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The Fine Colour Of Rust - Review

9/23/2012

2 Comments

 
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The Fine Colour Of Rust
by P.A. O'Reilly
Published by Blue Door/HarperCollins
I was fortunate enough to recieve an autographed copy of this book as a gift from my Antipodean literary advisor. Despite having both a free book and a personal message from the author, I shan't let either cloud my opinion here. 

But if you're looking for a good read about a group of not-quite-ordinary people struggling to carve a life out of a small town half way between Melbourne and and a great big open space, then you'd do well to pick up a copy. 

On the other hand, if you're looking for something fast-paced and where the action explodes off the page, this isn't for you: this story moves at it own pace, it unfolds gradually and gives you the time to savour the grains and dust that make up so much of our lives.

The story revolves around Loretta Boskovic, a single mother among a sea of single mothers who daydreams of capturing the heart of a reliable and hopefully (though always imaginary) well-heeled man, whilst inspiring the rest of the town of Gunapan's population to do battle with big and small government. Her much dreamed of man also has to come with a pretty decent car because her own, as we explore in great detail, is always en-route to the scrapyard.

The town is, by and large, forgotten by everyone bar the locals and is thus ripe to be shafted by unscrupulous property dealers. Not only do they plan to nick the local water supply, they see the town as a sort of feeder factory of workers for the resort they plan to build (with help from some obliging members of the local council). That's battle No 2.

Battle No 1 involves dragging the Minister for Education, Elderly Care and Gaming into Gunapan to talk to the residents about their never-going-to-give-up battle to save their children's school from closure.

And if the minister's title brings a smile to your lips then you'll be happy to know that the book is laced with this kind of humour. It's not quite black, but for every situation Loretta and the town finds themselves in, there's nearly always a humorous lining. For me, one of the great lol moments was the hospital scene between Loretta, her sick mother and Loretta's children, which is both bizarre and sharply dark.

The characters, their lives and experiences are all well written and believeable - you warm to them all (except the scattering of baddies). If, like me, you read foreign literature to gain something of an insight into how other nations think and act, then you won't be disappointed, though it'd probably be wise not to imagine that the Gunapanians represent all of Oz. On the other hand, the issues being dealt with here are universal, the sort of things we read about wherever we are.

One of the things I like about reading books in non-British English is to discover how the langauge used differs to mine. So would I say that it is typically Ozzie in voice and circumstance?

I can't say I know enough about Australia and her people to comment, but it does reflect a certain gritiness, a willingness to get on with life without much moaning about what it's throwing at them. The language is undoubtedly Aussie, but given that Oz English is by and large British English, you only notice the difference in the details. In a way I'm a little disappointed by this: I know that if I read an American novel the English will be very different to British English. But this isn't a criticism of the book, it just shows how close Oz and British English still are.

My only real criticism is there is a long-ish build up to a fairly important event which we jump over, to land in the aftermath of an explanation of how it had unravelled and been dealt with. I felt slightly cheated because I wanted one or two of the baddies to get their come uppance, and I wanted the satisfaction of witnessing it.

On the other hand, O'Reilly twists and binds the ups and downs with so much humour and humanity that it's pretty easy to forgive her for not satisfying my expectations in that department.

It isn't a difficult book to read: the pages turn almost by themselves as O'Reilly's easy style of writing and the laughs keep you wanting more. Overall, I really enjoyed this snapshot of middle-of-nowhere Australia, a place populated with every-day people struggling to bring happines into some pretty tough lives, and not giving up on this despite the commercial and political skulduggery. Personally, I'd like to find out what happens next, but failing this, will settle for reading the rest of O'Reilly's back-catalogue.

You can order the book from Amazon, and while you're waiting, you can read the excellent interview with the author on her website.


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Masterpiece, or Not?

8/26/2012

1 Comment

 
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I've just finished reading Julian Barnes novel, The Sense of an Ending, which I really enjoyed for a number of reasons. One of the reviews listed on the back cover describes it as a masterpiece.

