Eamonn Martin Griffin's Blog, page 9

Does The Guardian need to sort itself out?

I'm a lifelong softie leftie of sorts; a do-gooderish type who tries to think well of everyone and occasionally donates a little bit of money to the right kind of causes. Harmless enough, really. I spent a few years volunteering on Saturdays in the local Oxfam, sorting out the books for a quarter of my weekend time off from the day job. I spent a decade doing trades union advocacy stuff in an FE college for members and more than the odd non-member, just because. Naturally, I read The Guardian...

Films seen in 2016 at the cinema

The Judge: a short story response

This isn't something I'd ordinarily do. As part of the cut-and-thrust on Twitter earlier today, I mentioned that the idea of an openly gay, ex-Olympian fencer who was a judge sounded like top superhero material. An old-school costumed vigilante in the Detective Comics-era BatMan or Zorro mould. Maybe a flash of Baroness Orzy's The Scarlet Pimpernel. A couple of people commented that it sounded like an agreeably daft idea.

And I had a couple of hours free. So here it is. The Judge. Some caveats...

The briefest of notes...

Been a touch quiet on the blog side of things, but that's only because there's been plenty of behind-the-scenes-ery going on.

If the sacrifices made to the harvest gods are accepted though, there'll be a flurry of stuff in November, including two (two!) new publications, and the Word Process podcast's first offerings.

Hopefully, November will launch with cover previews for the two publications mentioned above, with release dates for the end of the month.

Now, to arrange a suitable offering...

A new podcasting venture: Word Process

I'm starting up a writing-based podcast in November. It's called Word Process and - as the name might indicate - it's about the writing process, from the POV of individual interviewed authors. Though I'll link to new podcast material as it goes up, the main site is at www.wordprocesspodcast.com - there's an introductory post up there now, with some more detail to follow over the next couple of weeks, including the inevitable social media links.

I've been interviewed by James Kemp at themself.org

A self-explanatory title really. James Kemp over at themself.org has interviewed me about getting started, my working process, the kinds of fiction that I like, and all manner of other writing-related stuff.

You can find the interview here.

Tsundoku

I've come down with a disease. I've been harbouring the symptoms for years, but it's only recently that side-effects of the problem have become properly noticeable. I've caught tsundoku.And the thing is, you've probably got it too.

Tsundoku is a Japanese slang term for buying books and having them pile up around you. Those shelves of unread paperbacks? Thrillers on your Kindle happily displaying 0% read? The teetering stack of novels on the bedside table? All known signs of the contagion.

I bla...

A few wise words from Stephen King

Apparently, today (21st Sept) is Stephen King's birthday. Happy birthday! I'm about two-thirds of the way through King's latest UK paperback, the short story collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which is well up to his usual standard.

Anyway, the infographic below was posted on King's UK publisher Hodder's @hodderscape Twitter feed earlier today. A collection of handy hints taken from his excellent On Writing, which really should be on every wannabe writer's bookshelves. And on their audiobook...

On reviewing/opinionating about books

In a former blogging life I used to a bit of the old book-blogging; that is, reviewing novels (and non-fiction). This grew out of doing a PhD. I needed to record what I was doing research-wise, and as I was working in the fields of creative writing and historical fiction, making notes on the reading seemed only a sensible thing to be doing. That blog's gone now, faded into the suspended animation of deactivated Blogger accounts. Somewhere along that way, I'd lost the utility and also the plea...

Books now available through Kobo and Smashwords

Have finally got around to uploading both Torc and The Prospect of This City to both Kobo and Smashwords, which means that they're available for all e-readers and mobile devices. This means that those who prefer not to buy their books from Amazon can join in the fun too.

In future, if there's stuff that I self-publish, I won't do it exclusively through Amazon, but will release simultaneously across multiple retailers. At present, though, the paperback versions of both books are only available...