E.O. Higgins's Blog: A review in the Huffington Post., page 3
August 28, 2014
Happy birthday, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Happy 200th birthday, Sheridan Le Fanu.
Back in 1871, people laughed when Le Fanu said he'd write stories about lesbian vampires!
But, thanks to Horne & Corden, no one's laughing now...
Back in 1871, people laughed when Le Fanu said he'd write stories about lesbian vampires!
But, thanks to Horne & Corden, no one's laughing now...
August 6, 2014
Hammer Time!
An old blog about the 'Hammer House of Horror' TV series.
It's time to revisit Mr. MacCorkindale's powerful thrusting...
http://unbound.co.uk/books/conversati...
It's time to revisit Mr. MacCorkindale's powerful thrusting...
http://unbound.co.uk/books/conversati...
August 4, 2014
The Centenary of the Great War
In the unlikely event that this news has managed to pass you by, it is 100 years since Britain joined the First World War.
As the author of a novel set during the period, I thought this might be a good time to say something on the subject.
The Great War might seem like a rather incidental character in 'Conversations with Spirits' – it is there, it gets referenced, but it's always far off; hovering about the scene’s edge…
There is a reason for this. When I started writing the book, I had not intended it to be set during the war at all - and indeed, making it so meant I was forced to juggle a few historical details. But, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a necessary thing to do.
At the start of the novel, Trelawney Hart is entirely self-absorbed. The fact that somewhere the war is going on is of little passing interest. His point of view – skewed by alcohol intake and personal tragedy – is entirely inwardly focussed.
Trelawney’s sedentary existence is a far removed as can be from the average soldier’s experience – he is leading a withdrawn existence, hidden away from the wider proclivities of life, he occupies a safe, luxuriant environment, his privilege being such that, in drinking to excess, he is slowly killing *himself*…
In the novel, it is Conan Doyle that takes him to task:
“D’you know I was in France last month?’ the author asks, mid-way-through chapter VIII, whilst attending to the stricken protagonist. “I visited the frontline. There’re men out there - boys, even - living in mud trenches, getting shot at continuously, working twenty-four-hour shifts without rest or food in their bellies - and they’re clinging on to every minute. Just doing the best they can, doing whatever it takes, just to stay alive. And, then, here’s you…”
When I started to write the book, I had originally intended it to be set in 1920. This was because I wanted to introduce the ‘Cottingley fairy’ photographs to the story. And, whilst those pictures were in existence in December 1917 - they did not come to Conan Doyle’s attention until a few years later. (He wrote 'The Coming of the Fairies' in 1922.)
But, to have Trelawney idling around London’s clubland in 1920 would’ve trivialised him. (He might all-too-easily have fallen in with Bertie Wooster’s useless, mooching contemporaries.) And so, in order to emphasise Trelawney’s myopic self-indulgence, it seemed reasonable to place him in the midst of something as massive as the First World War - and for him to barely register it.
Trelawney’s life - such as it is - is utterly removed from the hardships endured by the average soldier. And, yet, at no point does he consider how lucky he is to be spared the terrible conditions of the trenches. Nor does he even ask himself why the room he occupies in his London club is always so empty. His preoccupation with himself is such that it utterly blinds him.
'Conversations with Spirits' had to be set in wartime, if only to highlight how truly lost Trelawney really is.
A century on from the start of the Great War, it is our duty - and our privilege - to remember those people that fought in it – and the immense sacrifices that they made.
Let us not forget.
As the author of a novel set during the period, I thought this might be a good time to say something on the subject.
The Great War might seem like a rather incidental character in 'Conversations with Spirits' – it is there, it gets referenced, but it's always far off; hovering about the scene’s edge…
There is a reason for this. When I started writing the book, I had not intended it to be set during the war at all - and indeed, making it so meant I was forced to juggle a few historical details. But, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a necessary thing to do.
At the start of the novel, Trelawney Hart is entirely self-absorbed. The fact that somewhere the war is going on is of little passing interest. His point of view – skewed by alcohol intake and personal tragedy – is entirely inwardly focussed.
Trelawney’s sedentary existence is a far removed as can be from the average soldier’s experience – he is leading a withdrawn existence, hidden away from the wider proclivities of life, he occupies a safe, luxuriant environment, his privilege being such that, in drinking to excess, he is slowly killing *himself*…
In the novel, it is Conan Doyle that takes him to task:
“D’you know I was in France last month?’ the author asks, mid-way-through chapter VIII, whilst attending to the stricken protagonist. “I visited the frontline. There’re men out there - boys, even - living in mud trenches, getting shot at continuously, working twenty-four-hour shifts without rest or food in their bellies - and they’re clinging on to every minute. Just doing the best they can, doing whatever it takes, just to stay alive. And, then, here’s you…”
When I started to write the book, I had originally intended it to be set in 1920. This was because I wanted to introduce the ‘Cottingley fairy’ photographs to the story. And, whilst those pictures were in existence in December 1917 - they did not come to Conan Doyle’s attention until a few years later. (He wrote 'The Coming of the Fairies' in 1922.)
