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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.
Dec
10
When Slay Bells Ring
Filed Under Other people, Stuff, Things I like | Leave a Comment
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.
Dec
9
Gene Genii Anthology Now Available
Filed Under Publications | Leave a Comment
In all the excitement of the last few days, I forgot to mention that the Gene Genii Anthology is now available at all good bookstores. This anthology is the result of a flash charity event held by The Grail writers’ group a while ago. I didn’t actually take part in this one, but I was asked if I’d like to contribute anything afterwards, so I offered them a rather tasteless little flash entitled “Interior Design” and another one called “Interview with a Zombie”, both of which they accepted. The latter was, incidentally, rejected by the “Bits of the Dead” anthology for being “too cheeky”, so if cheeky zombies are your thing (and why shouldn’t they be?), this book is just for you. Quite apart from my efforts, there are loads of good pieces in there from some really excellent writers AND it’s in a good cause (one all too close to the hearts of a couple of the people involved, in fact), so why not buy a copy for someone you love this Christmas?
Dec
6
Milton Keynes Speakeasy Competition 2008
Filed Under Competitions, Placings | 2 Comments
Just heard that I came second in this one, with my piece “Fishermen’s Tales” (or, as they refer to it in their e-mail, “Fisherman’s Tale”, which is probably better). This one has had an unbelievably tortuous life. It sort of started out as my first-ever entry for the (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) Café Doom weekly flash challenge, all 349 words of it with the title “Bait”, back at the start of November 2007.
It then mutated into the first piece I wrote on the practice night for last year’s Children in Need, 356 words long, with the title “I Caught an Amazing Fish” (I hadn’t realised that you were supposed to use the prompts as inspiration, not as titles - duh). Following this, I inserted a whole load of backstory at the start, taking the word count up to 1133, with the title changed to “Catch of the Day”. This was, much to my surprise, Highly Commended in this year’s JBWB Summer competition.
Meanwhile, I’d posted it on the VWC virtual manuscript evening, where it was (quite justifiably) torn apart. I took the tattered shreds, stitched them together, renamed the piece “On the Hook”, and put it into the September session of the Café Doom crit group. There it was torn apart a bit more, following which I produced the final version, now renamed “Fishermen’s Tales” (or “Fisherman’s Tale”, if you prefer), with the word count bumped up to 1305, and the voice changed from first person to third. And the rest is history.
The moral of the story? Easy. If you’ve got an idea that you know works, keep plugging away at it. But never be afraid to subject it to criticism. And always, ALWAYS act on that criticism.
Dec
5
Two More Stitches
Filed Under Acceptances, Rejections, The Hit Count | Leave a Comment
Just when I was wondering if there was anyone out there at all, I got a rejection from Eyeshot (well, no surprises there) and an acceptance of two more for Fifty-Two Stitches, just sneaking in under the wire as submissions close. So that’s a hit for “The Greatest Disciple” and “What Today’s Well-Dressed Mind Parasite is Wearing”. Nice to see a home for my favourite title to date there. And that’s two more successful graduates from the Café Doom weekly flash challenge, which reminds me that I haven’t actually gone in for that for some time. If I’m not careful, the supply’s going to dry up. Anyway, that brings the hit count for the year up to 39, with 25 subs currently outstanding. Hmmm. I wonder …
Dec
3
I recently submitted a poem containing the word “Nanotechnologist”, which I was rather pleased about. I have no idea whether or not I was right to feel pleased about this, because I haven’t yet heard back from the market in question (and don’t expect to for a while yet). However, this led to an interesting discussion on our writers’ circle forum on shoe-horning difficult words into poems, in the course of which two of us independently proposed that the finest example of this ever occurred in the song “Nervous Wreck” by the Radio Stars. If you’ve ever heard it, you’ll know exactly what I mean, and if you haven’t, why on earth not?
Here it is:
Isn’t that the best chorus of all time?
Dec
1
An Unsuitable Replacement
Filed Under Publications | 2 Comments
My story “An Unsuitable Replacement” is now up at Niteblade. This curious piece of dark humour first made an appearance during the 2007 Children in Need marathon, which means that it was written in less than an hour. It’s basically a case of following an idea to its logical conclusion and then carrying on for a bit afterwards. As you do. It’s also a kind of companion piece to my brain transplant story, “Convalescence”, which can still be found in this excellent anthology.
Nov
25
Misunderstandings
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“Misunderstandings” appears today in Tuesday Shorts. This is a classic case of re-formatting and recycling an idea that I was pretty certain was good until I finally found a place where it would fit. The rest of this post is a bit spoiler-ish, so I’ll make a break here in case you want to read the piece first (it’s very short).
Nov
24
Ah, this is more like it. From the website of the New End Theatre, Hampstead, London:
Obstacle Productions presents
A WINTER’S CHILL
Including work written and inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, M. R. James, Janet Baldey and Jonathan PinnockPerformed by Miles Barden and Josh Dickenson
The spine-tingling horror of M. R. James combined with the mysterious monstrosity of Edgar Allan Poe to quicken your blood and addle your mind. In the depth of winter and the full dark of night these legends of terror alongside two entirely new, contemporary tales will be narrated in classic style by two connoisseurs of the art of storytelling. Experience the delight of true, full-blooded, psychological terror. Allow yourself to feel the shock of the supernatural and the unknown, and the fear of things that only lurk in the dark.
Suitable for ages 12 and above
Sunday 28 to Monday 29 December 2008
Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm
Tickets £10
So click away people!
Nov
24
Treading Water …
Filed Under Stuff | Leave a Comment
I really should be working on my entry for Eurofiction Task 4 right now, but for some reason although I reckon I’ve got the germ of a decent idea, I can’t get down to actually writing the thing. I think it may be the shock of getting a fairly good score for my Task 3 entry, which was scribbled down in less than an hour in our hotel room in HK. What is really weird is that the piece I came up with wouldn’t look out of place in Take A Break. And just when I thought I was getting the hang of dark and literary. I’m also getting this curious feeling that somewhere, just out of reach, is the novel that I really want to be writing right now. So I’m wondering if I should perhaps take a break (as it were) from all this prompted stuff to find out what it might be.
Apart from that, there ain’t much going on apart from a few rejections, none of which came as a big surprise, so I’ll leave you with some links to some other stuff:
- A rant of mine about the BBC and its critics over at If Shakespeare …
- My mate Toby’s interview in SFX (w00t! SFX, eh?)
- My mate Steve’s piece in The Independent.
- Possibly the best Downfall mash-up produced so far on the subject of the BNP membership list fiasco.
Enjoy.
Finally, a thought after watching “Einstein and Eddington” last night. Phrases that are unlikely to enter the critical lexicon (#1 in a series): “Another typically understated performance by Andy Serkis.”
Nov
20
More About “A Winter’s Chill”
Filed Under Performances | Leave a Comment
Ooh, take a look at this. Well, I’m excited - aren’t you?