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.
Books
Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens was published by Proxima Books in September 2011.
The Scott Prize-winning short story collection Dot(.), Dash(-) will be published by Salt in 2012.
Dec
9
Interview with Niall Boyce
Filed Under Interviews | 2 Comments
I’m very pleased to welcome fellow Proxima Books author Niall Boyce to my blog today. Niall is the very talented author of the utterly fab Veronica Britton: Chronic Detective serial, parts one and two of which are currently available from Amazon here and here respectively. If your taste is for an action-packed mystery story featuring a feisty time-travelling detective as a heroine, do yourself a favour and download both of them at the first available opportunity. You won’t regret it.
But do read the interview first.
Hello and welcome to the blog, Niall. I’d like to find out a bit about you yourself first. You’re a senior editor at the Lancet in your day job – I’m interested to know if your background is primarily in arts or science?
I studied English at A-level, and was seriously thinking about applying to do it at university – but medicine won out in the end. I have a medical degree and a PhD in physiology, and worked as a doctor for some time. I suppose my background in science explains why so many of my favourite authors – Kurt Vonnegut and Christopher Priest for example – didn’t go through the arts degree/creative writing route. I lack grounding in the theoretical aspects of English literature, and this means I have had to go the long way around learning certain parts of the craft. Then again, it means I’m not hemmed in by various preconceived notions and, frankly, snobberies.
Always good to come across another Christopher Priest fan! How do you find creative writing fits in with your non-fiction work?
An interesting question. In terms of content, science fiction is, to me, about conducting a thought experiment – reasoning out the consequences of a temporary suspension of the laws of physics or biology isn’t very different to what scientists do every day.
With regard to style, my preference is for clear prose – this isn’t the same thing as saying I don’t like complexity. The purpose of science writing is to make difficult ideas easily understandable to a large number of people, many of whom may not have English as their first language. It’s probably been said before that doctors who write have certain traits in common. The tendency is to avoid flourishes, but to pack a lot of information into a relatively short word count, with an emphasis on telling, pivotal details. This certainly applies to medics such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, and Arthur Schnitzler. They’re all very different in terms of subject matter, but I think you can trace a characteristic medical/scientific style in their writing.
As for the grind of writing – I set aside half an hour every day and write 500 words. I think getting precious about these things is the enemy of actual creativity.
I hadn’t realised until I looked at your blog how many short stories you’d had published (including some that I’d already listened to on the Liars’ League podcast). Do you see your future as purely a writer of full-length fiction, or do you think you’ll still continue with short forms as well?
I like short stories a lot and, as I said, there’s something about a medical background that tends towards brevity in prose. I’m planning to continue with both novels and short stories: the idea dictates the form. For example, I have written a few ghost stories, and I think these work best in the short format (either as short stories or novellas). Veronica Britton is rather more complex, and I think a longer format was needed to give the situations and characters space to breathe.
How did you get involved with Big Finish? When will we see your name on the credits for the Doctor Who TV series?
Doctor Who came about when Big Finish put out a call for new writers. I was just lucky that my submission was chosen (although I had previously written a few Doctor Who DVD sleeves and commentaries). I had a neat idea for a short story that would take the original rules of the show (eg, the Doctor couldn’t get his companions home), and blend in some things that wouldn’t or couldn’t have been done at the time. 1963, the year the show started, is now a historical era itself, and many of the attitudes and assumptions of the characters are things of the past. So it struck me as an interesting thing to explore.
I’d love to write a TV episode – in fact I have a cracking idea for one – but I’m not anticipating a call any time soon. Doctor Who is so big now that a strong track record of TV writing seems to be the minimum requirement. More Big Finish would be good. My story for the Bernice Summerfield range (The Empire Variations) was one of the most fun things I’ve written: being able to put Andy Warhol face-to-face with a giant floating alien dinosaur head was tremendous.
Ha. I bet! Veronica Britton features a strong, complex female heroine. Can you tell me a bit about where the inspiration for her character came from? And who would you like to see play her in a film adaptation?
