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Banned Books Week

 Banned Books Week begins today in the UK and US. From the US site: During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 24 through October 1. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982.…

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My Life In Short Fiction – Nuala Ní Chonchúir

 Nuala Ní Chonchúir is a widely published and award winning poet, novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel You was published in 2010. Longtime readers of this blog will remember her third collection of short fiction, Nude, was reviewed as part of my Short Story Challenge, her story Letters winning a spot on my Top Fifteen Short Stories of 2010. Arlen House have just published an expanded edition of her second collection, To The World Of Men, Welcome which I will be reviewing on this blog next week. Nuala is currently offering a copy as a prize over on her blog, Women Rule Writer, but before you click over there to…

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100 Word Review – The Method and other stories

 Tom Vowler’s Scott Prize winning debut collection includes the excellent ‘Busy. Come. Wait.’ which some may remember made the top fifteen stories of my Short Story Challenge. The Method and Other Stories contains a diverse selection of stories touching on themes of love, loss, grief, ambition and obsession and contains many, many great examples of the short form. From the plausibly near future spec-fic of ‘Offline,’ through the devastating yet understated effects of ‘There Are New Birthdays Now,’ to the razor sharp voice of ‘Team Build,’ this a collection that surprises and entertains at every turn. Deserves your attention.

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Booktrack

 Regular readers of this blog will know how important music is to me when writing. I have playlists and albums that I reach for depending on the type of story I am writing. Music, usually but not always instrumental, is a necessary part of my writing process. Strangely, when reading I require complete silence to enable me to slip into the world of the book. Which is why the recent promotional activities of a new service/product/app Booktrack caught my eye. From the Booktrack website: Booktrack represents a new chapter in the evolution of storytelling, and an industry “first” in publishing, by creating synchronized soundtracks for e-books that dramatically boost the reader’s imagination…

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Marry or Burn

 A fair few of my writer friends have been saying some lovely things about Valerie Trueblood‘s collection, Marry or Burn, which is shortlisted for this year’s Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. Between the many and varied recommendations I’ve been receiving, the short-listing and the impressive book trailer, this is now on my wishlist. She’s also written a rather nifty essay on the short form. Thanks to Nuala Ní Chonchúir for the essay link. Nuala will be conducting a public interview with Valerie Trueblood on Friday the 16th September at 3pm, Metropole Hotel, Cork, as part of the Cork Short Story Festival.

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100 Word Review – The Tiny Wife

 The Tiny Wife is itself a tiny book that somehow, in inverse correlation to its page count, has a big and bountiful heart. Indeed, the pages are crammed with enough wonderful characters and ideas to fill a career’s worth of novels. Not one is wasted though. The premise brims with I-wish-I’d-thought-of-that-ness: A robber charges into a bank with a loaded gun, but instead of taking any money he steals an item of sentimental value from each person. Once he has made his escape, strange things start to happen to the victims. The stories of a tattoo come to life, a woman who turns into candy, and a baby that shits…

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The following takes place between 1am and 2am.

 All writers have a process. Some write at set times of day. Some write only with a ergonomic 2H pencil on yellow legal pads. Some need industrial quantities of coffee and a packet of jelly babies within arms reach. Over the last three years or so, since embarking on my initial OU course in Creative writing, my own process has evolved along with my writing. Where once I wrote with a fountain pen in a variety of notebooks and A4 pads, the slow pace of writing with a nib promoting a thoughtful approach that suited my early attempts at short fiction, now my writing tools and process differ greatly depending…

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100 Word Review – A Visit From The Goon Squad

 A Visit From the Goon Squad is another novel I am reading as part of my MA. That said, it was on my ‘to read’ list anyway so having it on the University reading list just moved it too the top. I’m glad it did and here’s why. (And yes, the review is more like 120 words, but the book is so good I hope you’ll forgive the breaking of the rules). 100-ish Word Review: Egan’s novel/short fiction collection (delete as applicable) is that rarest of beasts the accessible prize winning novel. Much has been made of the innovative structuring of the novel to reflect the key theme, time’s passing…

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Genre advice

 We are talking all things genre over at Write Anything this month. My post, ‘Much Against Everyone’s Advice‘ is all about writing in multiple genres. Feel free to pop over and comment.