But, to have Trelawney idling around London’s clubland in 1920 would’ve trivialised him. (He might all-too-easily have fallen in with Bertie Wooster’s useless, mooching contemporaries.) And so, in order to emphasise Trelawney’s myopic self-indulgence, it seemed reasonable to place him in the midst of something as massive as the First World War - and for him to barely register it.
Trelawney’s life - such as it is - is utterly removed from the hardships endured by the average soldier. And, yet, at no point does he consider how lucky he is to be spared the terrible conditions of the trenches. Nor does he even ask himself why the room he occupies in his London club is always so empty. His preoccupation with himself is such that it utterly blinds him.
'Conversations with Spirits' had to be set in wartime, if only to highlight how truly lost Trelawney really is.
A century on from the start of the Great War, it is our duty - and our privilege - to remember those people that fought in it – and the immense sacrifices that they made.
Let us not forget.
June 13, 2014
Edbook Fest 'First Book Award'
Hello there...
My novel Conversations with Spirits has been selected as a candidate for The Guardian / Edinburgh Book Festival's 'First Book Award'.
If you fancied voting for it, I will be your best friend...
And we will go fly kites together.
https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-fest...
Edward x
Conversations with Spirits
My novel Conversations with Spirits has been selected as a candidate for The Guardian / Edinburgh Book Festival's 'First Book Award'.
If you fancied voting for it, I will be your best friend...
And we will go fly kites together.
https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-fest...
Edward x
Conversations with Spirits
June 3, 2014
Kindle edition now only £2.99
The e-book edition of 'Conversations with Spirits' is currently only £2.99 on Amazon.
Fly, my pretties! Fly!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversations...
Conversations with Spirits
Fly, my pretties! Fly!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversations...
Conversations with Spirits
May 26, 2014
British customs explained
Today, the good people of Gloucester knackered their knees by throwing themselves down a hill after a cheese...
Here is the tradition explained:
http://unbound.co.uk/books/conversati...
Here is the tradition explained:
http://unbound.co.uk/books/conversati...
February 13, 2014
Happy Valentine's Day
1. St. Valentine’s Day traces its roots to a Pagan festival - held on the ides of February - called 'Lupercalia', at which men stripped naked and flayed women's arses with whips as part of a fertility ceremony.*
2. Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and engaged couples. He is also the patron saint of, amongst other things, epilepsy, plague and bee keepers.
3. The patron of love is Saint Anthony, whose day is celebrated on June 13th.
4. From the Victorian period to the early part of the twentieth century, there was a craze for insulting greeting cards – called ‘Vinegar Valentines’. (In 1906, the Chicago post office refused to deliver 25,000 of them.)
5. Penicillin, a popular treatment for venereal diseases, was introduced to the world on Saint Valentine’s Day 1929.
6. According to the American greetings card company Hallmark, around 15% of women in the United States that received flowers for Valentine’s Day last year sent them to themselves.
7. The New England Confectionary Company sells more than 8 billion candy hearts (similar to the UK’s Lovehearts) a year – mostly on the run up to Valentine’s Day. In 2011, the company ‘retired’ the classic phrases ‘Hep Cat’ and ‘Fax me’, in favour of ‘Tweet me’ and ‘Text me’.
8. According to the US National Retail Federation survey, more than nine million pet owners bought Valentine’s Day gifts for their pets in 2013.
9. In Japan, where (due to a mistranslation) only females give out St. Valentine’s Day gifts, men can protect themselves against the shame and ignominy of receiving nothing with ‘Valentine’s Insurance’. http://valentine-hoken.com/
10. On February 14th last year, romantic Americans spent $14.7 billion on flowers. Similar to the GDP of Iceland.
*Or, according to Wikipedia, ‘striking those they met with shaggy thongs’.
2. Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and engaged couples. He is also the patron saint of, amongst other things, epilepsy, plague and bee keepers.
3. The patron of love is Saint Anthony, whose day is celebrated on June 13th.
4. From the Victorian period to the early part of the twentieth century, there was a craze for insulting greeting cards – called ‘Vinegar Valentines’. (In 1906, the Chicago post office refused to deliver 25,000 of them.)
5. Penicillin, a popular treatment for venereal diseases, was introduced to the world on Saint Valentine’s Day 1929.
6. According to the American greetings card company Hallmark, around 15% of women in the United States that received flowers for Valentine’s Day last year sent them to themselves.
7. The New England Confectionary Company sells more than 8 billion candy hearts (similar to the UK’s Lovehearts) a year – mostly on the run up to Valentine’s Day. In 2011, the company ‘retired’ the classic phrases ‘Hep Cat’ and ‘Fax me’, in favour of ‘Tweet me’ and ‘Text me’.
