Book Updates

Richard is out now.

It has been reviewed in Time Out this week. I also got interviewed by the BBC right about here.

You can read an excerpt from the book at 3:AM Magazine.

Richard is included in an article about rock stars who go missing in The Times today.

Metro newspaper have also published a review today ("repulsive" etc)

My local bookshop - The Book Case in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire - have done a wee blurb on me.

Beyond Magazine have printed a review of Richard.

And here's a picture of a penis with my name just below it.

"Etc".

'Ben Myers: A Writer's Office'

You can now see the type of useless clutter I am surrounded by - a Danny Dyer mousemat, an effigy of the Viking god Thor etc - as I clatter my cheap plastic keyboard over at Picador.com.

"Compiling this piece I've realised that my office looks like the domain of a far older person. Or the attic of a dead man, perhaps.

I think the reason for this is that I feel comfortable surrounded by useless old ephemera, possibly as a reaction to living in an increasingly digitised world. Out of shot however are the more mundane trappings of the modern age: broken computers and modems, plastic folding Ikea crates, laundry bags and a clothes rail that has nothing but a solitary hat hanging from it..."

Read on...

The week of publication

As if it wasn't abundantly clear by this point my novel Richard is out this coming week. October 1st 2010 to be precise.

The recent promotional period has not been without its anxieties and sleepless nights, though I'm pleased to report I have had some very positive advance notices and lovely messages of support from people, many of whom - unlike me - knew the subject of the novel, Richey Edwards, personally. Some of these people have also wisely chosen to decline from entering any of the online frays and skirmishes that have arisen of late; they feel no need to trumpet their support or disdain, nor capitalise on past relationships. Their quiet support therefore has been all the more appreciated. Discretion: an under-rated virtue in the 21st century.

I am to be Picador's featured writer throughout October. Please check in here to read a series of articles, playlists, photographs etc that I have compiled for the occasion. One of these articles will include a guided tour of my office.

For those readers who still favour the print media over the digital, some reviews of the novel are forthcoming in various publications, from The Times ("of London", as I like to call it) to Marie Claire and various places in between. I'll possibly post some pieces here.

If you are a journalist, copies are available via Sandra Taylor at the Picador press department. The book is of course also available to buy via all the usual online outlets, though purchasing from independent book shops is, I find, a more gratifying and wholesome experience.

(One other small point: this book was scheduled for publication in 2009, so its release at the much the same time as a new album by the Manic Street Preachers is, despite suggestions otherwise, completely coincidental.)

In the meantime, I have other books to write, jobs to do and those bleakly bedrizzled (I just made that word up) moorlands of Yorkshire won't walk themselves...

Very best wishes -

Me.

"The death of the author is the birth of the reader."

The Guardian etc

Tim Jonze at The Guardian interviewed me yesterday. You can read it here.

And here's an interview I did for A Future In Noise.

Cellophane Sounds

For French readers, here is a review on Cellopohane Sounds.

Cult Of Richey.com

Here's a review of RICHARD on Cult Of Richey.com.

RSI

I wrote this for The Guardian about Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) - the writer's curse of the 21st Century.

Are there any fellow sufferers out there?

Mogwai

I wrote a few words for this article on The Quietus.com about the mighty Mogwai.

Extract in NME

You can reads an extract from RICHARD on NME.com. Here's the online link.

There's some stuff in the magazine too, in which Manics bassist Nicky Wire discusses his (understandable) scepticism towards the book.

Currently Reading

Promo video here.

Manchizzle

Adelle and I went into Manchester on Saturday to see our friend Lee Rourke discuss The Canal, catch up with Chris Killen and finally meet Scorates Adams-Florou too. I also met another great writer and fine fellow Joe Stretch too. It seems like Manchester is exciting at the moment and unlike London you can drive around the city on a Saturday night, or in fact any time. It feels 'European'.

AllGigs.co.uk review

There's a nice review of RICHARD at Allgigs.co.uk

"Fornication, Asphyxiation, Choking...Just Rotting Away"

Notes

It is our dog Cliff's first birthday. I bought him a Werner Herzog box-set and those nunchukkas that he wanted.

Lee Rourke chats with Steve Finbow about his great new novel The Canal over at Bookmunch.

Tao Lin's new novel Richard Yates is out now.

Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts explains his literary influences / inspirations (Hughes, Larkin, Rimbaud, Cohen, Morrissey.)

Ultrasound have reformed.

Two years to the week since I started writing it, finished copies of Richard reached me yesterday.

3:AM Magazine interview

Another one...

Alan Kelly has interviewed me for the venerable 3:AM Magazine. Alan is also a great writer of fiction - I recommend you investigate his work if the opportunity arises.

(I'll shut up soon.)

Play.com

...And here's an interview I just did for Play.com about Richard.

An interview with AU Magazine

Richard and the wider subject of writing - and being punched in the face by a fourteen year old girl - are discussed in this interview I did for AU magazine in Ireland.

I'm curently reading Morvern Callar by Alan Warner, listening to Frankie And The Heartstrings and Wild Beasts (and - OK - Fairport Convention) and am on the 14th month of writing a new novel. Who knows where it is leading...

Blasts From The Past

I've been putting together a compilation album for some book-related business (watch this space), so have been revisiting loads of musical blasts from the pasts. Anyone remember Birdland?

'Not the Booker Prize'

Over at The Guardian.co.uk, Sam Jordison is hosting the annual 'Not The Booker prize' and three titles that I am big fan of have been nominated. Please vote for any one of them if you feel so inclined...

Sick City by Tony O'Neill
The Canal by Lee Rourke
Children of the Sun by Max Schaefer

Ballard vs The Normal

Brazilian Interview

Hello all. Here's an interview with me for Trip Magazine (Brazil), discussing Richard.