Chris James's Blog, page 29
August 20, 2017
100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #96: The Moody Blues, The Swallow
Feeling wrung out, run down, fed up, or just plain done in? Then this is a track for you. The Moodies will feature more than once on this list, and The Swallow is the perfect accompaniment to soothe feelings of failure, frustration, resentment, anger and bitterness. Of course, self-publishing authors don’t have any of those feelings, ever, oh no. (Subs pls check: Does James have sufficient meds to get through this list? Ed.)
Onslaught is available for pre-order at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, and in the UK here.
100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #97: Tony Banks, After the Lie
All of the members of Genesis embarked on solo careers, with wildly varying commercial success. At the top is Collins, followed by Gabriel, Rutherford (mainly with Mike + The Mechanics), Hackett and Banks. I believe that the genius of Genesis was seldom replicated in the individual work, and in me their solo albums usually provoke the tired refrain: “Just imagine how good that would’ve been if Genesis had done it.” However, there are flashes of the same brilliance if one looks hard enough.
Banks’ first solo album, 1978’s A Curious Feeling, must rank as the greatest “lost” Genesis album, as Banks along with Hackett are the two members who have got the closest to recreating that elusive magic which only fully emerges on Genesis albums. A Curious Feeling is a story album, during which an average nobody makes a deal with the devil to be clever and wealthy. The condition is that he must not fall in love. You can probably guess how the plot turns out. In this track, our hero has just gained his improved intelligence, and revels in how nice it is to be smarter than those around him.
Onslaught is available for pre-order at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, and in the UK here.
August 19, 2017
100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #98: The Tornadoes, Telstar
While Tony Banks and all the other great keyboardists were still learning to tie their shoelaces, Joe Meek wrote and produced this instrumental, named after the Telstar communications satellite which had been launched earlier in 1962.
As with a lot of the oldies on this list, the point is not so much how they sound today but how they must have sounded on their release. It might be easy to mock tracks like Telstar for its low-tech production, but it’s hardly a surprise it reached the top of the charts, as listeners then had heard nothing like it. In addition, one can only conjecture as to how much music such as this inspired the then-future geniuses who were to follow.
Onslaught is available for pre-order in the US here, and in the UK here.
100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #99: Genesis, In the Cage
The first of a few appearances on this list from a band whose music has been a mainstay in my writing career since I began. (Subs pls check: Does James actually have a writing ‘career’? Ed.) In the Cage is one of two songs on this list from their seminal 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, arguably the best progressive rock album of its era. However, this is my list, so I’m linking to the In the Cage Medley from the final tour in 2007, so you’ve also got some more great Genesis genius to enjoy. And what a visual show they put on; in addition to the outstanding music, just marvel at that video wall!
Onslaught is available for pre-order in the US here, and in the UK here.
100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #100: Rush, Marathon
The next 50 days are going to be a marathon as I count down 100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, which I’m doing to mark the publication of my latest novel-length book, The Repulse Chronicles, Book One: Onslaught. For the duration of this countdown, the Kindle version of Onslaught will be available for pre-order, and then from 16 September on sale, at the special introductory price of just $2.99, or free to Kindle Unlimited members. At the end of these 100 songs on 8 October, the price will go up to $4.99.
So, I thought a good place to start would be with a track called Marathon, by a band that will turn up more than once over the next 50 days. Many things in life can feel like a marathon (reading one of my books, for example *cough*) and none more so than writing a novel-length work of fiction. Almost all of these lyrics will mean something to anyone who writes, or who has tried to write, something longer than a text message. Remember, folks: from first to last, the peak is never passed.
Onslaught is available for pre-order in the US here, and in the UK here.
August 14, 2017
The Repulse Chronicles, Book One Onslaught
Here is the first public outing for the cover of my next novel, Onslaught. Publication for the e-book version is set for 16 September, and it will be available for pre-order from this weekend. As you might expect, I’m going to make extensive, judicious use of social media to let everyone know I have a new book coming out, which is one way of saying I’m going to be spamming like mad. But only for the next few weeks. Or thereabouts.
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August 6, 2017
Having a snowball fight in July
The next novel has gone out to my long-suffering supporters, who now find themselves obliged to read it and see what disagreeable things jump out at them. These people are worth their weight in gold. Of course, this means that this blog will soon become a marketing platform for the new book as its publication date approaches. Before that happens, I thought I’d post a few holiday pictures. In addition to the bonus of seeing the Ennstal Classic (see previous post), we had great fun in Austria before driving down to Croatia for a week of sun. To begin with, we visited the Dachstein Glacier, where youngest daughter was delighted to have a snowball fight in the middle of July:
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There are fossils here, too. Rocks which today sit nearly 3,000 metres above sea level were, between 45 and 145 million years ago, made from compressed silt on the ocean floor, and here are the remains of the creatures that lived then to prove it:
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We stayed in the village of Grobming:
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Later we climbed the Planai summit. Well, we took the cable car up the first 1,500 metres, but climbed the second 1,500:
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Then it was time to chuck everything in the back of the Voyager and drive 500km down the length of Croatia, to the village of Orebic. There is a monastery here halfway up the hill:
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If you climb up to it, you get these views:
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Orebic itself has some lovely 19th-century villas and a lighthouse which sits alone on its own island:
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Finally, we drove down a further 100km to Dubrovnik, to visit the old town there, with around three million other tourists. Croatia is a very beautiful country and Dubrovnik especially so, but it ain’t cheap, and due to the unforeseen and quite outrageous extra charges, I wasn’t able to get the shots I wanted. It was still a nice place to visit, though:
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July 21, 2017
Ennstal Classic 2017
Here’s a post for classic car enthusiasts. From 18 to 22 July, the Ennstal Classic sees 220 vintage cars, produced between 1928 and 1972, converge on the sleepy Austrian village of Grobming (apologies for the missing accent above the ‘o’ in the name). For the full list of entrants, click here. I’d like to say that my presence was planned, but in fact, it resulted only from serendipity. When booking our week’s hiking in the Austrian Alps last March, we had no idea that the Ennstal Classic was taking place, literally at the end of the road from our apartment. Still, I’m not one to look a photographic gift horse in the mouth, so here are a selection of the best images I’ve managed to capture today, from old Triumphs to Fords to Jaguars to Porches and Alfa Romeoes, among many others. Hope you like the shots!
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July 9, 2017
Summer in my garden
Here are a few pictures of my back garden today. The colours of the flowers and innumerable creatures flying, buzzing, flapping, fluttering and slithering around the place really make everything feel remarkably alive. Me? I’m editing. In my dank, cold cellar. Yes, I know. You don’t’ need to tell me. Still, vacation is on the way soon 
July 1, 2017
Writing ‘The End’
[image error]Yesterday I wrote ‘The End’ on, er, the end of my sixth novel, and I found that the uplifting feeling of achievement doesn’t lessen with the number of novels written. When you write your first novel, you never know if you’re going to complete it, and when you do, you’re amazed. When you write your second novel, you spend a lot of time thinking that maybe the first was merely a fluke and wondering if you can do it again. But after that, every novel on which you embark becomes a very special kind of challenge, where you dare yourself to create something unique. For me, I regard every novel I can complete simply as one less novel that will die with me.
How it happened
I began this novel at the end of February, and as is my habit the beginning went slowly. I tend to over-think plot and character instead of just getting on and writing the story. This is because I abhor deleting anything apart from adverbs that inadvertently slip in (see what I did there? :)), and fret that I might not be setting off in the right direction. From February to the middle of April, I put down a little over 25,000 words, which really is part-time writing (in my defence, the World Snooker Championships were on throughout April). At the end of April, I faced a dilemma: if I were to get the novel written and published this year, I had to get the first draft completed by the beginning of July, before the annual family vacation. Alternatively, I could keep up the part-time production rate and then aim for completion in the autumn.
Every novel starts with one blank page, but, to turn a phrase, you can’t write a novel sitting down. Not once in the 13 years I’ve been writing fiction has a Big Idea come to me or knotty plot problem been resolved when I’ve been sitting in front of the screen. The link between the creative parts of our brains and the physical movement of our bodies is well established in scientific literature, so you need to keep active if you want those good ideas to keep flowing.
In the event, for the last 50 days I’ve averaged over 1,000 words a day. That wouldn’t be a bad production rate for a wordsmith who had nothing to do but write, whereas I have a full-time job of eye-watering boredom which causes Repetitive Strain Injury to the synapses in the English language centre of my brain, and a growing family who, not unreasonably, expect to have some quality time with their husband/father. So to have arrived at the destination right on time has left me feeling appallingly pleased with myself and generally quite smug
