7/11/2011 Night of the DemonWhat a great way to end the weekend. We went to the Park Inn Hotel - Southend's iconic Palace Hotel - for an evening organised by the very busy The White Bus.
It is a very positive thing that the management of the hotel are so keen to welcome cultural events within their walls, and it is always a pleasure to pay a visit to this historical building. We were first welcomed by The White Bus staff who informed us of the future planned screenings - a treble Christmas special, The Black Swan, the Southend film festival and the big surprise, they announced that in January 2013, they would be launching a new film festival, Horror-on-Sea. I hope this will include loads of old classics! This should be bringing quite a lot of animation to the town. Excellent news! Writer M.R. James (one of my favourites!) was the real star of the evening. Tonight, both the short film and the main feature were based on one of his stories. "Mr Humphries and his Inheritance", a 1975 short television adaptation of James' story of the same name, was satisfyingly atmospheric and efficient. You can read the story HERE. Night of the Demon (1957), starring Dana Andrews, is directed by the excellent Jacques Tourneur and is therefore a feast of atmospheric scenes playing with both light and shadows - his Cat People remains one of my favourite fantastic movies. Based on the M.R. James story, Casting the Runes, it deals with ancient beliefs, the power of the mind, devil worship and psychology. Satisfactorily, it is not the moralising, fearmongering movie full of Christian references one could have expected, but a very intelligent, inquisitive exercise which never gives a definitive answer, much like all of M.R.James' stories. It is up to the audience to make up their minds. On top of the great plot and genuinely disturbing events, the movie has got this wonderful charm that always infuse these older movies: something to do with elegance... 6/11/2011 Reading...Christopher Fowler's "The Victoria Vanishes".
It is once again a delicious, fascinating read full of fantastically quotable quips... 5/11/2011 Exercise booksYesterday morning, while exercising - I always have ideas while I'm exercising, it must be the accelerated pumping of blood to the brain - I thought about the opening chapters of my first book, "I Am a Muse".
The end of the year is fast approaching now, and I have set myself a deadline. As no agent/publisher has so far been interested in my book, I will publish it myself in 2012. Recently, because I haven't had time to do a lot of work on my second book, I have found myself thinking about the first one more and more. There is a section in there I just KNOW I have to work on - basically, I might have to add a scene to the book. Then there's the tricky question of the opening chapters. With hindsight, the first part might be a little too slow for it to kick off the book properly, and I have spent a bit of time playing around with the first few chapters. I now have re-organised them so as to have the more dynamic, urban London scenes straight from the beginning, then the action switches to Cornwall where we meet the other main character of the novel before travelling back to London and resume the story where we had left it a few pages back. I will need to go back properly to "I Am a Muse" in the forthcoming weeks. I need to re-read it again and decide whether to press ahead with writing the "missing" scene or not. Is it really missing? Would it change a lot of things plot-wise? This is the beauty of writing: I don't really know myself and I am writing the bloody thing! In other news, I am trying to get back to "The Book of Thoth". I have been finding it difficult to get back into the story after such a long time, but I am quite satisfied with the re-reading of the last few chapters and the corrections I have made so far on the first draft. Now I need to take the story forward. 4/11/2011 Some people are taking the mickeySo.
The Olympics logo looks like a bad Hackney gang graffiti. OK. We got used to this one - sort of. We just try and not think about it, really. Then some "leading artists" are commissioned to create some posters to promote the Olympics and paralympics. And the result is HERE. My very own personal verdict, as someone who thinks art and literature are two of the most important things in life: bloody ugly and amateurish. Honestly, some of those posters could have been done by nursery school children. Someone is taking the *piss*. What a shame. There are still a lot of people who are hostile to art and who think that it's all but a waste of time, money, etc. Is THIS going to help? Who would blame them when you present that kind of ridiculous work and announce it as being by "leading artists"? Where's the ambition to inspire, enthuse, celebrate beauty, challenge the senses? There are thousands of extremely talented artists in this country, and that's all the people in charge of the Olympics can do. It is shameful, really. And yes, I am opinionated. And quite angry, actually, as it happens. Missed opportunity. 3/11/2011 Whitemoor HallI have just found a very atmospheric picture of Allerton Park, the house I am using as a model for Whitemoor Hall, the country house where most of the action in The Book of Thoth is set. I have been staring at pictures of this for hours on end for the past nine months or so and it's not over yet! No writing today I'm afraid, but going over (and correcting) the last 30 pages I wrote before my holidays so I know where to start tomorrow morning... Allerton Park has also been the subject for some great B&W photos by Simon Marsden. It is while reading Mr Marsden's wonderful book "This Spectred Isle" that I found the castle and decided to make it my main setting. I have found quite a few things in there that I might use in the book... I have used Kitty's Steps in Devon, for exemple, and renamed it The Wise Man's Spring...
