100 RPM

I’m delighted to be writing this blog post.

100 RPM (100 Short Stories Inspired By Music) is published. And here’s what it is.

It’s available here.

It’s the brainchild of Caroline Smailes (so it was always going to be brilliant!).

It’s a short story anthology.

Each of the stories are one hundred words of fewer and they’re all inspired by a song.

I edited parts of it so I know that it’s very, very good.

And every penny will go to the charity One in Four.

Nik Kershaw has written the foreword.

And there’s a story of mine in it too, inspired by Rock, Scissors Paper by the wonderful Jaymay.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHEJDTmqqQ]

I Wanted to Be Friends With Thumbelina

It’s true. If you’d like to know a little more about that then I suggest you pop over to the brilliant Jen Campbell’s blog (the same Jen who I interviewed here a little while ago) to see her interviewing me and Caroline about super powers. Which was fun. Enjoy!

And… if you leave a comment over there before May 30th you could win a copy of Freaks!. Go, see, people.

Flash!

Today is National Flash Fiction Day – a celebration of short fiction. Which is rather splendid, I reckon.

There are a thousand and one ways it’s being celebrated (check out the site), but here’s what I’ve done for it.

There’s a very short story of mine which originally appeared at Metazen and then in Not So Perfect, up at the brilliant Thresholds site. It’s called Pacifier and it’s about arguing and sex.

And here’s me reading My Wife Threw Up a Lemur, also from Not So Perfect.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPRsCfrZeD0]

And as though that wasn’t enough, here’s me reading one of the stories from Freaks!. And nope, I can’t tell you if it’s mine or not. Us superheroes need to keep our identities secret, don’t you know.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snvVDUVGwJs]

Happy Flash Day, one and all!

What You Say When There’s Nothing To Say

A couple of hours ago I came off the phone to a friend I’d not seen in too long. He told me that someone we’d gone to school with died a couple of weeks ago. A heart attack. I don’t know anything else of the circumstances and probably shouldn’t as it’s none of my business.

And I’ll not pretend that we were particularly close. We weren’t. We were friends when I was, oh, I don’t know, fifteen. We shared similar interests (girls, Star Wars, music, smoking cigarettes) and we got along ok, despite actually fighting once (I was never a fighter, it didn’t last long). For a while we were friends.

I don’t think I’ve spoken to him or heard what he’s been up to since I left school way back in 1997, but I’ll always remember him as a good lad. And hearing of his passing – and at such a stupidly young age – makes me really, really sad.

And I think that’s it. I’m not sure that there’s anything else I can say. But I’m glad I said something.

[Added – I remember he really liked this. So here it is.]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj75Arhq5ho]

Perspective

Generally I don’t tend to re-read books. I’m not sure why but I suspect it’s because I’m usually really keen to read new ones and when reading time’s at a premium (I don’t read anywhere near as much as I’d like) it’s those new ones that take priority.

But I am trying something different. When I read The Time Traveler’s Wife a few years ago I fell in love with it. I thought it was wonderful – for my money almost the perfect love story, and weird and wonky in all the right ways too. With time travel.  It was a recommendation from my then girlfriend so I guess that added something to it too; it was a kind of shared thing. Anyway, it’s up there in my all time favourite books and I can’t see it shifting.

I didn’t watch the film when it came out but saw it a few days ago, and while it was okay, I think you’d need to have read the book in order to get it; it didn’t really make all that much sense on its own (not because of the script or the acting – I think the story is simply too big to fit into a movie). So, while I didn’t love the film I was reminded of how much I liked the book, the story, and I felt that I wanted to revisit it.

But I didn’t want to re-read it (I’ve three books on the go as it is) so I downloaded the audio book and I’ve been listening to that when I can. And I’m loving it all over again. Of course, it’s different to reading the paperback, but I don’t think it loses anything in translation. In fact, I think that half the reason I’m enjoying it so much is because it’s a different experience to reading the book.

Wonderful.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Just a Short Story Writer

Today I’m over at the lovely A Salted, talking about how I make it as someone who only writes short stories, in a world where we’re told that the novel is king. A huge thank you to Sara for inviting me over there, and for everything she does (and she does a LOT) for the short story. Writers are nothing without people supporting books and their form.

And, in addition to my previous post I’m delighted to tell you that the eBook version of Freaks! is available for only £2.99 from Waterstone’s too. Which is very cool and a bargain. Hurrah!

Freaks eBook Special Offer

Hello, hello. I hope you’re all enjoying your week and this sunny weather we seem to be having.

Really pleased to hear that amazon have included Freaks! in their special £2.99 or less eBook promotion. Which is a saving of 57% (or four quid to you or I) which is rather pleasing and, of course, offers exceptional value.

Have yourselves a click here to take advantage.

You won’t regret it. (Well, I hope you won’t!)

A Wilde Lion

You might remember a little while ago, to celebrate the launch of Freaks!, that we ran a little competition over on Twitter, where we asked what your ideal super powers would be. We had a wonderful response, with many brilliant (and often hilarious) suggestions but the one that won was this, from Karen Wilde 

Omnipresence&shapeshifting into a giant lion wearing the stripy hat, appearing whenever animal cruelty occurs RAWWRRR

The prize was an illustration of that super power, by Freaks! illustrator Darren Craske. I thought you might like to see it. So here it is: