Green marked the first time Nick and I tried something really new with his previous work, and I got to publish something brand new.
Green features Frank and Phil, two guys who meet during freshman year of college and remain friends over the years. Nick had written a few short stories featuring the characters before he wrote what was published, in various places, as either Two to Go or World of Chickens.
When it came time for us to publish it, he mentioned the idea of not only unifying it but also adding to it, and including a brand new short story that featured Frank and Phil several years after the then-most recent Green story (which also included a boat and Keanu), and I was sold. For me it highlighted one of the strengths of Nick’s books; that it never feels like Nick is creating a world or characters so much as allowing you to visit one that exists — that’s how real they feel, and Green is no different. It’s as though the book is your ticket to visit the world and these characters whenever you like, which is actually kind of what I think great friendships are like — not the ones you see every week like clockwork, but the ones that sometimes months or even years pass between visits, but once you’re in the same room again it’s like no time at all has passed.
That’s what Green is for me.
Its Double Shot is a sampler, just the first two Frank and Phil stories, but I think enough to give you a sense that Frank and Phil might be characters you want to get to know better.