Editions Information
US first edition. ISBN 9781595141842, published 27th March 2008 by Razorbill, an imprint of Pengin US, hardcover, list price $19.99.
This is the American first edition of TIM. Isn't it gorgeous? The Razorbill production team did a beautiful job on my debut novel, The Black Tattoo, but with this I think they've really surpassed themselves. I mean, the shininess! And the SCALINESS! As you can see from the pic above, it's a true thing of monstrous beauty (or it was until I defaced it with my 'orrible signature ;p) But as if that wasn't enough…
...check out this gobsmacking gatefold illustration by the fabulous artist Dan Dos Santos, bound into every copy of this edition! For those that don't know, this painting depicts Tim and Professor Mallahide, squaring off for one of the book's climactic battles over London's river Thames [for a view of the pic without flare from my camera, click here]. AWESOME.
UK first edition. ISBN 9780385609685, published 17th January 2008 by Random House Children's Books, trade paperback, rrp £9.99.
With the British edition of Tim, the Random House Children's Books team and I wanted a look that harked straight back to the dazzling movie poster art of the Japanese monster-stomping classics. With the help of fantastic digital artist Steve Stone I think you can see we succeeded – flaming London skyline and all! Full colour inside covers and embossed titling add further class to what we hope will be an extremely 'pick-uppable' UK first edition. Hee hee hee!
UK abridged audio edition. ISBN 9781846577031, published 17th January 2008 by RHCB audio, read by NIGEL GREAVES, approx 3.5 hrs, 3 CDs, rrp £12.99.
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This audio version of Tim is an 'abridgement' – the full story, read by the terrific Nigel Greaves, but streamlined and shortened especially for the UK audiobooks market. [BTW: 'cover to cover' audio versions don't seem to sell so well over here as they do in the US, as I remember from when I was a bookseller!] I checked the abridgement myself, and it's excellent: almost all the fun of the original, at about half the length! And Mr Greaves' reading is TREMENDOUS. Click on the sample above to have a listen to his performance!
US unabridged audio download edition, published 28th April 2008 by Penguin Group USA and Audible, read by BRYAN KENNEDY, 8hrs 42mins, list price $21.36.
This is the US unabridged audio version, read by Bryan Kennedy, and it's available to download, right now, via Audible: click on the link above to hear a sample! This edition illustrates one of the lovely things about audiobooks - and, indeed, books generally - which is that every reader's interpretation is unique. Mr Kennedy, unlike Mr Greaves, has chosen not to give Dr McKinsey a Scots accent, for a start! He's gone instead for something much flatter and rather sinister. The actors' performances are different, but they're both very cool. I'm a lucky guy and no mistake. :D
UK mass market edition. ISBN 9780552553599, published 2nd April 2009 by Random House Children's Books in their Corgi imprint, paperback, rrp £5.99.
As well as being a fair few quid cheaper than the first edition of TIM - a giant monster bargain, guv’nor! - on the back this one's also got some of the cracking comments and quotes that the book got when it first came out. My absolute favourite is the one by Finn, a young gentleman who kindly wrote a shelf recommendation about TIM for my brilliant local independent booksellers The Big Green Bookshop. In case you can’t see it above, it says:
“If you don’t like books with big scary monsters wrecking national monuments and giant cockroaches killing people, you will not like this book. I loved it." Finn, 12
-Thank you, Finn!
German language first edition ISBN 9783570400135, published August 2010 by cbj, translated by Lisa Kuppler, paperback.
This is the German edition of Tim – a pleasingly pulpy-looking and pickuppable paperback. I was particularly happy to discover that KER-RASHHH! — the noise the Big Ben tower makes when Tim caber-tosses it into Mallahide’s chest — has been rendered into German by translator Lisa Kuppler as the satisfyingly evocative KRAWUMMM!
