Rupert Dreyfus's Blog, page 8
September 18, 2015
Happy 1st Birthday, Spark!
Exactly one year ago today, and on the behest of my brother, I self-published Spark. I remember it well because I had to wait for the outcome of Scotland’s indy referendum as I may have needed to tweak minor details. Spark was the first book I had ever written in the first-person transgressive/ black comedy style and I had absolutely no idea about self-publishing. I basically set up a load of social media accounts and spent a few months out in the wilderness, trying to figure out how to get people to read Spark. That’s basically half the battle when you self-publish: convincing people that they’re not wasting their time. I’ve inevitably made some howling mistakes along the way –usually while shitfaced- but from here on I hope those mistakes will become rarer and rarer.
What’s reassuring is that Spark was born out of mind numbing boredom with just about everything. Boredom with society; boredom with the system; boredom with the alternatives; boredom with the internet; boredom with the idiots; boredom with the lack of rebellion in the creative arts; boredom with the humdrum of everyday life; boredom with holding down a 9-5 job. It’s been reassuring to learn that there are people out there who are able to connect with what I’m doing – probably because you’re looking at the world through a similar lens and you’re just as bored as me.
The good news is that Spark is more relevant now than what it was when I first released it. Anyone in the UK can probably remember all too clearly that this time last year we had a coalition government propped up by the Liberal Democrats. However, today we have a Tory majority which is ten times as worse. This has come about not because we have a functioning democracy (the first past the post system won’t allow that to happen); but because there’s exactly the right amount of nuggets out there who are willing to eat shit sandwiches once every five years. Until we figure out how to wake these nuggets up so we can finally abolish government and replace those shit sandwiches with anarchy and peace, I will continue to gob off about all that grips the shit of good people.
As anybody reading this blog is probably aware I’ve also released a collection of short stories called The Rebel’s Sketchbook within the last year. As far as short story collections go it’s doing well. I personally prefer writing short stories and would, if I could, spend the rest of my days writing them; particularly those collections that weave together to make one big story. As time goes on I think there’ll be more short story collections out there like The Rebel’s Sketchbook – it’s all just a matter of time.
I will also make a promise that if Spark ever reaches 100 reviews on Goodreads in my lifetime then I’ll complete a short prequel to Spark which I’ve been working on from the viewpoint of Vinnie Sloane; if it ever reaches 1,000 reviews then I’ll concentrate on a sequel from the viewpoint of another character in Spark (I wonder who that could be…). Meanwhile I’m going to move on with my life and write up some new projects which will relate back to my other stories in some way or other.
So that’s a year in the life of Dreyfus mischief. It’s been fun, it’s been frustrating at times, but it’s been worth the slog. If you’re a friend or follower on Goodreads then both my books are available to you for free. All you’ve got to do is get in touch and say hello. If you’re pissed off and have a dark, cynical sense of humour then I promise that you’ll get something out of them.
Anyway; I’ll catch up with you all soon enough. Meanwhile send dog shit to your local political representative. Puke on a picture of the Queen. Tell your boss to fuck off. Steal something from a multinational corporation and then give it to charity. Help with your local food bank. Check that your neighbour is okay. Talk to the next homeless person you see and buy them whatever helps to keep them warm. Support the refugees. Fuck David Cameron. Fuck Rupert Murdoch. Fuck the Daily Mail. Fuck Westminster. Read anarchist philosophy. Do anything other than what is expected of you because obedience is the scourge of these times we’re living in and the only way we can end this madness is by learning who our real enemy is and then rebelling against them.
Inabit.
R.D
September 11, 2015
The Rebel’s Sketchbook – Rupert Dreyfus
Originally posted on The Opening Sentence:
The publishing world is awash with romance, erotica and young adult dystopia. Every day another 400 million novels are published. With this in mind you’d think only a madman would consider writing a short story anthology dealing with none of the above.
Rupert Dreyfus isn’t mad. At least I don’t think he is, but in The Rebel’s Sketchbook he manages to write thirteen short stories without a single tall dark handsome stranger, bursting corset or sword wielding teenager.
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September 2, 2015
A Blog Not About Me, But a Sister in Crisis
Hi folks,
I’m aware that I’ve been a little bit too blog happy recently, but this blog isn’t about me and is a matter of priority. A friend of mine has contacted me recently and has told me that her family is in crisis over her husband’s immigration situation. Alix was among the first people to read Spark and we have been friends ever since. She was also one of the few people I sent a copy of The Rebel’s Sketchbook to because she’s ace. Alix does a lot of work with charity and campaigns on a lot of social and environmental issues. She has a young child and things are really tough for them right now. In a nutshell she’s a fantastic lass and I don’t like to see her struggling so bad. She needs our help and I know that a lot of my friends and followers understand the principle of empathy.
