Other People’s Work

Finding My Voice

This is just a quick post that has nothing to do with me. For all lovers of poetry out there, I’ve just purchased a copy of a book of poetry from a friend of mine. On occasion, when the Whittlesey Wordsmiths get together, we challenge ourselves. We select a theme and give ourselves twenty minutes to write something. I generally write the beginning of a short story of some kind. Tessa Thomson writes poetry. In those selfsame twenty minutes, she can create a finished poem, rhyming and scanning properly. My mind can’t do…Read more

Originality

This is not one of my posts but something I am cross-posting from Edgeverse with their permission. It says something I've long suspected and have been saying for some time. I remember reading an interview with Frank Zappa in NME years ago. Despite its claims to the contrary, he said, the music industry was not looking for "the next great thing". Instead, they wanted the previous great thing. When the Beatles hit the scene, every label wanted a band with multiple guitar players. Boy bands were a non-starter until the first one became…Read more

Killing Time in Cambridge

This is not part of my publishing career, but I would like to promote a novel written by a friend of mine, Philip Cumberland. It is a cross between a time-travel adventure and a police procedural, with intense descriptions of local colour. The premise is fascinating, and the execution extremely well done. The tale gripped me from the beginning because of the interesting, quirky characters, like Arnold, Sylvia... and, of course, Marvin. Their interactions were believable, and the character-building using dialogue was credible. The world-building, basing itself on the real Cambridge and the…Read more