Short Story Published

Recently my debut short story ‘Inches’ was published in Riptide Volume 7.

‘Inches’ is a story of thwarted teenage ambition and addresses the divides between age and youth, city and country.

Riptide Volume 7 can be purchased from the official Riptide website, Amazon, or a selection of bookshops in Devon, including Exeter’s Waterstones.

Regional newspaper Express & Echo printed a glowing review of Riptide Volume 7.

The University of Exeter blogged on Riptide Volume 7.

University newspaper Exeposé has published two features on Riptide Volume 7, in issues 591 and 592, including an interview with me.

Southbank Book Market

With panic on the streets of London, phone hacking and an increasingly jittery economy, watching the news in England has become more and more like punching oneself in the gut.

Whilst the best way to escape from the current doom and gloom atmosphere might be a sun-drenched cruise, or trip to the Seychelles (oh wait…), most of us lack the money or time to make this a reality.

In those quiet moments after a day of work, or internet research on the next likely internship, there’s little better than a book at guiding your mind from the latest crisis to the pleasanter world of the imagination. But the prices of books, as well as the range displayed by the typical book store, can leave a lot to be desired.

So, if you happen to find yourself in post-riot London, why not check out the Southbank Book Market (5 minutes from Waterloo Station) for a multi-national, multi-genre, selection of cheap literature. 

The market is open daily until around 7pm, and is tucked under the Waterloo Bridge (in front of the National Film Theatre). It is the only established second hand, antique and vintage book market in Southern England, and boasts a range of literature to make Waterstones blush.

Visiting last weekend, my eyes were drawn to:

• The celebrated Stieg Larsson thrillers (£3 per book).
• Chinese author Mo Yan’s politically charged ‘The Garlic Ballads’ (£1.50).
• A collection of Oscar Wilde’s best loved poetry (£2).
• Lionel Shriver’s debate-provoking ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ (£4).

With a wonderfully haphazard range of books and prices to rival any charity shop, the Southbank Book Market thoroughly lives up to its reputation as one of London’s best kept secrets.

So give it a look this summer. After all, where else can you pick up Sebastian Faulks’ ‘A Week in December’ along with a collection of ‘Icelandic Folktales and Legends’? 

A Political Implosion – The Poetry Society

‘And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot

Fighting in the captain’s tower

While Calypso’s singers laugh at them

And fishermen hold flowers.’

– Bob Dylan ‘Desolation Row’

The idea of poets fighting amongst one another is affectionately ingrained in Western culture; we recall the rivalries between the great Romantics, Alexander Pope’s satirical epic ‘The Dunciad’, and the tense relationships between Modernism’s finest.  

Nevertheless, news that the century-old Poetry Society’s general meeting has ended in a motion of no confidence, passed 302 to 69, and the voluntary resignation of its Board of Trustees, has been met with surprise and indignation by thousands of loyal followers. 

The meeting was supposed to address the dysfunctional relationship between society director Judith Palmer, and Poetry Review (a Poetry Society publication) editor Fiona Sampson. The Trustees’ decision - that Palmer work from home and report directly to them - was met with her resignation, and she was followed by a stream of high-profile figures, including Costa prize-winner Jo Shapcott.

Typically, rival poets are brilliant individuals set apart by their contrasting styles, but unfortunately the Poetry Society’s implosion has been considerably less romantic. Society Trustees have spent an estimated £24,000 in legal fees, and the Arts Council has pledged to withhold the Society’s grant until it gets its house in order.

English poetry has, to use a well-worn cliché, shot itself in the foot. The 2011 summer Poetry Review was entitled ‘The New Political Poetry’, and contained a selection of diverse and insightful poems focusing on the state of twenty-first century society. Yet following its publication, the Poetry Society itself seems to have descended into a political, legal and thoroughly un-poetic mess.

Whilst followers pay £40 for an annual membership, the Society has squandered one fifth of its reserves on legal fees, and has lost a selection of its most influential associates. The Board of Trustees has agreed to step down in September, but one has to think that it’s going to take considerably longer for the Society’s coffers, and reputation, to recover.

At its roots the Poetry Society remains a fantastic source of contemporary literature, and one of England’s primary avenues into the poetic world. Though it has debased itself, and disappointed its readers, we can only hope that whatever reforms occur it retains this core, and continues to provide excellent poetry at a reasonable price.   

Book Piracy – Ruth Ann Nordin’s ‘The Path to Christmas’

Contentment is a rare feeling among writers. We spend weeks scouring our drafts for the slightest grammatical error, plot-hole or avoidable cliché, and a satisfactory piece of work is often the result of years of patient re-drafting. That this appreciation should spread to the wider community is the goal of most writers, who envisage their work earning smiles of approval from agents, publishers and eventually readers.

Sometimes, however, appreciation works in a less tasteful way. American author Ruth Ann Nordin has recently had three books pirated and advertised for sale on the usually reliable Amazon.com. Following complaint two of these books were promptly removed, but incredibly, ‘The Path to Christmas’, crudely re-titled ‘the-path-to-christmas.pdf’, is still for sale on the website. 

The thought of having one’s publishable ideas stolen is, to be blunt, awful. Not only is it damaging to income, it is a slap in the face to the immense amount of work and pride that the author has put into his/her product.

The rise of web-based self-publishing and e-books has made such piracy considerably easier, but the internet (specifically social media) can be equally useful in combating it:

• Twitter is currently the site of a protest in support of Mrs Nordin:

Tweet your support using the hashtag: #AmazonPiracy

• Alternatively, leave a review labelling the copy on Amazon a pirate - Amazon