I always saw the hero of these books as a woman: one reason for this is that I think women are rather more adaptable than men, in all sorts of ways. If time travel ever comes to be, I imagine women will be far better at it. So you’ll see that the male time travellers in VB are all rather bull-in-a-china-shop, whereas Veronica is more subtle, honest, and brave. As for who would play Veronica, I think Nicola Walker (Ruth from Spooks) would be ideal.
Did you see “Veronica Britton: Chronic Detective” as a serial right from the start?
I think the nature of good adventure fiction is that it consists of a series of cliffhangers, whether those come within a single story or in instalments. So I was keen on building plenty into Veronica Britton from the start. Every decent adventure narrative – from Exodus to King Solomon’s Mines and beyond – keeps you asking “How on earth are they going to get out of this one?” I think it works as a whole (the complete story is around 120, 000 words) or as individual episodes.
Do you think that electronic publishing is creating a new market for serials?
Although text-based serials declined in popularity through the twentieth century, serial fiction still persisted and thrived in the form of TV series and, of course, comics. Speaking for myself, I far prefer getting the new issue of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” every month to waiting for the trade paperback. Though whether or not e-serials are viable depends on the method of selling: it certainly seems to have worked for e-comics.
What are you working on next?
My next project is a novel about parallel universes, Arthurian legend, a TV show about a mysterious scientist, and 1970s Swansea. I’m currently at the phase of scribbling lots of different scenarios and bits of dialogue down on index cards: in 2012, these will hopefully coalesce into a seamless whole…
Fascinating stuff! Many thanks to Niall for dropping in. Now go and buy those first two episodes, OK? Seriously, they are very good indeed.
Nov
29
Another Interview and Stuff
Filed Under Dot(.) Dash(-), Interviews, Mrs Darcy | Leave a Comment
I’ve been interviewed today by the lovely Penelope Friday. Don’t be scared by that adult content warning – I don’t think I said anything rude, although there is a mention of my passion for Brussels sprouts. Oh, and I also explain where PD James went wrong.
In other news, “Dot(.), Dash(-)” has rather amazingly popped up on Amazon, despite not being published for another eleven months. So it’s now available for you to “pre-order”. Or, as we used to say, “order”. </oldfart>
Oct
31
Mrs Darcy Hallowe’en Special
Filed Under Interviews, Mrs Darcy | Leave a Comment
I thought it might be fun to do a Hallowe’en Special for Mrs Darcy this year, so here it is. I’d like to think this contains the first use of the word “pesky” in an Austen-related context. Any resemblance to persons (or indeed, airlines) living or dead is of course entirely coincidental.
In other news, here’s an interview with me by Amber Stilts of the very wonderful Niteblade magazine.
Oct
27
The Write Lines
Filed Under Interviews, The Literary World | 2 Comments
Back in early September I spent a fascinating hour or so crammed into a tiny studio in a basement somewhere off Baker Street recording a programme for National Short Story Week, along with such short story luminaries as Emily Bullock, Stuart Evers and Linda Leatherbarrow. The interviewer was none other than Sue Cook, who expertly guided us through our conversation.
I haven’t dared listen to it all the way through yet, but here it is in case you’re interested. If (as is likely) I sound like a complete git, please do keep it to yourself:
Oct
25
More Reviews of Mrs Darcy and Stuff
Filed Under Interviews, Mrs Darcy | 1 Comment
One of the things they don’t tell you when you’re trying to get a book published (or – to be fair – it’s one of the things they do tell you but you blithely ignore) is how difficult it is to grab the world’s attention, even when your book has a decent-sized initial print run and has found its way into a fair proportion of the nation’s bookstores and you’ve got a massively eye-catching cover.
So I’m pleased to announce that there have been a number of victories in that area in the last few days. First of all, I managed to get myself interviewed by not one but two local papers – first the St Albans & Harpenden Review and then The Herts Advertiser (no online link to the story). Impressively, both papers seemed to get the facts pretty much spot on, so it can definitely be said that the noble art of journalism is alive and well in the provinces at least.
