A WRITER READING – Eric Marks, author of From the Cliffs of Cornwall to Kilimanjaro

 

I'm delighted to welcome Eric Marks to Troutie McFish Tales today to talk about the books and authors which have shaped his life and inspired him as a writer. 

Eric is the author of the recently released travel memoir From the Cliffs of Cornwall to Kilimanjaro, and you can read my review and more about his book below.

A WRITER READING

The first book I remember reading

The first book I remember was a Rupert the Bear adventure story in the typical cartoon form. I spent hours and hours with that book, and I don’t remember any other books being available

The books which shaped my childhood

I think the book that stands out from my childhood reading was The Sound of the Sea by Leo Walmsley. This is a charming set of childhood adventure stories set in Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast. I have had a great love for the sea and estuaries ever since.

The books I read as a teenager

As a teenager, my most fruitful source of books was from our school library. I seem to recall that such books as Swallows and Amazons figured largely in my taste. I joined the armed forces at the age of fourteen in the junior leaders scheme, and reading receded into the background for a few years, apart from some reading about great leaders like Sir Winston Churchill and Lord Wellington.

The first book which made me want to be a writer

In my early twenties, I read the book that let me imagine myself as being a writer. The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc was that book. This is Belloc’s account of his pilgrimage from the Moselle to Rome. It introduced me to solo long-distance walking and backpacking, but into a world of horses and carts, peasants, good wine, and simple foods along the way. The sense of adventure that unfolded in the book completely captivated me, and I have been its captive ever since. Reading that book was my epiphany. I wanted to experience the long walking trails, and then go on to writing about my adventures. But life gets in the way. Now, entering my eightieth year, I have at last started to write about my experiences while walking over the years on the South West Coast Path, especially on the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall, and more recently on the giant volcano of Kilimanjaro.

The book which changed my view of the world

As above – The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc.


The book which will always have a place on my shelves

No contest here. It is The Collected Works of William Shakespeare. It has been observed that he traversed the multi-dimensional labyrinth of the human soul. His writings also suggest that he was supremely open-minded, and allowed each of his prominent characters to express themselves in a forthright way  that embraces a huge range of viewpoints.

The books I tell everyone else to read

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte. A marvellous novel where the well-drawn characters interact in surprising ways. We are taken into the minds of the main characters in a way that is truly ahead of its time. I allow for the structural weaknesses that are commonly alluded to by critics, and just revel in the literary joy of this novel. I must also lavish praise upon Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea. What a story this is! Very few novels have so enthralled me as this one has. The failings and flaws of the central character are super-abundant, yet we can identify with him on so many levels. A great literary novel worthy, I think, of its Booker Prize.

The books I didn’t finish

I cannot recall ever having left a book unfinished, although some have been a real challenge, especially War and Peace and Ulysses!

The book I am reading right now

Galileo and The Art of Ageing Mindfully: Wisdom from the Night Skies.

The book I turn to for comfort

For comfort, I read my hand-written journals, crammed with wisdom, advice, and observations about life and the human condition from many of the great minds of the past and present. These include Montaigne, Seneca, Socrates, Lucretius, Boethius, Emerson, and Roger Scruton.

 

From the Cliffs of Cornwall to Kilimanjaro

THE BLURB

The idea of writing a book suddenly dawned on Eric Marks as he walked along the South West Coast Path from Minehead in Somerset to St Just in Cornwall. The experiences he'd had, the great seascapes he saw, and he people the met were a pageant for his senses and things were only just getting started.

From the Cliffs of Cornwall to Kilimanjaro documents Eric's incredible decision, at the age of 76, to walk 252 miles with his nephew along the South West Coast Path of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall as part of their training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, later that same year. Was this a late-life crisis, or what? Sharing his memories and stories with the reader, we're taken on his trek, from the comforting sights of home to the exotic landscapes of Africa and joining the thousands of people who every year volunteer to climb the tallest mountain in Africa.
 

Unexpected situations, both home and away, including some near-death moments, slingshot the reader from highs to lows, but one thing is certain: it really is surprising what part serendipity plays when you are on the walking trail for several days at a time. An inspiration for other readers into their later life, Eric has proven that you're only as old as you accept you are in a journey that is dynamic and demanding, satisfying yet humbling.

 

MY REVIEW

 
Eric Marks is a charming and eloquent companion, and I thoroughly enjoyed following his journey along the South West Coast Path and up the slopes of Kilimanjaro. From the Cliffs is a well-paced mixture of memoir, travel writing and useful backpacking tips. There are some lovely passages of vivid and evocative description here, and as well as the main narrative we are treated to numerous entertaining stories of the author’s previous backpacking trips. There are heart-stopping moments, a great deal of humour – particularly in the banter and in-jokes which Eric and his nephew share – and we meet plenty of interesting characters along the way.

Many of the stories have stuck in my mind, but one passage which really touched me was the tale of the exhausted swallows arriving at Land’s End. I also loved the flashback story of the unexpected snow blizzard encountered by Eric and a previous walking companion.

