Andrew McEwan's Blog: Words Are the Gravy On the Mashed Potato of Life - Posts Tagged "subvision"

Was fathered by myself and born of an old mechanical typewriter in 1990. Its title was Subvision. Twenty years on this novel is about to be unleashed on an indifferent universe in the form of an ebook via Smashwords and Kindle. Is the universe ready?

A few years prior to writing Subvision I read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. I've been a Pynchon fan ever since. I even bought Vineland in hardback, in 1990. It was the former tome that pretty much set the bar for me, however. Not one I'll ever reach. What Pynchon taught me was this: if you're good enough, you can get away with anything. Naturally, I've been trying ever since.

Back to Subvision. People will hate it. It's all over the place, has too many interweaving stories and characters come and go often without properly introducing themselves. The narrative is fast-paced and overloaded with imagery. It's multilayered, unpredictable, complicated and strange. But if you like words, prose that seldom stands still, poetic bursts of colour and action and the odd joke, it may well be for you.

Subvision is in fact the first of four books themed on Hell. Underlay came next, then Imbroglio (on its way) and finally Warm Refrigerator. Whilst these books are all quite different they share the same DNA.

Manic surrealism. Hyphenate if you will.

I must apologise to those of you who read my last blog post. It was all lies. Friday giveaways lasted two weeks before running out of contenders, inasmuch as I failed to check the renewal dates of those titles upcoming. Kindle Direct permits five days of freebies every ninety days and I had no days remaining! Do not, however, despair. Subvision is up this coming Tues for three days. A bit of a departure re days but interesting to see what that may bring.

A second edition of Ocellus is now out in paperback here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/andrew-mcewa.... It's 5k words shorter, smaller in format with a new cover (as ebook) and I've added a list of Notable Personages as a frontispiece. Had a couple of reviews on Goodreads so far as a result of my giveaway. Thanks to those who have read and commented. As expected the views have been mixed, but I'm optimistic the star rating will nudge upwards eventually.

Now, this is all sounding a bit serious. If it's light relief you're after then I suggest you follow me on Twitter @OcellusAMcEwan. My tweets are fun and I rarely go off on one honest.

It's Sunday eve, there's beef bourguignon in the oven and I've just opened a bottle of wine. Earlier this afternoon The Toon (aka Newcastle United) got a last minute winner. See, life ain't so bad. At least it has its moments. The beef bourguignon is from the Co-op, but hey, it was reduced...

Moving on. My giveaway of The Orange Propeller went rather well and six copies were posted to the lucky winners last Monday. I eagerly await a first review. I love reviews; I just don't get enough. Thus am I planning several paperback releases this year, starting with Subvision in the not too distant future. Giveaways are great for attracting attention to a book. As an unrepresented author the biggest challenge you face is getting read. Add to that the fact my work isn't populist and you've got a steep hill to climb. Nevertheless I am determined to scale the walls and ransack the temple as it were. Noncomformity can be rewarding in many ways. And if all else fails you can always not give a fuck. Thus the many-runged ladder of freebies from myself, ebooks from Amazon and paperbacks via Goodreads, all in the name of the revolution.

An increasing number of publishers are offering ebook packages these days whereby authors pay for proofing, formatting, covers etc. These are all things you can do yourself or, better still, for free using friends and contemporaries on a show-me-yours and I'll show-you-mine basis. To some writers being associated with a publisher, however tenuously, may sound like a good idea. It's certainly not for me. I just don't believe in easy routes to the summit. The killer though is the contract. Essentially publishers are charging writers for the rights to their work, rather than the other way round. If it sinks you lose. If it floats you lose. Either way the publisher wins.

With apologies to The Beatles for the title of this post. But I just had an idea. How about a bookshop that sells only independently published authors? In paperback; with download options, but paper books in say a mobile library type affair? Now where would a person get one of those? And some money.

Beef bourguignon was nice by the way. Wine flowing. Vive la...

On average I would say my brain works to full capacity one or two days a month. I feel incredibly focussed, confident and creative. I want to tear down walls and build up relationships. My mind spins with positivity and ideas. So should you encounter me tomorrow just remember I am but a shadow of my former self.

There's been something of a backlash to the news that Amazon is 'adopting' Goodreads. Personally I can see some positives; then again Amazon is a corporation hell bent on taking over the world, and deserves a bloody nose. I don't think boycotts generally work, but I have unsubscribed five titles from the exclusive-to-Amazon Kindle Select. This isn't a reaction as KS wasn't really working for me anyway. It was on the cards and means these novels are now back on Smashwords and thenceforth the iBookstore etc.

Subvision is now out in paperback via lulu.com. With a new cover. I plan to follow it with Underlay, Imbroglio and The Warm Rerigerator shortly. So expect a deluge of summer giveaways! Yay...

In other news I've bought a 19yr old car. The older a motor vehicle the more fun it is to drive. Just try it. All marketing is bullshit, whether it's books or cars, and an orgasm is the only instant gratification that works well on a repeated basis. Old cars are noisy, too, not to mention drenched in past owners' personal history, every cigarette burn and paint scrape a story; plot twists in fabric stains and untold-of trips along deserted roads in the dead of night.

Sexy.