The reviews on Amazon are also trickling in nicely. Inevitably at this stage they are from people I know to a greater or lesser extent online, although I should add that I have only met two of them in real life, and then only once each. In fact, I’ve only come to know Jane Travers at all since I started serialising Mrs Darcy, so I am particularly chuffed that she likes it. And what I’m really pleased about is the extent to which every single one of the reviewers “gets” Mrs Darcy.
However, any writer who wants to take himself seriously isn’t writing for his family or his friends and acquaintances. It’s all about complete strangers. And on Sunday, my first complete stranger tweeted me to say how much she was enjoying the book. Then it turned out she had a review channel on YouTube:
Which is all pretty amazing. All I need now are a few more thousand complete strangers, and my life will be complete. So if you know a complete stranger, do urge them to buy the book.
Meanwhile, we have a few entries for the Tweet Treats prize giveaway, but NOTHING LIKE ENOUGH. Come on, people of the internets, I am disappointed in you! *stern face*
Oct
24
Interview: Jane Travers and #tweettreats
Filed Under Interviews, Other people | 8 Comments
It’s interview time again, folks, and today’s lucky victim is the lovely Jane Travers, who you may recall gave me a grilling about “Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens” a few weeks back. As it happens, she’s now on her own blog tour to promote a rather remarkable recipe book she’s put together called “Tweet Treats”. I’ll let her explain what it’s all about in a minute, but whatever you do, stick around to the end of the post, because there’s a GIVEAWAY. Oh yes.
Explain the concept of the book in less than 140 characters.
Oh now, that’s just nefarious, mean and dastardly. I won’t do it, I tell you! Oh alright then.
“Tweet Treats” are short, simple twitter recipes for real people. The recipes come from ordinary people and celebs, all royalties go to MSF. (That was 140 characters exactly! God I’m good.)
(MSF = Médecins Sans Frontières, by the way, but you people probably knew that already)
Which came first: the idea of the book or the desire to do something for charity?
The idea for the book. I guess I’m not that naturally altruistic! The idea really hit me out of the blue, but as soon as it was formed I knew that it had to be for charity. I’m a good girl, I am.
Why MSF in particular?
‘Cos they’re like, awesome and stuff. What, that’s not enough for you?
MSF do incredible work and I have huge respect for them as an organisation, but also they are a global charity. I knew I would get recipes from all over the world so wanted to choose a charity that would be equally relevant in every contributing country. I also wanted to choose an organisation that was unaffiliated with any religious or political organisation, and MSF fit the bill precisely. Plus, at the time I came up with the idea, the earthquake in Haiti was still very much at the forefront of people’s minds, and MSF were on the ground there providing medical aid.
(Agreed. MSF are a fab organisation.)
Was there a point at which you began to realise that the project might work?
Haven’t gotten there yet. Seriously, I keep expecting something to go horribly wrong, for the publisher to tell me the book isn’t selling, for people to complain about the recipes, etc. But I am really proud to have brought it this far, to hold a published book of recipes in my hand that has my name on the spine. Maybe it will work. Will it work? It might work…
How long have you been on Twitter?
About 50,000 tweets too long. And if you tell me that I could have written 8 novels with that number of words, I’ll smack you one.
(I didn’t say anything. Honest.)
What would you say to someone who hasn’t tried Twitter yet or who has tried it and given up?
Loser.
What do you mean that’s not politically correct? Oh alright then, I’ll try harder. Spoilsport.
Twitter is the most social of social media, where you can become one of a large community of people with shared interests and experiences. Because of the brevity of tweets (140 characters) there’s no room for waffle, so people are forced to be brief and interesting.
Actually I think there should be a law passed stating that no-one can speak in longer than 140 character bursts, too.
What do you mean that’s overkill?
Have you tried every single recipe in the book?
Pshaw! No. Have you seen how many there are? The great thing is that I keep trying new ones from the book and adding to my own recipe repertoire. Today, for example, I tried Butternut Squash Soup from page 67 and it was nom! Given that I was a complete soup-phobe before this, that’s good going for me.
What’s your favourite cheese?
Parmesan. I eat great snowdrifts of it on top of pasta or risotto…. Mmmmm….
