Not Made For Northern Weather

My short story Not Made For Northern Weather has been published on the Mod-Doom-Magazine website.  You can read it here: Not Made For Northern Weather

The Village by Nikita Lalwani

My review of The Village is up on Bookmunch.

'...There are the obvious themes of inequality and corruption that are rife in India and the sensationalist culture of British television, but there is also the theme of an outsider, someone who doesn’t quite belong to either of the cultures, and is not fully accepted by either. ‘I resemble everyone but myself…’ starts the novel with an extract from a poem Self-Portrait by A.K. Ramanujan. Ray looks like the villagers, she dresses like her English co-workers. She portrays herself as a ‘veg’ – a choice for the upper classes in India – until we find out about her secret rendezvous with chicken at a local curry house...' Read more here

Once You Break A Knuckle by D.W.Wilson

D.W. Wilson's first story collection was published recently by Bloomsbury and what a great read it is for all short story lovers! After reading so many novels one after another it was fascinating to see just how playful and intricate short story collections can be. When I was a child and studying Piano, my teacher would always give me something called Variations to play. Any musician knows what they are - variations of one theme, executed in different styles, sometimes barely recognisable from one another but always exploring the same idea. As I read Wilson's collection, I had a similar experience of playing with the same idea, looking at it from a different perspective.

Short story collections appeal to our ability to fill in the missing pieces through our imagination. They don't always explain everything, and that looseness is what I love most about them. Some said that Once You Break A Knuckle is a male collection, along the lines of 'Man hunt, man bring food, man fight'. Maybe it is, but it is so refreshing to see those very macho men be sometimes so gentle, so unsure of themselves, so human.

Read my full review on Bookmunch

Books as a comfort blanket

I am reading a book on auras by Ted Andrews and it has made me think about the reasons for my strong feelings about reading 'real' physical books as opposed to reading them on a tablet. I have always loved the feel of paper, the imagery from the illustrations, the physical object that I can keep and refer to whenever I wish. But it isn't just that.
According to Ted, auras leave an imprint on the objects they come in contact with. I have experienced this myself on a regular basis so I agree with him. The thing about books is that the longer we have them, even without reading them, the more of our own energy they absorb, providing us not just with an object we can refer to but, more importantly, with another source of positive energy. If you have ever picked up a book that you read as a child, or any book that has belonged to you for a long time, you probably felt a strong sense of comfort, joy or another positive feeling.
One of my weird hobbies is collecting Billy bookcases from Ikea. When I say collecting I don't mean stacking them around - I just seem to acquire so many books so fast that I need more and more bookcases to store them. I know some people dread putting furniture together but every time I get a new Billy and have an opportunity to put my new books in their lovely new homes I get the same feeling as kids do when they hug their comfort toy or blanket.
Of course, tablets have their uses but I think I'll stick with my paper comfort blankets instead.

Ruth Padel's The Mara Crossing - a review

'...Mara comes from Latin and means ‘bitter’. Mara, or ‘mer’, appear in many languages and often mean something horrifying, like Buddhist’s Mara, the demon of illusion and death, or even the root of the Russian word smjertj, meaning ‘death’. Padel came to associate this dark meaning with the crossing she witnessed at the river Mara inKenya where thousands of wildebeests crossed the river as they do every year. Hundreds of them were eaten on the spot by crocodiles but the rest survived and got to the other side, only to take the journey back in a few months...'
Read the rest of my review on Bookmunch.

The Whores' Asylum by Katy Darby

...'Darby’s impeccable style is at the same time Victorian and current, which creates a strange but enjoyable impression of being transported back in time as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She is one of those authors that the reader would be curious to meet, even if it is just to see whether she does speak like that in real life...'

My review of a fascinating gothic novel The Whores' Asylum by Katy Darby is on Bookmunch.

The Flow of Creativity

Be honest - how often do you force yourself to be creative? Do you find yourself getting frustrated when your creativity doesn't flow easily? Do you get angry at yourself, doubt yourself, get insecure?

Most of us do this on a regular basis. A couple of years ago, I was researching 'writers' block' for a project and I came across a motivational speech on TED Talks about the way the ancients viewed creativity and genius. Instead of the tortured but big-headed approach that we seem to take nowadays of being talented and creative, the Romans, for example, believed that genius was something that visited us, like a muse, when it desired to. Of course, on the one hand, all the reward would go to that strange muse should a creative come up with something great, but on the other hand, just think of all the pressure dropping from your shoulders when you realise that when you are blocked, or just restricted in your flow of creativity, it isn't your fault. The muse just hasn't visited you today, that's all. And you know women, they are unpredictable, and very busy nowadays, right?

If you were pregnant, you wouldn't pop babies out one straight after another. Even if you had a child almost every year, there would still be periods of what seems like rest, when on the surface nothing is happening. Maybe you'd feel sick every morning or put on a bit of weight, but overall you'd look like every one of us, just more tired. But on the inside, at that very moment, very important developments are taking place. We know it because we have all the science to tell us exactly what is going on. For an artist, however, there is no scientific evidence to prove to themselves or to everyone else that they aren't just being lazy, blocked or on a sabbatical that lasts forever. But then, we artists don't always need science to tell us how we feel. If we are stressed about being blocked, the muse wouldn't come to us - what woman would want to spend her time with a mad stressed-out depressive?

Maybe this is all to do with our era of delivering results, and fast. Maybe the Romans had more time on their hands, without the constant news, emails, telephone calls and kids' activities. But forcing our creativity would be the same as forcing a pregnancy. The baby will only be born healthy if we give it enough time and rest to develop.