From the Cliffs of Cornwall to Kilimanjaro is both a satisfying read and an inspiring story.

You can buy a copy here

 

 

 

 

Review of The Taking Part by Joe Williams

 

 

The Taking Part is a short collection of poems on the theme of sport and games, encompassing television quiz shows, pub sports, and board games, as well as more traditional sports like football, cricket and athletics.

As Joe says: ‘Sport and poetry might not seem like an obvious combination, but the best sport stories are really stories about people, and I think that’s what these poems are too. Games and competition have been an important part of our culture throughout human history. They can be central to our relationships, our memories, and our ambitions, and I wanted to write about all of those things.’

 

My Review:

You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy this themed collection from Joe Williams – as in all good poetry there there is universal appeal to be found in the specific. These poems are humorous,  nostalgic, evocative, and surprisingly tender. I have many favourites (including the witty clerihews), but in particular I was wooed by the fledgling love story in ‘Jackpot’, by the brilliant ‘If Only I’d Made the Team’, where the poet is nostalgic for an appearance on University Challenge that never happened, and the more heavyweight (boxing pun there :-) ) ‘It Started With a Kiss’ written for Nicola Adams.

  You can buy a copy here

Saboteur Awards

I'm delighted that Crossing the Lines has been shortlisted in the Best Novella category in this year's Saboteur Awards! Final round voting is now open until May 7th – so if you enjoyed Crossing the Lines (or you just have love in your heart :-) ) then I'd really appreciate it if you could spare a minute to vote.

The link can be found here

 

I was also thrilled to see my novella is such good company on the shelves in Book Corner Halifax this morning!

 

 

Review of Unfurling by Alison Lock

 

UNFURLING BY ALISON LOCK

This beautiful and delicate poetry collection explores the fleeting glimpses of joy and hope the poet discovered in lockdown through daily connections with nature, and she urges us to uncover our own fresh sources of inspiration. These poems present the enforced isolation period as a chance to reconnect with the inner self away from the everyday norms, expectations and pressures. Hedgerows are harbours, the wingbeats of swans make us feel alive – nature’s cycle can never be cancelled or stalled. These poems encourage us to re-evaluate our lives and find our own individual route to peace – a peace symbolised by the white petals of snowdrops. These are poems of meditation, of quiet observance, they are poems encouraging us to press the re-set button, to return to our factory settings and start anew, to find a new way forward within a framework of kindness and spiritual discovery. We are asked to consider how our lives effect everything around us, to nurture our hearts and attend with care to the world we live in. 

You can order a copy here

 

 

Alison Lock is an award-winning Yorkshire-based writer of poetry, prose and short stories.

A Writer Reading – Deborah E Wilson

 

 

 

 A WRITER READING

DEBORAH E WILSON

The first book I remember reading

One of the earliest books I remember reading as a bedtime story was about a fairy with a flower-petal hat, named Victoria Plum. In trying to find them online, I have just discovered that these books were written by Angela Rippon!

The books which shaped my childhood

My favourite books as a child were classics such as Beatrix Potter’s stories (Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddleduck were my favourites), The Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan and Heidi. I’ve always enjoyed Roald Dahl’s books (and regularly make sure to read them in my classrooms!) – Danny, Champion of the World and The Minpins made a distinct impression on me then and have stayed with me ever since. As I got older, I discovered fantasy books such as The Hobbit, and of course the Harry Potter phenomenon, which arrived just as I, like Harry, was approaching my teenage years.

The books I read as a teenager

I’d always enjoyed reading, but at secondary school I was able to discover a wider range of books, developing as a reader – and a writer. Stand-out favourites for me were Skellig, Wuthering Heights, The Lord of the Flies, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Handmaid’s Tale and Pride and Prejudice. Each era and author introduced me to something new and gave me a desire to explore further.

The first book which made me want to be a writer

As my time at secondary school came to an end, and I was preparing to study English at university, my ambition was to gain more knowledge of classic literature, to prepare me for what was to come. One of the novels I was keen to read, knowing how it shaped a whole popular culture, was Dracula. I hadn’t ever encountered such a book! The concept of shaping an entire novel around letters and diary entries opened my eyes to the freedom that writers have, to shape narratives however they choose – there isn’t a set formula. It was also one of the first Gothic novels I read, starting a life-long appreciation for the genre.

The book which changed my view of the world

This is a tricky question! I feel that all great books, and writers, have the ability to alter a reader’s perspective. The mark of a great book, in my opinion, is coming out at the other side of it feeling like a different person than the one who started.
    I suppose one that left me feeling the most bereft, particularly due to the way it ended, was Cold Mountain. I’d have happily continued to walk in the wilderness with Inman, despite his hardships, for years to come. The novel ignited a desire for exploration in me, and walking outdoors, observing nature, has become one of my favourite meditations. Many times I’ve contemplated climbing out of the window, like Inman, and seeing where the road takes me. 

