I have been thinking about it for a while... Now, I have decided to actually act upon it!
I would like to start posting on this very website interviews with authors and publishers: about their inspiration, their writing processes, how they self-published (for self-published writers) or their journey towards traditional publication for those lucky enough - or not! - to have been snapped up by an agent/traditional publisher, how they set up their publishing company (for indie publishers), etc. It will be very much focused on their current and future work. I will try and keep the articles short enough to be read online - I personally cannot read long texts on a screen and need them to be printed! What I have in mind is to do email interviews with people who are not your "traditional" writers/publishers, but people whose road to publication has been a little bit different. I am also interested in people I consider more interesting than your average writer; most certainly not the "Oxbridge/MA in creative writing/bestselling writer" journey to being published. I will be honest, it will be based on my personal taste, as I want to interview people whose books I have actually read - and I do not read books I don't want to read. There won't be any literary stars here - only potential future ones -although if I could get Michel Faber to answer a few questions, I would be over the moon! I was going to post them as blogs, but I think those will require their own section on the website, so I might fiddle a bit with the structure of missgish.com when I am ready to post the first interview. I am happy to say that so far, the three people I have contacted have expressed an interest, so thank you to them. I hope to start the series in the spring, hopefully the first interview will be available by the end of March. I might post one every month or two months, depending on people's (and my own) availability. I already have a few more people to contact and add to my list! 29/1/2014 Paris, annees follesLast week, I watched the most astonishing documentary about Paris in the 1920s: "Paris, années folles".
Les années folles" (The crazy years) is a French expression used to describe the 1920-1929 era in Paris. Anyone interested in the 1920s should see it; the footage is literally jaw-dropping. This documentary is about history, culture, art, literature and social changes. Paris was once the exciting place to be - mostly thanks to rich and not so rich foreign artists, intellectuals and entertainers who flocked to the French capital in the 20s in order to live their wildest dreams. Ignited by a desire to put the unimaginable horrors of WWI behind, this incredible explosion of creativity, glamour and social change reached an intensity never equalled. It didn't last long and never returned to the banks of the Seine. This two-hour long documentary is a unique glimpse at life in Paris at the time (only for certain groups, though; as shown at some point in the documentary, the reality of French life on the outskirts of Paris and beyond was still steeped in peasant misery, in a world which struggled to evolve socially and economically and launch itself into the 20th century. The film's director, Fabien Bezat, has taken the decision to show the film in colour to appeal to today's audiences who can barely cope with black and white - the documentary was shown at prime-time in France. He and his team have been through a gigantic amount of archive from the time and then worked on colourisation (done in India and in the US), then added the soundtrack and the score. So what will you see in this film? The bar terraces in Montparnasse which acted as HQ to the artists and their muses; the jazz clubs in Montmartre; Coco Chanel, Art Deco, the bob, Gertrude Stein and the «Lost Generation», the famous clubs «la Rotonde» and «la Coupole», Man Ray and his muse and lover Kiki de Montparnasse, «dirty french novels» and the beginning of porn, the Surrealists an Dadas… Josephine Baker, Scott Fitzgerald, Miller, Hemingway, Dali and more... The Avant-Garde, women's emancipation, sexual freedom, but also the way a very conservative France tried to resist change - this led to the birth of fast-rising far-right and Fascist movements, The Olympics of 1924, poignant footage of disfigured ex-soldiers, the sumptuous orgies and finally, the boats who took the rich Americans back to the US after the 1929 crash. There is no DVD of this film and it is a shame. The French commentary is succinct and would be easy to translate and add subtitles to - I can predict it would sell very well indeed. Nevertheless, you can still enjoy it without being able to understand French; it is well organised in clearly separated sections, is fast -paced and crammed with rare footage. Personally, I have always been much more fascinated by London - my spiritual home - and have never been much interested in Paris, a city I have come to know and dislike very much. Contrary to what a lot of people think, Paris has never been a romantic city or an exciting metropolis. It feels like a big French provincial town at the best of times; it is grey and tired, people are grey and tired; it hasn't got any edge, is incredibly dirty, choked by an erratic traffic and a constant stream of demonstrations - I was there briefly yesterday and it has gone worse! And at times, it feels like a third world city. Paris is now nothing more than a former courtisan, old, diseased and tired, who cannot even bother to put her make-up or her showy gowns on anymore. When you glimpse at what it has been and what it could have been, as in this documentary, you wonder what on earth has gone wrong. Then you shrug, French-like, and go to enjoy London, a city with many foibles but which feels like the capital of the world for all the right reasons... *UPDATE!* I have actually found the documentary online, I think it's the whole thing ... Enjoy! Watch "Paris, années folles" HERE! 20/1/2014 Out and aboutI am going abroad for a week to do a bit of market research for Arcane Publishing and also to (maybe) stock up on some great ephemera and second-hand books for Arcane Publishing's forthcoming vintage and antiques markets.