Which made me start wondering just what is a masterpiece. We all have our own opions and it is a matter of taste, but one thing's for sure, book reviewers have to be really careful about using such words (they're entitled to their opinion of course), because such high praise can only lead to high expectations among readers. 

And if these are not met, you are not only disappointed with the read but also then question its validity and potentially any other reviews from the same source.

That said, I really enjoyed the book, which is published by Vintage Press, it's a simple story and deceptively easy to read. It's told from the perspective of a man who's looking back on his life and dealing with things that happened at university (by and large) and the impact of those times on him (and a few other people) now. 

It's also to do with memories, and how these change with time, and how they become less certain as we age. Amateur writers such as myself can learn a lot from how the book's written. For example, you don't have to write 100k words to tell a story or for your work to be valid; the story can be low key - you don't have to have tons of actions or plot twist: simplicity can be your friend.

But as much as I enjoyed it, it's not a masterpiece in my opinion. A couple of indisputable masterpieces for me are Cormac McCarthy's The Border Trilogy and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.

These books take you deep inside the story, far, far away from the here and now. Then they bury you in words and ideas, they are poetic and imaginative in ways that take you can never expect. They lead you away from yourself whilst simultaneously taking you deep inside yourself. 

And when you've finished reading you are changed: the book is tattooed on your psyche. You are still savouring and thinking about them a year later and wondering how much more time has to pass before you've forgotten enough to start reading them again.

That, for me, is the difference between a masterpiece and a damn good read.
Cheers.

1 Comment

It's All About Inspiration

8/15/2012

1 Comment

 
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Welcome to IAAY number nine!

This week it's all about British writer and editor, Marian Newell, whose first novel was inspired by childhood memories of the Cinque Ports and their lurid smuggling folklore.

IAAY is published every Wednesday (yes, all of them), so there's plenty of time for you to join in too! Contact me via the comments section or via Twitter: @mickdavidson.

It’s All About Marian Newell
It’s All About Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

 It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’

This must be one of the greatest closing lines in fiction, quite an achievement when you remember that the book has a cracking opening line too. The words moved me to tears when I first read them in my late teens, and the nobility of the protagonist’s sacrifice retains its power for me still.

This book shaped my taste in fiction, making me seek grand themes and psychological depth.  Most of all, it piqued my interest in motivation. I want to get to know characters as if they were real people, and I want to understand what they want and why they act as they do.

One of the grand themes in this story is redemption. It asks whether a worthless life can be redeemed by a single noble act. It also invites us to consider whether the sacrifice has less value because the life is worthless, a burden to the man who sacrifices it.

The quoted words are finely crafted, using the literary device anaphora — the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. This occurs throughout the book and underlines the recurring theme of doubles. There are the two cities of the title and the two characters so alike that they can be repeatedly mistaken for one another.

For me, though, the power of the quote is in the satisfying resolution it gives to the story. An ending that might have been unbearably sad is lifted by the fact that death holds no fear. There is utter confidence that the path taken will leave everyone, including the man who forfeits his life, better off.

A sense of closure remains important to me. I often find stories that end ambiguously to be unsatisfying. While recognising that there is value in personal interpretation, I usually prefer to know what the storyteller means rather than to discover my own meaning in their work.


It’s All About Me

A Devil’s Dozen by Marian Newell (2012)

This, my debut novel, is a fictionalised account of real events. It describes the rise and fall of a smuggling gang that operated on the Kent coast in the 1820s. The tale demanded a strong focus on historical detail and actual incidents but my own interest was more in the nature of the fourteen viewpoint characters. I wanted to use fiction as a tool to look beyond the recorded facts.

It struck me that any group of that size includes a variety of people, doing similar things but for a range of reasons. Having read as much as I could about the time and place, I considered how the men might have differed in their backgrounds and circumstances. The motivations of the characters that I created range from need to greed, from the wildly irrational to the coldly calculated.

My story is unlike A Tale of Two Cities in that it has a factual core and doesn’t impose specific themes on what took place. However, and with no comparison to Dickens’ mastery of the form, I do see ways in which my work was influenced by his. Much of the impact of the sacrifice in A Tale of Two Cities comes from its unexpected source. Our expectations are often confounded: people we consider reliable may let us down, while people we dismiss may surprise us. I tried to cast against type when I allocated actions derived from contemporary local rumours to the individuals I had characterised.