The book which will always have a place on my shelves

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is a modern classic. Susanna Clarke is a historical fiction writer I look up to immensely – and would love to have even a speck of her talent and renown!

The books I tell everyone else to read

Anything by Daphne du Maurier – particularly for those who have enjoyed the film adaptations, her writing is even more impressive and impactful.
    I also wish I could find someone else who has read Under the Dome by Stephen King and would discuss the plot with me. I’ve never devoured a such a book so quickly, and it kept me thinking for a long time afterwards. Despite asking others close to me to read it, no one has yet!

The books I didn’t finish

Unfortunately, I could never get my head around James Joyce’s Ulysses, and I wasn’t immediately hooked into Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (if the first chapter doesn’t sway me, I usually move on. So many books, so little time!).  

The book I am reading right now

The works of M R James, for good old-fashioned ghostly scares on winter’s nights!

The book I turn to for comfort

Many of Joanne Harris’ fantastic books are very comforting to me. The idea of living in idyllic rural France, sampling delicious cuisine, is always a comforting thought! Joanne also writes wonderful characters, who invite empathy immediately and speak to you like old friends. 

You can buy a copy of Deborah's novel, 

An Artist's Muse, here

Interview with Deborah E Wilson, author of An Artist's Muse

 

 

Today, I'm welcoming Deborah E Wilson to Troutie McFish Tales to talk about her writing life. 

 

An Artist’s Muse by Deborah E. Wilson

Nineteenth-century London. Clara Breslin is earning her keep in her brother’s apothecary. She isn’t interested in married life and spends her free time painting portraits of strangers who walk by her window. Her study is infuriatingly unexceptional – until she meets Matthias Tarasso, an actor.

Watching him perform, she finds herself captivated. Matthias becomes a dominant influence over her and his presence helps Clara create true masterpieces.

But an unseen evil is feeding on the tragedy that blights London’s streets and dwellings.

Clara suffers from horrific nightmares involving disease and fatality when customers of the apothecary grow ill from its remedies. After a suspicious death, Matthias becomes the main suspect. But who is really causing death, fatality and tragedy? Is it Matthias? Or Clara? Perhaps the truth behind the crime is far more insidious and cruel than anyone could have imagined . . .

THE INTERVIEW

I know you are interested in a wide range of historical literature, particularly Victorian Gothic. So it was probably a certainty that your first novel would be set in your favourite historical period too. Tell us something about the inspiration behind An Artist’s Muse and why you like reading and writing about that particular era? Which are your favourite books in that genre, and do you think your writing style has been influenced by any particular writers?

It is definitely no secret that the Gothic is my main influence and my favourite genre to write! Before I even had an ounce of plot, or a single character for An Artist’s Muse, I knew, at the age of eighteen, that I wanted to write my own Gothic novel – most of my favourite books, at that point, were Gothic novels, and I have often heard the wise advice that you should write the book you want to read! I also knew that if I were to tap into an already very popular and well-written genre, I needed something new. I decided on a new Gothic monster. Of course, many tropes of Gothic literature are influenced by much earlier folklore, legends and traditions, and so I looked into ancient history to find my own monster. I settled on Ancient Greece, as Greek mythology was always a favourite study of mine, and to explain that any further might give away a crucial twist in the plot of the book … so I’ll go forwards in time again, to the Victorian era!
    The Victorian era as a setting for my book just seemed comfortable and familiar, again being the time period of many of my favourite books – such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre and Lady Audley’s Secret. The parts that were unfamiliar, the parts that needed historical research, well that was just a fun extra-curricular assignment for me! Being an English undergraduate, historical research was an ordinary part of my day.
    It goes without saying that my book was heavily influenced by my favourite literature from the era I based my story in. But I was also aware of being a modern writer, writing in a historical style. I’m sure, however consciously or subconsciously, my writing contains a whole host of influences from all the inspirational books I have read, from many different eras and places, which is why I hope my book contains something new – even for those who feel the Victorian Gothic has already had its time and belongs in the past. Writers such as Susanna Clarke have proven that historical literature can still be relevant, and thoroughly entertaining!

 

You’ve described your writing experience as immersive, and say you enjoy completely losing yourself “in a world you’ve created, until characters become almost like family or life-long friends.” Does this mean characters such as Clara live on in your head long after you have moved on to other projects?

Definitely. I can’t let Clara go – I’m still writing about her now! When characters are a part of your consciousness for ten years, as you construct their story, how can they not stay with you? I’ve known these characters longer than some of my “real-life” friends! The way An Artist’s Muse ended felt like a resolution, but like an old friend who you lose contact with, I wanted to check back in on Clara, find out where her life had led her. And once I’d thought about it … I had to start writing it.

Which fictional world would you like to live in or travel to?

Almost any gorgeous rural location I visit, I predictably utter the phrase, “It’s like The Shire here!” Tolkien tapped into something so fundamentally comforting with the creation of the hobbits’ homeland, and if I could live in that little pocket of Middle Earth, blissfully unconscious of the struggles and hardships of the outside world, I would happily spend my days resting under a tree, or rambling in the surrounding countryside.

