember to tell her the passwords!)

That's enough excitement for now: next week I'll give a hard deadline for subs decisions, share a poem from the elusive Helen Burke book, and tell you about a great VP event coming up in Birmingham. Thanks for reading!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #41: 'Land ho!'

Dear readers,

Last week's newsletter was an epic tale; one man's battle against a bag of A4 envelopes, valiantly trying to make decisions on your 2016 submissions (with all relevant deadlines having long-since whooshed past). I spoke about misjudging the time needed to complete a task ... and I've realised since then just how often I fall into that trap. Every project I'm supposed to update you on this week is running late; some by a couple of months, some by half a year! If you've been irritated or inconvenienced by any of this, I'm truly sorry.

The problem is inexperience; even after six years of professional publishing, there's still much to learn. With some projects, like publishing a standard poetry collection, the journey is now familiar – I know the way, and can be pretty sure when I'll arrive. In the cases mentioned below, I knew the destination I wanted to get to, and roughly which direction to sail in ... but had no idea how long it would take, or what sea monsters I might encounter on the way. (I'm working on a nautical metaphor this week, in case you hadn't noticed.)

But I set off anyway, and had to suggest a date of arrival; who wants to hear their book will be out 'someday', or that I'll give them a verdict on their submission 'in the next few years'? The good news is, I think I spy land on the horizon; let me bring you up to date.

•  The 2016 submissions are still being narrowed down, and my call for volunteer readers last week received a huge response; dozens of you got in touch kindly offering me the benefit of your literary wisdom. The first full manuscript is in your inbox now. Together, we'll get some decisions made!

•  Our anthology of Yorkshire-themed poetry, delayed from last year, is now on the brink of completion. You'll recall this book is being edited by Miles Salter, who also came up with the idea; he has been facing his own waves of incoming submissions, but is now (to preserve the metaphor) approaching safe harbour. All being well, I'll announce a full list of the included poets in this newsletter next week.

•  Helen Burke's Collected Poems, teased in November as 'the most complicated book I've ever tried to put together', was originally due to arrive in 'mid-February'. I'm sorry to say that, with mid-February upon us, I don't yet have a firm delivery date for this book. On a brighter note, no less than three people are currently working like mad to get every word in the right place, and their efforts are set to bear fruit within the next few days. More news next week.

•  The new Valley Press office, mentioned briefly last Sunday, is now just a few hours from being tidy and having a connection to the internet – a month after I got the keys! (I think only two people are waiting for this, but it still counts as a late project, causing annoyance.) I mentioned a new face, too, who I'm pleased to say has the title 'Director of Publicity', helping me tell the world about our wonderful books. Formal introductions will be coming in a future newsletter.

Reading that back, it sounds like we've made only the very tiniest progress since last week; but at least the sails are up! And hey, I've provided you with something rarely found in a publisher's email newsletter – a sense of suspense. "Will they get anything done? Tune in next week to find out..."

I'll end with a reminder that you can see VP poet Norah Hanson and a star-studded supporting cast at Kardomah in Hull, this Thursday (16th) – more details here. It's a must if you can possibly get there ... when your ship has come in?

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #33: 'Exile and miscellany'

Dear readers,

This week, updates on numerous ongoing projects – but first, I want to mention a new book that you might call an 'honorary member' of the Valley Press family.

Back in January I heard from Adnan al-Sayegh, an Iraqi writer who fled his home country after being condemned to death by the Hussein regime during the 1990s. Now living in London, his latest collection had been translated to English, and prepped for publication by a band of friends, family and supporters: could I help them make it available for sale? As it happened, I could: Adnan's book, charmingly titled To Cuddle My Exile, is available in paperback here and on Kindle here (sorry for the Amazon links, but they do provide a good service!) If you're intrigued, there is a sample of the book available via the Kindle link. You can also read the full story of Adnan's extraordinary life in the blurb; worth clicking through for that alone, I would say.

Onto the updates: let's remember the two Sue Wilsea book launches (and 'Hull to Scarborough Line' performances) which are on this week, at Kardomah94 in Hull on Wednesday 2nd (main show 7pm, book launch 8pm), then at Scarborough Art Gallery on Sunday 6th (main show 3pm, book launch 4pm). I'll be there!

