Perfect Skin was the first Nick Earls book I ever read, and in a real way the book that started Exciting Press, as I mention on his author page. So I’ll not tell that story again.
What I will say is that Perfect Skin is among my favorite novels, which makes publishing it something I look at as both a huge honor and a huge responsibility.
Working through Nick’s other novels meant I re-read them, which jogged my memory that Jon Marshall had been a main character in two books, while Richard Derrington, the main character of Zigzag Street, had also appeared in Bachelor Kisses. I mentioned that observation to Nick and he confirmed the subtle connection. When I suggested we make that connection more explicit, he was open to the idea of what we started calling the Brisbane Trilogy.
We had already published Perfect Skin by then, though, and Zigzag Street was next, which meant that we would be going backward and finishing with what is, chronologically, the first book. Thing was, chronology doesn’t matter; you can read them in any order, because they all stand alone. They just all play in the same world.
But we published them in order backward, with Zigzag Street next.
I suggested we call it the Brisbane Rewound Trilogy, and not just because it was backward — because it chronicles what now, in 2017, feels nearly like the old days. There are pagers or beepers or whatever they were called for five minutes in Bachelor Kisses; by Perfect Skin, Jon has at least graduated to cell phones even if he’s still using Lemonheads CDs to put the Bean to sleep. Which I find further ironic because fun fact: Nick is an Australian author who lives near Brisbane — which means he may well live in what is to you and me, depending on our locations, the future.
Which means we finished the trilogy with its first installment, Bachelor Kisses, of course.