As well as being a teacher, which as we all know can be a life-consuming vocation, you have a number of varied interests: singing, playing the piano, painting, burlesque dance and attending Steampunk events. I can’t believe you have time to write as well! Do you find it difficult to carve out that time, or are you quite disciplined?

Discipline is something I constantly strive for! There are so many hobbies and interests I enjoy, that it is difficult to give all of them an equal amount of time, and also hard to prioritise them, when my work-life balance is so sacred. It is even more difficult to devote enough time to writing, which can be mentally quite demanding, as well as requiring a certain set of conditions, in my experience, to be successful. I have also found the pandemic counter-productive for writing, which I am sure isn’t everyone’s experience! Despite having more time at home, I couldn’t get into the right mental headspace for writing. I’m hoping this will change, particularly as I have many writing projects which need my attention.

Tell us a little about where you prefer to write and your ideal writing set-up. For example, a lot of authors say they need complete silence when they are working, but I understand that you find music focuses your mind? What kind of music do you like to listen to when you are writing?

I tend to have intense periods of motivation and inspiration, alongside periods of inactivity and frustration. My best writing happens when I am relaxed, and when I feel I have no time constraints. Particular pieces of music, such as those which evoke a desired mood or frame of mind, can bring on the mental state I need for the words to flow. I tend to find that classical music and orchestral music are the best motivators – vocals can interrupt my thoughts too much. My favourite pieces are usually film soundtracks, such as the soundtracks from The Village, Amélie and Pan’s Labyrinth. But it depends on the mood I want to create in my writing, and what type of music suits that mood, in my mind.

 

Your publishers, Victorina Press, believe very strongly in the principles of bibliodiversity. What does this mean to you personally and was it a factor in your decision to submit your work to them?

Diversity in literature is something that all readers should be able to access – to not be limited to someone else’s decision on what ‘popular’ means, or which books are allowed the opportunity to be on the best-seller list, or in the high street bookshop windows, or the popular online retailers. I know from my own experiences as a reader that you are only as well-read as the literature you are exposed to, and I know that although I like to think I have read a broad range of books from different eras, cultures and places, I am not as ‘diversely-read’ as I could be, and that needs to change. More and more, bibliodiversity has come to mean, for me, ‘books that are not in the mainstream’, and I greatly admire the work that publishers such as Victorina Press are doing, in pushing forward the voices of writers that otherwise may not be heard. I just hope that the publishers themselves will be appreciated and noticed more – I know they are up against many obstacles of their own, in helping their authors to be seen, when it seems that only those books with the most expensive promotion, or with the most ‘likes’ and ratings, get the chance to be appreciated.

What is next for you as a writer? I believe you are working on a sequel to An Artist’s Muse and a Georgian Gothic novel centred around folklore and witchcraft? Can we hope to see either of these in print any time soon?

I guiltily alluded earlier to the fact that the pandemic has halted my writing significantly … these two works in progress are still underway, but not to the extent that I would like!
    I am just over a third of the way into the first draft of my Georgian Gothic novel, and have begun the first few chapters of the sequel to An Artist’s Muse. My Georgian novel has the outline of a full plot, and so I have a fairly secure idea of where it is leading! The sequel to An Artist’s Muse is still taking shape – to an extent, I am being led by my characters for this one, which isn’t my usual way of writing! But as I have already mentioned, knowing the characters so well, I’m quite happy to let them steer the course, this time.
    I have some other projects underway as well – a story based on my travels abroad, and an idea for a children’s book, which I am also hoping to illustrate.
    Yet again, I have more ideas than time!

 

Thank you for talking to me today, Deborah, and good luck with your next books! You can order a copy of An Artist's Muse here

Biography - Deborah E Wilson

Deborah E Wilson lives in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Her love of literature has been life-long but was truly ignited at The University of Lincoln, where she obtained First Class Honours in English. Her degree encouraged an interest in works from a broad range of historical periods, including Victorian and Gothic Literature, and she also began to share her own writing in Creative Writing seminars. She moved on to a career in teaching but has always been pulled by a desire to write her own prose and poetry. Her pastimes include singing, playing the piano, painting, burlesque dance and travelling back in time (or should that be into the future?) at Steampunk events.

An Artist’s Muse is her first novel, which introduces readers to a new breed of Victorian Gothic monster.

 

A Writer Reading - Steven Jenkins

 

 

 A WRITER READING - Steven Jenkins

 
 
The first book I remember reading    

Grimms Fairy Tales – an old copy, printed in about 1959. I’ve still got it. Very scary, not softened for today’s market!
 
 
The books which shaped my childhood  

Jock’s Island by Elizabeth Costsworth, Hurry Home Candy by Meindert DeJong, Greatheart by Joseph Chipperfield, Storm of Dancerwood by Joseph Chipperfield, Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (cried for ages at the end!).
 
