Dec

16

The Celery and the Ivy

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Toby Frost has done it again! A year on from last year’s splendidly festive Space Captain Smith Christmas special, “When Slay Bells Ring”, he’s just brought out “The Celery and the Ivy”. Here’s the blurb:

Toby Frost has put aside his iMelodiatron to decree:

By popular demand it has been declared that the universe of Space Captain Smith must get even more exciting, so we are proud to present The Celery and the Ivy, in which Isambard Smith, Polly Carveth, Rhianna Mitchell and Suruk the Slayer set out to bring Christmas cheer to a remote research station.

With Suruk seeking to feast on Stephen, Carveth yearning for equine company and Rhianna wanting to get her hands on Smith’s nut roast, how will the sole inhabitant of a biological research station take to his visitors?

Find out by downloading The Celery and the Ivy, by Toby Frost – and then feel free to pass it on to all your chums, especially if they are yet to discover the wonderful world of Space Captain Smith.

I think the only thing wrong with this is the idea that there is anyone out there who is yet to discover the wonderful world of Space Captain Smith. Surely everyone on the planet is a fan? At least, that’s the way it would be if there were any justice in the world.

So what are you waiting for? Download it here. Oh, did I say it was free? Well it is. So no excuses whatsoever, then. Pass it on.

Mar

6

Quiet here, innit?

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So anyway, what have I been doing lately? Here’s a brief snapshot of my writing life over the last few days:

I have written the first chapter of my first grown-up novel. This has taken the total word count (including the prologue) to around 4000, which (as those who know me will appreciate) is completely uncharted territory. The good news is that I even know what happens next, and it seems to be flowing reasonably easily so far. It is, however, rather silly.

Eurofiction has come to an end. I had high hopes for my Task 10 piece, which was unbelievably massively clever and intricate, but it picked up a very average 6. Needs more contextualization, apparently. Although the lack of context was part of its charm. I can guess that it’s going to be one of those stories that I really like, but is going to hang around the house taking up space and asking me to do its washing for the next five years.

The Whittaker starts on Saturday. I am doing both fiction and poetry this year and I really wonder what I was thinking of when I signed up. However, Geoff Nelder will be an interesting judge for the fiction, so I’ll try to stick with it for a round or two at least.

The STIRRED POeT continues, increasing my poetry portfolio at a rapid pace. Whilst my ranking could not in any way be described as stellar, I’m actually picking up a few votes from some of the real poets on TWI, which pleases me no end.

And I’ve got a few things coming out later this month – specifically in Litro, Every Day Poets and Aphelion (and possibly FlashScribe).

Finally, if you’ve nothing to do for a few minutes, take a look at this piece from my mate Oscar. It’s ace.

Feb

1

An Agent in Our Midst

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I know I said that this blog was going to be all about me me me, but this is too interesting to pass by without commenting.

These are fascinating times for the real-life writers’ group that I belong to, the Verulam Writers’ Circle. It’s changed out of all recognition since I first joined back in the early nineties: not only do we have rising star Toby Frost, the third book of whose Space Captain Smith series will be coming out later in the year, but we also now have four (five? I’m losing count) other writers who have acquired agents in the last year or so.

And now we have a real live agent in our midst. Kate Nash, a writer with several published novels under her belt, has taken the decision to launch herself as an agent this year. Now in some ways this might seem a – ahem – brave thing to do now of all times, but it’s not quite as risky as you might think. First of all, there’s a highly plausible theory doing the rounds that in a recession, entertainment is one area that tends not to suffer as much as the rest. Escapism, see?

The second and somewhat more significant factor is that of all the people I know, Kate is probably the only one who could make a go of something like this. She’s a quite shameless networker with excellent contacts, and she knows the market and business inside out, as a writer herself and having acted as PR for the likes of Myrmidon Books. And she seems to have made a cracking start.

So keep an eye on her. Actually, that’s even easier than you might think, ‘cos she’s got a blog over here.