3/11/2011 Back to writing!Oh, I am pleased!
I unexpectedly find myself in between projects for 4 days, hurray for delays! I can therefore go back to The Book of Thoth for a bit. I haven't worked on the book since just before my holidays so it's been a while... All I hope is that inspiration will come to me quickly. 2/11/2011 Talking about dark deeds...All this Halloween stuff made me think about re-reading all my Poppy Z Brite.
It's not for the faint-hearted and MOST definitely NOT for "Amazon Readers 1 and 2" mentioned in my previous blog. There's an awful, awful lot of DRINKING and SMOKING - and not only cigarettes - and loads of drugs and sex and all kinds of debauchery. But it's all incredibly atmospheric and at times lyrical, raw, violent, haunting, nauseating, and incredibly beautiful. Try it if you dare... 1/11/2011 Review: The Drowning Pool by Syd MooreThis is my attempt at writing a proper book review... I have had quite a go at being a music reviewer over the years, but I have rarely done book reviews... So here it is, then.
I first came across Syd Moore as the founding editor of Level 4, an eclectic, free magazine covering culture in Southend-on-Sea. Then, with her artist friend Heidi Wigmore, she created a card game about female stereotypes, Super Strumps, which was launched at the Women Of The World festival at London South Bank. (If you are interested in it, go HERE) I had read some of Syd’s articles in defence of the much maligned Essex Girl, in which she made the link with the fact that Essex had been seen as "Witch County" across the ages. Her interest for the subject has now been turned into a two-book deal with publishers HarperCollins; not bad for a debut novelist! First, the blurb – because I wouldn’t write anything better than this to sum up the story: “Relocated to a coastal town with her young son Alfie, widowed teacher Sarah Grey is slowly rebuilding her life. But following a séance one drunken night, she begins to experience frightening visions. Her attempts to explain them away are dashed when Alfie starts to see them too, and soon, it seems that they are targets of a terrifying haunting. Convinced that the ghost is that of a 19th century local witch and her own namesake, Sarah delves into local folklore and learns that the witch was seen as evil incarnate. When a series of old letters surface, Sarah discovers that nothing and no-one is as it seems, maybe not even the ghost of Sarah Grey…” This is a refreshing and actually rather original take on the ghost story genre. But a word of warning here: if you are after a brainless, non-stop blood-splattered feast of chills and screams, you won’t get it, not in that way. Yes, it is a chilling book that has been cleverly written to make the hair stand at the back of its readers’ neck, but I have found much more in there than that. “The Drowning Pool” works on several levels, and the ghost story at some point turns into what I would call a detective story. From investigating events that have taken place in the 19th century, Sarah Grey finds that she might also be probing into a more recent past… perhaps even the present… That’s what is so enjoyable about this book: it effortlessly moves from a very familiar environment, a 21st century full of mobile phones, Skype communications and drunken antics in crowded pubs and wine bars – all instrumental in the development of the ghostly storyline – to the dark, tough reality of an 19th century seaside village. Incredibly enough, it works. The supernatural elements are introduced subtly, as the ghosts from the past – literally – start to infiltrate the very normal world of young widow Sarah Grey. The haunting itself is so unnerving because we seem to never really be sure about what is really happening. Is there any “reality” in those manifestations? Is Sarah’s mind – or shall I say, brain – playing tricks on her? Is her grief for her late husband behind all this? So, you ask me, do we firmly know the facts when we reach page 356? You’ll have to read the book, of course. What I can tell you, though, is that as the story develops and the young woman delves into the “witch”’s life and that of the close-knit, superstitious community in which she lived, we are completely taken by the historical details about the times and the area. The author has done her research (the "sea-witch" Sarah Moore did indeed live in Leigh but her name has been changed