Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer

The Pavillion at the Terra Nova hotel was the site at which a new Anthony C. Winkler novel was ushered into life or at least received its first official introduction to the world on Friday night. Dog War, published in hard cover, is Winkler's second work to be published by Macmillan Caribbean.

However, it comes as a part of the Anthony C. Winkler collection as Macmillan Caribbean has now purchased the rights for four of Winkler's previously published books. As such, the publishing house has re-released The Lunatic, The Painted Canoe, The Great Yacht Race and Coming Home to Teach. All five books have been graced by illustrations by Judy Ann Macmillan.

The covers are indeed rather well done and actually save the books from the unattractive faces they wore in their previous incarnations.

"I've been brought up to say you can't judge a book by its cover," said Daniel Wilson, regional manager for Macmillan Caribbean, "but I think in this case these books can be judged by their cover." He declared that the publishing house had been "gobsmacked" by the artwork. Macmillan's collection of art, My Jamaica, was published by Macmillan Caribbean in 2004.

The launch largely featured a reading by Winkler who delivered the first two chapters of Dog War before turning to a short story and later a poem dedicated to his wife. The extract from Dog War suggested that the story is laced with the humour that has become associated with Winkler's work as he takes a sardonic look at Jamaican society.

Spreading Winkler's reach

Winkler, whose first novel, The Painted Canoe, was published in 1984, has found great purchase with Jamaican audiences. Additionally, Kim Robinson-Walcott's Out Of Order!, which discusses Winkler's work was recently published. According to Wilson, by purchasing the rights to reproduce these earlier works, Macmillan hopes to spread Winkler's reach to the wider Caribbean and hopefully beyond and are quite confident that his work has the quality to thrust forward.

In 2004 Macmillan produced their first collection of Winkler's work in The Annihilation of Fish and Other Stories. Winkler has also produced two screenplays based on his works of fiction, The Annihilation of Fish (1999), which starred James Earl Jones and, The Lunatic (1991), which starred Paul Campbell, Reggie Carter and Carl Bradshaw.