(That question was specially for any Firestation Bookswap regulars reading this, by the way. Cheese is a very important thing to them.)
Which celebrity would you have really liked to get a recipe from but failed to for whatever reason?
Stephen Fry, only because he’s like the patriarch of Twitter. Unfortunately though, despite best efforts, I guess his timeline was too busy and he just never saw the requests. It was a huge coup for me to get my most coveted celebrity though, Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself). I read recently that he’s now the single most influential tweeter out there. So having a recipe from him is nice.
What’s your next project?
Something that will actually make ME some money, I hope! Everything I’ve had published so far has been for charity. I’m really not that nice a person, you know. Show me the money, I say!
But if you must have details, I’m working on a YA paranormal romance which I hope will be a trilogy, finishing a women’s fiction and have a few other things in the pipeline too. Looking forward to having some time to work on them!
Many thanks for some terrific answers there, Jane, and masses of luck with the book! And now for the important bit: THE GIVEAWAY! All you need to do in order to win a copy of “Tweet Treats” add a comment below, saying in NO MORE THAN 140 CHARACTERS why you think you should have one. The most entertaining and creative answer added in the next week will get a free copy sent to them, wherever they happen to be in the world.
Well, what are you waiting for?
Oct
2
Blog Tour Extra!
Filed Under Interviews, Mrs Darcy | 2 Comments
A very quick post on my return from an exhausting but entertaining FantasyCon to link to a couple of blog tour extras. First of all, this comprehensive and rather splendid feature by Sandra Norval appeared on the Fantasy Faction site on Friday.
And secondly, I made an appearance on the awesomely talented Sarah Salway’s blog on Saturday. Sarah is a wonderful writer and I have her to blame for me accidentally going all the way to Reading instead of Paddington on my way back from a Firestation Bookswap once because I was so totally absorbed in reading her fabulous book of short stories, “Leading the Dance” (which, incidentally, is now available again, so you have no excuse any more for not possessing a copy).
And that picture is of the shop window of Waterstone’s in Brighton. Many thanks to the lovely Sara Crowley for making it happen.
Oct
1
I’ve spent the last month as a virtual hobo, living out of a suitcase as I’ve travelled the interweb touting my wares (and in fact I’m still on the road as I write). However, it’s time to offer my premises to another lonely author pounding the mean streets of promo: Steve Stack.
Steve has just brought out his second non-fiction book, “21st Century Dodos”, and I have to say that from what I’ve read of it so far it is pretty ace – an excellent choice for your loved one’s Christmas stocking, and certainly a damn sight better than that sodding meerkat book that a well-meaning associate of mine gave me last year. What’s it about, I here you ask? Well, it’s a celebration of all those inanimate objects that were once commonplace but which have either already become extinct or are threatened with extinction – to quote from the blurb:
Cassette tapes, rotary dial phones, half-day closing, milk bottle deliveries, typewriters, countries that no longer exist, white dog poo…
Now before I go any further, I should point out that Steve is actually the alter ego of publishing industry maverick Scott Pack, who runs The Friday Project as well as doing all sorts of other stuff for TFP’s parent Harper Collins. He’s also one of the duo behind the Firestation Book Swap (yeah, sorry about that) and an entertaining tweeter.
So whilst this purports to be an interview with Steve, some of it inevitably strays into Scott territory…
Which of the dodos in your book are you saddest to have seen go?
Well, I was a bit pissed off when Nestles (I insist upon the old pronunciation of ‘nessles’ rather than ‘nesslay’) stopped making the Maverick bar. And I think the death of the cardboard tube for Smarties was a low point on British confectionery. But I’ll nominate handwritten letters as the one I am most sad about. They haven’t died out completely but they are certainly endangered.
Which objects are still around that you wish had become extinct?
Jars of Marmite. The squat little yeasty fuckers.
Are there any objects that are still around whose continued survival you find completely baffling?
Those low-slung jeans that young men seem to be wearing. I saw a pair last week with clear daylight between crotch and jean.
I’m interested as to why you chose to issue this book in hardback and e-book formats. Do you see paperbacks as becoming extinct sooner than hardbacks?
