Bonus Features
A few updates on my current projects, plus the usual cultural round-up.
Thought I’d scheduled this. Was all written and ready to roll. Tch. First one I’ve missed. Anyways, good morning!
WRITING:
Exciting times here. I have just finished reading through a proof of Parallels, due out from Deixis Press next year. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve read that book now but the amazing thing is, I still enjoy reading it every time. Which must bode well.
Which isn’t to say I won’t be pleased when I don’t have to read it anymore, but it’s all part of the fun and games. We’ve had a few last minute quibbles to iron out, but overall it’s pretty much in the state in which you’ll be buying it1.
I’ve also been thinking about acknowledgements, dedications, updating my author bio and all that. Those seemingly-dry add-ons that are actually quite exciting2 because they’re part of the process of turning your manuscript into an actual book. That’s still a quasi-mystical, semi-miraculous process to me, because it’s when I remember that not only have I written a book, but that somebody else thinks it’s great and is willing to put the name of their business on the spine. How awesome is that?
Next up, I guess, will be the cover. That, when you’re not self-publishing (i.e. designing it yourself) is possibly one of the most exciting steps. It allows you to picture for the first time the actual object that people will be holding in their hands and, if you do also self-publish as I do, it’s brilliant because it will be so much better than the crap you stick on the front of your ‘own’ stuff.
Speaking of my ‘own’ stuff, Ray Adams VI3 has suffered a brief hiatus due to the author4 experiencing a period of non-serious yet quite debilitating ill-health. Still, we are further on and the end is almost in sight. I think. Which is good, as I’ve come up with a cracking idea for James Kinsley IV that I want to have a play around with, but which I’ve sworn I won’t start until I’ve actually finished this thing. Idea-rich, but discipline-poor, that’s me.
In other news, I discovered this week that my debut Playtime’s Over is listed on the Guardian’s bookshop. No idea how this came about but hey, here’s an idea, if you haven’t got a copy, why not order it from them? It’s be pretty wild if, say, a dozen people all ordered it the same week. They’d be all like, Woah! What’s that about?
I also won’t be participating in NaNoWriMo this month. This isn’t so much to do with their stance on Generative A.I. and the grooming scandal surrounding the charity; after all, it would be easy enough to participate in the challenge without engaging with the official organiser. Although I have, for the record, deleted my account on their website and divested myself of the related Facebook Groups. It’s far more to do with the fact that I have a 50k+ novel already in progress that needs my attention.
I have enjoyed:
Endurance - In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set sail for Antarctica, planning to make the first land crossing of the continent. However, when his ship the Endurance, became trapped in ice in February 1915, the mission was doomed, and what happened next is the stuff of legend. Over a century later, the search team Endurance22 finally discovered the wreck of Shackleton’s ship, and this film tells both stories. Reaction has been mixed, but I found it utterly fascinating and some of the footage just astonishing.
3D reconstruction of the wreck of the Endurance, from actual scans. The Girl and the Spider - This Swiss movie tells the story, and I use the word loosely, of two girls who share a flat, and what happens when one of them moves out. Which is basically, she moves out. I’ve no idea what was going on for most of it, or what was so compelling about it, but it was an absolute joy.
This shot has ‘MEME’ written all over it. Sick of Myself - More narratively-structured, but no less baffling or jaw-dropping, is this Norwegian dark (and I mean, dark) comedy about a woman who feels so overshadowed by her artist boyfriend that she deliberately contracts a disfiguring skin disease, for the Likes. This one isn’t going to be for everyone, but those who are up for it will find a hilarious and scathing satire of our need for attention.
I’m still deliberating over a caption for this. Blu Wav - I first saw Grandaddy playing the UEA LCR supporting Super Furry Animals back in 19985 and I was immediately hooked. I kept up-to-date up until Jason Lytle’s first solo LP, then kinda drifted away. I’ve yet to catch up on the first post-hiatus album but I picked up their 2024 release recently, and it’s absolutely lush.
I wonder what it is makes me identify with this lot…
Greyskin (Deixis Press) and Playtime’s Over (Propolis) are both available direct from their respective publishers, as well as from all the usual places, online and off. You can also support my work by buying Ray Adams’ self-published books, or by simply buying me a coffee.
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You will be buying it, yeah?
If you’re a simpleton like me.
I really really need a title for this, and it ain’t appearing.
That’s me. Keep up.
What the HECK, time.