Returning to endings, the optimism of mine certainly owes a debt to his. I was mindful of the importance of opening and closing chapters and considered my personal favourites. It was Rebecca (‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’) and A Tale of Two Cities that sprang to mind.

My manuscript originally ended on a reflective and slightly sad note. During the editing process, I revised it to conclude in a more forward-looking way:

‘You sees that, boys? Paul? Tommy? You sees it?’

Tommy looked at Pierce, who closed his mouth and swallowed. They all stared at each other for a moment or two, then Pierce cleared his throat and shouted back.

‘We see it. By Christ, Quacks, we all see it.’

I had lacked the confidence to stop at this point but feedback made me realise that cutting what came afterwards would make the ending stronger. Readers would be able to see what the future held, just as my characters were seeing it.

I wonder if Dickens knew all along that his story would end with the uplifting sentiment we read in the final version. I suspect he probably did.

  • Book’s website
  • Buy it on Amazon

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It's All About You

7/25/2012

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Welcome to IAAY number six!

This week it's all about British writer Stephan J Myers, whose website supporting his debut novel, Loss De Plott, shows how to break down the barriers most of us - including myself, live behind. 

IAAY is published every Wednesday (yes, all of them), so there's plenty of time for you to join in too! Contact me via the comments section or via Twitter: @mickdavidson.

It's All About Stephan J Myers
It’s all about Carlos Ruiz Zafon


‘that blessed state of ignorance which made us believe we were worthy of 
a special state of grace: because we had no past we felt we had nothing to fear from the future’


Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Midnight Palace.


Today presented as something of a milestone for me. This marked by the arrival of UPS and the first colour copies of Loss De Plott. The latter representing my inaugural foray into the wistful world of literary design that shadows the rather quirky and somewhat beguiling Loss. It may be that you are following her on Twitter and having come to know the words and images that complement her tale have in part garnered an insight into her character.

Whilst I have truly enjoyed bringing her to life the journey has hardly been devoid of angst. Each challenge met and in turn laid to rest, yet it is the last of these that proves most irksome. For though Loss is light on word count her tale is undoubtedly informed by the quandaries life has seen fit to present me with in recent years. A truly humbling experience which has seen me run the gamut of emotions. Each coming unbidden as the Machiavellian plot driving continuing economic turmoil unfolds; with notables such as ‘Fred The Shred’ and other ‘fat cats’ lingering as sordid reminders that trust might be as easily bartered as 
common coin by those without conscience. 

How then to impart the subtlety of the message imbued in this tale of Loss whilst rallying the thoughts of those that care for kin and country A dilemma indeed but for the words of Zafon and a wonderful read entitled The Midnight Palace, but no less than the quote with which I began this discourse. For that special state of grace to which Zafon eludes is surely within the grasp of all.

It’s All About Me
For my own part I am minded that beyond those halcyon days of youth a magic lingers still. Cast not by a sorcerer’s hand, but born of expectations untainted by the realities of life. Such magic imbuing each with sense of self and the enduring belief we might a difference make.

As I write, I look to the world about. Not yet blinkered to the wonders that abound but seeing well the shadows we have cast upon this Eden; a timely portent that in the absence of care all things might find their end. Such thoughts undoubtedly influencing my tale of Loss, each character a parody of some you may have come to know; some you might studiously avoid!

Be you young or young at heart it matters not. This tale I wrote for you. That you may look to the past and a future yet unwritten for yours is the legacy upon which both might be well founded!

My thanks to Carlos Ruiz Zafon for the best of words and no less Mick for his kind invitation to make a contribution to ‘It’s All About You’.

You can contact Stephan J Myers at any of the following:
  • www.LossDePlott.com
  • Twitter: @stephanjmyers 
  • https://www.createspace.com/3923926

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Censorship, Name Changing and Marketing

4/1/2012

10 Comments

 
Well after a week or two of false starts, technical problems and a last minute competition to rename my first novel, The Darkness Beneath, the book has finally arrived all bright and shiny on Amazon!

