Published on September 28th, 2008 Join the conversation »
First criteria is to select something I will spend real money on that will not leave me feeling I should have spent that money on a couple of good cappuccinos. I think I have read more words of reader reviews than are contained within the books themselves!
I wrote recently about my continuing disappointment when searching for new writers to taste. Who can you listen to for advice? Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have someone close at hand who has intimate knowledge of many of the currently available best selling novels. It helped narrow the field.
I have written before about the trappings of reading works that are too similar in style to my own writing. My mind instinctively tries to emulate any other style I enjoy reading myself. Not a good prospect, of course, but less so now that I am over 100,000 words into my own novel.
However, as I do so little reading, each selection to some extent falls into the realms of research. Whether it be research around subject matter, or simply looking at how another author might have tackled particular situation, reading for me has to be more than pure pleasure.
This one proved to be a rather inhibiting criteria. I am taking my new Sony PRS-505 ebook reader on vacation. This immediately limits my selection to what is available in ebook format, and the publishing industry, though accelerating, is still some way off having an adequately broad selection. Add to that sometimes poor implementations of the ebook sections of online bookstores – even Waterstones do not have the ability to search through just the ebooks! – and the search for a chosen title grinds to a sluggish shuffle.
My selection is: Banquet for the Damned by Adam L.G. Nevill – get the ebook version from Waterstones
Few believed Professor Coldwell was in touch with an unseen world – that he could commune with spirits. But in Scotland’s oldest university town something has passed from darkness into light. And now the young are being haunted by night terrors. And those who are visited, disappear. This is certainly not a place for outsiders, especially at night. So what chance do a rootless musician and burnt-out explorer have of surviving their entanglement with an ageless supernatural evil and the ruthless cult that worships it? This chilling occult thriller is both an homage to the great age of British ghost stories and a pacy modern tale of diabolism and witchcraft.
I’ll report back what I think of this book, but with all eight Amazon reviews giving it full five stars, I think I am in safe hands. What could be better than sitting in the Spanish sun reading of ghostly happenings in dark, damp Scotland!
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 [...]
