tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89292140693217810572024-03-13T07:23:20.924-07:00Attic Salt - Writing news and nonsense from Andrew K LawstonAndrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-27108415294956698942020-08-28T05:29:00.000-07:002020-08-28T05:29:14.446-07:00Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944)<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, the UK has been remembering Noor Inayat Khan, a British Muslim who was the first female radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France. English Heritage have erected one of their iconic blue plaques at the flat where she lived in Bloomsbury from 1942-43, and they've put together detailed information on her life and heroic exploits which you can read <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/noor-inayat-khan/">here</a>.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was struck by the detail that prior to the Second World War, Noor had been pursuing a career as a children's writer in Paris, with some stories in <i>Le Figaro</i>. I made a quick search of France's National Library archives, and I found one quite quickly. I've translated this below. I have done this quickly, but I hope I've done it justice. It's a rather charming retelling of Echo and Narcissus.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope you like this, I've done it because... I don't know. Noor Inayat Khan lived a remarkable life, that was brutally curtailed. And she was heroic and brave (rooftop escapes are my Kryptonite), but she was also creative and inspired. And although today is about remembering - and, for many, probably hearing for the first time about - her heroic wartime acts, I'd like everyone to remember that she was so much more than a war hero.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dK5kObcVF8Y/X0j4NDV02lI/AAAAAAAABX0/zThXo_l_jo0NREssSYp5vFnBdRBzJ6e2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s599/Noor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dK5kObcVF8Y/X0j4NDV02lI/AAAAAAAABX0/zThXo_l_jo0NREssSYp5vFnBdRBzJ6e2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Noor.png" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What you hear in the woods sometimes...</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many, many years ago there lived some nymphs at the top of a high mountain.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-2d76dd4e-7fff-0b36-a55a-d20bf7a9b21a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were also nymphs down on the ground, but those from the mountains were more beautiful than all the others, because they drank the nectar from the daffodils which covered the slopes, and lived so close to the sky, up there on the rocks, that they breathed all its scents.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, they gathered all those scents, mixed them with pine, and laurel branches, and when Mistral, King of the Winds, passed by the mountain, they gave them to him to spread over the earth.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among the nymphs, there was one who was younger than all the others. She was called Echo. She was the smallest, her voice was softer, more gentle than the others, but she had two great drawbacks.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She was never first to speak, that was her habit. Someone else would always have to say hello to her first.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But once conversation began, she didn’t stop babbling, because she was chatty, even chattier than the magpies and the crickets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day, one of the nymphs was going to take the scents that she had gathered to Mistral, when she met Echo on her way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Good evening, Echo, my little sister,” she greeted her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Good evening!” Echo answered. And immediately began babbling. And it took such a long time, so long that Mistral passed over the summit while the nymph charged with gathering, listened to Echo speak.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So great was Mistral’s rage that evening that he blew four times harder, and trees leaned over, sand was blasted from rocks, and across the world there could be heard nothing but sighs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the mountain nymphs had already climbed into crevices in the rocks, but the poor nymph whom Echo had delayed was running hopelessly, carrying the balms towards the peak.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Mistral, who saw her from far away, blew sand into her eyes to punish her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poor little nymph! She was sitting and sobbing until daylight failed and she slept beneath the pine trees.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the next day, on finding Echo in her way once more, rage took hold of her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Echo! Wicked Echo!” she cried. “It was you who delayed me with your interminable chattering! The earth hasn’t received its evening fragrance and Mistral has punished me sorely! And you think that I’m going to forget all the harm that you’ve done! No, henceforth, you’ll only be able to repeat the last words spoken to you, and that way you’ll never again be able to delay anyone on their business.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At once, the unfortunate Echo was robbed of her speech.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She huddled under the pine trees beside a path, and began to sob bitterly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Everything speaks,” she thought, “the stream flowing down there over the rocks, the pine tree which never stops rattling its branches. What’s it talking about? Interminable stories about nymphs, about Mistral, about daylight…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And while she was thus reflecting on all the joy that she no longer had, the sound of soft footsteps was approaching.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was Narcissus, the young shepherd.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A man from the earth, so handsome!” Echo thought, certain he was the son of some nymph because he was as handsome as the dawn.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hardly had he passed through the pine trees, when Echo began to follow his footsteps softly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Who’s behind me?” Narcissus cried.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Me!” Echo answered, hiding behind a pine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Why are you hiding?” Narcissus cried.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Why are you hiding?” Echo answered.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wait till I find you… I’m coming!” Narcissus said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m coming,” Echo replied.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And at those words, she split the thick foliage and appeared before Narcissus. Her tears had dried and her wide eyes shone like periwinkles.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But on seeing her, Narcissus turned on his heel and fled.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She stayed under the pines for a long time and wept for so long that she turned to stone.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing is left of Echo but her voice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that voice can still be heard in the mountains and woods.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you call, she answers and her voice is still so sad, because she’s thinking of Narcissus who left her alone one day, under the pines.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Noor Inayat</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boring bit. This translation was taken from Gallica, which archives many French newspapers and other publications. The full page can be seen here: </span><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k410313f/f7.item" style="text-align: left;">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k410313f/f7.item</a><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This story was first published on Sunday 13 August 1939, and was written by Noor Inayat Khan. This translation however is copyright Andrew Lawston 2020, please do not share without attribution.</span></span></i></div></span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-8844105165133579692019-10-13T09:00:00.000-07:002019-10-13T09:00:13.832-07:00Chantecoq - King of Detectives, Master of Disguise<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://assets.mubi.com/images/cast_member/20811/image-w240.jpg?1557106801" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="240" src="https://assets.mubi.com/images/cast_member/20811/image-w240.jpg?1557106801" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Arthur Bernède (1871 - 1937)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The long wait is over, and the <i>King of Detectives</i> series is here. <i><a href="http://bit.ly/2muiUnI" target="_blank">Belphegor: Chantecoq and the Phantom of the Louvre</a></i> led the charge in September, and now my first translation in the series - <i><a href="http://bit.ly/2khkdp8" target="_blank">Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train</a></i> is available on Kindle for just £0.99 / $0.99.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I first translated the detective's original adventure, <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1XrcnFF" target="_blank">Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair</a></i>, back in 2014, and this current run of books was mostly translated over the last twelve months. At sixty thousand words a pop... well, I've worked out I've translated well over half a million words of Chantecoq adventures to date, and there's still four books I've not even looked at.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Blue Train</i>, as I'll call it for the rest of this post, marks a landmark in Chantecoq's career in several respects. It was published in 1929 as the first of the <i>Further Exploits of Chantecoq </i>series. Introduced by a short preface where the detective himself turns up at Arthur <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bernède's house to complain that the author has forgotten about him,</span> Chantecoq has moved on, even from the events of 1927's <i>Belphegor</i>. His daughter, now married to reporter Jacques Bellegarde, comes over to visit, but her supportive role has been taken over by M<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">ét</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">éor, a young man who idolises the king of detectives, and who will develop over the course of eight books with a care and attention to detail which is rarely afforded to supporting characters in pulp fiction.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But although <i>Blue Train </i>heralds a new chapter in Chantecoq's life, it surely can't be coincidence that it appeared barely a year after Agatha Christie published the Poirot novel <i>Mystery of the Blue Train</i> in 1928. The similarities end there, however. While much of Christie's book unfolds on the "Train Bleu" itself, Chantecoq's adventure takes place almost entirely in Paris, as he investigates a murder committed in Marseille several months earlier.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