Antony Dunn is coming to Scarborough too this week, to our favourite bookshop Wardle & Jones, on Friday 4th from 6.30. There are only ten tickets available for this event, and the shop is closed Tuesday-Thursday, so you'll need to call them on Monday afternoon (01723353260) if you've any hope of sneaking in. Even I might have to give that one a miss! If you've ordered a signed copy of his new book, I'm hoping to get them all signed and posted that same day.

What else is there? Oh yes: our current submissions process is coming to an end in a month's time, so start getting your manuscript in order if you're a last-minute sort of person. If you've submitted already and are waiting for news, I'll be working through submissions during December and hope to have replied to everyone before Christmas Day. That means I'll be needing volunteers for the reading group, to meet for a day in Scarborough and give opinions on the most promising work. If you'd like to be involved, please get in touch and let me know which days you're available between the 5th and 16th of December. There's no money available, but I do provide biscuits (as you can see below).

I'm still getting a few enquiries about the Yorkshire Anthology: it's not dead, I promise! I hope to have a new date for you soonish, once Miles clambers back to the surface of your enormous heap of Yorkshire-related writing. Oh, and talking of Yorkshire – John Wedgwood Clarke's TV programme can still be viewed on iPlayer here, and I'm told is repeated on BBC4 this week (though I haven't made a note of when ... see listings?)

No picture of George for you this time – don't want to spoil you, he'll be back though! Until then, keep reading, and I'll see you soon.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #24: 'Back to work'

Dear readers,

I’m back. To quote the great Nigel Gerrans: ‘the summer is ended, and we are not saved’.

I’m writing to you a week earlier than planned, as last weekend I was literally stopped on the street by people ‘jonesin’ for a fix’ of literary news. ‘Where’s the newsletter gone?’, ‘when will it be back?’ they cried. I had no idea you were so keen on it!

I took the summer off as there weren’t any new books coming out (from VP, anyway), or events to attend – but that’s all about to change. There’ll be a new book from us every week in September; poetry collections for (literally) all ages, a ‘surprise anthology’ which only insiders currently know about, and possibly two 300+ page poetry epics, both from familiar faces.

And that will be the quiet month this autumn. October is expected to start with me and Mrs McGarry becoming parents for the first time – what a thought! – and to feature minimal Valley Press activity until the last few days, at which point I’ll spring back into action and give you a new book every week again, until the end of November.

(That list doesn’t currently include the much-anticipated ‘Yorkshire anthology’; editor Miles is currently wading through a sea of entries, thousands in fact, so I’ve relieved him – and myself – of any deadlines regarding that volume. It’ll turn up eventually though, and be fantastic.)

The first book due after my ‘paternity leave’, at the end of October, is Antony Dunn’s fourth collection, titled Take This One to Bed. I’m mentioning this now as there’s a chance for you to pre-order a very special, limited-edition hardback (with the fish design pictured above) – I’ll only print a hundred of those, so if you want one, move early! I’ll end this email with a wistful summery poem from that book to whet your appetite (which you might recognise from Faber's Jubilee Lines anthology). It’s a really special collection, and you'll be hearing a lot more about it in the near future.

I think that’s all you need to know for now; thanks for your support during the summer, and I look forward to telling you more about all the wonderful publications we’ve been putting together.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

---

Eighteen

by Antony Dunn

York, 25 – 26 June 1991

These are the longest days. Exams are done
and we are indolent and steeped in sun
and somewhat drunk by dark, one couple gone
to fumble, inexpert, beyond the lawn
and the reach of the bonfire, when someone
cries ‘Midnight’. It’s the twenty-sixth of June.
I am sung to an end; I am begun.

Tifanny, Rachel, Joby, Simon,
Michael, Sally, Charlotte, John.

We lie back in the ordered grass as smoke
riddles the machinery of trees, tracks
east across the fields, and east. Someone cracks,
‘It might be ours to go and not come back,
drafted to Sarajevo or Iraq.’
We can’t make each other out. No one speaks
but someone pokes the fire and scatters sparks.

Adam, Isla, Sophie, Kinshuk,
Indraneil, Becky, Mark.