More information on her situation can be found here:
http://www.gofundme.com/zu393pkc
Please help Alix and her family any which way you can.
Thanks to all those who have already been helping out with this.
R.D
The Rebel’s Sketchbook Give Away is Now Closed!
Hi folks,
This is just to give a huge shout out to the 560 folks who entered the Goodreads give away for The Rebel’s Sketchbook and congratulations to the person who won it! If you’re reading this; the book is now on its way to you.
There will no doubt be a final give away soon enough so I’ll keep you posted when it’s up and running. I’ll probably give it a couple of weeks and see how it all pans out.
In other news here is my most recent interview with Amy; publicist of Dorian Box:
http://dorianbox.com/book-review-and-interview-spark-by-rupert-dreyfus/
It’s got a bit of info on what inspired certain elements of my debut novel Spark. It also has a good review from Dorian Box himself.
I’m also presently writing a short story which is supposed to be going in an anthology of dark humour with some other authors on Goodreads. I’ve finished the first draft and it could’ve been a story in The Rebel’s Sketchbook. It’s called Pyongyang Selfie and it’s about the younger cousin of Saul who is the narrator in my other short story Sentenced; a story about social media idiots. Hopefully it’ll kick off World War III and then I’ll be really famous.
Right; I’ll keep you all posted on all major developments. Feel free to get in touch; always love to hang out with anyone who’s reading my stuff.
Inabit.
R.D
August 30, 2015
A Policy Created by Arsehats
"Note to authors: We don’t recommend contacting users to promote your book or request reviews. Nearly all of our members consider unsolicited messages from authors or their representatives to be spam, and sending such messages may result in your account being flagged."
This is actually incredible: a social media site which discourages people from contacting each other.
For the record the OED defines spam as "irrelevant or unsolicited messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users, for the purposes of advertising, phishing, spreading malware, etc."
So what's the reality? I'm presuming either a good number of authors are taking the spam approach and it's pissed a lot of people off or many users don't quite understand the definition of spam. There could be another explanation, but those seem to be the most likely. If I had to take a guess I'd imagine it's a bit of both.
I don't know about other authors on here, but the only way I can get my books read is either through joining forums and hoping for the best or by contacting people on Goodreads. Since joining October of last year I've contacted approximately one person per month, offering them a free digital copy for review purposes. Every single time I've wrote a hand-written message explaining exactly why I've chosen to contact them personally so they know it's not thoughtless spam. I normally refer to the fact that they read similar books or something else about their profile indicates that they'll probably appreciate what I'm doing. Every one of them can now be found on my buddies list.
This is because what I did isn't spam; it's what skint authors do in order to get their shit out there to the people who are looking for it.
In my view authors who spam their lives away by copy and pasting 'buy my shit' fifty times a day into a message box have fucked it up for the rest of us. Similarly those users who've reported authors for sending messages rather than simply ignoring them have also contributed to the forming of a particularly shit policy.
But what's really interesting is the anti-author sentiments of the above message. There's no warning to readers, asking them not to contact authors for free copies of their books for review purposes. Why is this? Well right now there's an argument to say that Goodreads believes that authors are second class citizens.
For the record; I don't advocate the use of any messages deterring people from contacting each other. Authors should be free to reach out to readers; readers should also be free to help authors out. It's what this community needs to thrive.
So let me know your thoughts, readers and authors, because right now I'm a bit miffed.
Inabit
R.D
P.s Buy my shit and win a free hashtag with your name next to it. All Dreyfus merchandise available exclusively from suckyourmum.com.
August 29, 2015
Review of Spark and a New Interview!
Hi folks,
The below link will take you to a review of Spark and a new interview with me all in one fell swoop. Thanks to Amy and Dorian who have become true friends over the last month. Me and Amy have been corresponding extensively of late and we share a lot of opinions on the positives of self-publishing as well as the objective of tipping all hostility to self-publishing on its head. We will be releasing an in-depth article which covers this subject in due course.
Dorian wrote the novel Psycho-Tropics which is a crime thriller with some of the best dialogue and plot twists I’ve read in years. I reviewed it on Goodreads and have placed it in my top 10 of all time on account of being the best indie debut I’ve read thus far.
Here is the article:
http://dorianbox.com/book-review-and-interview-spark-by-rupert-dreyfus/
Here is Dorian’s book:
Dorian spends a lot of time supporting indie writing. You should definitely check out his website and his book. A great guy and an exceptional talent.
I’ll be back with an update soon enough. Meanwhile take care and feel free to get in touch!