A prolific novelist and screenwriter, and a shrewd operator, it's fair to say that <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bernède certainly wouldn't have been above riding Christie's coat-tails with a familiar title for the first novel in his new series. But he had the confidence to avoid echoing any more of Poirot's adventure as he instead establishes the template for the next eight novels. This is more of an adventure story than a true mystery, and while Chantecoq's "little grey cells" are easily a match for those of his famous Belgian counterpart, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bernède makes sure that the reader is always half a step ahead of the great bloodhound. Chantecoq's ability to solve a mystery is never in doubt. What </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bernède seeks to show us is a detective who is completely confident in his abilities, to the extent that he intends to have some <i>fun</i> while exposing a murderer and clearing an innocent's name.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white;">The "Further Exploits of Chantecoq" have never been translated into English before, and they're hard to get hold of in French. It's my serious hope that through these translations, Chantecoq will soon win back his rightful place in the pantheon of literary detectives.</span></span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-29339455132696870262019-08-22T08:05:00.003-07:002019-08-22T08:05:19.671-07:00Chantecoq Rides Again!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2018/1/27/2/7/c/27cbca65-de67-429d-8ace-ed19ed8fc03d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="525" height="320" src="https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2018/1/27/2/7/c/27cbca65-de67-429d-8ace-ed19ed8fc03d.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I now own a 1916 newspaper supplement.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Developments! At last!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Long-time readers may recall that I once translated and self-published two early 20th Century French pulp novels by the prolific Arthur Bernède, under the titles <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1XrcnFF" target="_blank">Chantecoq & The Aubry Affair</a></i>, and <a href="http://bit.ly/2eOMT2N" target="_blank"><i>Chantecoq & The P</i><i>ère-Lachaise Ghost</i></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Chantecoq is a half-forgotten hero of French pulp fiction, but he had many popular adventures spanning two decades, from the eve of the First World War right through to the early 1930s. He started life as a secret agent, before becoming known as a private investigator. Though amusingly he's always described as a detective even in his wartime adventures, as the French didn't like to admit that their nation would ever resort to <i>espionage</i>. Even though it's a French word.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
The books represent a halfway house between 19th Century sensibilities, and 20th Century pulp adventure. Telephones, electric buzzers, aeroplanes, and cars are all portrayed as the trappings of a cutting-edge techno-thriller. And I suppose they were. In the earliest books, all the characters are incredibly, melodramatically, nationalistic, but with the innocence that comes of having been written before two world wars: Franco-Prussian rivalry seems barely as serious as the Britpop feud between Blur and Oasis.<br />
<br />
As the years roll on, Chantecoq's skills as a master of disguise are boosted by a taste for gadgets and his the growing capabilities of his irrepressible assistant, Météor. Oddly, the strong female characters of the wartime books become increasingly downgraded to cookie cutter femme fatales and trophy wives in the 1920s, but at the same time the rampant nationalism is toned down. A bit.<br />
<br />
Now, I've spent the last eight months not just neglecting this blog, but translating seven more Chantecoq novels. Yes, seven. And also liaising with a fellow translator and author w<span style="font-family: inherit;">ho has translated the most famous Chantecoq story of all: Belphégor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the next couple of months, all eight of these books will be self-published and coming to a Kindle near you. Seven haven't been reprinted since 1929. Six have never before been translated into English.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Get ready. Chantecoq is coming.</span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-47363693511176953742018-08-10T11:58:00.003-07:002018-08-10T11:58:47.008-07:00Voyage... Of The Space Bastard<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NM5s6SWaL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NM5s6SWaL.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gun, actor's own.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>Joth Krantor, heir to the Krantor-Huang Corporation that once controlled interstellar travel, has a plan to restore his fortune. An evil plan. Join his ship, the Space Bastard, as he enlists a forgotten race of super-soldiers, dodges the lethal birds of Borthokk, and ends the mystery of the Rosetteish Stone.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">You wait 30-something years for a writer's first novel, and then he brings out the second in a few months. Yes, it's a second comedy space opera adventure. It's not a direct sequel to <i>Zip! Zap! Boing!</i> - not by any stretch of the imagination, but it is set in the same universe, and the Starship Troupers Initiative will be crossing paths with Joth Krantor further down the line.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><i><a href="http://bit.ly/2tjesaZ" target="_blank">Voyage of the Space Bastard</a></i> is currently available for pre-order, exclusively for Kindle. It's an epic mad quest, that takes readers from frozen asteroids to stone forests. I've developed characters and concepts from an old story of mine, <i>The Frag Prince</i>, and that short retold fairy tale is also now available as a free download on most e-reader platforms.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">In this book, which was originally published as a novella in <i>Pew Pew Volume 4</i>, I wanted to create a sort of evil <i>Star Trek</i>. Joth Krantor is interested in exploration and discovery, as long as it helps him further his goals. And, wow, he has some ambitious goals. Even having finished the book, I can't decide whether I like Joth Krantor or not.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">There are mysterious space phenomena, sinister spacecraft, and strange new worlds to explore.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">I hope you enjoy it.</span></span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-65782215467367853172018-05-08T09:01:00.003-07:002018-05-08T09:01:33.767-07:00Come and join the Starship Troupers Initiative!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RvqYatAfZuY/WvHHepPLdII/AAAAAAAAA_k/aOh8F3U9R-czK1yxMdApCVwjmANG0xhAgCLcBGAs/s1600/51qD8vFTlnL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RvqYatAfZuY/WvHHepPLdII/AAAAAAAAA_k/aOh8F3U9R-czK1yxMdApCVwjmANG0xhAgCLcBGAs/s320/51qD8vFTlnL.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new book!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>From 21st Century Shakespearean actor to intergalactic super spy!</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ten thousand years in the future, the Starship Troupers Initiative is the galaxy's foremost touring theatre company, bringing the greatest actors to entertain soldiers in warzones on the most lethal colony worlds. Now, new actor James Fanning must both give the performance of a lifetime, and singlehandedly turn the tide of the civil war that rages on the distant desert world of Jargroth. The show must go on... even if it kills him!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The first book in a very different science-fiction universe, where Aristotle's three unities hold more sway than Asimov's three laws of robotics.</span></i><br />
<br />
<b>Published: 24 May, 2018. Pre-order for just £0.99 / $0.99 <a href="http://bit.ly/2FQ7mPI" target="_blank">here!</a></b><br />
<br />
I finally wrote a novel.<br />
<br />
Long-term readers may be surprised that I've never actually written a novel. I have various novelettes and novellas and lengthy short stories to my name, and I've translated various <i>French</i> novels. But until a few months ago, I'd never actually completed an original novel-length work. And I've been writing fiction since I was six.<br />
<br />
But the important thing is I got there in the end, and the result is something very special. I think.<br />
<br />
<i>Zip! Zap! Boing! </i>was first published towards the end of 2017 as a novella in <i>Pew! Pew! Bite My Shiny Metal Pew! </i>That book was a great commercial and critical success, but instead of just republishing the novella, I found myself wanting to dig a bit deeper into the world I'd created, to put in a few more jokes, and to flesh out some of the supporting characters. The novella version of my story left a lot of open questions for a sequel, but I wanted to understand more about the Starship Troupers before I sent them all off on a second adventure.<br />
<br />
So yes, I write novels now. Do please take a look on <a href="http://bit.ly/2FQ7mPI" target="_blank">Amazon</a>!<br />
<br />
<br />Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-51078580968274004362017-12-29T07:41:00.001-08:002017-12-29T07:41:11.000-08:00Obligatory 2017 round-up...2017. What a year it's been, right?<br />
<br />
Like 2016, the news was largely rubbish, but it was personally and professionally pretty good for me. So I stopped watching the news. Brilliant.<br />
<br />
<b>January</b><br />
I went into 2017 riding high in bestseller lists across the world thanks to an elusive Bookbub campaign for my Casanova translation, <i>Story of my Escape</i>. Even one year one, I've not got tired of typing that kind of sentence. In spite of the "quiet" reception of my other translated novel, <i>Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair</i>, I finished translating a second Chantecoq adventure, though it wouldn't come out until the very end of the year.<br />
<br />
<b>February</b><br />
I was lucky enough to reprise my role as Dave in an expanded production of Naomi Westerman's play <i>Puppy - </i>and I got to play former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg into the bargain! <i>Puppy</i> sold out all shows at the Vault Festival at Waterloo, and was selected as a <i>Time Out</i> and <i>Guardian</i> pick of the week. Even our dog was featured on the poster, which might explain why he's such a little diva. I briefly wondered how I could follow all that, and then decided I obviously couldn't, and so took the rest of the year off from acting.<br />
<br />
<b>March</b><br />
A short story I'd written the year before was published by Obverse Books. <i>The Scottish Flap</i> appeared in <i><a href="http://obversebooks.co.uk/product/be-treasury/" target="_blank">A Treasury of Brenda and Effie</a></i>, edited by Brenda and Effie's creator, Paul Magrs. It's probably the story I'm proudest of to date, and the book was absolute top quality.<br />
<br />
<b>April</b><br />
A book we'll come back to later went into pre-order during April, but to be honest, around this time I was soft-pedalling on the writing in order to support my lovely wife Melanie as she got her dissertation finished. Late nights in the university library formatting bibliographies, it all made me thoroughly nostalgic! The finished dissertation was submitted on 25 April at about 22:15, and then we dashed for an Uber to get us to our local pub to celebrate with prosecco before they could call last orders!<br />
<br />
<b>May</b><br />
I seemed to spend most of May enjoying <i>Doctor Who, </i>adding egregious puns to <i>Apocalypse Barnes,</i> and working on an expanded version of the Cyberpunk novella I mentioned last year.<br />
<br />
<b>June</b><br />
Similarly I had to check Facebook to see what I was doing in June, but the main thing seemed to be laughing at the UK's Conservative Party as they tried to wipe out a beleaguered Labour Party but instead lost their parliamentary majority. This is the trouble with a year in review from a writer, unless there's a new book out, each individual month tends to look a bit quiet.<br />
<br />
<b>July</b><br />
My comedy zombie novella <i><a href="http://bit.ly/2qEwPph" target="_blank">Apocalypse Barnes</a></i> was finally released. Four years in the writing (though to be completely honest, I took whole year-long breaks in the middle of that), I was really pleased with readers' reaction to a book that was a complete departure for me in terms of genre. It's done incredibly well in the UK, and just well enough overseas that I'm happy the book works beyond the boundaries of SW13...<br />
<br />
<b>August</b><br />
Yeah... look, a book <i>did </i>come out this month, a political novelty book that I published anonymously. I think I'm going to stick with the anonymity, as it's both sold a bunch and annoyed a lot of people (thereby achieving both my aims in producing it) without any extra help from me so far...<br />
<br />
<b>September</b><br />
This was a month where it probably looked as though I wasn't up to much on the surface, but like an iceberg or a particularly hyperactive duck, there was a lot of activity behind the scenes. My second Chantecoq translation went into pre-order, and did a bit better than the first one, which was nice.<br />
<br />
<b>October</b><br />
Every year I do this Sober for October thing in support of Macmillan Cancer Support. It took on extra poignancy this year, as an old friend of mine had passed away from cancer at the very start of the year. Pleased to report I raised a bunch of cash, <i>and</i> got a bunch of writing done.<br />
<br />
<b>November</b><br />
Here we go with the big finish, as all the stuff that made the previous six months look a bit sparse came in to roost. November saw the publication by The Wooden Pen Press of my novella <i>Zip Zap Boing,</i> in the comedy space opera anthology <i><a href="http://bit.ly/PewPewVol3" target="_blank">Pew! Pew! Bite My Shiny Metal Pew!</a> </i>(popularly known as Pew Pew Vol. 3). My story focused on the members of the Starship Troupers Initiative, an unfortunately-acronymed theatre company touring warzones of the far future, while indulging in a spot of espionage on the side. The book went straight to the top of various SF charts around the world, and sold thousands. I'm still getting my head around the implications of this book's success for me as a writer, to be honest. And I couldn't really appreciate it back in November, because of all the stuff that was about to happen...<br />