We have exhausted everything that burns
bright and quick and the fire has guttered down
to a smallness of embers before dawn.
A blackbird starts at a rumour of sun.
The day will come along the green dark lane
with processing cars to carry us on.
We will not be this way again.

Tifanny, Rachel, Joby, Simon,
Michael, Sally, Charlotte, John.

This week at Valley Press: a call for Yorkshire poems

Dear readers,

I'll leap straight in this week with the biggest news: as part of our Arts Council grant for 2016, we promised to publish a Yorkshire-themed poetry anthology, and we are opening submissions for it today. Here's the official announcement, which you can feel free to spread around the internet:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Call for submissions: Yorkshire poetry anthology (deadline: 31st May)

In October 2016, Yorkshire-based Valley Press will publish an anthology of poetry which aims to document and celebrate our multi-faceted home county. We are now searching for great poems to feature in the book, from writers based anywhere in the world. Poems can be on any subject or topic – a place, an incident, a person, an idea – with only one rule: there must be some connection with the county of Yorkshire. (If in any doubt as to where Yorkshire begins and ends, consult this helpful map.)

Contributing poets will each receive a copy of the finished book, and a share of £900 in prize money/fees. We are considering poems which have been published before, but the author must be able to grant Valley Press non-exclusive rights to reproduce them in this anthology (if in doubt, consult your previous publisher).

The anthology will be edited by York-based poet Miles Salter, and submissions (maximum three poems per author) should be sent to milesinyork@hotmail.com, with the subject line 'Yorkshire Poetry Anthology', by 5pm on May 31st. The featured poets will be announced by September 1st, and the book is expected to be launched on National Poetry Day (Thursday 6th October).

Funding for this project has been generously provided by Arts Council England. We look forward to seeing your poems – best of luck!
 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In other news: I was delighted by the response to last week's newsletter – no great exodus of subscribers, plenty of emails of support, and better still, lots of people taking advantage of the 'buy one get one free' offer! Thanks folks!

To keep the goodwill going, I'll do another offer this week: anyone who buys our first hardback, Ex Libris by David Hughes, can receive a second VP book free of charge. You should be able to add a 'note to seller' at the checkout advising me which book you'd like as your freebie (or say 'surprise me!') – but if you can't find that button, just reply to this email and let me know your choice.

I've chosen Ex Libris as Antony Dunn, the book's editor, is coming to Scarborough on February 11th for a reading at our favourite bookshop Wardle & Jones, and he's promised to read from David's book as well as his own collections. You can find details on that event here, and contact the bookshop for tickets, which are £5. I won't be featuring too many events in these newsletters – as I worry about annoying the 95% of subscribers who don't live anywhere near Scarborough! – but that will be a really special evening.

Next week: the new website is coming, and it is looking good. Watch this space!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

Valley Press Friday Digest, #11

Last week I broke the news of Kate Fox and Alfie Crow's forthcoming 'Grand Depart' novella, and in the days since then it has been both written and published - you can pick it up on Kindle here for just 99p. It comes highly recommended! Here are a couple of quotes from the authors about the experience of writing Tour de Force:

Alfie Crow: 'My mind is absolutely exploding after such an intensive week of writing, but I love the challenge of writing something that responds to such a big event. I’ve always been quite a quick writer anyway, but there’s nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.'

Kate Fox: 'I originally trained as a radio journalist and really enjoy responding rapidly to things as they happen. Plotting a comic crime novel is still a very new thing for me and I quite often have no idea of where we’re going to end up, but somehow Alfie creates all these intricate plot twists. I enjoy being able to put things I’ve actually witnessed into a piece of writing people can enjoy straight away; and the Tour de France has been such an amazing success for Yorkshire it feels like we’re celebrating it, in our own strange way!'

And today I can announce some more news: they're planning a third novella in the 'Makin News' series (making it a comic-crime trilogy), to be released on the 1st October. Here's the blurb, with everything they've told me about it so far: 'Jess and Reverend Ray find themselves accidentally influencing the Scottish Independence vote when they discover some important relics during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.' The title is The Forth Estate. And you want even more news? We've agreed to produce a paperback edition of the entire trilogy in time for Christmas! Watch this space for more info.

The main bit of business today is Miles Salter's examination of who might win the 'Next Generation Poets 2014' award - but before that, some Twitter highlights from the week.

