'Literature of the Homeless'

Here is a piece that I have written on - for want of a better term - 'literature of the homeless' for The Guardian.

"A drug town with a tourist problem"

Writer Mark Piggott wrote an interesting piece about my nearest town of Hebden Bridge in The Times at the weekend. The article has received criticism from some quarters, but I thought it was a well written, sad and evocative article about the loss of innocence amongst a circle of friends (though I am a relative 'blow in' - a newcomer to the area).

Hebden has been getting a lot of coverage of late due a film that has been made about it being seen as a suicide hot-spot and the perception of it as a "drug town with a tourist problem". The latter is an unfair description, I think. I should know: I've lived in places where drugs are fair more accessible and available, and the problems evident. Pretty much everywhere in England, come to think of it.

In other news: I'm currently enjoying Pollard by Laura Beatty, after reading a recommendation by Frank Cottrell Boyce who, in turn, had been recommended it by Jeff Barrett over at Caught By The River.net. Don't the best books and albums always reach you this way? I think so. Jeff also just told me that Laura Beatty is the sister of Alice Oswald, a great contemporary nature poet. Possibly the best actually. Pollard is an amazing read - exactly the type of book that can make a writer both inspired to create yet also insanely jealous that they hadn't written it. I'll not bother describing it when The Guardian can do it for me, but it is the best thing I've read since Cormac McCarthy.

Something else: Plan B magazine, which ran from 2004 to 2009 and who I wrote a few pieces for, particularly during the earlier days, is available to download online here. All 46 issues for free.

Over and out.

'Ruby Soho'

Here is one of my preferred current bands Vampire Weekend doing a cover of 'Ruby Soho' by one of my favourite old(er) bands, Rancid.

Return Of The Mc

Picador are re-issuing all of Cormac McCarthy's novels, a formidable body of work by anyone's standards. Probably the best by a living writer, in my humble opinion.

They very kindly sent me all of the books in one big parcel. I like the new covers a lot and I often find myself thinking about Cormac McCarthy. Nearly as much as Knut Hamsun. Sometimes I whisper under my breath "I wonder if Cormac McCarthy has to do this?" (eg. writing silly blogs, unblocking the kitchen sink with my finger, talking to estate agents, 'work').

The McCarthy books that I have read so far are:

Child Of God
The Road
Outer Dark
No Country For Old Men
The Orchard Keeper (just started)

(I wonder if Cormac McCarthy has to pick up dog shit 2-5 times per day?)

'Legend Of The Calderdale Claw'

Once upon a yesterday I found this, the claw of an unidentifiable beast, lying in the morning snow.

What can it mean? Is it the remnant of a nocturnal ritual?

The savagery of a new species born during this, the coldest of winters?

And what strange portent does it bring to the valley?





















(click to enlarge)

We can but only guess at what malevolent creature is capable of such unholy barbarism.

~ 'The End' ~

'Richard' book cover

Here is a preview of the cover for my new novel Richard. It just arrived in the post. It's not published until October so it may yet change.

You can read information about Richard in the Pan MacMillan / Picador PDF catalogue. It is on Pg 6.

More Books

While I was away I went to my favourite (and possibly the best in the country) book shop, Barter Books, in the old train station in Alnwick, Northumberland. Naturally I got myself some new reading matter. More books.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place by Malcolm Lowry
The Women At The Pump by Knut Hamsun
Straw Dogs (aka The Seige At Trencher's Farm) by Gordon Williams
Gold by Dan Rhodes
The Fruits Of The Earth by Andrew Gide

'Perspective, Gained'

I've been away, squinting at the grey tumultuous North Sea for four days, in order to 'gain perspective'.

I think I gained it. That and some smoked kippers.

'....Super-Tramp'

I'm (still) reading The Autobiography Of A Super-Tramp (1908) by William Henry Davies. It's highly enjoyable, though it seems to take me much longer to read a book at the moment. On average, I would say 7-10 days. That's too long. I should be averaging at least 2 per week. I must try harder.

Tomorrow I am going on holiday, to a beach, in Northumberland, in January. I'll try and speed read while I'm there.

"Physically Sick"

Writing on his blog Darran Anderson had this to say about (an unedited version of) my forthcoming novel Richard: “It's a fantastic read and the man writes with such skill it almost makes me physically sick.”

Thanks Darran.

Incidentally, Darran's book Tesla's Ghost is out now Blackheath Books. Great, great poetry that's well worth five hundred of your pennies. Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls describes it as “Just fucking beautifully written. Truly. A great Irish writer.”

And she's right.

'Mock Duck'

Yesterday I received some book advance so went to Manchester and bought a can of mock duck. I put my best shoes on for the day but when I was in the Chinese supermarket the tip of one of my shoes got caught under a loose floor tile and when I turned to reach for the can of mock duck I twisted something and now my foot hurts.

The can of mock duck emerged unscathed.

King of the Gypsies

Django Reinhardt is 100 today. I wrote this.

Melody Maker

The internet is 'ablaze' with talk of Melody Maker, the long-stnading music newspaper where I cut my literary teeth and got up to all manner of shenanigans between 1996 and 1999, somehow being resurected via online archiving. This is possibly only interesting to a select few people, but if you want to read more I refer you to the blog of my former colleague and now author of fiction Mark Wernham, who has typed some thoughts on the matter so that I don't have to.

Richard (A Novel): Updates

The cover image for Richard is done.
The jacket copy for Richard is done.
The final line edit for Richard is done.
The copyright clearance for lyrics is 'in progress'.
The proof-reading is, I'm told, 'in progress'.

All that really needs to happen now is for a few months
to pass and then the book will be available to purchase.

In the meantime I'm writing a new novel. Something different.
It is currently 69, 779 words in length and has three working titles.

And they say the Off-Beat Generation is incestuous...

Lee Rourke has listed Richard as one of the 5 novels whose publication he is looking forward to in 2010. As fate would have it, I'm very much looking forward to The Canal by Lee Rourke, published in June by the venerable Melville House.