Goodbye and Hello.

So that’s (very nearly) it for 2012. I was going to do some kind of review of the year post but I ended up being busier than expected so that didn’t happen. I may yet still do one.

2012 was a weird one for me. It was mostly good, and it was remarkably busy, and the highlight would have to be Freaks! – a collection I’m still immensely proud of.

I think if there was a theme to the year it would probably be change, something I’ve had to learn to be better at. But change does happen and what I’ve learned, I think, is that it needs to be embraced, or, at least, put up with.

Mostly though, I wanted to say a really huge thank you to everyone who’s bought my books, to everyone who’s read them and reviewed them, to those who’ve helped in their publication, to everyone who’s sold them, to everyone who’s come to see me wherever I’ve been, to everyone who’s enrolled on my course and sent me things to edit. And to you, who read this blog; if you didn’t still read it I wouldn’t still write it.

So, to each and every one of you: I wish you a happy, successful, and healthy 2013. I hope that if there’s change in your lives that it’s the good sort. And I hope that more than a few of you have books out I can read. It’s only fair.

Enjoy.

A Short Story About The End of The World

So today’s both the date of what some (nutters?) are telling us is the end of the world, and it’s also National Short Story Day.

So what better blog post to plonk up here than one containing a short story about the end of the world? It’s from Not So Perfect. It’s called Five Years and the Last Night on Earth. Feel free to share.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-fj5Ie5vyE]

Bargain!

I’ve just noticed that both Freaks! and Not So Perfect are available, in all their paperback glory, for under a fiver from Waterstones. Which is rather cool. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that they’d make the PERFECT gift this Christmas, but I will anyway. (I’ve got a small number of copies left here which I can sign and send out, if you’d like something a little more personal.)

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Speaking of my books, might I ask you lovely people a favour perhaps? If you’ve read and enjoyed any of them, would you mind rating them or maybe even popping up a brief review (on all the usual places: amazon, Waterstones, Goodreads, your blogs et al)? They do help, and I would be forever in your debt.

Hope you’re all well on the way to being ready for the hols.

Why Finland is a Fictional Wonderland

I’m delighted to welcome Joel Willans to the blog today – he’s a long time friend of the blog and a writer I’ve admired for a while now. His collection, ‘Spellbound-Stories-of-womens-magic-over-men1Spellbound: Stories of Women’s Magic Over Men‘ is out now and I’m very much looking forward to reading it. And its cover’s pretty bloody wonderful, don’t you think?

So, here’s Joel talking about living in Finland and how it’s affected his writing. I’ve also got two copies to give away – simply pop a comment below and I’ll draw the names in a week’s time. Over to Joel…

Northern Exposure: Why Finland is a fiction wonderland

Ask most people outside of Scandinavia what they know about Finland and you’ll get one answer. It’s damn cold. It might not be much, but at least it’s true. There aren’t many places on earth where your eyelashes freeze together and your beard turns into crunchy icicle moss after just five mercury-bashing minutes outside.

Still, despite this chill factor, it’s the place I’ve called home for the last eight or so years, and it’s the place that’s helped me to write my first short story collection, Spellbound: Stories of women’s magic over men. I’m not saying every budding novelist or short story writer should jet over to the Land of a Thousand Lakes (187 thousand to be exact) but it worked for me. Here’s why.

 

The winter

You think winters are long where you are? Try living on the top of the world, where the Winter's Teethearth spins at a tilt. The darkness just goes on and on and on. In Helsinki, during the Winter Solstice, the sun rises around 9.30 and calls it a day by about 3pm. For the vast majority of professions this sucks. Going to work in the dark, then getting home in the dark makes you feel like one of the undead.

For writers, however, it’s fantastic. No distractions, no desire to leave the cosy confines of your writing den, no mates tempting you with the offer of lunchtime beers. Rather than wince at the glare from your computer screen, you bask in its rich, chemically induced light and semblance of warmth, and thank it for giving you an excuse to stay indoors.