to avoid confusion), and it shows without being forced down your throat as so many authors do. An important part of the success of the book is Syd Moore’s humour and her flowing, bouncy writing style – she can switch it to stark and brooding at will. I like the unpretentious style of the author who is not here to dazzle you with some literary prowess but to offer you a bloody good read and tell you the story of a human being whose fate has obviously touched her very much. I smiled and chuckled quite often as well – comic relief works marvellously here and helps you shake off the tension, before plunging you into yet another goose bumps-inducing episode. As an ex-teacher myself, I recognised the staffroom antics and “teachery” (I’ve made up a word here) moans of Sarah and her colleagues. In the early stages of the book, Sarah's tense communication with her boss, the barely human McBastard, oops, I mean, McWhittard – an austere, gothic character – is responsible for some uncomfortable but funny scenes. And the drinking! There is a lot of it indeed, as the author captures the spirit of our times, all the socialising and self-doubts brought on by modern life… I actually think that the first supernatural moment in the book occurs as soon as the first chapter, when Sarah and her group of friends – all very inebriated – decide to go up the Hadleigh Castle from Leigh Broadway and light up a camp fire. Go up there, on foot, blind drunk, as the sun sets? If this is not supernatural… Try it yourself, you'll see... Do you need to know Leigh-on-Sea and the area to appreciate the book? No, of course, not. There is enough in there to make any reader happy, but I do admit to finding it rather helpful and it made me feel closer to the story, more intimate with it. Familiar names of buildings and public places find their way to the pages and conjure up images. If you know the atmosphere of the Leigh folk festival, for example, or what the Old town, St Clement church or the Heritage Centre there look like, it might make your experience that little bit more interesting. As I was finishing the book, I thought that it would make a great classic British movie, if the director managed to capture the atmosphere and the haunting the way it should be. In the right hands, it could become the "clever" chiller of the year - with Helena Bonham Carter as the 19th century Sarah , although she probably is too expensive... Any takers? In the meantime, I for one will start looking around me a little bit more carefully next time I walk around Old Leigh. I will try and ignore the ice-cream licking, seafood chomping and beer drinking visitors and I will think about the 19th century Sarah Moore/Grey, the so-called “sea-witch”, a woman whose incredibly hard life and insufferable tragedies are the things that will haunt you long after you have closed your copy of "The Drowning Pool" and put it back on the shelf. *UPDATE*: Just been on Amazon and some comments made me almost wet myself with laughter: Reader 1: "The only thing I'd have changed, was how much alcohol the main character downed on a regular basis. I don't know how she managed to work, look after her son and the house as she seemed to be permanently drunk!" Reader 2: "Agree about all the booze - and all the smoking. That's the only thing that I didn't like about it." (Hahahaha! I won't comment on this because I could be unkind to some people I don't know... We live in strange times indeed!) 1/11/2011 The perfect writing house 1I am on the look out for the perfect writing house...
In my latest Dorset post, I posted a picture of an amazing, very unusual house located on the seafront in Lyme Regis. We had admired it and taken pictures of it in June, and when we went back two weeks ago, a "For Sale" sign had been attached to one of the gates. We started dreaming... without being able to find any details on the estate agent's website. Well, now we have found it. It's a million pounds. But what a house. I'd like a little house in the Dorset countryside, but I would forfeit the countryside bit of the bargain (as well as the small bit) if I could have this one... The view... The period features... I could even have a separate gym AND a separate office... Bliss! "The Sundial is said to be one of England’s most beautiful and original Arts and Crafts houses". THE SUNDIAL LYME REGIS |
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