The Tao of Murder

I quite often get sent information from publishers describing their latest publication. I don't always pass these on via the blog -- far from it -- but once in a while I come across something of interest.

Over the weekend I had an email from Moonlight Mystery Press, describing a novella by Margaret Evans, with the title The Tao of Murder -- 'a fast-paced mystery thriller'.

Google seems never to have heard of Moonlight Mystery Press, and I suspect that Tao is its first and only publication. And I don't know for certain, but having clicked on a few links it seems to me that Margaret Evans is a lady who has written a few short stories and articles for online magazines, and has now decided to publish her own work. You can buy Tao for $5.00, post-free in the US.

And my point is, why not? This is all perfectly possible, and cheap. Margaret Evans may sell 3 copies or 3,000. Her novella may be well-nigh unreadable or it may be damn good. And who's going to publish a novella for you anyway, however good it is? You'd probably have to publish it yourself whether it was brilliant, bad, or somewhere in between.