Parallels Update
And some other bits
WRITING:
The journey toward publication has taken a couple more steps recently. Firstly, I’ve seen a rough version of the cover. Which is to say Angel1 emailed me rough versions of three potential covers and we chose which one we would take forward.
I always keep in mind at this stage of the process the look of relief on Henry’s2 face when I said, in our discussions about Playtime’s Over, that I had no particular desires re the cover. Being good with words doesn’t necessarily equate to being good with pictures, and authors turning up with definitive ideas of what they want their books to look like can be a headache if, as in some cases, those definitive ideas are rubbish.
So I’m very laid back about those kinds of things. A little bit of input goes a long way and being very pleased with the options given, I’m confident that Parallels is going to look fabulous when it comes out in May…
Ah yes, that’s the other thing. Late spring / early summer 2025 has now been narrowed down to May 2025. Barring any hitches, naturally. But yes, we are now five months away from my third book landing. So there we are, a cover and an approximate release date. How exciting. I’ll show you the cover as soon as it’s finalised.
In other news, I successfully sold an article to industry publication The Bookseller this month, which was also quite exciting. I’ve had one article published in there before, but that had been through Propolis as part of Playtime’s publicity push. This one, I upped and pitched myself. You can read it here, but the gist of it was that as much as we might abhor the Celeb Author, we might try alternative approaches to bitching about it all the time. I annoyed a couple of people, referred to an article in The Guardian that was clearly in The Independent and ignored the crucial fact that, it seems, NEARLY EVERY CELEBRITY BOOK IS GHOSTWRITTEN, but I also earned £150, my website got more visitors in a single day than I’ve had all year and a few people who’ve never heard of me now have. Swings and roundabouts. Facing redundancy as I am from one of my jobs, I'm going to need to put myself out there a bit more. (Have I mentioned I have a Buy Me A Coffee account?)
Ray Adams VI is currently with Beta Readers, as I mentioned last time. I’ve pretty much decided on which of my WiPs I’m going to focus on for James Kinsley IV3, but for the rest of December I’m in book review mode, as Reedsy have a promotion on whereby if you receive a certain amount of books you earn Amazon vouchers. It isn’t cash, but is useful for ordering book stock if I’m to do any in-person events next year. And that’s pretty much that for my writing stuff.
I have enjoyed:
Cover Girl Killer - Harry H. Corbett stars in this 1959 movie as a serial killer pursuing cover models from a particular girlie magazine and offing them in the clothes and poses from their cover shot. It all sounds rather sordid, but is a classier affair than the synopsis suggests. If you only know Corbett from Steptoe & Son, prepare to be impressed by the serious performance he puts in, and there’s able support from Victor Brooks, Spencer Teakle4 and the gorgeous Felicity Young. Worth an hour of anyone’s time.
“You dirty old man…” The Deep Blue Sea - Terence Rattigan’s play has been adapted many times, most recently in 2011 with Tom Hiddleston and Rachel Weisz. Back in 1955, Kenneth More was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance as Freddie in Anatole Litvak’s film adaptation, a role he’d already played onstage and on TV. With all of the charm and none of the virtue you associate with More’s characters, this is a role that shows a different side to More, in a sombre piece that covers some pretty dark territory. Vivien Leigh is Hester to More’s Freddie, and the film also contains strong performances from Emlyn Williams, Eric Portman and Moira Lister.
“Too much gapping, darling… Four!” Nana Mouskouri - Just about the least coolest thing you could admit to liking, but having watched a handful of shows on BBC Four about the Greek songstress I have to say… she was one heck of a singer. And quite a dish. Seems one of the reasons she had such a clear voice was she only had one vocal chord. Bizarre. Over 200 albums, in at least thirteen different languages5, over her career. And if those shows reappear on the iPlayer, you can enjoy appearances by the likes of the King’s Singers and Demis Roussos as well. Nice.
Voice of an angel, look of a substitute teacher. Year Nine are going to eat her alive. Turin Brakes - Delivering a superb acoustic set at top notch Bury St. Edmunds venue The Apex. Great night out, fantastic band, and a big shout out to support act Sun Cutter who was also superb.
Them’s the Brakes
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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Deixis Press legend.
Propolis guru.
I am going back to contemporary literary, with my coming-of-age story.
Honestly.
Including Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, so not just European languages.