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.
Aug
16
SPARKS: The Flyer!
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Gosh, that looks fun – think I might get on Thameslink, zip down to Brighton and go.
Had a certain amount of fun trying to post this on Twitter on Friday night. I noticed a tweet from Jo Mortimer who runs Sparks asking for help in posting it, so I suggested TwitPic.
Then I thought I might as well do it myself and took the image from Facebook. Unfortunately, I took the thumbnail, rather than the full image, with the result that what I posted looked like this.
I think that’s what’s usually referred to as a Spinal Tap moment.
Aug
7
Sparks Night Again
Filed Under Acceptances, Performances | 4 Comments
Just realised that I haven’t mentioned this before. I’m going to be performing at SPARKS 10 on September 7th, along with my VWC mate Oscar Windsor-Smith, as well as Vanessa Gebbie, Tom Vowler, Sam Mead, Naomi Foyle, Jac Cattaneo and Paul Toth. Vanessa Gebbie should need no introduction and Tom Vowler was one of the winners of last year’s Scott Prize. So no pressure, then …
I’m now thinking that maybe I should have chosen a slightly more profound piece than “‘Ello, ‘Ello, What’s All This Ear, Then?” I will have to do voices as well. This is not necessarily a good thing.
Still, if you fancy coming along (for the other star acts, if not for me), the venue is Upstairs at Three and Ten, Brighton, at 7:30PM on Tuesday, September 7th. Last time, I had a ball – a wonderful evening all round.
Nov
4
Sparks Night, Brighton
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Had a thoroughly wonderful time at Sparks Night last night, in the intimate venue at Upstairs at Three and Ten, Brighton. Jo Mortimer compered in her entertainingly idiosyncratic way and the whole evening went off without a hitch. Some great pieces by Jac Cattaneo, Katie McCullough (read by Jo), Yeu-Ing Mo, Wendy Greenhalgh, Vanessa Gellard and Vanessa Gebbie. Oh, and me – have a feeling I was there as the token bloke, to be honest. I read “Canine Mathematics“, accompanied by a wonderfully apposite photo, which I’ll post up if I can get hold of (a) an image and (b) permission. I particularly liked the pieces by both Vanessas and Wendy Greenhalgh.
After the event, the audience and performers all mingled in the bar downstairs and I was sorry to leave to catch my train (and replacement bus service and train again). What a lovely bunch of people. Especially nice to meet Vanessa Gebbie, as I have long been an admirer of her work, and I will in fact be interviewing her at some point in the not-too-distant future about (amongst other things) her work on editing “Short Circuit“, the new must-have definitive book on writing short stories. Here’s the post on her blog about the night. It was also nice to meet James Burt again, having previously been on the same bill as him at Liars’ League, as well as Vanessa Gellard and Robin Taylor, who I’ve previously only known on Twitter – my first tweet-up!
Oh, and if anyone is interested to read about how “Canine Mathematics” came into existence, here’s the full story.
Oct
13
Sparks Night
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Ooh, this should be fun. I’ve just had a piece accepted for the next Sparks Night. This is the one where you read out a piece of under 1000 words in front of a projection of a specially commissioned photograph. I’ll be fascinated to see what they come up with to accompany my piece. I’ve chosen an old favourite of mine, “Canine Mathematics”, which I last read at Leighton Buzzard Writers’ open mic night, where it seemed to go down reasonably well.
Anyway, if you fancy coming along to see me making a fool of myself, the venue is Upstairs at the Three and Ten, Steine Street, Brighton, and the date is Tuesday, November 3rd. I’m really looking forward to this. Just got to work out how to get back home afterwards – I’m hoping against hope that there isn’t a replacement bus service between London Bridge and St Pancras, because that will really piss me off.
Apr
26
Well At Least I Didn’t Gabble …
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… or lose my place, although according to Mrs P I didn’t quite have the microphone at the right height, so parts of the story were a little hard to pick up. I’d add a picture, if it weren’t for the fact that I look even more unprepossessing than usual, so that delight will be denied to you this time. Anyway, it all seemed to go off reasonably well on Friday night, and I was honoured to be on the same bill as Katy (Liars’ League) Darby, as well as Mo Cooney and Steve Smithson, all of whom contributed first-rate stories. Definitely worth submitting for again.
Apr
15
Tales of the Decongested
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I’m really really chuffed about this one. After several failed attempts (mainly with completely inappropriate pieces – duh), I have finally made it into Tales of the Decongested with “Farewell Symphony”, the piece that I wrote for Round One of the Whittaker Prize. So if anyone wants to hear me read it, the place is the 3rd floor of Foyles on Tottenham Court Road and the time is 7PM next Friday, April 24th.
Apr
14
Last night I dragged the wife and kids along to The Old Red Lion Theatre Pub in Islington to see Obstacle Productions’ performance of “What Stirs the Spring” and we all had a terrific time. The intimate venue was almost full and we were treated to an exceptionally polished performance by Miles Barden and Joshua Dickinson. I always get a kick out of hearing something I’ve written myself being acted out (”After Michelangelo” in this case) – even if that is tempered by occasional thoughts of “Hmmm, that bit of writing needs tightening up a tad”. I also thought that Oscar Windsor-Smith’s piece “Timelock” was fantastic, and those two old pros Poe and Jacobs came out of it pretty well, too.
Mar
25
LB Writers Open Mic Evening
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Well, that was a lot of fun. Last night, I went to my first-ever open mic evening at Leighton Buzzard Writers. The house was packed, and a great time was had by all. We were limited to three-minute slots, so I went for “Canine Mathematics”, which is probably the nearest thing I have to a crowd-pleaser. Anyway, it seemed to go down reasonably well, in that everyone seemed to laugh in most of the right places. In fact, I have to say that there wasn’t a single duff reading all night – everyone rose to the occasion, with an extraordinary variety of work displayed, both fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, and humorous, serious and occasionally downright angry. In the intervals, I met John Hockey of LB Writers and Martin Brocklebank of Milton Keynes Speakeasy and we chatted about how to free the power of the right brain. There’s a science to all this, y’know.
Anyway, well done to Kate Allen for organising it and for inviting us outsiders along. I believe that we in the VWC are doing something similar in the summer, and I for one can’t wait.
Mar
23
Just realised that I haven’t posted the dates of all the performances of “What Stirs the Spring” (featuring “After Michelangelo”). They are as follows:
March 30th – 31st, 7.30 PM, at The Calder Bookshop Theatre in the Cut, SE1
April 1st – 3rd, 8 PM, at The Drill Hall
April 13th, 7.30 PM, at The Old Red Lion Theatre Pub, EC1
Don’t be square, be there!
Mar
8
What Stirs the Spring
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The dates and venue for “What Stirs the Spring” (featuring “After Michelangelo”) have now been announced. So the place to be is The Drill Hall, and the dates are April 1st to 3rd. This is what they have to say:
Following their success at Hampstead’s New End Theatre in December 2008, Camden-based young company Obstacle brings A Winter’s Chill into the New Year and a new season.
Performers Miles Barden and Joshua Dickinson present the work of two contemporary authors seeking to surpass the mystery of WW Jacobs and the monstrosity of Edgar Allan Poe with their own original, grisly legends.
See What Stirs the Spring when new commissions challenge old masters in the intimate atmosphere of The Drill Hall.
Suitable for those aged 12 and over.
Those two contemporary authors are Oscar Windsor-Smith and yours truly, BTW. And Jacobs and Poe? Pah! Has-beens, them two.