Show Menu

Booker short list announced

 The Booker shortlist is out and I am not a little gutted that David Mitchell’s Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet hasn’t made the cut. Mitchell’s novel is easily the best I have read this year and contains so much more than the historical novel label it has been slapped with suggests. By turns a romance, an historical thriller, a naval engagement yarn, and, during it’s peak, a heist story covering the prep and the heist itself with equal verve. The story is loaded with intrigue and tragedy and pays off in so many ways with so many great characters and set pieces. I am still to read a large…

Read more

You Might Still – #fridayflash

 Driving the motorway, a needle’s flicker over fifty in the middle lane, vehicles flurry by to the left and right and I scan their windows for a glimpse of you. M6, M5, M42, M40, A34, M40, M42, M5, M6. I make a loop of the route you used to take. The route you might still. A squeeze of accelerator or tap of the brake pushes or pulls me along side cars I wish to double-take. Cars you might drive. A blue new model Fiesta. An original Beetle, green with a sunflower decal blooming over the rear left wheel arch. A Mini just like the one you used to drive back…

Read more

The Yin and Yang of it.

 The proof digital manuscript is complete. All the stories are officially final draft. Once the final line editing and proofing is done, The Yin and Yang Book, will be ready to release. This photo, from the CW facebook page, shows the list of authors on the frontis piece of the digital edition. As you can see, a list of some of the best emerging authors across the web, topped off by the hardest working editors in indie publishing. Looking forward to getting my hands on the finished text.

Read more

‘Broken Identities’ competition @ Circalit

 I’ve been dipping into Circalit via various links across the blogosphere for a few weeks now. Their current ‘Broken Identities’ competition has finally spurred me on to open an account and post a story there. ‘The Bus Shelter’ is a story I wrote for my recently completed Diploma in Creative Writing and one that I have wanted to place somewhere but couldn’t find quite the right market to sub it to. The theme of the Circalit competition, ‘Broken Identities’ seemed a perfect fit for my story of Willard’s struggle to get home. You can read my entry by clicking here, and even leave a comment or vote for it if…

Read more

‘Piece by Piece’ – #fridayflash

 For this week’s #fridayflash, if it isn’t too much trouble, I would ask you to pop over to Up The Staircase Quarterly to check out my story ‘Piece by Piece’ written in response to the editor’s ‘staircase’ challenge. The challenge was to write a flash fiction piece, no more than 250 words, that included the word staircase. It would make me very happy if you popped back here to let me know your thoughts.

Read more

This week….

 …. I have been enjoying watching Star Wars Uncut with my lads. Thought the femme fatale Darth Vader with hairdryer brandishing stormtroopers were particularly brilliant. Star Wars Uncut – Scene 011 from Marie Drennan on Vimeo ….I watched The Agent and thought it was a neat little film that rips nicely into the agent/publisher/gatekeeper problem within publishing. Well worth a watch if you have any interest whatsoever in writing or reading. Great script. Here’s the trailer: ….my favourite new song is F**k You from Cee-Lo Green (one half of Gnarls Barkley). As you might assume, this probably isn’t suitable for work: …on the reading front, I finally found time to…

Read more

My Name Is Mina

 Just found out David Almond has written a prequel to the wonderful Skellig focusing on the best character in the book, Mina. Skellig has been a favourite of mine since I read it while running a Carnegie Medal shadowing group early in my teaching career and I have re-read it twice since. It was a favourite of the kids too. Looking forward to reading this and guess what, it has a brilliant typographic cover and you know how I feel about those.

Read more

Mr Benn back in print

 What great news to wake up to on a Saturday morning. The Mr Benn books are back. Nifty gallery of artwork here. Guess what I’ll be buying for A. He’s just the right age for these. Honestly, they’re not for me. Really. They’re not. Stop smiling. Really, they’re not for me.

Read more

Baggage – #fridayflash

 For this week’s #fridayflash, I would direct you to my flash fiction story ‘Baggage’, published over on Metazen this week. Click here, to read the story. Sometimes parts of you are better off in a bag. Comments are locked on story posts, but please use the comments here to share any thoughts or ask any questions. Hope you like it.

Read more

Plays well with others.

 I’ve a post up on the Chinese Whisperings website today, detailing my experiences working on the collaborative anthology. Pop over there and see what I thought of working with other writers in the Yin and Yang anthologies. You’ll find the site is rammed with info on all the authors working on the forthcoming collections along with links to the currently available Red Book.

Read more

Typographic Book Covers

 Following last week’s post about eBook covers and the discussion that followed, I had a hankering to post up the typographic covers that I think match or, in most cases, better any cover for the same book using images. I haven’t read all of these, but they are books that would get my attention in a bookshop or on Amazon/iBooks. Great use of the Party slogan as a cover. Only an iconic book like 1984 could pull this off. Just fabulous use of the powerful phrase. Okay, it’s technically a photo, but it’s a photo of a book with a mostly typographic cover. I love how the angle makes the…

Read more

Short Story Challenge Day 165-184

 Day 165-181 (30th July-15th August) This section of the challenge was spent in the company of the lovely Aimee Bender and her collection ‘The Girl in the Flammable Skirt.’ Not sure what to say about this collection other than it is simply, unbelievably, wonderfully brilliant. Nik Perring often gushes about Aimee Bender on his blog and now, having read her debut collection and eager (so, so eager) to get my hands on the rest of her work, I can see exactly why. In an attempt to try and explain just what is so good about this collection, thought I might do a run down of my five favourite stories in…

Read more

Best of #fridayflash – Volume One released.

 Today sees the release on Smashwords of Best of Friday Flash – Volume One; a collection of the best flash fiction shared via the #fridayflash tag on twitter in its first year. As someone who has contributed to and read #fridayflash since its beginnings, it’s great to see this released. It features many wonderful emerging authors and even includes a piece by yours truly. In the words of Jon Strother, editor and mastermind behind the whole #fridayflash movement: ‘The Best of Friday Flash is a true representation of the #fridayflash meme. It contains sixty-seven stories, running the gamut from historical to literary, from humor to horror, from science fiction to…

Read more

‘Baggage’ is live on Metazen.

 My short story ‘Baggage’ is today’s main feature over on Metazen. I’m really excited about appearing alongside the great writing there. If you have the time, pop over there and take a look. If you have even more time, pop back here and leave me a comment.

Read more

Radiohead? On a magical ukulele?

 Found this via the blog of an old mate from my small press comic writing days, Pete Ashton. ‘Amanda Palmer plays the popular hits of Radiohead on her magical ukulele’ is as great as the title and album cover would have you believe. Her version of Idioteque is nothing short of wonderous. If you are still not convinced, have a listen via the player. http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=1003295408/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Read more

The New Flesh – Year One

 Way back in January, bizarro zine The New Flesh published my flash fiction ‘The Car Park.’ This was my first publication of 2010, the first, it turns out, of a fair few. For this reason, as well as a fondness for the central character, this piece is a favourite of mine. I was really pleased to hear it was a favourite of the editors too and had been chosen for inclusion in the free ebook collection of stories published to celebrate the zine’s first anniversary. The New Flesh – Year One is now available, free of charge, here. The official release news: ‘On August 11th, 2009 a new and exciting…

Read more