Back to normal me me me tomorrow. But expect more on my talented chums in the VWC from time to time. I’m hoping some of it’ll rub off on me one day.

Dec

10

When Slay Bells Ring

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My ever-inventive chum Toby Frost, author of the excellent Space Captain Smith books, has now produced a Christmas Special. Woo hoo! Read it here, and then go and buy the books if you haven’t already.

Oct

28

Of All The People To Pick On …

Filed Under Other people, Performances, Stuff | 3 Comments

Couldn’t give a toss about Russell Brand, but I used to like Jonathan Ross. He always struck me as someone who had a little more behind him than the average celeb. But after this stunt, I’m not so sure.

I haven’t had many encounters with celebs (apart from – God help me – Margaret Thatcher, and I’m not entirely sure that she counts), but I did once receive a phone call from Andrew Sachs. Bizarrely, this means that probably the one thing I have in common with Brand and Ross is that I also have Andrew Sachs’ mobile phone number. This is how it came to pass.

Once upon a time, I wrote a radio play. It was a very strange radio play, and to this day it remains unbroadcast, although I would dearly love to hear it produced. I sent it off to the BBC – which in those pre-Writers’ Room days was a lot more straightforward to get into – and I received an invitation to meet Jeremy Howe, who was then in charge of drama at Radio 3. He basically told me that he really liked it, but it was too short, and did I have anything else? And I admitted that, er, no, I didn’t, apart from one half-baked idea that we kicked around for a few minutes, and that was that. In those days, I didn’t have the tenacity and single-mindedness to follow it up (to say nothing of having a young family to support), so nothing more came of it.

A couple of years back, I dug the script out of the drawer, and sent it off to Dirk Maggs, who also liked it, but said that it was too short, etc. etc.. Then I had an inspiration. Why not send it to Andrew Sachs? One of the lesser-known facts about Andrew Sachs (in fact one that is currently missing from his Wikipedia page) is that he was the writer of the radio drama “The Revenge”. This is an unusual piece, in that it has no words, only sound effects (but it works – especially when you’re wearing headphones, because it’s recorded binaurally). And it was, to a large extent, the inspiration for my play. So I wrote to him, via his agent, enclosing my script, explaining that “The Revenge” was the inspiration for it – and would he be interested in taking one of the parts should it ever come to production?

So it was that one Sunday morning in February last year, I received a phone call from Andrew Sachs. Once I had picked the phone up from where I had dropped it on the floor, we had a very pleasant five-minute chat, in which he seemed extremely down to earth and genuinely interested in what I was doing. He also mentioned that I could certainly say that he would be interested in playing the part that I had suggested. On the basis of this call, I would like to suggest that Andrew Sachs is possibly the nicest celeb on the planet.

And Jonathan Ross, you’re a git.

Oct

20

Stop Making Sense

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I sometimes worry that my writing is a bit shallow, and that I get distracted from the task of writing great literature by the occasional desire either to go for laughs or to construct a story that makes some kind of logical sense. But this rather lovely story from Sara Crowley’s blog (via Vanessa Gebbie) has put it all in perspective. I now know what I have to do.

Oct

5

A Storm is Brewing

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As readers of this blog will probably be aware, it was mainly set up to service my ego. To this end, pretty much all of the posts have been about me, me and me. However, there comes a time when an exception has to be made, and that time it now. My mate Toby Frost has just brought out his second book, and it’s even better than his first. But let YouTube tell the full story:

Aug

6

Frogs

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I met Adrian Graham at Liars’ League a few weeks back. He’s an enthusiast for short fiction, as well as being a talented writer in his own right (I like this story particularly), and his blog’s well worth a read. So when he asked me if I was interested in having a short short story posted there (his emphasis), I was very happy to oblige, and I sent him this one, which is one of the shortest ones I’ve written. I’ve always been quite fond of it, and I’m pleased to see it out there. So thanks, Adrian!