An excellent question, but if I am to answer it honestly then I need to be quite dull. We see it as a potential Christmas gift book and that little B-format jacketed hardback for a tenner is the perfect stocking filler.
As a publisher, do you see yourself threatened with a disintermediated extinction?
I think publishers have to prove that they bring something of value to the party if they expect to still be around in ten years’ time. But then so do agents. And booksellers. How depressing is that?
On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate the ugliness of the term “disintermediation”.
7.2
Does your decision to become a serial author indicate a desire to have a secondary career in reserve if/when such a disintermediation occurs?
It indicates a desire for some spare cash with which to purchase cake.
For some time you kept your identity as a writer secret. Do you have any other secret lives? Are you, for example, one of The Residents? If not, who would you like to secretly be?
Yes, I am the one with the green eye. I am also Humphrey, Buzby and the Secret Lemonade Drinker.
What’s the audience question most often asked at a Firestation Book Swap and what would your answer be?
What is your favourite cheese? And the answer is a cheese called Rachel.
Finally, if you had a pet dodo, what would you call it?
Lulu.
Some good answers from Steve/Scott there, even if he is completely wrong about Marmite. I actually think we should all club together and buy loads and loads of copies of the book so that he can afford to set up some kind of Jurassic Park-style cloning facility on Mauritius just so he can recreate Lulu the dodo. So here’s where you need to go in order to purchase the hardback, or (if you really insist) the ebook. And many thanks to Scott/Steve for dropping in. Do keep following his tour: yesterday he was at Stephanie Butland’s Bah! To Cancer blog, and tomorrow he’s visiting Rena Rossner.
Aug
22
Interview with Steve Moran of the Willesden Herald New Short Stories Competition
Filed Under Interviews | 30 Comments
I’ve got something a bit different for you today. Not only an interview but - drum roll – a giveaway. The interview is with Steve Moran, the powerhouse behind the excellent Willesden Herald New Short Stories Competition. The giveaway? Well, you’ll need to read to the end of the interview to find out. But trust me, it will be worth it. Anyway, without further ado, here’s Steve.
Can you tell me a bit about how the Willesden Herald New Short Stories Competition came into being?
It was towards the end of 2005. I had been involved in two or three online writers’ workshop sites, part of the now defunct MSN “communities” and the setting of writing challenges was a regular occurrence. I thought it would be fun to run a little short story competition on the Willesden Herald blog, which had been going since 2003. So I announced a competition, closing just before Christmas to allow judging in the holiday break, prize a Willesden Herald mug. It was a stroke of luck to get a well known local writer as the judge and the competition took off from there.
Zadie Smith, right? Looking at the impressive list of people who have appeared in the shortlist over the years, it would be fair to say that for a “little short story competition”, you’ve consistently punched above your weight. Why do you think this is?
I tried to make the competition as writer-friendly as I could in several important ways. Entry was free and there was no word limit or minimum, no set theme, no nationality restriction, and there would be no second or third place, only short-listed and winner. Some of the terms have changed since then. Another one back then was you didn’t have to have your short-listed story published, it could retain its unpublished status. There was no guarantee that a winner would be chosen and judging was anonymous. I tried and still try to make it fun and appeal specifically to short story enthusiasts, being myself a fanatic, which probably is evident and adds to the favourable ethos of the competition. That said, it was likely as much or more to do with having such an acclaimed author as the judge. To be selected as a winner by someone like Zadie Smith is worth a lot to an ambitious writer.
As a failed entrant on more than one occasion, that makes perfect sense to me. The other thing you didn’t mention is that you seem to take an interest in the post-WH careers of your alumni in a way that few other competitions (with the notable exception of the Bristol Short Story Prize) do. Can you say a little bit about the process of selecting your shortlist? Or is that shrouded in secrecy?
I read entries as they come in, which is usually only about ten or less per day until the last week when there are more and I can’t keep up. Ten per day is ideal for me, though I can get to twenty if I’m not tired from work but after that my brain refuses the next fence.
