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F.G. Cottam

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomfgcottam

born

in Southport, The United Kingdom

gender

male

member since

November 2008

About this author

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Reading has always been a passion, mostly because it's a cheap and totally effective way of being transported to another world. The same is true of writing. You might be struggling to pay a bill or even to fill your car with fuel, but such mundane concerns only afflict your characters if you decide you want them to.
University was where I first thought seriously about fiction; encountering Hemingway's iceberg theory and Eliot's objective correlative and having the luxury of time to ponder on the mechanics of the novel.
My first writing was journalism and pieces for I-D, Arena and The Face brought me to the attention of mainstream magazine publishers. In the '90's I edited FHM when it still majored on sport and fashion rather than Hollyoaks s...more Reading has always been a passion, mostly because it's a cheap and totally effective way of being transported to another world. The same is true of writing. You might be struggling to pay a bill or even to fill your car with fuel, but such mundane concerns only afflict your characters if you decide you want them to.
University was where I first thought seriously about fiction; encountering Hemingway's iceberg theory and Eliot's objective correlative and having the luxury of time to ponder on the mechanics of the novel.
My first writing was journalism and pieces for I-D, Arena and The Face brought me to the attention of mainstream magazine publishers. In the '90's I edited FHM when it still majored on sport and fashion rather than Hollyoaks starlets and weather girls. Then I launch-edited the UK edition of Men's Health magazine and then came to the conclusion that if I didn't try to write some fiction it was never going to happen.
I read all kinds of fiction, but write stories with a paranormal element I think really because history fascinates me and ghosts allow the past to resonate shockingly, scarily and I hope convincingly, into the present.
I got off to an encouraging start but have suffered a few disappointments since then. I wouldn't in honesty want to do anything else, though. If I write a terrible novel it's my fault entirely. If I write a good novel, it's entirely my achievement.
I spent my early life in a house without books. My mother had read one, Gone With the Wind, the length of which she always said put her off reading another. My father had two books; Fleming's You Only Live Twice and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. I was eleven when he left for good and he took both books with him. I reckon my own love of reading must be an instinctive trait.
I'm leaving the influences section blank because I've been more inspired than influenced. Basil Copper's Camera Obscura was the first great horror story I read. I love M.R. James and Peter Straub and think Stephen King has written three or four genuine masterpieces. More, if you include his shorter fiction as well as the novels. I'm also a big fan of the short stories of Ursula Le Guin and Shirley Jackson. Anyone who reads the final sentence of The Lottery without experiencing a shiver has ice in their veins.
I don't really think of fiction writers in terms of gender, but pushed would say the best fiction I've read by a woman author is probably Pat Barker's regeneration trilogy. And I really enjoy P.D. James. She's a wonderful prose stylist as well as a skillful story teller

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62 posts
F.G. Cottam's Blog

Plotting

Quite a busy time. My agent is reading The Lazarus Prophecy. The Memory of Trees is published in a couple of weeks. And I have to have the first novel in my dystopian trilogy ready by a deadline of June 30.

I'm pleased with Trees. It's an atmospheric tale that I hope will have readers seeing forests in a wholly different light. Not that there's much light in the Forest of Mourning. It's a gloomy... Read more of this blog post »

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Published on June 19, 2013 00:56 • 74 views

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F.G. Cottam's Books

Average rating: 3.49 · 1,681 ratings · 340 reviews · 7 distinct works · Similar authors

	The House of Lost Souls 3.24 of 5 stars 3.24 avg rating — 762 ratings — published 2008 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Waiting Room 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 236 ratings — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dark Echo 3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 227 ratings — published 2008 — 7 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Magdalena Curse 3.41 of 5 stars 3.41 avg rating — 172 ratings — published 2010 — 8 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Colony 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brodmaw Bay 3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 76 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Memory of Trees 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — expected publication 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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F.G. Cottam wrote a new blog post Plotting Quite a busy time. My agent is reading The Lazarus Prophecy. The Memory of Trees is published in a couple of weeks. And I have to have the first no... Read more of this blog post »
10 hours, 33 min ago · 1 like · like
F.G. Cottam made a comment on Insomnia "I'll be in the audience for one of those shows and we'll have a beer or two after."
14 de May 04:38 · see blog post
F.G. Cottam is now following Rob Roughley's reviews
4 de May 05:45 · like
F.G. Cottam made a comment on Hellish work "In theory they're all available on kindle. I'll have to take that up with the publisher. The Colony isn't a bad place to start, though. It has some fo...more "
12 de Mar 11:44 · see blog post
F.G. Cottam made a comment on one size fits all "I'll answer the two questions posed above by saying yes, I do plan another e-book for the spring and yes, I think THOLS and Colony in particular would...more "
26 de Dic 01:12 · see blog post
F.G. Cottam made a comment on Mischief "It's rabbits out of hats, Romi. I don't mind when magicians do it, but when writers do it it's cheating the reader out of what their investment in tak...more "
21 de Nov 13:16 · see blog post
F.G. Cottam made a comment on Plotting "Hope it's worth the wait! Really hope it keeps you entertained, Jo, and scared (in a nice way) until you reach the concluding paragraph."
15 de Nov 13:12 · see blog post
F.G. Cottam joined the group Q&A with the Authors of One
26 de Sep 11:25 · like
F.G. Cottam voted for 1 books on the list Best Modern Day Military Accounts Vote on this list »
8 de Sep 06:42 · like
F.G. Cottam rated a book 5 of 5 stars Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, #15) by Lee Child read in June, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Lee Child must have made more money with this series than he could ever spend. So my guess as to the reason that he continues with it, is that he thinks the novels are getting better. There's also the possibility that like his millions of readers, he...more
7 de Jun 01:28 · see review

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Some Kind Of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

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The Waiting Room by F.G. Cottam

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