<br />
<b>December</b><br />
The very start of December saw the publication of <i><a href="http://bit.ly/2eOMT2N" target="_blank">Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair</a></i>, held up from the start of the year thanks to delays getting the cover sorted. The Chantecoq books are... selective in their appeal, but this book, taken from the very end of the original series, was a bit pacier than the first, and it's seen a more receptive audience. There's a third translation in the works for next year, and I hope that interest will begin to pick up as more of the series becomes available.<br />
<br />
Mid-December saw the second book of the month in the form of my novella <i>Voyage of the Space Bastard</i>, which was named after a classic AE van Vogt novel that no one else seems to remember (<i>Voyage of the Space Beagle</i>, for the record). My novella was published in <i><a href="http://bit.ly/PewPew_4" target="_blank">Pew! Pew! Bad Versus Worse</a></i> (Pew Pew Vol. 4), a kind of holiday-themed villains v. heroes edition. My story was written at, ah, some speed, but I'm very proud of it. High concept comedy SF of the kind I've always wanted to write, and a sequel of sorts to my SF fairy tale, <i>The Frag Prince</i>, which writer friends had encouraged me to look at for a while. Again, the book stormed the charts, and is continuing to entertain readers over the Christmas holidays.<br />
<br />
<i>AND</i>, as if the above wasn't enough for one month, I was finally able to announce that 2018 will see the production of my first play, <i>Matrexit</i>, which is a finalist in <a href="http://www.artsrichmond.org.uk/ar-event-detail.php?id=123" target="_blank">Arts Richmond's New Plays Festival 2018</a>. I'm incredibly excited at this opportunity, and I've assembled a cracking cast, led by Melanie Lawston and Naomi Westerman, to perform my 20 minute satirical SF play.<br />
<br />
<b>2018...</b><br />
I've a nasty feeling that stuff I'll predict for 2018 includes quite a lot of things I said would happen this year, but which have been delayed for various reasons. Tell you what, I won't go and check until after I post this, and then we can all go back and look at my round-up of 2016, and wince together. Still, here goes...<br />
<br />
There's <i>Matrexit</i> of course, and then I'm really conscious that I've still not produced a full-length original novel. 2018 <i>will</i> be my year for this. After they've finished doing the rounds in their respective Pew Pew anthologies, <i>Zip Zap Boing</i> and <i>Voyage of the Space Bastard</i> will both be expanded into short SF novels, each with a view to spawning a series. My comedy cyberpunk tale <i>Rudy on Rails</i> will also finally be published, probably also as a short novel. There will be a third short story collection, though my money is now on that being a compendium of <i>Something Nice </i>and <i>Something Nicer</i>, plus some new stories, rather than an entirely new collection. As a result <i>Something Nicer </i>will probably be retired, with <i>Something Nice</i> becoming a free book to introduce potential readers to my work.<br />
<br />
On top of that, I hope we'll also see <i>Detective Daintypaws and a Squirrel in Bohemia</i>, which is more or less written, but is currently quite episodic and in need of tying together. There's also a fanasy novella on the cards, following a doomed attempt to write Noblebright work for an anthology this year, a third Chantecoq translation hopefully before November 2018, and maybe another instalment in either <i>The Gentrified Dead</i> or <i>The Lifehack Heroes. </i>But look, we'll see what happens.<br />
<br />
I hope you had a great 2017, and that 2018's headlines will start to be as positive as this year's personal highlights have been for me!Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-49951684746812171692017-11-20T08:14:00.000-08:002017-11-20T08:14:00.722-08:00My Science-Fiction Debut...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pJBIAGlGOTs/WhL98--1MKI/AAAAAAAAA84/sPXJcMdtMfUoDFzgfb1SB9qOvwqHrY30wCLcBGAs/s1600/51VK5Xdjt9L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pJBIAGlGOTs/WhL98--1MKI/AAAAAAAAA84/sPXJcMdtMfUoDFzgfb1SB9qOvwqHrY30wCLcBGAs/s320/51VK5Xdjt9L.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lasers, spaceships, light opera. I'm so proud.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Since I was old enough to hold a pen, a large part of me has wanted to write science-fiction filled with spaceships, lasers, and explosions. Inspired mostly by repeats of <i>Star Trek</i> on BBC 2 in the mid-1980s, as well as reading Douglas Hill's <i>Last Legionary</i> series, replete with titles like <i>Day of the Starwind</i> and <i>Deathwing Over Veeyna</i>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
But... I've always had pretensions of producing quality work, and it became clear that my gra<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">sp of science and maths weren't up to producing the sort of SF that you could actually read without a scientist judging you. I was finally put off, honestly, by the forum fallout over my "deliberate mistake" in a charity Doctor Who anthology back when I was 21.</span></div>
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And now I've written a novella called <i>Zip Zap Boing,</i> wherein my hero hang-glides, from a laser-spewing drone fighter, between dog-fighting spaceships. It's utterly bonkers, and any forum ninjas can bugger off and thrash themselves silly watching The Martian if they're that bothered about scientific accuracy. And Wooden Pen Press have published it in, ahem, <i>Pew! Pew! Bite My Shiny Metal Pew!</i> My inner 8 year old who used to write <i>Doctor Who stories</i> in smeary blue biro in A6 notebooks from the village newsagent is nodding and saying to me, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."</div>
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I think I've written the sort of story that I always wanted to read, and more to the point that I always wanted to write. It's now available from <a href="http://bit.ly/PewPewVol3" target="_blank">Amazon</a> (universal link).</div>
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Next up, I'll be writing a sequel which will be out in mid-December. And before that... a second <i>Chantecoq</i> book. It's been a busy year, and I didn't think I'd get to mid-November and still have two books to come out, as well as one in the pipeline for 2018 already!</div>
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Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-52791243761346889632017-10-12T06:08:00.000-07:002017-10-12T06:08:12.350-07:00Swelling wordcountsI've never written a novel.<br />
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This is sometimes a shock even to me. I've <i>translated</i> novels, and I've been self-publishing those translations, along with my shorter fiction, since 2012. But I've never actually completed a novel.*<br />
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Then somewhere along the way, those short stories began to get longer. I'd long stopped submitting to the sort of magazines who insist on 2,000 - 3,000 word limits, and was writing fiction with a view to submitting to small press anthologies or, well, self-publishing, which pushed me towards 5,000 - 6,000 words.<br />
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My first novella was in 2015, scraping over the line for novella status at 17,000 words. I then spent most of 2016 buried in short story writing for collections including <i>Summer's End</i> and <i>A Treasury of Brenda and Effie</i>.<br />
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This year, I've completed three full-length novellas. <i>Apocalypse Barnes, </i>my comedy zombie tale, came out in July and has done very well. <i>Zip! Zap! Boing! </i>is my first foray into space opera, and will be out in early November, in the anthology - ahem - <i>Pew! Pew! Bite My Shiny Metal Pew! </i>My mother is so proud of me...<br />
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Rounding off this mid-length trilogy is <i>Street Shamans: Rudy on Rails</i>. No precise release date just yet, but hopefully this will be landing early in the New Year. The Street Shamans series is a cyberpunk series, with shades of urban fantasy and comedy (some are more overtly humorous than others).<br />
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While <i>Rudy on Rails </i>may, after editing, just scrape over the 40K mark that seems to be the bare minimum accepted length for a novel, this does rather point out an obvious next step in my career.<br />
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2018 <i>will</i> be the year I finally get a novel out there.<br />
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Watch this space.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Well I have, but you're never going to see it.</span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-73053800829291294392017-05-26T04:46:00.000-07:002017-05-26T04:46:12.132-07:00Zombies on the Streets of London...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Barnes-Gentrified-Dead-Book-ebook/dp/B06ZXXYP43/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="217" height="320" src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51kht9yA%2BDL._SY346_.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Barnes-Gentrified-Dead-Book-ebook/dp/B06ZXXYP43/" target="_blank">Coming Soon: Apocalypse Barnes</a></i></td></tr>
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Can you believe at one point last year I was updating this blog twice a month?<br />
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Anyway.<br />
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<i>Apocalypse Barnes </i>is now available for pre-order from Amazon at $0.99 or £0.99, depending where you are. That's a discounted price that will increase shortly after the official publication date of 17 July.<br />
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This 30,000 word novella is a story I began writing over four years ago, when it was based on the end of a dream I'd had (I hate even the thought of writing anything inspired by dreams, and almost everything I half-remember from that fevered night's imaginings has fallen by the wayside during the creative process). Zombies roaming the streets of Barnes, that affluent suburb of South West London just over the river from Hammersmith and Chiswick.<br />
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I've not spent the last four years working on this book. It's spent whole calendar years undisturbed and gathering dust on my hard drive while I worked on things like <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1495284352/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1495284352&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21&linkId=370bdbd9a5f5c47986c68ae82b4d35da" target="_blank">Story Of My Escape</a>, </i>or <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LX7PAUO/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=alphavilla-21&camp=1634&creative=6738&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01LX7PAUO&linkId=a17c1d14039dbf90b0177810a37474e0" target="_blank">Of Mice And Men And Sausages</a></i>. But it's been the idea that just won't quite go away. It was enormous fun writing about the area where I live. <i>Really</i> looking at places I visit every week, to see where a zombie might pop up, and how they might be avoided.<br />
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But it's a balancing act as well. Barnes residents will recognise almost every location used in the novella. But it also has to make sense to readers who've never visited the area. So I made a very early resolution to resist the temptation to write friends and family into the narrative; writers who do that sort of thing not only risk damaging their personal relationships, but it also gets pretty boring to read a book full of someone else's private jokes. So apart from one or two people's quirks who were just too hilarious to resist - and zombie Roger McGough - the classic disclaimer is true. Any resemblance to persons living or dead (or in this case both) is purely coincidental...Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-42784112650412157762016-12-21T07:32:00.003-08:002016-12-21T07:32:59.729-08:00Andrew's Big Fat Blog Of The Year2016 is careering towards its inevitable, and many would say, long overdue conclusion. The proverbial goose is getting decidedly podgy, and the senior citizen's headwear is inviting generous contributions. So, what the world <i>really</i> needs to know is what I got up to throughout the last twelve months, in one lengthy but easy to read blog post, arranged by month.<br />
