Kirkpatrick and Venables volumes hit the shelves next month.
There are not one but two new books from top British
climbers due out next month - September 2008 - with both Stephen
Venables and Andy Kirkpatrick publishing new volumes.
Higher Than The Eagle Soars
It
may sound worryingly like a formulaic Alistair Maclean thriller, but
Higher Than The Eagle Soars is actually Venables' account of
his life and climbing career culminating in his epic ascent of
Everest via the Kangshung Face without oxygen.
Part of a long tradition of public school and Oxbridge-educated British
mountaineers, Venables is an established author with eight books to
his name and consistently readable. The new book is reckoned to
explore how and why he was drawn to climbing in the first place as
well as describing 'a series of never-recorded adventures on several
continents'.
Psychovertical
If the Venables book all sounds a bit classic Boys' Own
mountaineering stuff, Andy Kirkpatrick's new book,
Psychovertical - his web site has the same name - is anything
but.
Andy grew up in inner city Hull and stumbled into mountaineering
despite his environment rather than because of it. He's climbed
desperately hard routes in the Alps, Patagonia elsewhere and
apparently revels in sheer hardship.
He's also a brilliantly funny speaker and a talented writer who
gets right under the skin of mountaineering in a way that most
climbing writing doesn't manage. He's not afraid to confront his own
inadequacies and he doesn't paint himself as some sort of superhuman
hero.
We get a lot of books in for review, but this is one we're really
looking forward to reading, we're thinking a British version of Mark
Twight's astonishing Kiss or Kill collection.
More soon...
Higher Than The Eagle Soars is due out on 4 September 2008,
published in paperback by Arrow at £8.99.
Psychovertical is due on 18 September, 2008 in hardback and will
cost £18.99. You can get a taste of Andy's writing at www.psychovertical.com
Reviews of both books to follow on OM.