 

The way of life 

 

In many ways the Finns are a magical people, and it’s easy to see why they were the inspiration for Tolkien’s elves (my wife even has the pointed ears). For a start, it’s only in the last one hundred and fifty years or so they’ve properly moved out of the forest, and they still seem totally at home chillin’ in the wilderness. This independence has produced the characteristic they’re most proud. Called Sisu, it loosely translates as strength of will or acting rationally in the face of adversity. It’s a bit like having a stiff upper lip in minus twenty-five. Imagine waking up to find your car buried in snow, every single day, and digging it out without so much as a “bloody hell”.

While admirable, it’s not the Finns’ sisu that has most benefited me as a writer, except perhaps in the early days when my stories were still read despite being breathtakingly bad. It’s their incredible honesty. When you read a story to a Finn and they think it’s rubbish, they tell you. It’s impossible for them to do otherwise. It’s probably this characteristic that makes Finland consistently top Transparency International’s list of the least corrupt countries and Finns such fantastic critics.

 

The wilderness

I’m Suffolk born and bred. For anyone who’s been to East Anglia it’s easy to see why wildernesswe’re known as tractor boys and carrot crunchers. I’m happy to admit I’ve driven a farm vehicle and eaten root vegetables, quite possibly at the same time. If you read Spellbound, you’ll see my countryside upbringing runs as clearly through its pages as newly ploughed furrow. Turns out, though, I’m not so rustic as I thought.

In Suffolk there are one hundred and ninety two people living in every square kilometer. In Finland there are sixteen. While Suffolk is like a beautiful well-kept garden, Finland, the least densely populated country in the EU, is bear-might-eat-you wilderness. What this means for writers is that you don’t have to go to a craggy fisherman’s cottage in Cornwall or a converted windmill in Cork for some solitude. You just go for a walk.

The women

To write a short story collection about women’s magic over men, you need to like women, and I’m one of their biggest fans. Putting aside the obvious animal instincts, Womenwhich leave us men so easily enchanted, I really enjoy women’s ways of thinking. In fact, I’m strongly of the opinion the world would be far less screwed up if women were at the helm. Most of the female characters in Spellbound epitomise this philosophy. Simply put, they don’t take any shit.

Many of these female characters are Finnish, and it’s no coincidence they fit so comfortably into these roles. Finland was the second country in the world to give women the vote. It was the first country in the world to simultaneously have a female president and prime minister. And it was the first place I ever saw a women kill a fish with her bare hands. Finnish women are beautifully hardcore and one in particular has been the best critic, muse, editor and fish slaughterer any man could ask for.

Is the end result of all this darkness, honesty, solitude and female company any good? I hope so, but the only way I can truly tell is if you read my book and let me know. Signed, thermally wrapped, copies from the far north can be found right here.

Image credits: Gravem + Petteri Sulonen

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Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’d like to win in with a chance of winning yourselves a copy.

A New Story

A few years ago I tried to write a story about a boy who, without meaning to, affected the weather. For whatever reason I didn’t finish it or make it into anything I’d be happy putting my name to.

A few months ago, however, I went back to the idea, starting pretty much from scratch, and this time I was happy with the end result. It was good. I called the story Weatherboy.

Weatherboy is included in Deck The Halls, an anthology in which each of the stories has been inspired by lines from the carol (‘Strike the harp and join the chorus’ since you asked). It’s published, worldwide, today – in paperback and as an eBook.FRONT-COVER-DtH-small

It’s an exciting thing for me as it’s the only story, aside from Two Minutes – included in the brilliant 100 RPM – that’s been published anywhere other than in Freaks! or Not So Perfect since they came out.

There are plenty of great stories in there, by plenty of good people (and a special shout out to Jodi who worked very hard editing the whole thing). Do check it out. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Christmas Prezzie, Anyone?

If anyone would like a signed, personalised copy of any of my books for crimbo, or would like to give them to a friend or loved one as a gift, then let me know (either leave me a comment, send me a message via Twitter or Facebook, or use the contact form here). You can have Freaks! or Not So Perfect for £9, or my children’s book, I Met a Roman Last Night, What Did You Do? for £7 (all including UK postage) and I’ll write whatever you’d like me to inside them.

I notice that the lovely Caroline is doing something similar too.

As you were.