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100 Word Review – The Motel Life

 Recently got into the excellent Richmond Fontaine and via their excellent tunes discovered lead singer Willy Vlautin’s novels. On the strength of the reviews and the fact that Vlautin’s narrative songs are bloody brilliant, I decided to try his prose work and bought the first two, The Motel Life and Northline. Still waiting for Northline to arrive in the post, but The Motel Life is one of them new-fangled electronic books and so arrived instantly via the power of the web. So here’s my hundred word review: Willy Vlautin’s debut reads like the perfect extension of the downbeat narratives that populate the songs he writes for Richmond Fontaine, his equally…

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The Beast is here.

 Arrived home from holidays to find my copy of Dirty Bristow Issue 2 – Beast. It’s a beautiful little collection of all kinds of writing and art, each piece of prose featured having been given to an artist to provide a response to the writing. Included in the cage of the Beast’s binding is my short story, The John School, which, by happy coincidence, features an illustration by my old mate Tom Lennon, who came up with this superb riff on the classic EC horror comics of yesteryear: You can grab a copy of Dirty Bristow Issue 2 – Beast (which features a cover mounted cassette featuring music and, brilliantly,…

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Ladbyskibet

 Arrived home safe last night from our fortnight in Denmark, only barely managing to avoid having our souls sucked by the two hour traffic jam approaching the Elb tunnel. During our wait we tried to decide which of the excursions we took was the most exciting and/or interesting. I’ve already posted about our thought-provoking trip to see the Tollund Man. Equally fascinating was a trip we took to see a Viking burial site in Denmark. Ladbyskibet, the remains of a Viking chieftain’s burial ship situated in a burial mound that is open to the public, is a truly remarkable historical site. From the website: The Ladbyskibet viking chieftain burial site…

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dan powell – vampire hunter

 Awesome day at Egeskov Castle yesterday. Much fun had by all, plus I managed to take a peak in Dracula’s Krypt, a real treat for any fan of the Bram Stoker classic: The crates of Transylvanian soil were a nice touch. Though Drac himself looked like he’d had a few bad nights. And remember, if you end up visiting the Count’s hideaway yourself, in case of emergency, break glass.

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Shake hands with the future.

 This month’s theme over on Write Anything is The Future. My post ‘The Future Is Now’ is live and kicks off with the following quote from my favourite Mike Leigh film, Naked: Johnny: The future is now. Brian: But the present does exist. We’re in it now. Johnny: You were just then, when you said it, but you’re not in it now, you’re not in it now, you’re not in it now. You’re forever being kicked up the arse by the future. You with me? Brian: That’s what I mean. See, I’m in the present, but I’m not in the present. I’m in the future. Exactly. Naked – director/screenwriter Mike Leigh Read the post…

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A face from pre-history.

 Today was the first wet day of the holiday so we took a drive an hour up the road to Silkeborg to see The Tollund Man, the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC, during the time period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Unearthed in 1950, the head and face were so well preserved that he was mistakenly thought at first to be a recent murder victim. An essay on the Silkeborg Museum website describes the discovery: Tollund Man was laying in a relaxed position, his legs bent against his abdomen. His face was alarmingly well-preserved, his lips, nose, eyelids, eyebrows,…

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100 Word Review – Wildlife

 I’ve been a little slack with these reviews so am currently playing catch-up. To make amends, here’s the first of my MA reading list 100-word-reviewed: Cover blurb for Richard Ford’s Wildlife favourably compares the short novel to Catcher in the Rye. As someone who found Salinger’s classic a little underwhelming I would go further and say that Ford’s coming of age novel, telling the story of a marriage in crisis filtered through the eyes of teenage narrator Joe, is better. Ford’s use of deceptively simple language and symbolism creates a layered narrative, its tension generated through the relationship between Joe’s inadequate narration and the reader’s clearer understanding of events. A…

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