8. According to the US National Retail Federation survey, more than nine million pet owners bought Valentine’s Day gifts for their pets in 2013.
9. In Japan, where (due to a mistranslation) only females give out St. Valentine’s Day gifts, men can protect themselves against the shame and ignominy of receiving nothing with ‘Valentine’s Insurance’. http://valentine-hoken.com/
10. On February 14th last year, romantic Americans spent $14.7 billion on flowers. Similar to the GDP of Iceland.
*Or, according to Wikipedia, ‘striking those they met with shaggy thongs’.
January 10, 2014
Going at it like a man possessed…
Derek gets a bit over-excited.
"I'll scuttle ye legs, wench! Grrr...your breasts!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkb_ij...
"I'll scuttle ye legs, wench! Grrr...your breasts!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkb_ij...
December 23, 2013
A warning to the curious…
Here are 10 festive facts to bore people down the pub with:
1. Scientists in the United States calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world’s presents on Christmas Eve. He would also have to travel at 650 miles a second.
2. Before turkey was imported from the new world, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig’s head and mustard.
3. Despite what my mum would tell you, the abbreviation ‘Xmas’ isn't actually irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
4. The word ‘Noel’ derives from the French expression ‘les bonnes nouvelles’ or ‘the good news’. (And isn’t actually a reference to Noel Edmonds, at all!)
5. The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.
6. Despite many hymns and carols on the subject, there is no reference to angels singing anywhere in the Bible.
7. The chances of a white Christmas are just 1 in 10 for England and Wales. Whereas, Scotland and Northern Ireland have a 1 in 6 chance.
8. Most parts of the Christmas tree are edible. The needles are actually a very good source of Vitamin C.
9. In Iceland there are 13 Santas, each of them leaves a different gift for children. They come down from a mountain one by one, starting on December 12th. (They also have excellent names - like ‘Spoon Licker’, ‘Door Sniffer’ and ‘Meat Hook’.)
10. In Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany, workers get a Christmas bonus of one month's salary by law.
1. Scientists in the United States calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world’s presents on Christmas Eve. He would also have to travel at 650 miles a second.
2. Before turkey was imported from the new world, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig’s head and mustard.
3. Despite what my mum would tell you, the abbreviation ‘Xmas’ isn't actually irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
4. The word ‘Noel’ derives from the French expression ‘les bonnes nouvelles’ or ‘the good news’. (And isn’t actually a reference to Noel Edmonds, at all!)
5. The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.
6. Despite many hymns and carols on the subject, there is no reference to angels singing anywhere in the Bible.
7. The chances of a white Christmas are just 1 in 10 for England and Wales. Whereas, Scotland and Northern Ireland have a 1 in 6 chance.
8. Most parts of the Christmas tree are edible. The needles are actually a very good source of Vitamin C.
9. In Iceland there are 13 Santas, each of them leaves a different gift for children. They come down from a mountain one by one, starting on December 12th. (They also have excellent names - like ‘Spoon Licker’, ‘Door Sniffer’ and ‘Meat Hook’.)
10. In Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany, workers get a Christmas bonus of one month's salary by law.
December 16, 2013
We have a winner!
We have a winner!
A name was plucked from my battered hat on Saturday!
Well done, Simon Yarwood - who won the last of the signed, limited-edition hardbacks.
The name of the Romanian girl investigated by Harry Price was Eleonora Zugan - who was, apparently, pinched, clawed and bitten by what she called a 'dracul' or devil.
Apologies if you didn't win - BUT as Cliff pointed out (whilst expertly balancing a tealight on the tips of his outstretched fingers) Christmas is 'a time for gedding', so there will runner-up eBook prizes for all those who entered!
Happy Monday, all. x
Conversations with Spirits
A name was plucked from my battered hat on Saturday!
Well done, Simon Yarwood - who won the last of the signed, limited-edition hardbacks.
The name of the Romanian girl investigated by Harry Price was Eleonora Zugan - who was, apparently, pinched, clawed and bitten by what she called a 'dracul' or devil.
Apologies if you didn't win - BUT as Cliff pointed out (whilst expertly balancing a tealight on the tips of his outstretched fingers) Christmas is 'a time for gedding', so there will runner-up eBook prizes for all those who entered!
Happy Monday, all. x
Conversations with Spirits
A review in the Huffington Post.
A rather charming review of 'Conversations with Spirits' in The Huffington Post by Matthew Hirtes.
"Meet Trelawney Hart, "arch-sceptic and former child prodigy". The anti-hero of what you'll be surpris ...more
"Meet Trelawney Hart, "arch-sceptic and former child prodigy". The anti-hero of what you'll be surpris ...more
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