Thank you for persevering and visiting the site that hasn’t been updated since last September, due to health issues. Happily it is now rolling again, to coincide with the publication of a revised edition of ‘Johnny Thunders – In Cold Blood’ via Jawbone Press. Featuring an additional chapter and a foreword by Mike Scott (The Waterboys) the release date was set as close as could be for what would have been Johnny’s 71st birthday. It also has an index which might not seem particularly exciting but it gives a book a kind of elan, underpinning the concept of it being a culturally valid item. For at least the last 7 years, people have made contact asking if there were any spare copies of the book left, it used to break my heart to tell them the cupboard was empty, whilst according to Amazon ‘Johnny Thunders – In Cold Blood’ was one of the most sought after books on their site. Meanwhile, both the 1987 version and the Cherry Red 1992 edition were being sold by book dealers at extortionate prices. Although nothing beats having an actual copy of a book, a Kindle version of the book has been available for a year or so, not that I have Kindle being somewhat old fashioned!
For almost a decade, attempts were made to find a new home for ‘In Cold Blood’ – publishers are strange creatures, they don’t recognise sub-cultures or their devotion. A U.S literary agent knocked on the door of several companies in New York that specialise in rock biogs, hoping to get a deal for ‘JT- In Cold Blood’ but it was a futile exercise, they had their hands full with Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin projects. There I was thinking that Johnny being a home-grown rocker who could have come from nowhere else, might have swayed them. The corporate perspective has narrowed the scope to the tried and tested. Did they even notice when the Japanese edition zoomed into the top 10 music books of the Amazon chart on the day it was released? It’s all history now…I’m eternally grateful to Mike Scott who introduced me to Kevin Pocklington at the North Literary Agency and a deal was swiftly forged with Jawbone Press who truly understand how significant Johnny Thunders is. This is the definitive edition, featuring an intense final chapter. ‘Johnny Thunders – In Cold Blood’ has grown up with me or perhaps it is I who have grown up with the book that changed the course of my life.
‘Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood’ is Available through good book shops and via Amazon
Nina Antonia 