We've made previous mention of Mark Blake's new book, "Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd" which was due to be published next month. Mark's just got in touch with the news that this has been brought forward, and the book is available from today!

The book - which we're really enjoying reading so far - can be ordered from Amazon UK, Amazon.com (US), Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, or Amazon France. Watch for our review shortly but in the meantime, here's what you need to know about the book, along with some information on its background from Mark himself...

Drawing on his own interviews with all of the band members, plus almost a hundred new interviews with the group's friends, road crew, producers, designers, former housemates and university colleagues - some of whom have never spoken before - "Pigs Might Fly" ("Comfortably Numb" for the US market) is from what we've read so far, a superb, incredibly detailed, and essential look at the band's history.

One of the things that we asked Mark was, how the book differs from others that have been published. He said: "The book is the first complete, up-to-date biography of the band (from a non-member of Pink Floyd!) since Nicholas Shaffner's Saucerful Of Secrets (I should add that I think of Glenn Povey and Vernon Fitch's fantastic books as something different...).

"The way it differs from other Floyd books, is that I wanted to concentrate more on the personalities of the people making the music, and the memories and impressions of those that were around them at the time. This meant trying to speak to as many people as I could. I offer my own take on the music and on some events, but the bulk of the book is based on what I have been told by those that were there at the time. It's very much their story..."

Having been a fan of Pink Floyd since the late '70s ("one of the first gigs I ever saw was The Wall at Earls Court in August 1980") Mark had a good grounding in his subject. There were a couple of things that surprised him though, during his research:

"I went in planning to question some of the myths and stories around Syd Barrett; only to end up encountering even more. Nobody knows or can recall exactly what happened. The discrepancies and contradictions are fantastic, and, I'm afraid, only add to the legend."

He was also surprised to find out "just how integral Rick Wright was to Pink Floyd's sound. It wasn't until you spoke to engineers, producers, ex-managers, ex-band members that I realised just how much other people thought Rick contributed."

Mark's website will be updated soon with more information on the book, and can be found at www.markrblake.com.