Neil Peart -- The Latest News

A 2012 calendar based on content from Neil Peart's book "Far and Away" is now available for pre-order.

Bubba's Far and Away Calendar 2012 - Showtech Merchandising

Here's more from Bubba's site:

Bubba and his sidekick Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from the book FAR AND AWAY: A Prize Every Time, by their friend and best customer, Neil Peart. (Among regulars, that book is affectionately known as "F 'n' A.")

From Yellowstone National Park to the winter woods of Quebec to the highways of North America, South America, and Europe, each month offers a scenic escape and some words to ponder.

Order now, in time for the Pagan Midwinter Festival!

Thanks to Ed at Rushisaband for the head's up!

Labels: Far and Away

For all you Kindle readers out there, you can now purchase the electronic version of Far and Away: A Prize Every Time.

Labels: ebooks, Far and Away

As part of the release of Neil Peart's new book, Far and Away: A Prize Every Time, Rush Backstage Club offered a signed, limited edition hardcover that sold out in one day.

I ended up buying one of these (I was 408 out of 500) and thought others might like to see what the Limited Edition (called the "Deluxe Edition" on the bookplate) looks like.

Description (from Rush Backstage Club):

This limited edition version of "Far and Away" has its own charcoal grey cloth slipcase adorned with a copper stamping of Neil's drumhead logo. Inside the book there will be a special edition bookplate that is hand-numbered and signed by Neil himself! Note that only 500 copies of the limited edition hardcover will be manufactured and this item is exclusive to the Rush Backstage Club (meaning, the only place you can get it is here!).

Cloth slipcase with NP drumhead logo and book

Bookplate with Neil Peart signature

Close up of Neil Peart signature on bookplate

Sample pages

Back cover

You can buy the regular hardcover here.

Labels: Far and Away

In this interview, Neil discusses his new book, Far and Away.

To his own drum: Rush's Neil Peart explores the world's back roads in Far and Away

In case you're wondering, there are a bunch of inaccuracies in the article (as well as a typo).

"Everything's been custom-made," he says, tracing his fingers over African drums, Indian drums, valves and electronic pads. "I was a part of the whole concept process. ... I went over 200 different samples [before] choosing these ones for my solo."

It sounds like the interviewer mixed up what Neil was saying about auditioning samples with the actual drums.

Thanks to Rushisaband for the head's up!

Labels: Far and Away, interview

Neil Peart's fifth book, Far and Away: A Prize Every Time, is now available on Amazon, published by ECW press.

Far and Away: A Prize Every Time

Here's some information about the book from Neil Peart's News, Weather, and Sports February, 2011, entry "Talking Drums in Death Valley":

...Another big project was filling my days--a new book. I have long wanted the stories I write for this department to be "dignified" and made permanent by appearing in print, and at last I made it happen.

Typically, it turned out to be a much bigger job than I anticipated, but--everything does, if you aim high enough. Once I had found a publisher and stipulated that the book had to be in print before the tour's continuation in late March, they gave me a list of requirements:

I needed a title and subtitle, which would help direct the design of a cover, which I would develop with Hugh Syme, as usual. I would have to write a new introduction and afterword, supervise various copy elements for the jacket and flaps, choose photographs for them, find all the text and photograph files for each of the twenty-two stories, then read over the copyedited text, the typeset text, and finally the corrected text. All in all, it was a solid two months of work, but I was delighted to see it truly coming together--a collection of stories that had been written and published independently now took on a unity, a single narrative span, that covered almost four years of my life. At first I had been daunted by having to write the "Intro" and "Outro," but they proved to be the keystones in framing the twenty-two individual stories, to make it feel like one.

Labels: books, Far and Away

Neil Peart's fifth book, Far and Away: A Prize Every Time, is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2011, by ECW press. You can pre-order the book on Amazon now:

Information from Amazon.com:

Following in the tradition of Ghost Rider and Traveling Music, Rush drummer Neil Peart relates nearly four years of band tours, road trips, and personal discoveries in this introspective travelogue. From the ups and downs of a professional artist to the birth of a child, this revealing narrative recounts 22 adventures from rock's foremost drummer, biker enthusiast, husband and father. Both playful and insightful, Peart's love of drumming and the open road weaves throughout the stories as Neil explores horizons that are both physical and spiritual, sharing his observations about nature, society, and the self. Full-color photos round-out this tour of the open road that will resonate with Rush fans and motorcycle enthusiasts alike.

Labels: Far and Away