Analogy for topical novella me, @valleypress & @alfiecrowwriter made in a week-like building a house in a week but not dangerous or illegal
— Kate Fox (@katefoxwriter) July 7, 2014

This may be the single greatest article I've ever read about business: https://t.co/V2WFUN3brg @blissbombed
— Valley Press (@valleypress) July 4, 2014

Listen to the premiere of You'll Find Us in the Parks by Leeds poet @MHStoppard and Hull art-rockers @Glass_Delusion http://t.co/fHRmirjby5
— Adult Teeth (@adultteeth) July 10, 2014

Come to Reading Town Hall for the #OpenForArt trail! I'm here with @valleypress books &a creepy mannequin looking on. pic.twitter.com/JZupw9nT1C
— The Emma Press (@TheEmmaPress) July 5, 2014

@sarahholt01 @valleypress Thank you for this lovely parcel! It was my pleasure to be involved and I love the story! pic.twitter.com/oEA84tn22o
— Sarah Olley (@s_olley) July 6, 2014

That's 2013 intern-extraordinaire Sarah Olley at the end there, receiving a special signed copy for her work on Love and Eskimo Snow. Not only did Sarah work on the book during her time in the VP office, she took it away with her and edited it for months afterwards, in her own time, sometimes while in the middle of university exams! She is going to get one seriously good reference.

So finally, here's what Miles has to say about the 'Next Generation Poets' search:

Who will make the Next Generation Poets list? (Yes, I know, the whole nation is obsessed with this issue. But it’s interesting to play Guess The List.) The aim of the list is to give a bit of profile to poets that  are going to dominate the scene over the next ten years or more. At the moment, new poetry is headed by a gang of very talented young women writers. Foremost among these is Helen Mort, who has had such a stunning last 18 months that she’s now almost part of the poetry landscape – Division Street was shortlisted for T.S Eliot Prize and the Costa Prize. Alongside Mort are several excellent women poets, including Emily Berry (winner, Forward Prize Best First Collection for Dear Boy, one of the most striking collections I have read in the last few years), Rhian Edwards (Clueless Dogs was published by Seren and won Wales Book Of The Year 2013) and Hanah Lowe, another exciting young writer (Lowe’s debut Chick was shortlisted for Forward first collection in 2013.)  It’s hard to see how any of these four will be omitted from the list. Other strong female writers include Emma Jones (Faber), Rebecca Goss (Goss’ collection Her Birth about the life and death of her baby daughter, won accolades and press attention and was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize), Abi Curtis (two collections with Salt), Tara Bergin (Carcanet) and Hannah Silva (Penned In The Margins). Other contenders include Helen Ivory and programmer, water dweller and enthusiast Jo Bell. Any of these could potentially make the list. Sadly missing will be the excellent Liz Berry, whose debut Black Country is about to hit the shops, but misses the list deadline by just a few months, which is a big shame, as she deserves the ‘Next Generation’ tag as much as anybody who is currently writing.

As for the lads (the female writers are so strong in poetry at the moment that the boys come in second place) – I suspect that Luke Wright will make the list, as he’s something of a force in British poetry, performing to thousands every year, selecting the poets for Latitude Festival and frequently rubbing shoulders with John Cooper Clarke. He’ll be joined, most likely, by fellow Penned In The Margins writer Ross Sutherland (author of the acclaimed Things To Do Before You Leave Town) Daljit Nagra (several collections with Faber and much loved by the poetry establishment), Nick Laird (several collections with Faber), the witty and wry Luke Kennard (Salt), Adam Riordan and Sam Riviere (whose 81 Austerities was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 2011). Jacob Sam La Rose is another strong candidate. Given that Salt has said it’s giving up on poetry, will they even bother to submit? Hmmm…

Several poets will not make the list, simply because of the dates that bracket selection: 2004 to 2014. This means that the fantastic Clare Pollard (on the panel of judges), Jacob Polley and Antony Dunn won’t be on the list, as their debuts came before 2004, and neither will Andrew McMillan, whose debut is due from Cape in 2015. I’ve only named a few of the many terrific writers who are out there, but the good news is with so many great young writers all operating in the UK at present, it’s safe to say that the future of poetry is in good hands. We’ll find out the full list on 9^th September 2014.

