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After a Titantic struggle involving, among other institutions Llanelli County Court, the Welsh Wizard has finally rolled over and surrendered and returned the money he owed. (Over the summer he sent us a donkey that was really a mule and panniers that were no more than shopping baskets thereby ruining our promotional tour). Blogs previous have all the detail. While I have nothing but admiration for the Welsh people in general ( I lived there once) there are, as my greengrocer always says, occasional rotten apples in any barrel.
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For latecomers to the party an explantion of the picture on the ABOUT US page. Tan Tan Books had planned a long walk with a donkey this summer as part of a promotional tour. But due to the strange vicissitudes of the Donkey Owner, known as the Welsh Wizard, whose skull seems to be as thick as the mule he sent us, it has all had to be postponed. See blogs passim for details.
Congratulations to Richard Flanagan for his Booker win. But yet ANOTHER account of life on the Burma Railway? How many more do we need? And has anyone rerembered that 100,000 Thai people died as well?
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Heard an interview with a Scot on the BBC three days before the vote. He said he was going to vote No because, " He didn't think we were quite ready yet."
What? After 300 years?
Sometimes you've just got to gird your loins, pluck up your courage, take a chance and jump.
Otherwise you risk ending up as David Cameron's lunch.
Good article on the vote by Paul Mason.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/21/what-now-scotland-young-yes-generation.
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A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for the WriteWords web site writewords.org.uk/forum/48_454224.asp which read in part:
'There is a scene that must be familiar in a lot of publishers offices. Someone has had the idea to ask a well known media personality, someone who sparkles in the cut and thrust of TV and radio debate, to write a novel. The manuscript is delivered and the editor begins to read. And then as the pages are turned there is the awful realisation that it is a pale imitation of something dated and long gone, perhaps Agatha Christie or Eric Ambler or Tom Sharpe. The characters are wooden, the whole thing is as flat as a pancake.
It as if the famous broadcaster, in searching for a voice and a theme, has returned to his or her parents bookcase in search of a comfort blanket.
I am not sure why this occurs, but the point is it does seem to happen to most writers. You have to push through and come out the other side. For most new writers these drafts are simply discarded. It is a literary growing up process. For the unfortunate celebrity they end up on the shelves of Waterstones.'
A few days later a review theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/10/head-of-state-andrew-marr-review-novel-politics of a first novel by the TV pundit Andrew Marr said ( as a criticism) that it read like a Tom Sharpe novel.
The reviewer then added : 'For me, it was neither funny enough nor exciting enough to make me want to turn the page. While it's not meant to be taken seriously, even a satire has to carry the reader along. The characters were too Cluedo-esque to retain my interest.'
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Wikipedia makes the walls of their castle sufficiently high so that only the brightest and the bravest can scale them. This morning after an hour's work I was knocked back by someone calling him ( or her) self Mean Custard. This confirms a growing impression that sites such as Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook and Amazon are peopled by precocious 12 year olds. And certainly American. When I posted a short review for Tombola! by the political magazine Tribune on Amazon it was changed immediately to the Chicago Tribune. The Stars and Stripes really does fly over all our battlements.
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The idea of adding music to a book is pretty new. In Tombola published in 2007 even if it was possible I dont think anyone considered trying to add the wonderful music of the Touareg that I was trying to describe. Now you just pop in a link. So in One Million Euro the music to which the pilgrims listen as they walk is easily accessible. Just go to the links page and follow the music section. If Mamani Keita does not warm your heart you have ice in your veins.
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Some movement in the attempt to recoup the money the Welsh Wizard owes - and admits he owes. The new version of the old Small Claims Court is called Money Claim Online. Have started the ball rolling with them. A communication back from them states that unless the WW puts in a defense by August 3rd he is toast. A judgement will be issued against him. Which is then enforceable etc etc.
On the writing front Anna Reynolds from WriteWords asked me to do a short piece on the WriteWords site outlining what would make a good submission for Tan Tan Books. Replied with the key words: clarity, originality, narrative.
I am now starting to promote One Million Euro. There are many guides to the Camino de Santiago and many returning pilgrims offer their thoughts, but there are very few novels .... and very few pilgrim novels that turn on the robbery of a bank...
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How to categorise a book that does not fit into a category? There is no slot into which any of these three books will fit. Counterpart sits uneasily between memoir and fiction. So what do we call that? MemFic? FicMem? One Million Euro and Tombola! triangulate a position between adventure, humour and polemic. This is a problem when it comes to selecting a category for the Nielsen book catalogue service. Perhaps there should be a final catch all category marked simply: STORIES/life/odd...