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.
Dec
15
More Twitter and Stuff
Filed Under Competitions, Publications, The Literary World | Leave a Comment
We seem to have entered that time of the year when I lose track of things even more than I usually do, which is why I have completely failed to mention the publication of this tweet of mine. So there it is.
Looking forward to going to tomorrow night’s Ride the WorldWord event to celebrate the excellent Short Circuit. The list of people reading is pretty much a Who’s Who of short story writers in the UK, so it should be a good night. I’ve been intending to do a review of said book ever since I read it on holiday, but have so far failed to do so (see first paragraph for excuse). In the meantime, I’ll simply say that anyone who writes short stories and doesn’t have a copy should order one immediately. Don’t wait. No excuses. Just do it. OK? I’ll be interviewing Vanessa Gebbie, the editor, on this very blog on February 1st next year, by the way, which should be interesting – especially as I’ve never interviewed anyone before.
And I’ve just remembered that I still haven’t tweaked my entry for the Willesden Herald competition, and there are only four more days to go until the closing date. When will I ever learn?
Dec
11
Bits and Pieces
Filed Under The Literary World, Things I like, Writing | Leave a Comment
I’ve been away and otherwise busy over the last two or three weeks – hence the rather sporadic posting. So here are a few random sweepings from the floor …
1) On Tuesday night this week, I took part in the NYC Midnight “Tweet Me a Story” competition. Basically, I got a word at midnight UK time and then had five hours (yeah right, I said midnight UK time) to write three twitter stories using it. The word for group 19 was “attack”, which could have been a lot worse. Anyway, I threw my three together in half an hour. I find out next Tuesday if any of them are going to go forward to the next stage of voting.
2) I’ve just sent my story off to Jim Wisneski’s ‘Twelve Days of Christmas” project; I’m one of the ones doing “Eight Maids a Milking”. It’s a rather odd piece altogether. I’ll let you know when it appears.
3) I’ve decided that the perfect in-flight movie is “GI Joe – The Rise of Cobra”. Why? Because it’s full of action (read “guns and explosions”), has an idiotic plot and (crucially) you don’t need to be able to hear any of the dialogue in order to follow it. There is no excuse for watching it outside a plane, however.
4) Weirdly, two out of the five writers shortlisted for the National Short Story Award (Sara Maitland and Jane Rogers) were judges in competitions where I won prizes this year. Following this logic, if Zoë Heller wishes to make an impression on the NSSA next year, she knows what to do. OK, Zoë?
5) By the way, well done to both of them for getting onto the shortlist, and especially to Sara Maitland for getting the runner-up prize. I read her collection “Far North” earlier this year, and I can strongly recommend it – especially the title story, which is quite extraordinary.
Dec
6
Nothing to Dread
Filed Under Anthologies, Publications | 2 Comments
The new Niteblade anthology “Nothing to Dread” is now available to purchase, featuring my story “An Unsuitable Replacement”. You can order a copy here, and with a cover like that it will make a perfect Christmas present for your little ones (assuming that your little ones enjoy stories about body transplants, murder and sexual deviation, that is). Ho, ho, ho indeed.
Dec
3
More TwitFic
Filed Under Publications | 4 Comments
Lots happening on the TwitFic front. The haiku that I mentioned a while back has now been published by @7×20 here, and another piece has been published by @seedpodpub here. Also, I had a message from @escarp to say that this tweet of mine was the first one that they published to be RT’d (re-tweeted) three times. I’m still feeling my way a bit with TwitFic, but it’s a fascinating discipline. Still a few markets out there to be cracked, though.
Dec
2
Last night I received a nice e-mail from Southport Writers’ Circle to tell me that my rather odd piece, “The Last Words of Emanuel Prettyjohn” had been commended in this year’s short story competition. I’m particularly pleased about this, as it is one of my oddest stories, but also one of my favourites, and it’s taken quite a few attempts to find someone out there who likes it.