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So here goes.<br />
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<b>January</b><br />
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Who does anything much in January? I was mostly rehearsing for some stuff that we'll go into later, to the extent that I even had to give up writing for a bit. Luckily, I had something in the pipeline to make the month seem a bit more productive.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B018D3O18W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B018D3O18W&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B018D3O18W" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
is my translation of <i>Coeur de Francaise</i>, the first Chantecoq adventure. This book had never been translated into English before, and I self-published after a proposed venture didn't work out.<br />
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It's a rip-roaring adventure story of spies and cars and daring escapes, set just before the First World War in 1912. The sales have been... look, it's one of my "quieter" books. But I'm very proud of it.<br />
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<b>February</b><br />
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The first of many crazy months. Midway through rehearsals for a thing in March, my director and playwright chum Naomi Westerman asked if I'd be in her brilliant play <i>Tortoise</i> again for a rehearsed reading (having appeared in excerpts from the play at N16 and at the Criterion Theatre towards the end of 2015). I played various male roles in the otherwise female and feminist play, and I still can't decide whether this makes me the Carol Cleveland to this play's <i>Monty Python</i>, or the Dave Lamb to its <i>Goodness Gracious Me. </i>As always, I suspect I was Ringo. Anyway, I was on stage with some brilliant actresses who've been on telly and everything, and they didn't twig that I was a lowly amateur until we let it slip at the cast party. Achievement unlocked.<br />
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A long-awaited book was also finally published. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1909573272/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1909573272&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Grimm and Grimmer: Volume 4</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1909573272" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> was originally slated for August 2013, along with my updated SF fairytale, <i>The Frag Prince</i> - which I consider to be among the best things I've ever written. I was hopelessly awestruck to be in the same book as Sarah Pinborough, who provided the foreword. Mad props to editor Colin Fisher, for stepping in to salvage this series. Just don't ask him if the promised Volume 5 will ever actually happen.<br />
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<b>March</b><br />
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Back to the stage in March, with <i>Black Comedy, </i>directed by Naomi Westerman. This charity production sold out across all six performances, and gave me the opportunity to act opposite my lovely wife Mel, who played Carol Melkett to my Brindsley Miller. Chaotic hi-jinks ensued, and we raised a whole bunch of cash for local causes.<br />
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I then got my head down and started writing stuff for a whole bunch of anthologies and charity collections. Spring 2016 was probably the most productive period for my writing that I can remember in a long time. Not all of that stuff has yet come to light, however...<br />
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<b>April</b><br />
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As the weather began to pick up a bit, Mel and I took our adorable cocker spaniel Eccleston ever further afield. Richmond Park is a particular favourite for the fluffy nutter, but you have a very narrow window between the weather being pleasant enough to enjoy a long walk, and ten thousand picnics sprouting from the bowels of the Earth. If there's one thing our dog loves, it's charging into a picnic and stealing the cake.<br />
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When we weren't walking the dog, I was going all out on short story writing. A couple of the books I contributed to around this time were secret projects with some excellent writer friends. I'm not about to spill the beans, but the end results were so much fun that I hope one day they might see a wider release.<br />
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<b>May</b><br />
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May, not quite officially Summer, but near enough that you can wear a t-shirt outdoors. What better month to release a Christmas-themed short story as a standalone thing on Kindle? <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FO7QMMI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01FO7QMMI&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Pantocrime: A Theatrical Christmas Adventure</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B01FO7QMMI" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> was originally part of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PT1EF8I/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00PT1EF8I&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Sanity Clause is Coming...: A second twisted Christmas anthology</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00PT1EF8I" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, but the rights had reverted to me, so I thought I'd stick it out there.<br />
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After quite a long period of other people designing the covers to my books, I decided to have a crack at this one, and ended up using just about every effect I could find. My finished effort is slapdash, garish and absurd. I love it.<br />
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This story, which is free on most platforms (except, oddly, Amazon UK), is a bit of a white elephant. I've never particularly liked it, and I think it will be retired quietly in the New Year. I've always thought the world of amateur dramatics has potential for great fiction, but I've revisited it in another short story which will be published in early 2017, and which I think does the job much better, and much more kindly.<br />
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<b>June</b><br />
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There were baby coots in the pond just behind our flat in June, and I did my best to see them every day, while walking Eccleston.<br />
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June also saw the publication of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1533655073/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1533655073&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Flash Fear</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1533655073" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> - an anthology featuring a very silly short story I wrote way back in 2012. Stuffed with horror writers of every stripe, it was a lively and diverse little book, and it seemed to find a good audience.<br />
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<b>July</b><br />
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The first of the year's charity anthologies. A collection of <i>Doctor Who </i>short stories to raise funds for Tommy Donbavand's cancer treatment. Tommy's a great writer and an all-round nice guy, and it was brilliant to see the fan community rally around and give their best work to this book, with its stunningly colourful design. My own story was <i>Time War Cutaway</i>, a short adventure set during the Time War and featuring Paul McGann's Doctor - essentially a reworked excerpt from my much longer fan fiction attempt to chronicle the Time War (only with more silliness than you'll see in the TV episodes...).<br />
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I'm happy to say both that the book did the business, and that Tommy is on the road to recovery, after some terrifyingly hairy moments. The book is no longer available for sale, so if you have a copy, take very good care of it. I have something of a fascination with the amounts that some of these charity books can sell for later on, but I can tell you that the numbers can get very big. If you do the eBay thing, please promise me you'll at least kick a few quid of your ill-gotten gains to a cancer charity.<br />
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<b>August</b><br />
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It's been an amazing year for me on every level except, you know, every time I watched the news. Writing success, acting success, and great nights with good friends. And in August, after far too many years of near misses, my friends and I finally won the pub quiz in our local boozer. £100 bar tab, which we drank into oblivion about a month later.<br />
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While all this was going on, though, one of my short stories won an award! <i>Bushimi: The Cat That Wanted To Be An Art Critic </i>was originally written for children, in an anthology that was scrapped mid-development. I put the story in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00U16RIV2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00U16RIV2&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Something Nicer</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00U16RIV2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
, my second short story collection, and it always stood out by virtue of actually being nice. Anyway, it won Best Short Story at <span style="background-color: white; color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://bardsandsages.com/efestivalofwords/2016-winners/" target="_blank">2016 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards</a></span>. <i>Something Nicer</i> was also on the shortlist for <i>Best Short Story Collection.</i><br />
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<b>September</b><br />
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I'm cheating a bit here, as my first stab at the superhero genre <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LX7PAUO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01LX7PAUO&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Of Mice And Men And Sausages </a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B01LX7PAUO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
only went up for pre-order in September, and actually only went live a few days ago in December. But... there's a few links coming for books, so I thought I'd space things out a bit. This novelette is a superhero retelling of <i>The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage</i> as told by the Brothers Grimm.<br />
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With a fabulous cover illustration from the talented Gina Allnatt, I'm excited about this book, and it's my first serious attempt to write a series - though we'll see how long <i>Ocean Spray </i>takes to be written.<br />
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Also in September, one of my oldest original short stories was published in a free to download collection of flash fiction. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20rel=%22nofollow%22%20href=%22https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LZIUFIW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01LZIUFIW&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21%22%3EBite-Sized%20Stories:%20A%20Multi-Genre%20Flash%20Fiction%20Anthology%20(Flash%20Flood%20Book%201)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B01LZIUFIW%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">Bite-Sized Stories</a> has had a simply terrifying number of downloads on both sides of the Atlantic.<br />
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And finally, on my first wedding anniversary, Mel and I had another outing on the professional stage together, in Naomi Westerman's short play <i>Puppy</i>, a full-length version of which will be playing at the Vault Festival in Feb-Mar 2017.<br />
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<b>October</b><br />
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Well, yes, that <i>is </i>a colourful shirt, and I'm not at all surprised this rehearsal pic was put into black and white. <i>The Ladykillers</i> was my first outing with Chiswick-based am dram group St Michael's Players. I played the supporting role of Constable MacDonald, so it was one of those where I got a few solid scenes, and a lot of time "relaxing" in the dressing room. It was probably the most purely enjoyable show I've ever done, and I'm quietly chuffed that it was an absolute sell-out as well.<br />
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October was otherwise marked by panto rehearsals, and by the odd decision to go Sober for October. Mel and I raised just over £100 for Macmillan, which was nice.<br />