 
The books I read as a teenager

Anything by Jim Fogg, he was a brilliant writer. Anything by Stephen King. Pan Book of Horror. And Thomas Hardy (I still don’t know why).
 
 
The first book which made me want to be a writer

Murphy's Law by Jim Fogg.
 
 
The book (or writer) which/who changed my view of the world

Stephen King or Jim Fogg.
 
 
The book which will always have a place on my shelves

The Raven and the Eagle by Pauline Gedge. Or Greatheart. Or Murphy’s Law.  
 
 
The book/s I tell everyone else to read

The Raven and the Eagle; anything by Jim Fogg; Greatheart.  
 
 
The books I didn’t finish

There have been a few, if a book doesn’t grab me by the second chapter, I close it. Life is too short and there are millions of other books. Jack Ryan books, I don’t get the attraction, they’re nonsense.  
 
 
The book I am reading right now

11.22.63 by Stephen King.
 
 
The book I turn to for comfort

Greatheart by Joseph Chipperfield. 

The Nobody Man by Steven Jenkins

“The Nobody Man is a fast-paced read that unfurls in a filmic way with a protagonist I felt sympathy for. I was fascinated by the clinical descriptions of injuries and the ominous sense of place developed in the novel. Brace yourself to read this – it is a novel fuelled by gang violence, vengeance, racism and drugs but this should be of no surprise to anyone who reads the blurb: it’s a novel that does what it says on the tin.” – Gail Aldwin, author of The String Games.

In the moment of truth, what would you do? What if your loved ones had been taken in a moment of senseless violence?

Britain’s inner cities in the 21 st century are cursed by violence and lawlessness. The authorities have lost control. Social media worships
wrong-doers and turns them into anarchistic modern-day heroes. Everyday people, trapped in the inner cities sink estates, are terrorised into not speaking out, not reporting crimes.

Hoodlums rule the roost.

When Dan’s family are taken from him by violence, he fights back.

Vigilante? Hero? Violent criminal? Which is he? Which would you become, in his place?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

You can buy a copy here

BIOGRAPHY

Steven P Jenkins was born in an inner city, grew up on a deprived housing estate but paradoxically attended an Independent School, where he was encouraged to write. The headmaster of Hydesville Tower School, Col. William Flood, a unique and eccentric retired soldier, mercenary and academic, encouraged Steven to join the British Army but to also use his brains. After leaving the Army, Steven became a Paramedic, going on to lecture at University and is currently a Practitioner in the NHS. He lives in Shropshire which he describes as his adoptive county. The Nobody Man is Steven’s first book written for a publishing house. His first self published novelette/long story, Troy’s Story, the memoirs of a border collie, is available on Amazon. Steven has a lifelong passion for motorcycles and plans to continue riding in this country and abroad as much as possible. His favourite quote is by Barry Sheene, MBE – Never die wondering.

 

A Writer Reading - Caroline Moir

 

 

 A WRITER READING - CAROLINE MOIR

The first book I remember reading

I was able to read before I went to my kindergarten in the Sudan. I don’t know what books we took with us as we moved from there to England to Argentina, but the first I remember, which I found in my grandparents’ homes, were old-fashioned. One was Babar the Elephant. I think I liked it because I was homesick for Africa, though now I realise how much that Africa was shaped by the colonial gaze of Jean de Brunhoff.  

The books which shaped my childhood

Reading about Nelson and Lady Hamilton’s love life when I was seven shape did not shape my childhood. To the amusement of the librarian who had allowed me to take it out, and my mother who had allowed me to read it, I declared I did not understand it. The books which shaped my childhood were set in foreign countries – the America of What Katy Did, What Katy did at School and the Naples of What Katy did Next by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey and the Hungary of The Good Master by Kate Seredy – or adventure stories for boys.  

The books I read as a teenager

In the school library in Uruguay I encountered Charles Dickens, a supreme storyteller. The headmaster of my English boarding school was Sir Timothy Eden, Bt., elder brother of the Prime Minister. He had an extraordinary Edwardian library which I read my way through. At home I read light fiction, which remarkably did not make me racist or misogynist, and all of Graham Greene.
 
The first book which made me want to be a writer

At the age of fifteen I was made Chief Librarian and was given a budget to buy books. I bought The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. The RE teacher removed it from the shelves as unsuitable for young girls, which I still resent. The Quartet is too mannered for me now, but it showed me a narrative could be multi-faceted.
 
The book (or writer) who changed my view of the world

I became a feminist when I was sixteen. Then I read The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. She validated my view.

The book which will always have a place on my shelves

I came to Moby Dick by Herman Melville when I was middle aged. I hadn’t read it before because I thought it was about a whale. Its account of a man’s obsession, and the writing is electrifying.

The book I tell everyone else to read

Denis Johnson Train Dreams because of the clarity of his language, the simplicity of the plot and the depth of empathy. I think it is a perfect short novel, though it is totally different from his other work.

The book I didn’t finish

I give up on a book when it’s clichéd, when I know what the ending will be, when the writing is poor. But I gave up on Martin Chuzzlewit for none of those reasons. I just lost interest.

