September 28th, 2008
Just a few days before our two week vacation and I have finally managed to select some reading matter to fill up those endless days doing very little. But in these times of writing my own novel, and wanting to take only my Sony Reader, selecting a book was less than straightforward.
Avoiding disappointment
First criteria is [...]
September 25th, 2008
As a reader, discovering new writers and learning to trust them can sometimes be a toe-stubbing, root-riddled ramble. Having had my time stolen far too frequently by disappointing reads, I try to explore the potential based on recommendation or general background hum. Just this week, and despite the general hum sounding distinctly positive, I had [...]
September 19th, 2008
Hollywood endlessly remakes old movies, bringing them up to date, polishing them with modern dialogue, swanky sets, and more than a splattering of special effects. But this kind of star-spangled resurrection doesn’t happen with books.
I am currently reading Algernon Blackwood’s The Damned (1914), which Wikipedia describes as “A highly original haunted house tale in which [...]
September 15th, 2008
I have been on the search for stories that scare me as much as those I read during my formative years, and I’m struggling to find anything that satisfies.
In addition to the big writing project (TableRappers) and its supplementary tales featuring its characters, I want to create some old-style scary stories. By old style, of [...]
August 27th, 2008
Bear with me while I pop back in time a handful of years to when I messed around with stand-up comedy.
For the first few years as an aspiring stand-up comic, one must tread the rocky paths of the open spots. These are the 5 minute – or if you are lucky 10 – slots that [...]
August 25th, 2008
How many complaints regarding a book would a publisher require to justify editing and reprinting what some may regard as an offensive word? 5,000? 500? How about just one…
Dame Jaqueline Wilson’s My Sister Jodie, a book aimed at the 9 to 11 age group, has sold around 28,000 copies since its release in March this [...]
August 22nd, 2008
I wrote on my personal blog about how work – that’s the bit that actually pays the rent right now – overshadows pretty much everything else, including the creative writing. When writing has to be squeezed-in to available hours, it can be tough to summon up the inspiration.
The day-to-day demands of working in the UK [...]
August 10th, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS – PERSISTENT SPIRIT
CHAPTER 25
Keynes finds himself face to face with the threat of Nathaniel at the seance. The following day, Merrick is looking for a confrontation.
Story running time 19 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download audio file (persistentspirit-121854-08-10-2008.mp3)
If you have a podcast or a website, please play the audio promo and promote Persistent [...]
August 6th, 2008
There has been a fair amount of discussion in this household this week about our personal processes in writing. Novels do not write themselves, and are a vast undertaking. So how would you get from scribbled inspiration to 100,000 words worthy of someone taking the time to read?
How you would achieve this, I have no [...]
July 13th, 2008
AbeBooks have quite a unique item listed for sale right now: A first edition paperback of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, plus Douglas Adams’ typewriter.
[The typewriter] bears an anti-apartheid sticker on one side of the object and is boldly signed across the front casing by Adams in his unmistakeable hand. It comes housed in [...]