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<b>November</b><br />
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<a href="http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/change.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/change.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
The release of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1540336123/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1540336123&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">A Time Lord For Change</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1540336123" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> was a cause for celebration - partly because it coincided with <i>Doctor Who</i>'s 53rd birthday, but also because I wrote my two drabbles for it back in November 2014. Between me writing 200 words in the pub, and the finished book hitting Amazon, a lot happened. Celebrity contributors rocked up in their droves, so I'm now in a book with Joanne Harris, Colin Baker, Katy Manning, Jane Sherwin, Paul Magrs, Rob Shearman, and I'll stop there because every time I list the authors, I miss out someone awesome and lovely by mistake. It's that sort of book.<br />
<br />
By this point, we were well into the pantomime rehearsals, and my writing had slowed to a crawl. This has been a bit of a frustration throughout the last few months, but plans are in place to make sure I have a lot more writing time throughout 2017!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>December</b><br />
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<a href="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/15369084_1376766105667231_6739783811765412789_o.jpg?oh=730c08fec2a1c08dcfac5be9ab504010&oe=58EA4BFB" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/15369084_1376766105667231_6739783811765412789_o.jpg?oh=730c08fec2a1c08dcfac5be9ab504010&oe=58EA4BFB" width="320" /></a></div>
The pantomime was <i>Cinderella</i>, and it ran from 6-10 December. I played Ugly Sister Grizelda, in a cast which included my wife Mel playing Dandini, the Prince's valet. We rehearsed a lot, and thank goodness we were both in the show so we could do it together.<br />
<br />
Again, we had several sold-out shows, and the audiences were brilliant. It was my first time playing a Dame (we're not counting that time I played an Ugly Sister aged 10, we're just not), and I was going for a sort of Tim Brooke-Taylor Lady Constance voice, which I toned down throughout the week as my throat began to rebel against all the warbling and trilling and filthy chuckling.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wNHiigUoOhg/VFpBAS6dH8I/AAAAAAAAAEI/chr8nZDqcSkna9sFgDiQqpVzvznh7uvfQCPcB/s1600/Casanova.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wNHiigUoOhg/VFpBAS6dH8I/AAAAAAAAAEI/chr8nZDqcSkna9sFgDiQqpVzvznh7uvfQCPcB/s320/Casanova.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
As soon as the panto was over, though, one of my older books had a new lease of life. My Casanova translation <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1495284352/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1495284352&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">The Story of my Escape</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1495284352" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />was promoted through Bookbub, and I sold a terrifying number of books in a single week. For a dizzying moment I was the 5th highest selling author in Canada. For a few brief days, I felt like one of the world's biggest writers. And that was pretty cool. It's all died away now, and my book is plummeting back through the ratings, but it was a crazy time and I'm convinced that some day... I'll be back. I just need to write a great deal more.<br />
<br />
Next year, I'm still waiting on one short story to be published, in a very exciting collection indeed. I'm also going to be in one play, at the Vault Festival. Other than that, it's going to be writing all the way. I have a lot of projects to finish, and it's my New Year's Resolution that I will simply have to find the time, one way or another.<br />
<br />
So while all sorts of dreadful things have happened in 2016, I've often been able to find the silver lining. In addition to the highlights above, I've cooked a lot of tasty curry, spent a lot of lovely time with the wonderful Mel, seen some incredible theatre and, oh yes, even taken part in a Royal Shakespeare Company workshop or two.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fs4WWKlrcBk/WFqftePPj3I/AAAAAAAAA6I/2kRT2aCMmNsmm1vHDRouixAygg5OVXE-QCLcB/s1600/summersend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fs4WWKlrcBk/WFqftePPj3I/AAAAAAAAA6I/2kRT2aCMmNsmm1vHDRouixAygg5OVXE-QCLcB/s320/summersend.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
And finally, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1540716252/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1540716252&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Summer's End</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1540716252" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, an anthology of end of the world fiction from Alternative Realities. Edited by Stewart Hotston, this was a book I wanted to be in, as soon as I saw the call for submissions. I then hated every single moment of writing my story, only to be pretty pleased with it when I finally read it back at the editing stage. When I heard that I'd been accepted, I may even have done a happy dance. This book was released just a couple of weeks ago, and has been doing incredibly well. It's a brilliant book containing many writers I admire hugely.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>In conclusion</b><br />
I've had a great year, and I hope next year will be bigger and better in all sorts of unexpected ways. Have a brilliant Christmas, an awesome New Year, and see you in 2017<br />
<br />
Happy times and places<br />
AndrewAndrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-88668809928727476462016-10-20T04:28:00.001-07:002016-10-20T04:28:36.096-07:00A Time Lord For Change<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/fd1266_a683eb13190149b2a349df8ba473d1ce.jpg_srz_498_769_75_22_0.5_1.2_75_png_srz" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/fd1266_a683eb13190149b2a349df8ba473d1ce.jpg_srz_498_769_75_22_0.5_1.2_75_png_srz" width="206" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An exciting adventure with drabbles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
All the anticipation for "A Time Lord For Change" is getting terribly exciting! It must be about two years now since I heard that actor, writer and all-round good egg Cliff Chapman was putting together a book with one drabble (100-word short story) for every single televised episode of Doctor Who.<br />
<br />
In 2014, Cliff and I both spent a fair amount of time posting drabbles on www.drablr.com, a flash-fiction site, so I was keen to be involved. I got in early, bagged Caves of Androzani and Survival (as the two stories I'd seen most recently), and retired to the pub with my pen and a notebook.<br />
<br />
It goes without saying that 100 words is not a lot. By the time I'd had two pints, I'd written what I thought were two extremely short scenes, only to find out when I typed them up later that they were both almost double the required length. Editing drabbles is an exercise in wild ruthlessness, where you find yourself having to prune away not just the fluff, but genuinely good stuff, in an attempt to reach the bare bones of your story.<br />
<br />
When I first read over my two edited drabbles, I wept for lost gags and description. Then the second time, I chuckled at both of them. So I submitted them to Cliff, along with a bio, and waited.<br />
<br />
And waited.<br />
<br />
I 'm used to small press books taking a while to come out. Three years is my record, for a FW book, and not one I'm particularly happy about. It's almost always the cover that's to blame. But in this case the delay was down to... mission creep. The list of authors grew ever more world-class. As if condensing 50 years of TV into 100 word chunks wasn't ambitious enough, Cliff expanded the brief to take in many of the spin-off media. He found the perfect publisher, Chinbeard Books. And then the celebs began to show up.<br />
<br />
Andrew Cartmel, Sylvester McCoy's script editor. Terry Molloy, aka 80s Davros. I approached my friend Jane Sherwin, who memorably played Lady Jennifer Buckingham in The War Games in 1969. Finally, Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor himself, was announced as participating. I don't know how Cliff pulled off some of these contributions. I don't know how many drabbles there are in the finished book. Really, I don't know much at all, except that Cliff masterminded an insane logistical exercise, pulling together many dozens of writers, and hundreds of stories, in what must surely be the most ambitious Doctor Who short story collection of all time.<br />
<br />
It's been a long road to publication, and there have even been surprises this year, such as Jo Grant / Iris Wildthyme actress Katy Manning joining the fold. In a year when we've had no televised Doctor Who to keep us out of mischief, I think <i>A Time Lord For Change</i> is going to raise an awful lot of money for charity, and I'm incredibly proud to have played my own small part in it.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-82874393898334648552016-10-03T06:36:00.004-07:002016-10-03T06:36:37.377-07:00Bite-Sized Stories: Never Throw Anything Away<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514pffC8M8L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514pffC8M8L.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another anthology. I used to drink in a<br />
bar called The Anthologist. Just saying.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Bite-Sized Stories is the first in a proposed series of flash fiction anthologies from George Donnelly. It's now free to download on Amazon Kindle, as well as from most other major e-book vendors.<br />
<br />
With twenty-five authors contributing stories across a wide range of genres, from horror and science-fiction to romance and literary, there's something for most readers in this collection.<br />
<br />
My own story, <i>The Poet In The Park</i>, was first written in late 1999, or early 2000. It was definitely written while I was studying Philosophy in Bordeaux, and the park in the story was inspired by Bordeaux's Town Hall gardens (<i>Les Jardins de la Mairie</i>), where I'd sit with a good book and a chocolate milkshake whenever I needed to shake a hangover. Which, being 21 and living in the wine capital of the world, was pretty frequently, if I'm being completely honest.<br />
<br />
It's a story which I think is pretty clearly written by a hungover 21 year old studying Philosophy in Bordeaux, but people who have read the copy in my top drawer over the past sixteen years have tended to like it, so I was more than happy to rework the old tale for this collection. It's a story about all of us, really, about the way we see ourselves as the hero in the stories of our own lives, and how others perceive us. There's a crumb of philosophy from post-structuralist Jacques Derrida in there, who believed that all communication took place in the fundamental absence of the recipient.<br />
<br />
I've become a lot more interested in snarky cat detectives, superhero fairy tales and haunted photocopiers since those days.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">33 Flash Fiction Stories for Life's Stolen Moments</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From a creepypasta horror farm to a bullish love tale and from the bloody metal deck of the ESS</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Arclight</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> to superhero octopus food trucks, you can transform your shortest stolen moments into utter delights with this diverse collection of 33 flash fiction stories.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Commuting to work? Grabbing a quick coffee?</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Each story tells a complete tale in but a few short minutes with the added promise of a lifelong introduction to new indie writers.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">You never know, you might just find your next favorite author.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This collection, the first in the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Flash Flood</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> series, is a special selection of master works with a variety of genres and voices guaranteed to keep you engaged. Sign up now (see inside the book) for future flash fiction anthologies themed for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, May the 4th and Independence Day.</span></i><br />
<br />