The book I am reading right now

The book I am reading right now is Dante’s Purgatorio. Mary Jo Bang translates it with a deep knowledge of contemporary culture and an ear for the vernacular which makes Dante’s verse and storytelling vivid and fresh.

The book I turn to for comfort

The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield is a satire of village life between World War One and World War Two, feminist and very funny. I was interested to find that, as a vicar’s wife just outside Oxford in the 21st century, it did not seem to have changed much.  

Caroline Moir is the author of Brockenspectre, available here from Victorina Press.

Brockenspectre: the magnified and detached shadow of an observer; typically on a mountain

The peace of an isolated Lake District university campus is disturbed by the arrival of mature student, Hild. For Miriam and Ed, the newcomer brings darkness and disorder which reshapes every aspect of their lives, and strikes at the core of their relationship.

Miriam is determined to exorcise the shadow Hild has cast, but how? And can she justify keeping another woman out of the light, the education, she has enjoyed?

‘A powerful evocation of how shifting points of view can become fictions and unnervingly undermine a sense of identity.’ – Jill Clough, Lakeland Book of the Year Prize for Fiction 2019.

‘This is a story of obsession … thoughtful and beautifully constructed … playing off the tensions between the two women against the backdrop of the campus and the nearby fells. The final confrontation when it comes is spectacular. An absolutely fascinating read, highly
recommended.’ – Anne Banks, This Place I Know, Handstand Press.

Brockenspectre was shortlisted for the Sceptre Prize.

 

Interview with Judith Amanthis, author of Dirt Clean

 

 

This morning I am welcoming Judith Amanthis to my blog, the acclaimed author of Dirt Clean, which was shortlisted for the Paul Torday Memorial Prize.

At the heart of Dirt Clean there is the brilliant and inventive story of a long-term quarrel between two sisters. Where did these characters and this story come from?

From two places really, or even three. I’ll say straight away that my characters aren’t autobiographical. They’re a bit like that game where you draw one person’s head, turn down the paper, pass it on to the next person, who then draws the neck and arms, and so it goes on. The colour of the paper, but not the drawings, is my knowledge of particular emotions. So the first place Jennifer’s and Coral’s relationship comes from is me and my older sister. I could write a book about that relationship. The second place is a magazine called Kilombo (sadly now dead) that I worked on as a writer and copy editor from 1998 to 2008 prior to writing Dirt Clean. Because Kilombo was a Pan African magazine, questions of race were intensely discussed and disputed, not least because the people who set the magazine up were West African political refugees dealing with African diasporic politics in much the same way as their spirit guide Kwame Nkrumah had to in the 1940s and 50s. For myself, being white, working on Kilombo was a crash course in how people of African descent experience the personal trauma and historical shock waves of racism. The third place Jen and Coral come from is the internal battle I fought right from when I started writing fiction seriously in the early 1990s. The battle was between art, i.e. a free and unrestrained imagination informing the task of structuring work, a kind of amoral aimlessness, vs politics, a strategic, collective and moral activity whose aim is to change power structures. Or put it another way: art, unlike politics a lot of which is perforce propaganda, can’t begin with a message that the artist intends to communicate. I find I discover what I want to say as I work on a piece of writing. So back to Dirt Clean, Jennifer is in some respects the canny politician and Coral in some respects the slightly crazy and certainly paranoid artist. Kosi, the other main singular character, is part of the art vs politics argument too. He’s consumed with guilt about abandoning his family back home for the sake of ‘the struggle’.

I know the struggle for African emancipation and the women’s movement have played a large part in shaping your life and your writing. And there are prevalent themes of social injustice and UK-Ghana corruption in Dirt Clean. You spent your formative years in Zimbabwe – do you think you would have been as politically aware if you had spent those years in Oxford instead?

No chance. I would most likely have become an academic living in a gothic type north Oxford house. Thank you, Africa, for rescuing from that fate and for your many history lessons.

As well as your work in journalism and your work on Kilombo magazine, you have also worked as a teacher, grounds person, lorry driver, lexicographer and a receptionist. Have all of these things provided writing inspiration?

Well, each of those jobs had its own horrors and treasures. Teaching just wasn’t my thing and I had two young children. It was what I was expected to do so I gave it up pretty quick, even though I was in probably the - at the time - least stressful end of it, further education. We organised a nursery and went to the Grunwick picket. The grounds person boss had me breaking stones at the bottom of the (boys’ public school) playing field. I did walk away with a nice pair of white trousers though, from the cricket pavilion. And a good umbrella. Truck driving gave me insights into the dirty underbelly of London shops like Harrods. The loading bays were where the guys greased up and foolishly I’d abandoned my bra. This was circa 1979. Lexicography was interesting if not quite my linguistic cup of tea though the union (AUT at the time, now UCU) helped me a lot. But it was my receptionist jobs that were really good for writing, because apart from answering the phone and a bit of stationery delivery round the office, I could be on the computer all the time. But mainly because I met very good women who were all cleaners, both contract and directly employed. None of them were English and all of them taught me about their jobs and their travels to and from southern Europe and Africa over the years. In the office hierarchies I was in, cleaners and receptionists were about equal.

