It's important to take time out to look ahead
And, you know, the tennis is on...
IN BRIEF:
Thanks to our publicist Hannah, we landed a review for Parallels with genre big-hitters SciFiNow, which feels like a huge thing. And it was a decent review! “Vividly realised” and “a compact and compelling journey into the fractured mind of a man caught between worlds” no less. Read it here.
Blogger Paul Grenyer also has a review up on his site - “an interesting and enjoyable read”. Read it here.
Just three months to go until It’s Hard to Tell You This, my third book with Deixis Press.
ON WRITING:
I’m going to be taking a month off from this kind of update, so for the next couple of newsletters, I’ll be sharing some samples from my works in progress, let you see some of the ideas that haven’t quite coalesced yet.
There are a handful of reasons I think a break might be good right now. We’re between books; I’d like to get some work done on my next project; I’ve some book reviews I’ve committed to writing; we’re a week or so from Wimbledon starting; the garden’s a horror show…
I also want to take some time to do some thinking about where I’m going. Obviously with It’s Hard coming out in September and the sixth Ray Adams hopefully out before the end of the year, 2025 is pretty much sewn up. 2026, however, is looking a lot more open and I want to spend at least some of the next few weeks thinking about what’s next.
I’m also going to have a think about how I’m using my Socials. I’ve never been a big hitter on that front. I’m not sure I buy into the “build it and they will come” ethos; I have a tendency to plateau, I’m a big plateau-er. It’s not looking like I’m going to be breaking three figures with Substack subscribers anytime soon, and my Twitter/Facebook/Bluesky/Insta experiences have all been similar - I hit a certain point and then that’s it. I can post more/less often, vary things up, and nothing seems to attract more followers. It feels like I’m an acquired taste that not a lot of people acquire. I’m starting to wonder if my personality is the problem1…
Which sounds a lot more whiny than I intend. I’m fifty now, and even if I do struggle at times with self-esteem, it’s certainly not because my perception of that is tied up with the number of followers I have online. And if some people are reading these newsletters and enjoying them2, that’s fine by me. After all, if you got 80 people in a room, that’s a lot of people, right?
So it’s not as if I’m troubled by this, it’s just that given I’m still hopeful of carving out a career as a writer, it’s probably a good idea to step back every now and then and take a look at how the things I do are helping/hindering that aim.
All-in-all, then a perfect time to just take a little me-time, ready to come out swinging in August to face the monumental success that It’s Hard will inevitably present me.
I have enjoyed:
Jaws - Our friends decided to host a viewing party on the 50th anniversary of the film’s release, and it was a perfect way to spend a Friday evening with friends. It’s not been that long since I’ve seen it, but was still taken aback at how quickly they get right into it - it feels like no more than ten minutes in before Brody’s arguing with the mayor about closing the beaches. Joyous watching people jumping out of their skins at Ben Gardener’s head, surely the finest jump-scare in cinematic history. All together now… Show me the way to go home…
Season 53 of The Big Bang Theory and Stuart’s luck isn’t getting any better… The Capture - This 1950 western by legendary director John Sturges stars Bryan Cranston look-a-like Lew Ayres as Lin Vanner, a man on the run for reasons slowly revealed through the course of the movie as he confesses all to a Mexican priest in whose home he’s hiding out in. His story starts with his accidental killing of Sam Tevlin, but what takes him from there to Father Gomez’s shack is slowly teased out over an intriguing and compelling 90 minutes. True, there’s more than a little coincidence and atrocious decision-making behind his plight, but Sturges’ direction is on point, and a mesmerising performance by Teresa Wright as Tevlin’s widow make this worth seeking out.
“It’ll be okay, my student Jesse is going to help me cook up some crystal meth. Now go get that pizza down from the roof…” A Minecraft Movie - After rewatching Napoleon Dynamite the other week, I decided to find out what Jared Hess had been up to recently and was astonished to find he was at the helm for what I had previously assumed was a generic videogame tie-in cash-cow. Delighted to find that it is in fact a hilarious and touching movie that hits all the right spots and has buckets of Hess charm and quirk. I giggled a lot.
I don’t know what any of this is. Rambert Dance Company - Went to see their Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby this week. Saw it on its original tour, and it’s still remarkable. Genuine goosebumps when Red Right Hand first starts up.
It's a visual feast of contemporary dance, innit.
You purchase Parallels (Deixis Press), Greyskin (Deixis Press) and Playtime’s Over (Propolis) direct from my publishers, as well as from all the usual places, online and off.
Pre-order my upcoming novella It’s Hard to Tell You This (Deixis Press).
Ray Adams’ self-published books are available online, or out of my garage.
I also review books on my website, most of which are available through my affiliate book shop on uk.bookshop.org - it’s a great alternative to certain online leviathans owned by Trump-supporting billionaires, and supports independent bookshops. Affiliates also get a % of books sold through them, so go have a look.
My favourite Rob Newman joke of all time - “People told me to be myself; I was and now they hate me.”
I assume at least some of you are enjoying this?
Well recommend re watching Jaws. 😁
Oh, also, congrats on the positive reviews!!