If this tickles your interest, get clicking on this link: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LZIUFIW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01LZIUFIW&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Bite-Sized Stories</a>.<br />
<br />
There are at least three more anthologies with my stuff still to come out this year. Next up will be either <i>A Time Lord For Change</i> or <i>Summer's End</i>. Watch this space!Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-43641188081631463732016-09-19T02:35:00.000-07:002016-09-19T02:35:07.267-07:00You Will Believe A Sausage Can Fly...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BtaHUdj_zd8/V9-sRpDrLLI/AAAAAAAAA44/3jWVqumFMZcp74RQhg4nCxhOuCxCm_i7wCLcB/s1600/Mice%2Band%2BMen%2Band%2BSausages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BtaHUdj_zd8/V9-sRpDrLLI/AAAAAAAAA44/3jWVqumFMZcp74RQhg4nCxhOuCxCm_i7wCLcB/s320/Mice%2Band%2BMen%2Band%2BSausages.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Coming soon to a Kindle near you...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My superhero fairy tale adaptation <i>Of Mice And Men And Sausages </i>is now available to pre-order at just £0.99 / $0.99, ahead of its release on December 15th.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Corwin City needs a hero. Unfortunately, it's spoiled for choice. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Raptor yearns to be the winged hero that Corwin City needs, to rise above the narcissistic body builders, lycra fetishists and weird science experiments who claim to fight for justice. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Teaming up with super-strong rodent hybrid Musculus, and the frail telepath Saumagen seems like a great way to bring order to a desperate city. But though their powers complement each other perfectly, perhaps their values aren't quite aligned...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">This 13,000 word modern retelling of classic Grimm fairytale The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage is full of superhero action, but can it really lead to a happy ever after?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Superheroes and fairy tales gel nicely, and having tested the concept with the most obscure folk story you could think of (the original is barely 300 words long), I will be returning to Corwin City with a sequel, focusing on a more widely-known Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thanks to illustrator Gina Allnatt for a cracking cover image!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LX7PAUO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01LX7PAUO&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Of Mice And Men And Sausages (The Lifehack Heroes Book 1)</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B01LX7PAUO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-76964140990606375942016-09-02T08:41:00.002-07:002016-09-02T08:41:13.088-07:00Long ago in an English Kindle.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VlW0G7mWsW4/VgrvgBw3J2I/AAAAAAAAAX0/SK3_KkJemPE/s1600/witches-of-lychford-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VlW0G7mWsW4/VgrvgBw3J2I/AAAAAAAAAX0/SK3_KkJemPE/s1600/witches-of-lychford-cover.jpg" width="125" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dead good book</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was on a Virgin Train the other day, and managed to get a seat. In fact the train was nearly empty, which didn't stop just about everyone I saw from making some sort of joke at Jeremy Corbyn or Richard Branson's expense. What a tiresome non-story.<br />
<br />
So to flee from the non-story, I read a real story, on my Kindle. Neat segue, right? Paul Cornell's novella <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WDVSN5I/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00WDVSN5I&linkCode=as2&tag=alphavilla-21" rel="nofollow">Witches of Lychford</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alphavilla-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00WDVSN5I" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is a great little book. The small village of Lychford, deep in the English countryside, is divided over the arrival of a new supermarket. Local ladies Judith, Lizzie and Autumn, each with a very different outlook on life, band together to protect their community from both corporate intrusion and... something more.<br />
<br />
Paul Cornell has been writing stories about strange goings-on in English villages since the early 90s, when he parked Cheldon Boniface's parish church on the moon during <i>Timewyrm: Revelation.</i> He's created more Anglican vicars than your average bishop. So while he's doing great work with his <i>Severed Streets</i> series, the countryside feels like his natural habitat.<br />
<br />
As Judith draws estranged friends Lizzie and Autumn into new worlds, the atmosphere is subdued and wonderfully evocative as Cornell lines up a cast of characters who are fundamentally decent people, brought down by life's burdens. Bereavement, the strain of caring for elderly relatives, the trauma of an abusive relationship. Only one character is entirely beyond redemption here.<br />
<br />
<i>Witches of Lychford </i>was published in 2015, almost exactly a year ago. That's the state of my reading list right now. But reading it in post-EU Referendum Britain is to add an almost painful note of contemporary relevance to the book. Images of a society divided against itself, with evil forces seeking to sway a public vote through lies about jobs and economic prosperity... well, it resonates pretty damn hard, I can tell you.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-51758195145790175342016-08-24T03:27:00.000-07:002016-08-24T03:27:45.020-07:00"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people, Jeremy."<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv6d3kxsVP1qlqvqio1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv6d3kxsVP1qlqvqio1_500.jpg" height="320" width="284" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not included: context, accuracy</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A short line from seminal Channel 4 sitcom, <i>Peep Show, </i>in which Super Hans warns Jez against the risks of populism. It's a nice little line that gets a good laugh as it absurdly conflates people who like a popular but uninspiring band with supporters of history's most notoriously murderous political regime, but unfortunately it's one of those that's been picked up, turned into a GIF, and used in a million online arguments about popularity v artistic integrity, until all trace of its original context has been long forgotten. Without googling, can <i>you </i>remember the episode, or even the season, in which that line was used? I could guess, but I'm pretty sure I'd be wrong.<br />
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The GIF has popped up again in the last few days, as a pithy C4 response to the dreary show <i>Mrs Brown's Boys</i> being voted the best sitcom of the 21st Century (so far). And so people are retweeting and sharing and liking and LOLing at this quote without bearing in mind two important facts.<br />
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1) The character delivering the line is consistently portrayed as a pompous moron throughout the series (in the very first episode, he tells a barmaid not to doodle a shamrock in the head of his pint of Guinness, as he considers it corporate branding - you probably won't see that quoted in future editions of <i>No Logo</i>).<br />
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2) Continuing from the first point, really, the statement is wrong in one very important detail. <b>"People" didn't vote for the Nazis</b>.<br />
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The Nazis <i>never </i>polled higher than 43.9% of the vote in the days of the Weimar Republic, and even that was only after Hitler had been appointed Chancellor (after having <i>lost</i> a Presidential election to Hindenburg) and the Nazis had already effectively seized power following the Reichstag Fire in early 1933. Seriously, the Nazis never secured an electoral majority. Go and google it if you don't believe me.<br />
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Why is this important? In the context of an argument about British comedy, it probably isn't. Screw <i>Mrs Brown's Boys</i>. But the fact is that the NASDAP's rise to power through Weimar's system of Proportional Representation is a comparatively recent phenomenon and <i>must</i> be properly remembered and understood, particularly at a time when many in the UK are talking seriously about electoral reform along the lines of a PR system. There are serious lessons from history to be learned here, and it's no coincidence that Nazi-lite party UKIP are among the biggest voices in the UK in favour of PR. The lessons that Weimar taught us aren't going to be heeded if we allow idiots to perpetuate the crass assumption that one morning in the early 1930s everyone in Germany suddenly woke up evil.<br />
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For the record, I'm not necessarily opposed to PR. I do think the UK needs a measure of electoral reform, and PR has by and large worked across large swathes of Europe <i>since </i>1945. I do however think people should read a bit more recent history before they decide which political model to pursue.<br /><br />The extent that this crass assumption is already poisoning our system was revealed only too clearly in April 2016 when political dinosaur Ken Livingstone made a career-ending headline grab and said the following:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Indy Serif"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">Let’s remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism – this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.</span>"</span>(Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-anti-semitism-row-full-transcript-of-ken-livingstones-interviews-a7005311.html)<br />
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Red Ken, who to be fair is probably not a <i>Peep Show </i>fan, has since backtracked and contradicted and obfuscated over this really rather transparent statement, and has since acknowledged that Hitler did not in fact win the 1932 election, and that Hitler was not a Zionist (or "supporting Zionism"). But "people" don't read the frantic equivocations in subsequent interviews, they read the wildly inaccurate headlines. And when major political figures are getting such basic facts so horribly, and dangerously, wrong, we have a problem.<br />
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So, yes, every time I see that Super Hans quote used to suggest anything more than the fact that the character is a delusional, pompous, drug-fried music snob, I will very probably correct whoever posted it. Sometimes pedantry is important.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-54936077264571002952016-08-10T04:52:00.002-07:002016-08-10T04:52:18.104-07:00Short storiesI'm constantly trying to produce longer work. I currently have at least three proper full-length novels under construction, and I envisage that at least two of those will be the first parts of a series.<br />
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And yet, whenever inspiration strikes on a walk to work, or while flicking through a magazine at the day job (my day job involves sourcing advertisements from other publications, it's a legit activity, honest), I keep getting ideas for things that are obviously only going to be short stories.<br />
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And the really annoying part is that sometimes they demand to be written, these stories. A single image in my head crowds out whole novels until I submit and write the damn thing down, explore the idea, and lay it to rest on paper.<br />
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The most irritating example of this was what I can only describe as <i>Tale of Two Cities 2</i>. I took a few (very) small parts in an amateur production of this show - normally I'd share a photo at this point, but the chap taking the cast photos was always on stage at the same time as me, very upsetting - and while drinking at the cast party we were talking about what a shame it was that Madame Defarge dies, as she's clearly the best character in it.<br />
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I suddenly pictured Defarge opening her eyes, and escaping the scene of her death by an elaborate and very silly method involving her iconic knitting. And this absurd little scene just would not go away. If anything it became more insistent.<br />
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In the end, unable to work on anything else, I wrote it up in graphic novel script format. Because to be honest that was less work than a full prose treatment. I worked out it was about three pages of lunacy, including a splash page of Defarge's triumphant escape, because an artist friend had been moaning to me that no one does splash pages any more.<br />