I understand Dirt Clean is your sixth novel – tell us a little about the others. Are you ever planning to re-visit any of them?

 

I’ve written another novel since Dirt Clean, about an alcoholic who sees into the cannibalistic heart of London, so I’ve not got a lot of time for my early books. The one time I looked at the one before Dirt Clean it came across very dated and would have needed loads of work. It’s about a woman who commits infanticide. I don’t enjoy going over old work. I like writing new stuff. That’s what keeps me going. Editing is a whole other story to which I am devoted.

Dirt Clean was written many years before it saw the light of day, and I know you submitted it to more publishers and agents than – to use your words – you care to remember. Did you ever feel like giving up on the book or did you always have faith in it?

I’d abandoned Dirt Clean quite a few times before a friend said go on, give it another try. So I got down to the three thousandth edit and submission. Friends who are writers can be really important for keeping your spirits up and it was a friend who told me about Victorina Press. I suppose a community of writers is what I’d like. I’m never sure what faith in my work means. I do know that I try to write well and I always think I’m not much good at it, but I do it anyway because it gives me a thrill, and what else is there to do? If by faith you mean not giving up, I’ve never given up writing for publication since I started on novels at 42. Victorina published Dirt Clean the year I was 70.

Victorina Press believes very strongly in the principles of bibliodiversity. What does this mean to you personally and was it a factor in your decision to submit your work to them? Do you think these principles were a factor in the press taking on your book on when it had been rejected so many times prior to that?

I’m sure Victorina Press gave me the time of day, where other publishers didn’t, because of their bibliodiversity principles. It’s no coincidence that the idea comes from South America, that land of many peoples, voices and struggles. Consuelo being a political refugee from Chile I’m sure also affected her reading of Dirt Clean.

Dirt Clean went on to be shortlisted for the Paul Torday Memorial Prize - a great achievement. I know this took you by surprise at the time, but has it helped to boost your confidence in your writing?

I guess so, though I think sales are more important to me than confidence because writing is just what I do, whether I’m good at it or not. No, of course, I was thrilled. And when I submit work it’s great to brag about the short listing. My prize was a year’s membership of the Society of Authors, which is like a writers’ trade union. I was slightly disappointed in the zoom prize-giving event because it was only the winners who got to go on camera and I’d put my lipstick on. 

Are you a fast or slow writer, and do you find it easy to carve out time to write? I know you used to write every day before work, and then redundancy forced your hand at an opportune moment. Now that you have (in theory!) more time, do you find you have to be even more disciplined? 

I’ve had so many years of disciplined writing time whether I feel like it or not, I’m still quite good at making time for my work. I don’t write particularly fast. I work it out as I write. Another way of putting it is that the work tells me what to write, although I’m not massively into the death of the author. I understand some people have it all worked out in their head beforehand and it comes rushing out. And then there’s the conduit for the word of god experience which has never been mine. What stops me writing these days is child care (my adored grandchildren) and getting tired. Although I think one of the many advantages of getting old is that I now have the time to be tired.

What’s next for you as a writer? I know you have been writing another novel for some time now – and you write poetry too I believe? So what’s in the pipeline? 

I’m noveled out I think. My last novel, the one about the alcoholic, was followed by a desire to get my life down somehow, a memoir-ish impetus, which itself got taken over by personal events plus a despair with the idea of beginning and ending a life so to speak. And then one afternoon in Kew Gardens, sitting under a mighty oak with multiple reptilian trunks, I started writing poetry. I love it. It takes me about a day to draft a poem as against a year to draft a novel, plus I don’t have to grapple with enormous narrative arcs plus I can be a proper artist. I’m getting poems published here and there. And I’ll never stop repeating that Victorina Press publishing Dirt Clean changed my life completely.  

BIOGRAPHY

Judith Amanthis was born in Oxford, spent her adolescence in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and has been a Londoner ever since. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of UK magazines, and her non-fiction and journalism have been published in Ghana, South Africa and the UK.  From 1998 to 2008 she worked on the London-based Pan African magazine Kilombo. She has also worked as a teacher, grounds person, lorry driver, lexicographer, and receptionist. Of the great political movements of the last 50 years, the struggle for African emancipation and the women’s movement have shaped her life and writing the most. She has 2 sons and 2 granddaughters.

 

Thanks for talking to me today, Judith – and good luck with your writing! You can buy a copy of Dirt Clean here

 

A WRITER READING - Danielle Maisano

 

 A WRITER READING

Danielle Maisano

The first book I remember reading

I have a distinct memory of being quite young and reading a Dr. Seuss book and thinking that I was cheating because I recognised the words and didn’t have to sound them out.


