The Morrissey Memoir Might Be Happening, After All

The Morrissey memoir that was swiftly cancelled on Friday but might also have been a hoax all along apparently was not a hoax and possibly wasn't cancelled.

The Morrissey memoir that was swiftly cancelled on Friday but might also have been a hoax all along apparently was not a hoax and possibly wasn't cancelled after all. Rest assured: we are as confused as you are.

The latest comes via NME, which claims that contrary to reports of a severe "content dispute" between Morrissey and Penguin Books, the publisher will in fact publish the Mozz's long-awaited autobiography "within the next few weeks." But NME's only source is a statement posted on True To You, the Morrissey fan site. Supposedly, it's from Penguin:

The publication of Morrissey's Autobiography remains with Penguin Books. This is a deal for the UK and Europe, but Morrissey has no contract with a publisher for the U.S. or any other territory. As of 13 September, Morrissey and Penguin (UK) remain determined to publish within the next few weeks.

Well! Maybe it is hurdling faster towards publication faster than we realized was possible. But that's a drastic 180 from last week's statement, when we learned that "a last-minute content disagreement ... [had] caused the venture to collapse" and speculated maybe the "venture" didn't exist in the first place, given the total lack of hype, publisher statements, and advance galleys. As of posting, Penguin didn't reply to our request for comment.

Might you say there is a Morrissey memoir that never goes out? With or without a publisher, Morrissey can probably spring this animal* on us whenever (and however) he damn well pleases. He apparently finished the book as long ago as 2011 and ended up with a hefty 660 pages of material. We can't wait to read them all.

*Not literally an animal. Morrissey is staunchly vegetarian.