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As soon as I'd written it, complete with a coda where a shadowy figure "recruits" the escaped Defarge for some mysterious and no doubt nefarious purpose, I forgot about it. It was too <i>League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</i> for my tastes. I doubt I even still have the script, I have a feeling it was lost in a hard drive meltdown a couple of years later. But the block was very, very real right up until the point where I wrote it all down.<br />
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So this is a very rambling way of saying that in spite of the fact that I have far, far bigger fish to fry, I just had an idea for a quaint short story involving a mobile library travelling once a week to a scientific outpost in the far future.<br />
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Which will win? Who can say.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-17096266353772256052016-07-13T02:59:00.002-07:002016-07-13T02:59:26.607-07:00New Releases!I spent the first half of this year working on short fiction, for a variety of projects. And now they're starting to appear! First up is <i>Flash Fear</i>, a book which I first announced last August, and which has had something of a torrid time in production. Still, it's here now, it looks lovely, and it's just £2.75 this week on Amazon!<br />
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<i>Flash Fear </i>contains short horror pieces from a host of authors, including yours truly. My piece <i>Prey For The Dead, </i>is particularly short, and hopefully funny. If I'm honest, I struggle to take anything truly seriously enough to write straight horror.</div>
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Next up is <i>A Target For Tommy</i>, a collection of <i>Doctor Who</i> fiction published by Obverse Books in support of Tommy Donbavand's battle against cancer. You can find the full story behind the book <a href="http://obversebooks.co.uk/product/a-target-for-tommy/" target="_blank">on the Obverse page</a>. Tommy is a great writer, and a really nice guy, so I was really glad to be able to lend my support in the form of a 5,000 word adventure set during the Time War, and featuring Paul McGann's 8th Doctor. There are also stories from giants of the Who world including Paul Cornell, Paul Magrs, Steve Cole, and stories from Andrew Hunt, Simon Forward, Simon Bucher-Jones, Daniel Blythe... basically a whole bunch of people whose Doctor Who novels I grew up reading! The book is now available for pre-order in both paperback and digital formats, and it's blinding. I've been involved in <i>Doctor Who </i>charity anthologies before, but this collection really takes things to the next level in terms of the quality of both the writing and the book's production standards.</div>
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<i>A Target For Tommy</i> will be published in Summer 2016 on a very limited print run - over half of the copies have already been sold as pre-orders, so don't hang about!</div>
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There are a few other releases on the horizon, but just far enough away that I think I'll hold back the details for now. But there's a lot of my fiction coming your way over the rest of 2016. Most of it 5,000 words at a time!</div>
Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-60646875703399565792016-07-06T08:10:00.003-07:002016-07-06T08:10:31.738-07:00I'm awful at bloggingI'm back. For someone who's had a LiveJournal since 2002 or something, I sometimes have a bit of a mental block when it comes to blogging. Who am I actually talking to? Does anyone <i>actually</i> read this stuff?<br />
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Things have been very busy for me, though. As I mentioned in my last post, I appeared in a charity production of <i>Black Comedy </i>which did very well indeed. Sold-out run, more or less (by the final night, they were bringing extra chairs into the auditorium to try and avoid turning too many people away), big laughs, and I felt the benefit of a director who reined me in a bit - avoiding the 'usual Jack-in-a-box' performance that Darrol Blake occasionally laments when I bounce on to the stage.<br />
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I then got back to writing, and it all kicked off a bit. I completed submissions for three or four anthologies and put down about 10,000 words of not-bad prose on <i>Detective Daintypaws:1. </i><br />
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I get bored saying it, because it always goes wrong, but it does look as though there should be a bit of a flurry of new books featuring my work in the second half of 2016. How many of these actually materialise remains to be seen, of course.<br />
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Life is settling down, after the crazy wedding shenanigans of last year. We have a dog, and he needs walking twice a day regardless of our plans, and that imposes a kind of structure on our lives which I think we find quite useful in a way. I find it hard to get a lot of writing done, unless I have a deadline in which case I can <i>make </i>time for a couple of days or so. That's fine for short stories, but I need to find more general room for the written word in my life if I'm ever going to step up to producing novels on a reasonably regular basis.<br />
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<i>Flash Fear </i>is now out, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flash-Fear-Theresa-Derwin/dp/1533655073/" target="_blank">a collection of (very) short horror stories</a> which includes my <i>Prey For The Dead</i>. An ebook version is forthcoming, apparently.<br />
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So this is a rambling bunch of nonsense, but hopefully just posting it and getting the monkey off my back will make it easier to come up with the next post. Until the next time.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-31490190471106910362016-03-04T06:41:00.003-08:002016-03-04T06:41:47.431-08:00Theatrical InterludeI'm now halfway through a run as Brindsley Miller in <i>Black Comedy</i> at the OSO in Barnes. A community theatre project aiming to raise money for local charities, this brilliant production has given me the opportunity to act opposite my wife (playing Carol Melkett), and I've been learning a lot about reining in my impulse to chase the laughs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not pictured: chaotic hijinks and hilarious consequences</td></tr>
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As these things always tend to come along in threes, like buses, I also did a rehearsed reading of a friend's brilliant play at the Arcola's Playwrought festival of new writing last week. Oh, and <i>Grimm & Grimmer </i>came out, featuring my short story <i>The Frag Prince</i>.<br />
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After the final show on Saturday 5 March, I think I'll be taking a break from the stage, unless I'm lucky enough to be asked to do <i>Tortoise </i>again. I've now got a good half dozen writing projects which have been on hold since New Year, and I need to get back in the author's chair!<br />
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Tickets are now very limited, but if you're in London and fancy some classic comedy, www.ticketsource.co.uk/bcp will sort you right out.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-8253364287536455752016-02-15T07:58:00.001-08:002016-02-15T07:58:40.259-08:0013 Minutes<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">13 Minutes, by Sarah Pinborough</td></tr>
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<i>I have a day job where I run the advertising on a very large magazine, that has a small book review section. This book came in, among dozens of others but the editorial team passed on it. So I took it, because I like Sarah's stuff and I was a bit sad that we didn't get it in the magazine. My disclaimer would be something along the lines of "Some people I work with received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. But they didn't fancy it, so you got me instead." Still, it's not as bad as the time a small press publisher tried sending one of </i>my <i>books in!</i><br />
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Early one winter's morning, a popular, attractive, intelligent sixth form student is pulled from the river. Natasha is resuscitated after spending <i>13 minutes </i>being dead. Her best friends are acting suspiciously, and she received a mysterious text message in the middle of the night.<br />
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With no memory of the preceding eighteen hours or so, Natasha and her childhood best friend Rebecca rekindle their relationship as they start investigating the incident. While also worrying about boyfriends, playing chess, and working on the school's drama production of <i>The Crucible. </i>How could perfect Natasha have ended up in the freezing water? And what are her friends failing to tell her?<br />
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Sarah Pinborough captures perfectly the shifting alliances, insecurities and rivalries of teenage life, while never descending into stereotypes - the "needy" girlfriend turns out to have pretty good reasons for being clingy where her older boyfriend is concerned, for example. Creating five fully-developed and believable teenage female characters is no mean feat, and when most of their parents also pop up in significant supporting roles, not to mention the police, teachers and other adult cast, you're left with a packed guest cast.<br />
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While partly a study in how vile teenage girls can be to each other, <i>13 Minutes </i>is mostly a thriller, however, and it is constructed tightly. Not a single comment in Natasha's diary is superfluous, not a single plot detail is extraneous (even if it turns out to be a red herring later). The fact that the girls are involved in a production of <i>The Crucible </i>resonates with the plot sometimes, and serves to misdirect the reader at other times.<br />
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With any thriller aimed at the YA market, a jaded adult can probably spot the odd plot development before it hits. Sarah's masterstroke is to signal some of her jabs just enough to make them satisfying for readers of any age, whether you predicted them or not, before hitting you with the next twist. "Didn't see that coming, did you, smartarse?" you can almost see her saying.<br />
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The girls drink, smoke, take drugs, shag, and are eye-wateringly catty to each other. This is very far from being an idealised depiction of young adulthood, and the plausible use of social media and messaging throughout (a notable Achilles heel for many a writer) adds up to a thoroughly modern novel.<br />
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<i>13 Minutes </i>is a gripping, funny and closely observed book that has been crafted to perfection. Everything is both not as it seems, and exactly as described. The book rewards careful reading, re-reading, and deserves to be a smash hit for a very hard-working writer at the height of her powers.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-14812606346191643692016-02-12T07:50:00.002-08:002016-02-12T07:50:36.952-08:00Casanova: The Story Of My Escape. Get It While It's Cheap!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>The Story Of My Escape</i> is my most popular and enduring book to date. Casanova (yes, <i>that </i>Casanova) is partying in Venice, when the Inquisition lock him up in The Leads, a notorious prison in the lead-lined roof of the Doge's Palace on St Mark's Square. After 15 months of vermin, illness, boredom, fear, and insanity brought on by reading a bad book, the libertine attempts the most audacious and flamboyant escape in history.<br />
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If everything you think you know about Casanova comes from a certain TV serial starring David Tennant then, yes, the book covers the bit when Casanova was locked in prison for five minutes before hearing some bad news about his girlfriend and punching his way out through the wall. The full story is... somewhat more convincing (but still not necessarily entirely true).<br />
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It's a brilliant book, a truly marvellous book, and I was staggered to discover it had never been made widely available in English before. At the suggestion of Kate Orman, I translated it from French myself (though Italian, Casanova tended to write in French in order to reach a bigger audience. I surmise from this that he would only have approved of my attempt to render his tale in English).<br />
