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.
Feb
18
The Best of Every Day Fiction Two
Filed Under Anthologies, Publications | 6 Comments
My copy of this anthology of stories from EDF’s second year of operation dropped through my letter box the other day, and what a fine, professionally-produced piece of work it is. I’ve got two stories in there: my modern-day fable “Mirror, Mirror” and my Schroedinger’s cat story “Opening the Box”. I could list some of the other authors in there that I admire, but that would – frankly – take quite a long time. I am dead chuffed to be in the same table of contents as them.
The introductory pieces by the editors are also well worth a read – particularly the one by Jordan Lapp on finding a business model for fiction on the web. Here’s a slightly scary quote:
It seems that, excluding patronage, no one has yet found a profitable business model for short fiction on the web.
And that comes from an editor at the most-read flash fiction magazine on the web. Interestingly, though, he does say that one of their goals for 2010 is to raise their pay rates to semi-pro level instead of token, by the expedient of running a paid-for competition. Good luck to him there, although to be honest I’m personally not that concerned about pay rates at EDF (but don’t tell him I said so). The fact that EDF is such a well-read magazine makes it a terrific – and fairly competitive – place to get published in if you want to raise your profile a bit. Every time I’ve got a piece there, the hit count for this place goes up quite significantly, and for me that’s what I’m after right now. The big question, of course, is how to turn that exposure into £££.
Jan
22
The Best of Every Day Fiction Two
Filed Under Anthologies, Publications | 2 Comments
Yippee! The anthology from the second year of Every Day Fiction has now been published, including two of my stories, “Mirror, Mirror” and “Opening the Box”. I’m really looking forward to reading it, as there’s still something better about reading a story in a print anthology as opposed to looking at a one on a computer screen, even for a story of under 1000 words. And if you don’t happen to like the one you’re currently reading, there are 99 more in there. What I really like about EDF is their “anything goes as long as it’s good” attitude, which means zombie stories and literary ones in the same book. What’s not to like?
And the other thing that I really like about EDF is that their Managing Editor, Camille Gooderham Campbell, outed herself yesterday on the EDF forum as a fan of Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens. But then, who wouldn’t?
You can order copies of “The Best of Every Day Fiction Two” here.
Jan
14
12 Days
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Found out today that the “12 days” project that I took part in leading up to Christmas has now made it into print. So if you fancy getting yourself a copy of all 24 stories (two for each of the 12 days of Christmas), here’s the link. My contribution was “The Miracle at Hightop Farm”, which was (very loosely) based on “Eight Maids A-Milking”.
Jan
11
Blue Hyacinths
Filed Under Anthologies, Publications | 4 Comments
Just got an e-mail to tell me that “Blue Hyacinths”, the anthology from last year’s Excel for Charity / Diversity House poetry competition has been published, containing my poem “In Giza”. I’m quite proud of “In Giza”, because it’s one of my first attempts to write a proper, straight poem without going for laughs (not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course). You can order copies of the anthology here.
Incidentally, as chance would have it, we were in Giza last November and it was interesting to see how little it has changed since my first visit there. Considering that it contains the only one of the seven wonders of the world still standing, it’s still a bit of a dump. Karnak, on the other hand …
Jan
1
The Rhinocerous and His Thoughts
Filed Under Anthologies | 2 Comments
“The Rhinocerous and His Thoughts”, the anthology from the 2009 Whittaker prize is now available. This anthology includes all the short stories and poems that came either first or second in each of the nine rounds of the competition, so I’ve got two stories in there (”Farewell Symphony” and “The Magnolia Bedroom”, which both came second in their respective rounds) and two poems (”Spanish Echoes” and “Incursion”, which both came first). I could actually have had a third story in there, but I decided to hold it back because I thought it stood a decent chance in external competition – and in fact “Return to Cairo” did win 3rd prize at City of Derby. As it happens, I put “The Magnolia Bedroom” in for the Global Short Story Competition as well, where it got shortlisted.
As ever, Donna Gagnon Pugh has done a fantastic job overseeing production of the anthology. What really impresses me is that – as with “Scratching at Cardboard” and “Unforgettable Fire”, it looks like a proper, professional book. And that is a lot harder to achieve than you might think. Even better, I get my copy free because I came second overall in the short story comp!
Oh, and nearly forgot: Happy New Year, everyone! And a big welcome to new blogger Oscar Windsor-Smith (he’s in “The Rhinocerous …” too). His blog should definitely be worth keeping an eye on.
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.
Nov
15
Zombology
Filed Under Acceptances, Anthologies | 4 Comments
It’s always a pleasure to find a new market, so I was particularly excited when one of my colleagues on Café Doom brought the excellent Library of the Living Dead Press to my attention. LotLDP is something of a specialist imprint, dealing exclusively in Zombie-related books (I’m guessing that you’d spotted that already). Now I like dealing with organisations who know their market, especially when they are run by someone called Dr Pus – even if I have a feeling that it may not be his real name. In fact, he may well not have had any medical training at all, come to think of it.
Still, the good news is that the aforementioned Dr Pus has just accepted my piece “Quarantine Island” for his forthcoming compilation “Zombology III”. So woo-hoo, I think. Yes, definitely a woo-hoo.
[EDITED TO ADD: In case anyone out there is interested in submitting to LotLD, here are full details of all their current anthologies. Prolific, aren't they?]
Oct
27
Every Day Fiction Anthology
Filed Under Anthologies | 2 Comments
One more post today. I’ve just heard that my stories “Mirror, Mirror” and “Opening the Box” are to be included in Every Day Fiction’s forthcoming anthology. So I think that makes a baker’s dozen of anthology appearances for this year.
Oct
21
back eyes poetry
Filed Under Anthologies | 4 Comments
The anthologies are thudding through the letterbox thick and fast these days. This one arrived today from Earlyworks Press, and contains a mixture of poetry and flash fiction and it looks rather good. Unexpectedly, I booked my place therein with a poem, “Feral”, which was shortlisted for their latest web poetry competition. Unless I’ve miscounted, this is the sixth anthology I’ve ended up in so far this year and I think there are half a dozen more to go before the year’s out.
Oct
19
Niteblade Anthology
Filed Under Acceptances, Anthologies, The Hit Count | 8 Comments
Had a nice e-mail from Rhonda Parrish, who edits the very wonderful Niteblade, to say that she’d like to include my story “An Unsuitable Replacement” in their forthcoming print anthology. So that’s two hits for a story that I originally wrote in under an hour during the 2007 Children in Need flash event.
And that, I believe, brings this year’s total hit count up to a round 50. So that’s another of this year’s targets achieved. I’ll need to double-check, but I’ll try to put up some kind of breakdown later on in the week in case anyone’s remotely interested.
If I get a moment, I really feel that I should also post something about my experience of Twitter so far – especially given the momentous events of last week. In the meantime, here’s my VWC mate Ian Cundell’s view.