With many of the stories it’s clear before the end that they cannot be put in front of the final judge but I don’t stop reading just because of typos or minor flaws, I only stop before the end if the accumulation of problems rules the entry out. The game for entrants is to keep me reading, of course, I’m sure it’s the same with all other writing contests. When entries are poor it doesn’t take long to file them under “No”. I used to create folders for different sorts of flaws but now I only have No, Hell No, Maybe and Yes.
It’s quite hard to get straight into the Yes folder, which becomes the short list, but even so by the end of the submissions window there have typically been about fifteen needing reduction to ten. Last time with Maggie Gee we extended the short list to twelve. Some of the judges have wanted a long list of about fifteen in order to choose the short list themselves. For the others I chose the short list, a couple of times with help from other readers. I have to re-read the Maybe’s and Yeses to finalise the list. That tends to happen over the Christmas break.
So would I be right in inferring that it’s more a case of entries being eliminated on the basis of an accumulation of flaws than being accepted because of a high overall score on a grid?
Yes, it’s mainly a process of elimination. There’s no grid it’s just a case of do I want to read it to the end and is it a yes or a maybe? I am a slow reader so it’s a big time investment. I remember it took me two hours to read Wena Poon’s winning story the first time. I had already finished for the night and I thought I wouldn’t start another one but then I started reading The Architects and it wouldn’t let me go. I don’t abandon a story lightly, always try to give each one every possible chance. Thinking about it, I read nearly all the Noes all the way to the end or near the end, it’s mostly only the Hell Noes that are quickly decided. If a story is generally well written I will read all the way to the end.
I should at this point recommend very strongly Steve’s list of common faults in short stories, which gives a pretty good indication of what is likely to get your story eliminated. One final question, then. This year’s judge is none other than Roddy Doyle – how on earth did you manage to get him on board?
I just sent a very polite message, asking if there might be a chance. I was thinking of closing the competition at the time. I thought better go out on a high after the superb results event with Liars’ League et al, thought it would be hard to follow that. Thanks to Roddy Doyle for being a sport, thanks to everyone who works at the stories instead of looting Footlocker and thank you for having me as a guest.
Amen to that, and many thanks for dropping in.
Now for the giveaway. Steve has very kindly donated a copy of New Short Stories 5, the excellent anthology from the 2011 competition, featuring stories by Mary O’Shea, Y.J.Zhu, Alex Barr and other top writers. All you have to do to get your sticky hands on it is to leave a comment below and I will put your name into the draw, with the winner to be announced at the beginning of September. Which, incidentally, is when the competition opens for entries.
Mar
11
The New Writer Poetry Prize and Other Stuff
Filed Under Acceptances, Competitions, Interviews, Placings, Publications | 2 Comments
I like The New Writer. Specifically I like their poetry prizes. Their fiction prize is a closed book to me, but last year I managed to be a finalist in both their poetry collection and single poetry competitions. This year I went one better and I was highly commended in the single poem category for my piece about the “Green Line” in Nicosia, “Cyprus Delight”.
So, as one of the top ten poems in the competition, “Cyprus Delight” will now receive the ultimate accolade of print publication. Which is all rather exciting.
I still find poetry completely baffling. I dabble in it (I hate that phrase, but it’s true) because I enjoy it and I like to think that my experiments in the discipline with choosing the right word and getting the rhythm right etc. inform my fiction writing. But despite clocking up a few moderate successes like this one, I still feel a total fraud because I read very little poetry – partly because there’s very little that I feel completely comfortable with, but mostly because I’m lazy and ignorant. Actually, I could probably do with some pointers as to who I should read, and any suggestions would be most welcome.
In other news, my interview with Vanessa Gebbie went live on Salt Publishing’s blog yesterday. I hope I managed to do her justice, despite me not having much of a clue about interviewing. It was fun to do, though.
And I had a very swift acceptance yesterday from Escape Velocity for my piece “Symbiosis”, a tender story about the love of a young girl for her medicinal parasitic tapeworm. This will appear in their forthcoming anthology.
Finally … just take a look at the cover for Murky Depths 16. And then take a look at the wonderful artwork for my story, “Teamwork”, by Caroline Parkinson. And then go and place your order …