About this site
My name's Jonathan Pinnock. I lead a dual life. In one half of this, I run a software development company called Jonathan Pinnock and Associates. If you've come here looking for that, here's where you need to go.However, if you've come here to find out about the other half of my life, as a writer of fiction and non-fiction, you've come to the right place.
If, on the other hand, you've arrived here by accident whilst searching for Japanese Tentacle Porn, I suggest you try using a different search engine.
If you'd like to contact me, my e-mail address is jon AT jpassoc DOT co DOT uk.
Sep
9
Don’t Give Up The Day Job Quite Yet …
Filed Under Non-fiction | Leave a Comment
Well, I didn’t bother with the second challenge in the NYC Midnight Creative Writing Comp. More bloody historical fiction, and I would have needed to pull something really special to make up for my showing on the first challenge.
Still, this cheered me up: one of the weirder things I get through the post on a regular basis is a massive royalty statement from J. Wiley and Sons Inc.. I should add it’s that the statements that are massive, running to 8 pages of US letter size paper. The royalties most definitely are not. This isn’t due to any stinginess on Wiley’s part, however. It’s simply due to the fact that for the books in question, I was only one of several authors (back in the days before the original publishers, Wrox, went under and were bought out by Wiley), and the books are actually rather old.
For example, consider “Beginning XML, 2nd Edition”, for which I wrote the rather exciting Chapter 9. This is a software book which came out in 2001! Admittedly, my entire earnings due to this book for the six month period amount to all of $1.15 (”subsidiary rights activity”), but someone out there is still shelling out for the thing.
Who are these people, and how can I sell them something else?
Sep
5
Hmmm …
Filed Under Competitions | Leave a Comment
Well, that tanked, didn’t it? Ah, well. Wasn’t interested in winning anyway. Definitely not.
Sep
4
Eurofiction’s Back! (or the Masochism Tango continues)
Filed Under Competitions, Stunts | Leave a Comment
Has a year really gone by since the last Eurofiction started? Well, I guess it must have. Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself, eh? So it all kicks off again at SlingInk on October 1st, nicely dovetailing with the last round of the Whittaker.
The only question is whether or not I really want to commit myself to another rolling competition (ten prompted pieces over twenty weeks). Y’see, it’s about time that I sat down and wrote a proper, full-length (I can hardly dare to say the word) novel. It’s all very well having these one-night stands with story ideas that you pick up in some sleazy internet forum, but it’s really about time that I grew up and showed some, y’know, commitment.
Sep
2
It’s all go here. First of all, my Christmas poem (poem? me? ha!) Between the Lines has been accepted by Twisted Tongue. And I’m also going to be making my second appearance at the Liars’ League, with Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions, which was my entry for Round 4 of the Whittaker Prize (and I think this makes me the first one to place a story resulting from the comp). So if anyone reading this wants to say hello to me, I’ll be the tall bloke with the grey beard sitting at the back of The Wheatsheaf next Tuesday, September 9th.