I could not have done this without the help and support of those wonderful people at Libboo.com, who've actually done all the dirty work (conversion to eBook, posting the book on Amazon etc) and are now helping me with promoting it. Thank you everyone at Libboo, any success I have with this book will be a reflection of all your efforts, time and patience.

(Actually, as previously mentioned, I'm part of an experiment they're running to team writers and marketing people up to help each other get the book in front of as many people as possible. The screams and moans you hear coming out of the turrets of Libboo Castle, is the sound of their scientists and surgeons reading yet another dumb question from me...)

Which brings me on to a question that all authors (self-published or traditionally published) have to face up to, eventually: who's going to do the marketing?

On Your Marketing
I know and fully accept that we have to market our work, but I can't say I'm full of enthusiasm for it, especially as it means bothering people I'd rather leave alone (friends and family). Obviously total strangers are a fair target, but to get to them, I have to enlist the help of the F&Fs to (as we said in the marketing meeting where many creative ideas crashed and died among the rocks of apathy and a fiercely negative budget) help out. So if I annoy anyone with my requests and constant banging on about my newly published first novel, The Darkness Beneath (now available on Amazon) please accept my apologies. 

Personally I'd rather not be doing this, but I can't avoid it if I want the book to be a success - and yes I do want it to succeed! It took roughly two years of writing in my spare time, and was revised seven times before I felt it was good enough to be published. I'd like a return on that investment (preferrably in the shape of massive sales and a blockbuster film).

The Name Changes the Game
A funny thing happened along the path between writing the book on my laptop and it appearing on Amazon: the book's title changed. Some of you might have noticed that I ran a quick competition to find a new one. The original - The End: The Beginning - was deemed to be too mysterious (which is what I wanted) but the Libboo team that it was too mysterious. It didn't give one single clue about the story, which was a fair point, hence the competition. Weirdly enough, I won that competition and have now sent myself a signed copy.

Although a few people tried to help out, for a few days I was stuck with nothing that fulfilled the task being asked. Then I had the genious idea of looking up quotes about hell (which isn't part of the story, but as that's what a lot of people go through in the book, and because the main character lives in the depths of the London underground, it seemed appropriate). 

Eventually the phrase 'the darkness beneath' came to mind. I wasn't fond of it at first, but after a day of allowing it to percolate in the washing maching of my subconscious, I began to see and feel that it was a good choice. So listening to the marketing team has paid off as the title now hints at two of the book's elements, which is definitely a step forward.

This shows how important it is to get the name right, and why, but also that the name the author chooses may not be the right one - something that's a bit hard to admit.

It also means that the painting on the front cover, all of which was created by the utterly fabulous Nicoll Peschek, can be seen more clearly. And as a big fan of her work, I'm very happy that she designed the cover and allowed me to use her painting.

Nicoll and I have also collaborated on her hand-made books. Some of these feature her calligraphy and my poetry. If you're looking for someone to design your book cover, I'd suggest you talk to her asap.

Censorship
Incidentally, this novel was going to be published by someone else a few months back. I didn't like their cover ideas, which were poor to say the least. But what really annoyed me was the fact that they wanted to censor the cover by removing the nipples. Apparently this censorhip was being asked for because some of the publisher's other clients are religious groups and they didn't want to offend them. There's nothing like a bit of moral cowardice in the arts is there?

(As an aside, and given decades worth of non-stop research, I've discovered that we all have nipples, sorry if this shocks and/or surprises you.)

Buy, Buy, Buy!
I'm pleased to say that as soon as I announced the book's availability, a few friends went out and bought it! So thanks to you as well, it'll be great to read your feedback (and scary) if you decide to review it. 

Remember to be honest: it's my fault the book exists and if I send it out into the world, then I have to be able to take criticism as well as glory. Which, as we all know, sounds very noble in theory but, as well all know, will be very much harder to deal with in practise.

