Publisher of 'Oxley Castle' book: No letter of any kind received from PMO
UPDATE: The Arts House issued a statement on the “The Phantom of Oxley Castle” book launch while Epigram CEO Edmund Wee said the publisher won’t be delivering the book “until the matter is resolved”.
The publisher of a fairy tale book inspired by the 38 Oxley Road saga said on Monday (13 November) that it “has not received any letter of any kind from PMO (the Prime Minister’s Office) or any individuals”.
Epigram Books, which is behind “The Phantom of Oxley Castle”, said in a statement, “Legal advice with Peter Low & Choo LLC has been taken regarding the publishing of the book.”
The statement comes after Epigram announced earlier Monday that the book launch originally slated for this Saturday has been postponed till further notice.
“While the original intent was to do a dual book launch, we have decided that it will be better to focus on doing a one-book launch which is Peh Shing Huei’s ‘Dream Island: The Mad Mad World of Philip Yeo’ which has a charity component,” said Edmund Wee, CEO and publisher of Epigram Books. The launch of Peh’s book will be held at The Arts House.
“The Phantom of Oxley Castle” centres around a grand castle with 38 rooms on a tropical island and its colourful occupants including two young princes, a princess and their pesky butler named OB Markus.
Epigram stated that it initiated the decision to cancel the book launch, saying that there had been a misunderstanding regarding what Wee had shared with The Straits Times. According to the ST report, Epigram and the venue operator The Arts House each said the other was responsible for the cancellation.
Meanwhile, The Arts House also issued a statement on Monday about the cancellation of the book launch.
The Arts House said it informed Epigram over the weekend that there had been “online media chatter” generated by the book and that the development might impact the launch of “Dream Island”.
“At no point did The Arts House inform Epigram Books that we did not want the book launch to take place on our premises,” The Art House said.
Wee told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore that the book is not sold out. Epigram earlier said it will take orders for the book but delivery will be confirmed at a later date. A limited stock of pre-orders are available online now, it added.
“One website LocalBooks.sg took pre-orders and their 20 copies were fully subscribed when the news broke. Then they “re-stocked” and now have over 700 orders. But we are not delivering any copies until the matter is resolved,” Wee said.
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