F.G. Cottam's Blog, page 10

Ironic

Yesterday I cut my left hand thumb knuckle carving a scary face on a pumpkin for my four year old daughter. I had just sharpened the knife and it was a deep cut that hurt. A lot. It might leave a manly scar I can claim to have got doing something bolder and more reckless than trying to fashion a mouthful of fangs from the skin of a scooped pumpkin. My little girl wasn't remotely upset by the sight of daddy's blood; only impatient at the slight delay to the decorative carving while the wound was cleaned and a dressing applied. Since I'm one of those who profits from the general appetite for ghoulish and scary things, I couldn't really complain at a hallowe'en based mishap. Anyway since it was self inflicted, there was no one to complain to. But it did make me ponder on just how huge the event has become in Britain. It's a much bigger deal than Guy Fawkes Night for my kids and for all their friends too. And it has happened fast. A decade ago, I don't think I'd even seen a pumpkin. They were mystery objects eccentric people nurtured in allotments.

criticism

Being fortunate enough to have someone publish my fiction, I have to respect the opinions of readers, whether they like what I have written or loathe it. That's always been my attitude. Anyone who takes the trouble to read the book has the right to judge it. And on the whole, looking at this site, the comments are mostly positive, for which I'm grateful. But the fact is that I write fiction in which the supernatural exists and magic is possible. If you are looking for an entirely rational explanation for the events in the stories, you will inevitably be disappointed. There is no Scooby Doo moment where the masks come off at the end. There is an interior logic to the stories and I abide by its rules.But if you are the kind of reader who thinks Hogwarts should be more like Grange Hill, my novels are not for you. There, I feel better for having said that.
'Souls' is published in Germany on November 1. I have my fingers crossed the Germans have an appetite for matters ghostly. And The Magdalena Curse comes out in hardback in the UK only a fortnight from now. I hope sorcery is a fitting subject for these lengthening autumn nights...

Artist

That's Peter Messer, the Lewes artist. Apologies for the incorrect spelling, but his work is really compelling and well worth a Google image search.

Lewes

Just back from Lewes, where my brother celebrated his birthday this weekend. He lives there very happily with his family. But to me it's one of those English towns where the past is so overwhelming it keeps trying to break into the present. Some places are like that; haunted by their own history. Lewes is pretty much intact, spared wartime bombs and the wrecking ball and architectural brutalism of the urban redevelopment of the 1960s. So it isn't hard to imagine people in period costume gliding through its narrow, cobbled lanes or peering through the leaded panes of the windows of its old buildings. Well, it isn't hard to imagine after dark, after a few glasses of Harveys, the truly excellent locally brewed beer. There is a Lewes based artist called Peter Meller who has captured the slightly sinister atmosphere of the place in some of his paintings. And there are any number of excellent pubs there serving the aforementioned Harveys.

Saturday

Bought a new CD this week that took me right back to living in Whitstable and attending university on a hill above Canterbury. Is anything as nostalgic as the music of your youth? The CD is a superb Jess Roden compilation and a sober reminder that you need luck as well as talent to succeed. The songs sound just as good as did as they did when I shared a drafty Kent coast flat with a bloke from Wimbledon and some noisy mice.
I'm looking forward to November. At the beginning of the month, The House of Lost Souls comes out in Germany. They've re-titled it The House of Evil and though I don't read German, it's just a thrill to be published in other languages. Then on November 12 my new novel, The Magdalena Curse, comes out in hardback in the U.K. It concerns witchcraft and a curse (obviously) and I've got my fingers crossed it will be well received.
Jess Roden is worth checking out if you've ever tapped a foot to Boz Scaggs or early Robert Palmer. I'd be listening to him now, if I wasn't taking my daughter out to shop for herHallow'een costume...