Following a wobbly few days, Mark is back on the air tonight to launch a brand new week of The Mark Steyn Show. The action starts at 8pm British Summer Time/3pm North American Eastern.
Mark hasn't been entirely idle this past se'nnight. As you can see at right, he's been busy frantically autographing copies of his brand new book, The Prisoner of Windsor, set in a strange land that may nonetheless seem oddly familiar...
A remote fantastical kingdom far from Europe's chancelleries of power...
An unpopular monarch on the eve of his coronation...
A ruling class of plotters and would-be usurpers...
...and a gentleman adventurer on holiday.
No, not Ruritania in the nineteenth century, but the United Kingdom in the twenty-first. Steyn's new book is both a sequel to and a contemporary inversion of Anthony Hope's classic of 1894, The Prisoner of Zenda. In the original, an English gentleman on vacation is called upon to stand in for his lookalike, the King of Ruritania, at his coronation. Over a century later, a Ruritanian on vacation in London is called upon to return the favour and stand in for an Englishman in an absurd fantastical kingdom where Brexit never quite happened...
As Jerry Stratton says of the audio version over at Good Reads, The Prisoner of Windsor is "extraordinarily funny, on an incredibly layered level". From Texas, Philip Mason tweets:
His previous audible rendition of it was phenomenally well done. Can't wait to read it in print.
Across the ocean, John, an English Steyn Clubber from Manchester, feels the same:
I just pre-ordered my Kindle edition and can't wait to read it!
Well, you should have it by now, John, and we hope you're enjoying it. If you prefer your reading material in old-fashioned hard covers, we're shipping it out as fast as we can. Juan Otero, a Mark Steyn Club member from Illinois, writes:
I got mine yesterday. Inscribed!
Congrats to Mark.
Robert Fox, a First Week Founding Member from Iowa, has also got his:
I received my copy in the mail on Saturday and am through Chapter Twelve. I thought you said it was satire.
All kidding aside, it's a great read. I don't often laugh out loud when reading a book, but there were a few points in the book so far that I couldn't help myself. Love the characters.
Thank you, Robert. Michael Cavino, a New Jersey Steyn Clubber, is already galloping on to the sequel:
Received my book on Saturday (pleasantly surprised as we were away last week) and throughly enjoying it so far. But I was more excited to see at the back of the book that Rupert of Henley from Mark is coming soon.
Fantastic news! Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Michael.
If you absolutely can't live without your full-price hardback being personally inscribed by Mark, that we can do. However, if you disdain his John Hancock, Amazon is selling the book at a discount - and the shipping will be rather less, too. Likewise, if you order from Amazon Canada.
(For digital versions of the book, please scroll down the page.)
~If you enjoy The Mark Steyn Show on your Smart TV or not so smart desktop, we'll also be doing it live at sea during the 2023 Mark Steyn Cruise - and with all of your favourite guests, including of course Eva, Leilani and Alexandra. More details here.
If you've failed to catch a Steyn Show over the years, you can find not only our latest edition but over 250 from the archives, all in reverse chronological order, listed here.
~Because GB News has chosen to kowtow to Ofcom, Mark's court battle against them will be pursued alone. Aside from pre-ordering the above-mentioned Prisoner of Windsor, there are multiple ways of supporting this important lawsuit in the King's Bench Division of the English High Court, including:
a) signing up a friend for a Steyn Club Gift Membership;
b) buying a chum a SteynOnline gift certificate; or even
c) treating your nearest and dearest to that Mark Steyn Cruise.
~Notwithstanding Mark's one-step-forward-two-steps-back health, we had a busy weekend at SteynOnline, starting with Laura Rosen Cohen guest-hosting our Clubland Q&A. For his Saturday movie date Rick McGinnis considered The Quiller Memorandum, while on Sunday Tal Bachman celebrated the Beach Boys.
If you were too busy spending the weekend trying to make the "Coronation Quiche", we hope you'll want to check out one or three of the foregoing as a new week begins.
~Finally, if you are way beyond print copies of books, The Prisoner of Windsor is also available in digital format.
For Nook, see here.
For Kobo, see here.
For the Kindle edition around the world, please click below:
