Die Booth's Blog, page 15
July 18, 2014
Lulu summer sale - Spirit Houses savings
July 4, 2014
365 lies: new flash fiction collection for 2014 from Die Booth
I’ve been off the radar for a while now because I’ve been head down editing my book for this year.
Some people may know that I spent 2013 writing one flash fiction every day because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I had intentions of publishing the resulting collection of stories anyway but life happened and the idea sort of gathered momentum and I had inspiration from some great people and now I’m intending to release it in November (in time for Christmas, hint hint – it’s a great bo...
June 20, 2014
Book review: There Was Once a Place edited by Rob Redman
This is the seventh anthology from The Fiction Desk. Whilst I may be considered biased as they’ve featured a story of mine in two of these collections (including my flash fiction ‘Badass’ in this one) I can say quite honestly that every one of these anthologies has been a pleasure to read. This one is no exception. The Fiction Desk is refreshing. It’s reliably good quality, literary fiction that is however never pretentious or predictable. There’s the expected quota of adultery and difficult...
June 5, 2014
Enter at your Own Risk: the End is the Beginning
I recently received my copy of Firbolg’s latest anthology ‘Enter at Your Own Risk – The End is the Beginning’ so I think a few words on it would be a good idea.
This anthology, the fourth in the ‘Enter at Your Own Risk’ series, features classic horror from greats such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley and M.R. James alongside a wide range of new writers (see the full table of contents here). Included is my story ‘Sphere Music’, a tale of what happens when the airwaves get a litt...
March 21, 2014
Flash and bling: a collaboration with Earl Foolish
I’ve recently collaborated with my friend Earl Foolish on their Spring/Summer 2014 range of jewellery. The theme of this unisex range is sirens, those sinister mer-creatures with a lot more to their mythology than sitting on rocks looking attractive.
To go with each beautiful piece of artisan acrylic bling, I’ve written a tiny flash fiction – Earl Foolish’s idea was to show a bit of the atmosphere of each piece as well as just the factual product description. The piece pictured here is the ‘Gl...
January 26, 2014
CITY from Black&BLUE – a review
CITY from Black&BLUE (which features my flash fiction ‘Leaving Berlin at night’) doesn’t feel like a collection of poetry and flash prose. It feels like wandering through dimly remembered backstreets, reading billboards and shop signs and graffiti. Each glimpse pieced together forms a while portrait – imperfect and beautiful – of city life. My favourites are:
‘Rosy glowing, bloody cross’ – has a rhythm of drums and age and things that came to these streets from far away (his eyes are black).
‘N...
December 31, 2013
The year I wrote 366* stories
I’ve just finished writing my final one-a-day flash fiction of 2013.
When, almost exactly a year ago, I went ‘I’m going to write a flash fiction every day this year – that sounds like a really good idea’ I don’t think I really knew what I was letting myself in for. I’m so glad I did it – it was challenging, rewarding and I’ve now got a solid body of work that I’m already planning what to do with in 2014 (watch this space!)
But I hadn’t banked on just how hard it was going to be. Of course, I kn...
December 13, 2013
Lucky 13 ONE DAY SALE on Spirit Houses!
It’s the first Friday 13th since Friday 13th September, when I released my debut novel ‘Spirit Houses’. Thank you so much to everyone who’s bought, read or reviewed ‘Spirit Houses’ so far. To celebrate another Friday 13th, I’ve decided to have a limited-time-only flash sale on ‘Spirit Houses’. You can pick up the e-books (PDF and epub formats) for just 99p each (instead of £3.99) and there’s a 20% discount on the print book (£7.99 instead of £9.99). And on top of all that, Lulu are also holdi...
November 28, 2013
Abandoned buildings and how they inspire my writing
The main inspiration for the University Hospital building in Spirit Houses, and a big driving force for the book, was another abandoned building, the North Wales Hospital in Denbigh.
Opened in 1842 in response to poor treatment of Welsh Pauper Lunatics in English Asylums, the hospital continued to care for the mental health of the surrounding area until its closure in 1995. Aside from its fascinating past and very important place in social history, it’s a beautiful building and it’s a crime th...
November 14, 2013
The Essar Chester Literature Festival 2013
A little belated, but this year’s Chester Literature Festival definitely deserves a mention from me. It was another wonderful fortnight that did the organisers proud once again (I’m on the Festival Committee so I see all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to bring such a fantastic event to Chester each year).
Highlights for me included a captivating evening listening to Frank Cottrell Boyce tell the story behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a fascinating talk from Professor Emma Rees...
