Steve’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2010)

Steve’s comments from the Q&A with Steve Morris group.

I will do although I don't like listening to myself!

Radio interview about Playing Havoc booked live on Talk Radio Europe Hannah Murray Show tomorrow 16th August.

Recording session booked for a short story reading for a radio station in East Midlands.

Both should be archived online.

First radio interview for Playing Havoc now being booked after being let down by smaller stations!

Details to follow soon.

Thanks for the clarification and insight on the HK education system.You have certainly had a good education yourself.

I especially truly admire someone such as yourself being a person who uses Enlgish as a second language but who can correctly use an apostrophe unlike many British people and institutions.

Can you believe that I read two spelling mistakes on my credit card statement yesterday? Standards of English are just not what they used to be. How embarrassing.

That is very interesting to read.

Incidentally, what age are Form 6 students?

I had a student from (mainland) China in my maths class once. She couldn't speak or write English at all when she arrived.
Algebra being a universal language was no problem to her however and we had to move her up at least one (might have been two) school years for her maths lessons! Unfortunately for me I lost the chance to learn much from very advanced student as she left my class.

That is interesting, I always imagined that English would be a far more complicated language to learn compared to French or Spanish.

How do you find pronunciation of such words as bough, through and rough? They are all spelled similarly but pronounced entirely differently! I'm sure that no other language could be as illogical.

So English is compulsory from Kindergarten in Hong Kong. Here in the UK,a single modern foreign language is only compulsory from age eleven. I think they can be dropped at age fourteen.

Hi. Yes, I'm disappointed in that. Also this time the magazines aren't so enthusiastic about reviews. I think that the economic downturn makes magazines need to fill each column inch with fee-paying advertising space with little editorial input.

I had a thumb through two magazines today and it was difficult to find any content within page after page of glossy ads for cosmetic surgery, property and holidays.

I'd be happy to do any book signing but I think that for unknown writers they can be an awkward affair.

I popped into a big library on a Saturday morning last summer. A local (mature) writer was immaculately smart sat at a desk in the foyer with a display of his latest books arranged to the milimetre in a geometric pattern.
He sat with silver pen at the ready trying to catch the eye of every visitor. Everyone seemed to avoid his gaze like he was a charity collector. I can't imagine he signed many copies to opportunist visitors.

I popped back a couple of hours later and was pleased to see someone with him asking about his book but it turned out to be the journalist he'd booked from the local paper. He should have asked all his friends and family to turn up at the same time!

Unfortunately it seems that the radio staition who were interested in broadcasting some new stories are not communicating with me.

I also offered to read them myself on my regional radio station and an overseas station who has recently broadcast interviews by other authors working with my publisher. Neither responded. They are both now off my Christmas card list....

@curmudgeon. Spot on. It is also so easy in this digital age to facelessly click on one-star [Didn't like because it hasn't got my favourite pink monsters] or five-stars [Liked because it had what I usually read]

When we ask them to justify their rating, then that is where they fall down.

You beat me to it. I was just about to compare the free book download site we found to what happened with NAPSTR. The site had somehow copied the Kindle files of thousands of books, then made them available for download for free in exchange for "free membership". This involved presumably collecting marketing material.

I'm a fan of the writing of USA author Robert Wacaster so I searched his name on the site and low-and-behold, his entire Kindle catalogue was there too.
The site has been closed soon after but as you say, nowadays it won't take much effort for skilled people to do the same again.

@sunshines. You should be really proud of your linguistic skills. Here in the UK, as a nation we have expected the rest of the world to speak English.

I'd really be interested to know how "difficult" English is to learn compared to what we see as very complex languages Mandarin and Cantonese.

It must take great skill to speak these languages let alone write them. Are many people in Hong Kong multi-lingual?
You leave the British standing in your knowledge of languaes.
Which languages are taught in HK schools

Thanks Nicolle!
The reader on Goodreads has now apologised for the rating having clicked on the wrong thing when adding the book. Easily done.

Seriously, we recently found a site that was copying Kindle files and making them free-for-all to download. It had thousands of books listed including mine!

Oh yes, very chilling and certainly there to capture the attention!

Thank you so much Sunshines2008.

For a (native Mandarin?) speaker to translate and understand an English book must take great skill.

It is an honour to have had words read by you.

Someone has given Playing Havoc a duff rating before copies have been made available. They could not have possibly seen the book.

We have made a complaint to Goodreads but we expect them to side with the reviewer.

0 out of 5 for spelling on this Amazon review today:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1KHCQ...

Is it me or do Sci-fi books have the best cover art?

They often have the most disturbing.

This is a link to this week's releases under the sci-fi genre:
http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/ne...

Thanks Nicolle. I'll let you know when it is in the mail.

She's the one! My favourite role for her was Flora Finchling.

She also made a good documentary about Dickens' tours of America. She is quite an enthusiast.


I look forward to seeing In the Wings (how do you get italics on Goodreads?)
September will soon be here alas.....and heralds the end of summer for us so I don't want to wish the time away.

Having said that, climate change seems to be resulting in good settled dry sunny Septembers here in the UK after a couple of months of summer rain.

Richard, when will your anthology be due?

Incidentally, have you ever seen / heard Miriam Margolyes perform "Dickens' women"?

See if you can Google it. She's going to tour the solo act during the Autumn (Fall!) so I'm hoping to see her.

She was brilliant in a version of Little Dorrit.

The first batch of Playing Havoc are on their way so as soon as we've given them a once-over I'll post Nicolle and Richard their copies.

I'm looking forward to seeing the physical cover art in the flesh.