R.D
August 21, 2015
Guerrilla Fiction Updates
This is my first update since putting out The Rebel’s Sketchbook. It’s only going to be brief because there isn’t a whole lot going on at the moment and, to be honest, I’ve got the post-release blues. I’m taking a short break from writing and doing some reading while I decide on which project I’m going to focus on next. In the meantime I’d like to give a shout out to everyone who has read Spark and/or The Rebel’s Sketchbook, are currently reading them or will read them in the future. If you haven’t already then please review these books on Amazon and Goodreads, and tell anyone into this sort of thing about them. I have no money to pump into advertising so everything is down to people spreading the word.
The Goodreads give away for The Rebel’s Sketchbook is still up and running so feel free to enter it through the Goodreads page. I can’t help but think I’ve made a mistake by putting an age restriction on it. If you’ve read Eat Nasty and Martha then you will know why I chose to do this. I’ll run another give away in a month or two and try it without an age restriction to see where that takes me.
When I decided to put these stories in to the public domain some eleven months ago, I didn’t know how to make it clear what I’m about. While I borrow from transgressive fiction, black comedy and satire I don’t strictly write for these genres. So I came up with Guerrilla Fiction for the Digital Age as a literary jingle, hoping this would convey my firm anti-establishment position. I’ve always been a mouthy cunt with those we’re supposed to look up to, and so writing these stories is a natural progression of expressing this. But no matter how scathing the cynicism gets; I’m doing all I can to come from a good place. I just have a certain way of expressing it. I personally blame the Dead Kennedys, Chomsky, Orwell and drugs for this situation I’ve got myself in to. Now I need to figure out how to get myself out of it…
I’ll be back soon with a blog with more substance; I’ve been writing loads of mini essays for this blog but none of them are complete yet. But next month I’ll make sure I have something with a lot more focus.
Speak soon!
R.D
Guerrilla Fiction Updates
Easy, fam!
This is my first update since putting out The Rebel’s Sketchbook. It’s only going to be brief because there isn’t a whole lot going on at the moment and, to be honest, I’ve got the post-release blues. I’m taking a short break from writing and doing some reading while I decide on which project I’m going to focus on next. In the meantime I’d like to give a shout out to everyone who has read Spark and/or The Rebel’s Sketchbook, are currently reading them or will read them in the future. If you haven’t already then please review these books on Amazon and Goodreads, and tell anyone into this sort of thing about them. I have no money to pump into advertising so everything is down to people spreading the word.
The Goodreads give away for The Rebel’s Sketchbook is still up and running so feel free to enter it through the Goodreads page. I can’t help but think I’ve made a mistake by putting an age restriction on it. If you’ve read Eat Nasty and Martha then you will know why I chose to do this. I’ll run another give away in a month or two and try it without an age restriction to see where that takes me.
When I decided to put these stories in to the public domain some eleven months ago, I didn’t know how to make it clear what I’m about. While I borrow from transgressive fiction, black comedy and satire I don’t strictly write for these genres. So I came up with Guerrilla Fiction for the Digital Age as a literary jingle, hoping this would convey my firm anti-establishment position. I’ve always been a mouthy cunt with those we’re supposed to look up to, and so writing these stories is a natural progression of expressing this. But no matter how scathing the cynicism gets; I’m doing all I can to come from a good place. I just have a certain way of expressing it. I personally blame the Dead Kennedys, Chomsky, Orwell and drugs for this situation I’ve got myself in to. Now I need to figure out how to get myself out of it…
I’ll be back soon with a blog with more substance; I’ve been writing loads of mini essays for this blog but none of them are complete yet. But next month I’ll make sure I have something with a lot more focus.
Speak soon!
R.D
August 3, 2015
The Rebel's Sketchbook Give Away
For those who are interested my Goodreads give away for The Rebel's Sketchbook has just been approved so you can now hunt it down and enter. Fans of transgressive fiction/ black comedy/ satire will appreciate this collection. It's open until the end of the month so there is still plenty of time.
I can't stress enough that some of the content is quite putrid so probably stay clear if you're offended by appalling language, sex, drug use and graphic violence.
Finally; shout out to all those who have read it, are reading it or intend to read it soon.
Laters potaters! :-)
R.D
July 26, 2015
Reflections on Free Expression in the Digital Age – By Rupert Dreyfus
Originally posted on The Change Seekers:
As we wait for the Tories to undermine human rights laws by introducing a British Bill of Work Hard and Get Along, it’s perhaps a good time to reflect on human rights legislation. More specifically I would like to provide some thoughts on the article concerning free expression as presently enshrined in law. The reason for this is that I’d like to explore a lesser discussed problem it raises and how we can perhaps overcome this problem in the Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
So far so good. However, there’s a qualifying subsection that such a right to free expression comes with “duties” and “responsibilities”, and then there’s an ambiguous indication of potential legal consequences where “public authority” deem it necessary. Apparently this is in the…
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