Mark Chadbourn's Blog: Jack of Ravens, page 20
May 12, 2015
Mythonauts
Anyone who thinks mythology doesn’t matter hasn’t been paying attention for…oh…five thousand years. Mythology is both the secret language of the unconscious mind and the code that rewrites the physical world around us. Mythology shapes the psyche, and through it the lives of people who engage with it. It defines politics – wave at every successful politician from JFK to Obama. It shapes business, brands, actors, musicians, culture, artists, movements.
If you want success, find the door to mythology. Leave the mundane world behind. Find the mythology for your sense of place – the deep south of the Blues musicians, Haight-Ashbury for the sixties counterculture, Scotland for Nicola Sturgeon. Find that mythological superstructure for your own ego. You are not normal. No one is. You exist in a world beyond this.
Cut the ties that bind. Explore.
December 12, 2014
TV Deal For Testimony
As the word is now starting to circulate, I ought to mention here that I’ve signed a deal with producer Carson Black at Keo Films to develop Testimony as a three-parter for TV. It’s early days yet and there are still many obstacles to clamber over before it gets to the screen, but it’s a positive step.
Testimony is my non-fiction investigation of a truly terrifying supernatural case at an isolated house in Wales. You can find the book here, for UK readers, and here if you’re in the US. (It’s also available in Amazon stores in Japan, Brazil, India, Italy and elsewhere.)
December 9, 2014
The Most Terrifying True Story Ever Told…Out Now
Easily scared? Probably best if you don’t read Testimony, my non-fiction account of a truly spine-chilling supernatural event, now available at Amazon. The publisher calls it The ultimate proof of life after death, or the most terrifying true story ever told? and that’s a fair description.
When Bill and Liz Rich moved into an isolated Welsh house, they thought they were getting a dream home and a new life free from worry. But within weeks they were baffled by an inexplicable power drain. The house seemed to be using more electricity than a small industrial estate – even the investigators from the utility company couldn’t explain it. Then, one night, Bill heard footsteps thundering along the landing. Everyone else in the house was fast asleep. That was the start.
What comes next goes into some very dark places indeed. This case has been described as the British Amityville, but that really doesn’t do it justice (especially as that story has been widely debunked). This account is backed up by in-depth interviews with around twenty people who experienced the disturbing events in that house, not just the couple at the heart of it. And just to re-iterate, it’s not fiction. I have digital recordings and pages of contemporaneous shorthand notes of all those interviews. As a hard-bitten ex-journalist, even I found myself at turns baffled and then troubled by what I heard.
The original book sold out in a week and was never reprinted. There’s a story around that too. Copies now fetch hundreds of pounds. This is a new edition, with new material, a director’s cut if you will. You can get the ebook here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re a US reader. It’s also available in the Amazon stores in Australia, Germany, France, India, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Japan. Version for other e-readers will be available shortly.
If you can help get the word out about this, it would be great, and reviews are always welcome too.
August 12, 2014
Is The Age Of The Psychopath Over?
July 28, 2014
Gone Girl – A Few Thoughts
Gone Girl has been running high in the bestseller charts for a while now, and there’s a movie on the way from David Fincher, a man who knows a good thing when he sees it. While I was taking a break down in Cornwall for a week, I nabbed a copy and enjoyed it a lot.
In a way, you get two different books here. Luckily, both of them are very good. The first is a suspense thriller with a mounting sense of unease built through the accretion of tiny details and the realisation that two different people are looking at the same events in different ways. The revelations are eked out by the author’s skilful work and keep the ground moving under your feet. It’s an addictive telling that’s grounded in truly good writing that particularly captures both a sense of place and the deep psychology of people.
At the midway point we begin to transition to the other book, Gillian Flynn’s dissection of the state of modern love and marriage, with some very acute observations and analysis. If you’re an old school sentimentalist, you might not like what you find. What I enjoy about the author’s take is that she doesn’t cosset the reader. She’s not afraid to reveal the harsh nature of human beings, the transactional state of some relationships and that love can mean many things to many different people.
Some people have complained about the ending. I have no problem with it. If this were only a suspense thriller, it would not be the ending you’d want, but it fits perfectly with the author’s design of her characters and her themes. She’s created a very good monster here, but one that could easily exist though few would want to admit that (I’ve met a handful of sociopaths who play in the same ballpark).