The books which shaped my childhood
 

Little Women was the first novel I read, and I remember struggling through it but just loving it so much in the end. It’s still one of my favourite books. I also used to read my mom’s Danielle Steele novels at quite a young age. I remember my teachers being both a bit shocked but impressed.

The books I read as a teenager

As a teenager I fell in love with The Lost Generation of writers – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Virginia Woolf. Then on to The Beats – Jack Kerouac and the poetry of Allen Ginsburg. I will always remember the look of horror on my great-uncle’s face on a trip to Borders when he offered to buy me a book and I picked out a copy of Howl. He said, “Really, Dani, Allen Ginsburg? He’s a communist.” I didn’t quite grasp what he meant at the time, but I knew I was definitely on to something. Maybe the revelation that poetry could be dangerous. And he still bought me the book and I still have it on my shelf and it’s still one of my favourite poetry collections.

The first book that made me want to be a writer

There are two books I remember reading around the same time as a teenager – This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I think This Side of Paradise made me entertain the idea and The Sun Also Rises solidified it.  It was like nothing I had read before. I feel in love with it. It’s still one of the few books I can read again and again and it never loses anything for me.

 

The book (or writer) who changed my view of the world

I was working in a coffee shop in the metro-Detroit area in my very early twenties and a customer walked in and saw me reading Pride and Prejudice. He asked if it was for pleasure or a class and I said pleasure. He then struck up a conversation, he was a former English professor and said the two books everyone should be required to read at least once in their lives were The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I followed his advice and this will probably be my most controversial answer.

I couldn’t be farther away from her politically and I had never heard of Ayn Rand before I read the book and knew nothing about her when I read it, but The Fountainhead had a profound impact on me. I don’t know if I would feel the same if I read it again today, but at that point in my life I found its message of individualism, as an artist, a revelation. Of course, it doesn’t work great for society as a whole, but as an artist it is so important to trust your voice, your vision. For better or for worse, (and much to the annoyance of my partner) when in doubt or asked to compromise, I still sometimes ask myself ‘What would Roark do?’

The Brothers Karamazov was also a revelation to me, in a different sense, but both books were very wonderful and powerful influences.

The book which will always have a place on my shelves

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The books I tell everyone else to read

I learned the hard way that pushing Ayn Rand and Dostoevsky wasn’t always that successful, so I’ll say Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels. In my opinion they are equally as profound but slightly less controversial.  

The book I didn’t finish

Ulysses by James Joyce. I tried to read it while I was in the Peace Corps, with very little distraction and alternative reading material, and I still couldn't do it. But I’ve just had an interesting conversation with another admired author who advised me to perhaps revisit again at another phase in my life.

The book I am reading right now

Right now, I’m reading two books by the same author - Another Now and Adults in the Room by Yanis Varoufakis. I believe he is one of the most important and inspiring thinkers out there on the left and he is also just an amazing writer as well as an economist, and that is not an easy combination to come across.

The book I turn to for comfort

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. It’s so sad and sentimental and beautifully written. And I love being transported to the Paris of the 1920s. It’s such a romantic view of life as a writer. And I most definitely am a romantic at heart.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your life in books, Danielle. I share your love for many of these, particularly A Moveable Feast!

You can buy a copy of Danielle's novel, The Ardent Witness here

The Ardent Witness by Danielle Maisano
Award-Winning Finalist in the General Fiction category of the 2019 International Book Awards

When Lily sets off in her new profession as a development worker in West Africa, she hopes it will be the start of a new, more fulfilling life – far from the trendy gallery scene in Detroit.

For two years, in a remote Togolese village, Lily must get used to bucket showers, a life without the internet, and her neighbours’ fear of sorcerers. But as she becomes more deeply involved with the community, and makes friends with a local girl, she finds that trying to help can bring unforeseen and sometimes devastating consequences.

Based on the author’s own experience, this novel gives a startlingly fresh and intimate perspective on how western aid programs are failing Africa. It also shows, with blistering honesty, how one woman’s life can be irrevocably changed by a sojourn in one of the most captivating and complex nations on earth.

The Victorina Press Poetry Contest - What Bethany Rivers looks for in a winning poem

 

 

Bethany Rivers is one of the judges for the 2022 Victorina Press Poetry Contest, alongside Adam Feinstein, Maria Eugenia Bravo-Calderara and myself. I asked Bethany what she looks for in a winning poem: 

"It's very hard to define what a winning poem needs to be. I look for the unusual message, one that touches the heart and mind.  I look for concrete images which sing from the senses, have crystal clarity, a poem not shy of being specific and personal. I want to see poems where particular attention is given to the white space, as well as the words themselves, letting the poem breathe and dance its own music."

 

All the information you need to enter the contest can be found here

MORE ABOUT BETHANY

Bethany Rivers has published two poetry pamphlets: the sea refuses no river, from Fly on the Wall Press; Off the Wall, from Indigo Dreams. She is also author of Fountain of Creativity - Ways to nourish your writing. She is editor of As Above So Below, online poetry magazine.  

 You can buy a copy of Fountain of Creativity here