So, if you want to, please buy it (it's ridiculously cheap), and if you want to help get this literary earthquake a-shakin', I'd love it if you could tell everyone by featuring it on Facebook, tweeting it on Twitter, adding it to Google+, texting it to...

Cheers.
10 Comments

Staying Optimistic on the White-Water Slalom Ride of Life

12/31/2011

1 Comment

 
As I write there's four hours left of 2011 - a year I'll be glad to see the back of, yet it wasn't all bad. The financial sword of Damocles continues to dangle above my head, wiping the smile off my face if I go over-exuberent about being alive - but what the hell! I am and I will not be defeated.

There were plenty of good things but I can't say 2011 was the best year I've ever had: a lot of the surprises and twists and turns life takes were negative. I won't go into the details, but it wasn't just about me - some close and dear friends also had some severe setbacks.

On the upside I got a fair amount published, becaume a regular columnist with Specter Magazine and a member of the Specter Collective, and got an offer from Trestle Press to publish my first novel as an ebook, which will be out in the new year. Alongside that I submitted two short stories and the first three chapters of Novel 2 to organisations who I think highly of. One is for the BBC (should find out if that's been accepted in the summer), one its for the short story competition run by Peirene Press and the last was for another competition. The prize for the later is to have the story critiqued by a real live literary agent. There's also a poem entered into the competition run by Holland Park Press.

I've also found at least one really good target to pitch my second novel - a bike-based romance set in the Netherlands - which is a huge bonus as we all know a focussed submission is less likely to fail than a more random one. More on that as soon as I've despatched the finished work to them.

So 2012 is already lining up to be a good year: I know the BBC will accept and broadast my story, and it's a dead cert that I'll win at least one of the competitions - how can you doubt me? :) Yes, I know - no one but a fool would believe such nonsense. But as I said, I will remain optimistic (and yes, sometimes I will be wildly optimistic!) and not be held down by negative feelings and natural and unnatural disasters.

The start could hardly be better as I'm off to Melbourne in Australia for three weeks, two of which will be a holiday and all of which will be spent with a very talented and creative friend. And I'll be on such a high from that I'll still be soaring like a bird come June! :)

Happy and succesful new year to you all. xxx
1 Comment

Not On A Roll

11/20/2011

3 Comments

 
The Horror of Writing
As some of you may know, I'm deep into the writing of my second novel. My first (read the first chapter here), a horror story set in London's underground railway system, came easily enough (though sitting down to write a whole novel was a big mountain to climb), but the 2nd one (a bicycle-based romance) has been very tough.

First of all, I expected it to flow out in linear stylee but no, it refused, and instead lept about like a freshly born lamb hell bent on discovering every square metre of it's field in the Chilterns. I even wrote the end before much of the middle! At first this freaked me out a little/quite a lot, I was wondering what I was doing wrong, but fortunately a quick whizz around a few other author sites showed me that this isn't exceptional at all. Which was a relief!

So, back to today and the many hours it's taken me to write 500 words. I think I've been labouring under the delusion that when I write it must just flow out. Apparently not though. In fact, in this case (where the two main characters are having critical conversation the outcome of which will either make or break their relationship) it has to be very carefully worded, each sentence picked through very carefully as if I were a one-person forensic team sorting through a crime scene. And that takes time, often several minutes for one poxy little ten word sentence. Have you any idea how maddening that is?

I wasn't expecting that. And it is very, very frustrating. So, although I've written a pathetically small amount of words today, I have learnt a valuable lesson, i.e. some things demand more attention and will only appear if you take your foot off the accelerator.

Comments!
So, what sort of things have tripped you up when writing? How do you deal with frustration and dealing with the unexpected? Let me know and let's see if we can share what we've learnt and hopefully save others going through the same pain.

Cheers!
3 Comments
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    Author

    Mick Davidson is a full time technical writer and semi-full time fiction author. He also finds time for both guitar playing and photography. When not being creative, he is heavily involved in Staring Out The Window research.

    He is definitely in the market for publication and agent representation.

    The links in my blog are doors to adventures and other countries, they don't all land in the most obvious puddle.


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