 

[ Miles Salter is a writer, musician and storyteller based in York. His second collection of poetry, Animals, is published by Valley Press. You can see Miles read one of his poems here. ]

Very good and thorough work there I thought - Helen Mort's publisher may as well open the champagne now, as far as I'm concerned. Readers should note that Miles later thought to add Jack Underwood, and I'm confident Lorraine Mariner will be there. Other than that, here's hoping it's full of VP poets! See you next week.

Valley Press Friday Digest, #10

I shall jump straight into today's 'Friday Digest' with some exclusive breaking news:

• Kate Fox and Alfie Crow, authors of last year's The Glasto Code, are working on a sequel set during the Yorkshire leg of this year's Tour de France, which Valley Press will be bringing to you in ebook form - for just 99p! - very soon. As with last year's Glastonbury effort, Fox & Crow (as we can possibly refer to them from now on) have written a rough outline of a mystery novel, and will fill in the gaps with actual events and observations from a real-life event, in this case 'Le Tour Yorkshire' (which is avoiding Scarborough for some reason). The new novel will be called Tour de Force, and the cover is below. Web pages coming soon.

 

• Though the Tour cyclists are heading to York, they probably won't have time to check out the city's snickets, passageways, courts and yards - but we know a man who has, and if you too would like to, York Curiouser have produced a helpful map of all the places John wrote about in In Between, where the poems are currently on show as pieces of (temporary?) graffiti. Here it is:

• There's been even more JWC-related excitement this week: the York poems have been made into a sort of immersive audiobook, which you can listen to here. Also, don't tell anyone (I haven't), but we found out yesterday that John's full-length collection Ghost Pot will be part of New Writing North's Read Regional campaign for 2015. That's two years in a row that Valley Press authors have been represented - quite a result!

 

• We also found out this week what happens when you clear your Gmail inbox on your smartphone:  

 

Proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel for email sufferers - @TheEmmaPress pic.twitter.com/vEi5YR03Hd
— Valley Press (@valleypress) July 1, 2014

• Both me and Emma cut a great swathe through the jungle of our email inboxes this week; so congratulations to... us? After much discussion we decided there's no way around it: we won't ignore them, and we won't hire someone else to answer them, we just have to knuckle down and work through all our incoming correspondence - it's a crucial part of what makes EP and VP such friendly and accessible operations. As for the authors of the five messages I still need to reply to, at time of writing... stand by!

 

• Congratulations also to all our friends who had their ACE grants renewed this week, especially our mutual sales agency Inpress, and the organisation behind Bridlington Poetry Festival (which I know I'm always going on about, but it really is good). Looking forward to the next three years working with you!

 

• I seem to be in a congratulatory mood, so congrats also to Sarah Holt, whose Love and Eskimo Snow made this list of 'Top 10 Holiday Books' for this summer (between John Green and Joey Essex - what company!) Peculiarly for a book with 'snow' in the title, summer looks to be the big season for Sarah's novel - the front-of-store promotion in branches of WHSmith Travel starts next week, so look out for it if you go in one. Oh, and well done to Matthew Hedley Stoppard, who has a poem in the latest edition of Magma, and read at the launch this time last week.

 

• Next week on this blog: Miles Salter is working on a list of who he thinks are the favourites to be named in the 'Next Generation Poets 2014' list (which I've mentioned previously), and I intend to post that in next week's round-up - should be very interesting. Last week I told you all about Helen Burke' forthcoming second collection, but I forgot to tell you how it got its title - it comes from the opening poem, which I will reprint below as a finishing flourish to this instalment of the blog. See you next week!

Here’s Looking at You, Kid

I noticed from an early age that the sun
asked permission to be on our street.
‘Is the sun allowed here?’ I once asked me dad.
And even though he knew it wasn’t,
he pulled his collar high and looked all round –
then put it in his pocket just for me.
Even though he knew to own this bright
this dangerous thing would bring me
perils, as well as joy. 
(Better to have a little sun than none at all.)

And we walked home, like two happy dogs
and the sky was duck-egg blue and the grass
was full of four-leaved clovers
and dad winked – and we laughed to think
he had the sun in his pocket.

‘Here’s looking at you, kid,’ dad said.
‘Here’s looking at you.’