My one criticism is that the second half – in plot terms – is too rushed compared to the first half. I think the ending would have been better served by a slower pace and more of the detail we were used to. But overall, a great book, a great character study, a great commentary, and one that will grow over time.
July 24, 2014
Coming Soon…A True Story
June 27, 2014
TV Drama Writers Festival 2014
I’ll be in London for this on July 2nd. Looks like it’s shaping up to be a great event with some of the leading screenwriters in the UK, TV commissioners and other industry professionals on stage to talk about opportunities and obstacles in the coming twelve months.
The festival is organised by the BBC and is open to all screenwriters who’ve had work on air. Scanning the list of speakers, I see Tony Jordan, Jed Mercurio and Sally Wainwright are there, along with BBC boss Ben Stephenson, and top people from Sky and ITV. If anyone’s interested, I’ll probably be tweeting some of the most important information to arise out of the sessions.
I’m particularly interested in a session on how streaming TV – Netflix, Lovefilm, X-Box and the rest – is likely to affect the traditional TV landscape. This world is changing fast.
You can find more here at the BBC Writers Room.
June 23, 2014
Game Of Thrones – Changing The World One Beheading At A Time
I’ve been spending some time talking to the futures consultancy The Future Laboratory and LS:N Global on a project they’re putting together examining how and why Game of Thrones broke out of the fantasy ghetto and into the mainstream – crossing generational and cultural lines across the globe. The report they’re compiling will be available to their many and varied clients in business and the media, who’ll use it for future-planning and analysis.
Some of the things we discussed was how technology is making people more receptive to the fantastic, the future of storytelling in TV and games with reference to the Oculus Rift, fairytales, why Dark Ages stories are now in the zeitgeist and why that period is going to be relevant for a while, and what it is particularly about Game of Thrones that has connected with so many people – among a hundred and one other things.
Do not be surprised if you see the fantastic worming its way into many other unconnected parts of the business world in the months to come.
June 11, 2014
Testimony – In Ebook
Coming in July: Testimony in Ebook format. Of all the books in my backlist waiting to make the transition to digital, this is the most requested. More details soon, including the new cover. “Testimony – the ultimate proof of life after death, or the most terrifying true story ever told?” is the description sitting atop the publisher’s release form.
May 11, 2014
The Second Machine Age – Book Review
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress And Prosperity In A Time Of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
The first machine age was the Industrial Revolution which ran from about 1760 to the middle of the 19th century. It changed everything, disrupting the agrarian-based life of most people and hurling everyone into the world we see around us. This book, by two MiT professors, suggests that we’re now in a second machine age, a second industrial revolution, driven by technological development that will change the world even more fundamentally, and much, much faster. They present an excellent argument, drawing on the knowledge of people at the cutting edge of all the disruptive changes now affecting every aspect of life – from Silicon Valley pioneers to economists and academics.
It’s certainly an important book for the times, bringing together all the many strands that cause those queasy fears that many experience as comforting familiarities fall away. But why should you read it? Because as with the first industrial revolution, there will be winners and losers (in the 18th century, the losers were all those poor field workers who had to uproot to work in the dark satanic mills. The winners were those who seized control of the emerging technologies). If you’re planning your future, your career, or thinking ahead for your children’s sake, there is vital information contained within. Tip: don’t become an accountant, a driving instructor, or do any task that involves repeating a process. And really, truly, do not give up on education – go as far as you can.
The winners will be people who have ideas, who can create, whether in business or art. They’ll set up their own businesses, get hired as freelancers, and be handsomely rewarded. The losers will be anyone who offers their labour, who performs a task for the benefit of others. Read the book to find out why this is true, and what it means for society.
The authors make their case with an easy-reading style backed up with lots of solid evidence, but it loses a point, possibly unfairly, for an issue that is probably beyond their control. Two chapters are devoted to recommendations, short term and long term, that can help us get the best out of the massive change that is coming to the world in the next ten years. But they are generally far too broad brush. That’s because, as the authors point out, it’s so hard to predict how fast these changes are going to come: the rate of disruption is accelerating and the churn is getting wilder because one small innovation influences a great many more.
The book is not wholly comforting – the pressures on society are going to be huge – although it could be. The message is plain. We can’t resist these changes. They’re coming whether we like them or not, and if we try to fight them, all our energy will be wasted in a futile endeavour. But if we try to manage that change we can minimise the destructive elements and maximise the vast potential benefits for society as a whole. All we need to do is to pay attention now.
Jack of Ravens
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