I will be taking draft 2 of The Book of Thoth with me as there is a hell of a lot of work to do on it... In the meantime, my partner in crime Matt ArtPix will be trying out a few typesetting ideas for The Book of Thoth. When I come back, things will get incredibly busy: draft 2 of The Book of Thoth, freelance work, preparations for our first markets, a book review to write, some gigs, art exhibitions and theatre... I wouldn't have it any other way! 10/1/2014 New books!And some more books we've just acquired! Following up on the topic of theatre actresses, here's Ellen Terry, probably the most famous of them all! The next one is something quite special. Letters from Cythera is written by Jaz Coleman, the frontman of cult post-punk band Killing Joke, but also a well-respected classical composer, and thinker. The hefty volume, which delves into the ideas, belief systems and inspiration behind all of Coleman's music, is accompanied by The Island, a CD of music Coleman himself describes as "romantic minimalism" and composed by him. It was recorded in 1996 in New Zealand with the Auckland Philarmonic Orchestra but was lost for over a decade. Both the book and the music were inspired by and created in the remote South Pacific island Coleman owns - which is rather apt as I am still reading Jordan Reyne's Remembering the Dead, set mostly in a New Zealand forest. Learn more about the project HERE. The design on the project was done by Mike Coles, the design genius behind Killing Joke's most iconic visuals.
9/1/2014 Books I wantTomorrow, I'm in London to see a play, and I will also have a list of books to buy. I hope to get my little hands on: OK, so I redeem myself with these: The Palace of Curiosities by writer, poet, singer and performer Rosie Garland. Under The Skin by one of my favourite writers, Michel Faber - I want to read it before I go and see the movie in March.
7/1/2014 New for my collectionDuring the Christmas holiday, I have acquired yet more amazing items for my vintage collection! The seller who sold me the Film Weekly magazines had an absolutely amazing stock of fabulous stuff (also quite a few The Play, the theatre mag, which makes a brief appearance in The Book of Thoth!). I am not a big spender, but I could easily have bought their whole stock in one go... I will go back for more this year! I am becoming rather obsessed with theatre people from the Edwardian era and, of course, the 1920s. In The Book of Thoth, one of my characters is a former actress who was about to become a big star of the stage just before the First World War, but it is only mentioned as part of the background story. What I'd like to do is to write a novel entirely set in the world of the theatre, but the amount of research would be staggering - and I would have to find an original angle as it has been done before, hasn't it? Ideas, ideas... The pictures below are not very good as they were taken minutes before my camera gave up for good. In the next few weeks, I will be heading to the National Portrait Gallery to see their display Starring Vivien Leigh: A centenary celebration. They also have Jane Morris: Pre-Raphaelite muse which I will see at the same time! Now back to The Book of Thoth. Draft 1 will be completed next Tuesday, January 20th. 6/1/2014 The Wind...2/1/2014 Essex skiesIn our house, there is a writer/editor and a designer, which means that we spend most of our waking hours at a desk in the middle of an urban area. It can get pretty claustrophobic and often cripples the thought process. There's nothing better than a good walk to get your brain to work again.
Robert Macfarlane has written extensively about the kinship that exists between walking and thinking and how he "remains fascinated by the idea that when on foot, we think in ways that would never otherwise be possible." I agree. After a good walk in an inspiring environment, I could easily write half a book in one sitting! So as we love walking and nature, we put our walking boots on and get out there. If you read the blog regularly, you know that our favourite place to do this is Dorset, but as we currently reside in Essex, we try and explore the area. We have had some gorgeous weather during the Christmas holidays, and managed to get to Brightlingsea, Bradwell and Paglesham. We barely saw anyone... Go to Matt ArtPix's blog to see more pictures! I have found an informative blog about Brightlingsea HERE. |
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March 2024
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