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In the two years that the book has been available, it's sold several hundred copies all around the world, in e-book and paperback. If my interest was purely commercial, I'd be a fairly satisfied self-published author with a modest success in my catalogue.<br />
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But I have delusions of scholarship, and I feel this is an <b>important </b>book. The moment I began receiving emails from people thanking me for finally publishing a text for which they'd been searching for years, and from people who letting me know how much they'd enjoyed reading it after completing the Secret Tour of the Doge's Palace and seeing Casanova's actual cells (a trip I've still not made myself!), I knew this book needed to get out of the self-publishing ghetto and in front of as many readers as possible.<br />
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People <i>need </i>to read this book, to discover what a witty, ruthless, brilliant man Casanova could be, to be entertained by his philosophical reflections, which can switch from thoughts on bravery and honour to urine within a couple of paragraphs, and back again. In the course of this book, Casanova is as broken as anyone can be by both mental and physical illness, but still bounces back to leave a snotty note for his jailers before breaking out of his cell. The French edition was a huge bestseller across Europe in the late 18th Century. It's been a long time reaching the English market, but now it's here I want people to read it.<br />
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To that end, the e-book is currently on sale at just £0.99 / $0.99 on Amazon, until Tuesday 16 February, and is being heavily promoted around the interwebs. Enjoy <a href="http://bit.ly/1iuvUjj" target="_blank">The Story Of My Escape</a>.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-78976069792011999822016-01-18T07:50:00.001-08:002016-01-18T07:50:34.595-08:00New year, new look, new contentWelcome to the latest version of this occasional blog. I've added some pages, including an index of my published books, and details of my sporadic acting adventures. I'm going to try and update the blog more often. Weekly would be great, but let's not get our hopes up...<div>
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So what's new?</div>
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Last year I got married, twice, and we acquired a supernaturally naughty cocker spaniel puppy. I also made my West End debut, and acted as an extra in a film and a TV drama. My scene was cut from the film (<i>Florence Foster Jenkins</i>, if you must know, coming out later this year), but never mind.</div>
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I also self-published a few new books last year, and all the activity on this blog is, I must admit, an indication that there are to be a few new releases in the not too distant future.</div>
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I'll be doing my best to keep the blog fairly entertaining, with sales links kept to a minimum. Like <a href="http://andrewlawston.blogspot.com/p/story-of-my-escape.html">this one for my Casanova translation</a>. That wasn't too bad, was it?</div>
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I'll also be posting the odd book review, along with contact details if you would like me to review your work. Just as soon as I decide whether I think that's a good idea. The next review will almost certainly be <i>13 Minutes </i>by Sarah Pinborough, and I basically have a month not only to write that post, but also to post a whole bunch of other stuff to put a bit of clear digital water between that and my praise for <i>The Death House</i> so I don't look like a sycophant!</div>
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Happy times and places.</div>
Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-20179488285084862872015-08-23T00:57:00.000-07:002015-08-23T00:57:13.913-07:00The Death HouseSarah Pinborough seems to be taking a social media break, probably to get on with writing marvellous books, so I can sneak in and say that The Death House is absolutely freaking awesome without getting all embarrassed about being fanboyish, and also without letting on that it took me six months to get round to reading it.<br />
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Stephen King thinks it's awesome, so my tuppence is hardly required, but anyway. It's a great book that needs bracketing alongside <i>The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe, The Hobbit</i>, and particularly <i>Lord of the Flies</i> as a timeless children's classic (or YA, whatever, but that wasn't really a thing when the other three were written).<br />
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From a writering point of view, world-building obsessives should take note of the highly broad strokes with which Pinborough paints the society and sequence of events that leads to the young Defectives being sent away to the Death House, and its mysteries that are never entirely solved. As with <i>Lord of the Flies</i>, from which this technique is most obviously familiar, the story is everything, and wider exposition is dripped in miserly doses only when it's absolutely necessary.<br />
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And what a story. Pinborough is a former teacher, and as William Golding proved with <i>Lord of the Flies</i>, that does seem to help creating truly realistic adolescent characters. As the cast of children while away their days waiting for their symptoms to develop, the conflicts, bonds, lies and coping mechanisms all ring true.<br />
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And the ending, oh dear. Certain plot developments are abundantly clear to readers, long before the characters catch on, reinforcing the idea that we're reading about frightened and confused children who are forced to pretend to be adults as they confront their mortality. In spite of me being Mr Smuggypants Smug Reader, however, the closing chapters quite simply blew me away, and I cried. And I don't cry at books. Or anything. 22 August 2015 was a baking hot day in the UK, so it was just eye-sweat, I tell you.<br />
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Do yourself a favour and get hold of it in whichever format you think you prefer: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-House-Sarah-Pinborough-ebook/dp/B00K5UFGRC/" target="_blank">The Death House</a>.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-11559814516981539342015-08-12T09:26:00.002-07:002015-08-12T09:26:59.895-07:00Coming Soon..."Andrew, where can I buy more of your fantastic writing?" This is what my cat keeps asking me, in a voice that sounds suspiciously like my own falsetto, as I bounce her up and down on her hind legs like an excitable fan.<br />
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If you are of the same opinion as my cat (and I'm frankly starting to question her sincerity so do let me know if you are), you'll be aroused to learn that there are in fact three tomes that contain my written contributions, coming soon to a bookshop near you. If there are any bookshops left near you, that is.<br />
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Please note I don't have solid release dates for any of the below, so I'm posting these according to the order I think they're likely to be released. Check back in five years and see if I was right!<br />
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<b>Flash Fear (<a href="http://knightwatch.greatbritishhorror.com/" target="_blank">KnightWatch Press</a>)</b><br />
<i>Prey For The Dead </i>is my contribution to this anthology of horror-themed flash fiction. Originally submitted as part of a website relaunch, this chapbook-style release looks like a lot of fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11825886_1038368202854959_2933279647387445135_n.jpg?oh=227fae8f989c712b0f8c6ba9bd099ed7&oe=563D5B2F" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11825886_1038368202854959_2933279647387445135_n.jpg?oh=227fae8f989c712b0f8c6ba9bd099ed7&oe=563D5B2F" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>(This book doesn't even exist yet and it's already got my favourite cover yet of anything I've ever been published in)</i></td></tr>
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<b>Grimm & Grimmer: 4 (<a href="http://www.fringeworks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fringeworks Press</a>)</b><br />
<i>The Frag Prince </i>is my contribution to this fourth volume of re-imagined and updated fairy tales. It's a rare example of actual science-fiction from me. This book has been a heroically long time coming, so I'm very excited that it looks like it's about to land.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fringeworks.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/GrimmAndGrimmer_Volume4-212x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.fringeworks.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/GrimmAndGrimmer_Volume4-212x300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>(This lovely cover does actually remind me of a joke more horrible than anything that's likely to be in the book, but still...)</i></td></tr>
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<b>A Time Lord For Change (<a href="http://www.chinbeardbooks.com/" target="_blank">Chinbeard Books</a>)</b><br />
This charity collection is going to be brilliant, I'm so thrilled to be part of it. Raising money for mental health causes, <i>A Time Lord For Change</i> contains one drabble (short story of exactly 100 words, fact fans) inspired by Every. Single. Televised. Doctor Who. Story. And quite a bunch of spin-off stories across various media. I think I'm allowed to say that I've done the drabbles for <i>Caves of Androzani </i>and <i>Survival</i>.<br />
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The other writers contributing to this book is just a list of phenomenal awesomeness. There are some true stars from <i>Doctor Who </i>fandom, the stable of <i>Doctor Who</i>'s professional authors, and some world-class writers who just happen to love the show.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/1510674_855414621195007_5521774707037816714_n.jpg?oh=29f5399301a4a34b0bf6df6d004e293d&oe=564A6880" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/1510674_855414621195007_5521774707037816714_n.jpg?oh=29f5399301a4a34b0bf6df6d004e293d&oe=564A6880" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>(Yes, I did put the picture in correctly, the above tease is all that's been released publicly of the cover)</i></td></tr>
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<b>Gosh.</b><br />
It's all pretty cool, though it won't keep my voraciously literate cat satiated for long. I'd better keep typing. Look out for some zombies and other stuff in the not too distant future.Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929214069321781057.post-3407429770864104652015-06-18T04:58:00.002-07:002015-06-18T04:58:25.057-07:00Announcing... Something Nicer<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Something Nicer</b></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What happens when ET doesn't phone home, but stays for 30 years? When the evil clown under a child's bed carries on lurking in the shadows through sixth form? When a cat decides catching mice is over-rated, and fixes her ambitions on becoming an art critic? Or when the Internet becomes sentient, and googles the best way to overthrow humanity? </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With a cast of ghost zombies, senile witches and cloned Santas, this second volume of short stories from Andrew K Lawston develops the author's unique way of looking at the world, and ensures you'll never look at a stepladder in the same way.</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yes, I have a second collection of short stories out. Truth be told, it's been out since late February, but I didn't realise I'd left this blog post languishing in draft status. Slick, that's me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Something Nicer</i> was my most successful launch yet, and has been popular with readers across the world. There's a real variation in the length of stories, from drabbles to a 9,000 word-ish short story. It's a contrast with <i>Something Nice</i>, whose stories were mostly a uniform 2,500 - 3,000 length (because they were written for submission to the magazine market).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The book is available on Kindle only for the moment, but my hope is that I'll soon be able to bring out a paperback combining both <i>Something Nicer </i>and <i>Something Nice, </i>possibly in conjunction with a third volume which I'm afraid may now have to be called <i>Something Nicest</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Something Nicer </i>is available from <a href="http://bit.ly/1FwAtBh" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for just £1.99 / $2.99.</span>Andrew Lawstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01362101529912132397noreply@blogger.com0