An extraordinary era
I hope you are all
keeping well and safe. We are most certainly living in an extraordinary time
and I and many of my fellow writers are challenged to come up with fiction that
is more astounding than what is happening right now. Even The
Archers’ recent drama with explosion at Grey Gables seems tame compared
with what real life is throwing at us.
At times I think I’m living in the middle of a Stephen King novel.
My routine isn’t
too much different from normal, though. I write in the mornings, complete admin
in the afternoons, and edit and promote in the evenings. Of course, I’m not
going out except for essentials. A trip for a routine visit to my local health centre
seemed like a treat – even though the café was of course shut.
However, there are
some amazing things happening on-line. I had a glorious back stage tour of the
Lowry (Salford Quays) last week. I
visited a couple of my own Creative Cafés. Check them out: the
Theatre Café , and the Barter
Books Café. Many theatres are streaming performances.
I can’t go to the
gym so I’m using fitness videos and taking little walks around the garden. Our
garden is small but I put some new plants in before the lock-down and they’re
beginning to thrive. I really appreciate our little garden now.
I’m meeting up
with several people via Zoom. This is mainly successful though the software did
let me down yesterday. I think a lot of
people are using Zoom, Teams, Google Hangouts and Skype. I wonder whether when
this is all over we’ll have learnt to live differently. I note that although
there is still traffic on the main road near us the air is considerably
sweeter.
I’m also doing
some undergrad marking for the University of Salford. This has been a little delayed because of the
virus.
News about my writing
I’m still carrying
on much as before: The Round Robin, the
fifth book in the Schellberg Cycle, Not
Just Fluffy Bunnies, and I’m still
working on The Business of Writing.
I’ve also written
a couple of short stories relating to Covid 19. We writers should record,
examine and mitigate this crisis. I’m working with a group of other writers on
this.
The Young Person’s Library
The full catalogue
is gradually moving from http://www.gilljameswriter.eu/p/blog-page_81.html
to https://www.theyoungpersonslibrary.co.uk/
I’ve added new
this month:
A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula Le Guin https://www.theyoungpersonslibrary.co.uk/2020/03/a-wizard-of-earthsea-by-ursula-le-guin.html
This is a classic Bildungsroman for young adults. It has a
fantasy setting. Unlike 21st century YA novels there is not really a
love interest. However the main issues are deep enough to make it YA.
Flambards by K M
Peyton
This is another classic I read to help me with Not Just Fluffy Bunnies. This is again
YA and this time there is a love interest.
In fact possibly the whole series is crossover adult / young adult. I remember the TV series. The music was glorious. I’d love to watch that again.
Don’t Stop Thinking
About the Future by Siobhan Curham https://www.theyoungpersonslibrary.co.uk/2020/03/dont-stop-thinking-about-future.html
Stevie and Hafiz both have problems: Hafiz is an asylum
seeker who has had to leave his family behind. Stevie’s mum suffers from
depression and cannot be a proper mother to Stevie. Stevie and Hafiz become friends and support
each other. I’ve labelled this teen as
the friendship remains quite platonic. A very good read indeed. It came close
to being my recommend read this month.
Gloves Off by Louise Reid
This is an unusual YA novel, written in verse. Louise is one of my SCBWI contacts and I’ve
read quite a bit of her work in our critique group. There is a lot of emotional
intensity in this text.
Current reading recommendation
This month I’m recommending a non-fiction book: Imagine by Jonah Lehrer. Find details here. Its
subtitle is “How creativity works.” It offers an interesting discussion about
creativity.
Two things in particular stood out for me:
·
We benefit from immigration. Where 1% of the population
of a society is made up of immigrants, that society secures 15% more patents
for new inventions than a society devoid of immigrants. Is this because the type
of person who opts to migrate is more imaginative? Or that the stress of
migration makes people more creative?
·
Weak but extensive networks lead to more
creativity. Weak networks are defined as
groups of people who interact, and though they may be positive about each other,
they’re not all that intimate. It’s the
broadness of the network that counts. This rather coincides with my notion that
you don’t have to just be good at your art but you also have to network to
become known and therefore paid for your work.
There are many other fascinating
ideas in the book and it is extremely easy to read. It is detailed and it
invites you to change the way you think but it’s not at all dry or dull.
Giveaway
Note: these are
usually mobi-files to be downloaded to a Kindle. Occasionally there are PDFs.
This month I’m
giving away The Prophecy, the first
part of my Peace Child trilogy. This
is also the novel I wrote as part of my PhD, though it has changed considerably
since then. I’ve just completed a fourth part and it is queued for publication.
Yes I know. A trilogy normally only has three parts. I suppose I should now
call it a series for I already have book five planned as well. Book four has
some references to the political dramas of how we live now. Book five has a
kidnap planned though I now wonder whether I could have the affected characters
unable to return because of the outbreak of a deadly virus. Maybe?
Certainly the
economic situation at the moment is making me realise how the Zenoton may have
created their society. And that is one of the bits of Covid 19 writing I’ll be
doing shortly.
You can download The Prophecy and lots of other free
materials here.
Please, please,
please review it if you read it.
Note, that
normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage sell for
anything from £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the
average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a
living. But I’m offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.
Also at the moment I’m quite happy for you to share these links with other
people and any of the items you’ve downloaded before - just until the end of
the lock-down.
The Schellberg Project
The posts may be helpful for teachers who are familiar with
the Schellberg stories or who are teaching about the Holocaust and also for
other writers of historical fiction.
This month I’ve reviewed two books:
The Librarian of Auschwitz:
http://www.thehouseonschellbergstreet.com/2020/03/the-librarian-of-auschwitz-by-antonio.html
This is a fictionalised account of an actual survivor who has
approved the content. It’s a reasonable read and offers some interesting detail
for scholars.
Ambulance Girls http://www.thehouseonschellbergstreet.com/2020/03/ambulance-girls-by-deborah-burrows.html
gives us some insight into to what it
was like working as an ambulance driver during the London blitz. The story is rather dramatic but this would
keep the average reader engaged. The book has a useful bibliography at the end.
I’ve also added a post about the theatres closing in Germany
and comparing that with what’s happening here. Read it here: http://www.thehouseonschellbergstreet.com/2020/03/theatres-closing-shortages-and-desolate.html
School visits
I’ve suspended these until further notice. I’m now starting
work on a series of on-line materials.
Some notes about my newsletters and blogs
They do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they
all do.
Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House, CaféLit,
Chapeltown or The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us. General
news about the imprints. News for writers. Links to book performance. Sign up here.
Chapeltown Books News about our books. Sign up here.
The Creative Café Project News about the project and CaféLit –
for the consumer rather than for the producer.
Sign up here.
Gill’s News: News about my writing, The Schellberg Project, School
Visits and Events. Book recommendations and giveaways. Find it here.
Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and
workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.
Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign
up here.
A Publisher’s Perspective Here I blog as a publisher. Access
this here.
The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative
cafés. See them here.
CaféLit Stories Find these here
Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View
this here.
Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that
have taken me out of my editor’s head and a reminder of the ones I’ve
highlighted in this newsletter.
Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.
The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project.
Read it here.
Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing. Some creative writing exercises. Access this here.
Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books and news of new
books. Find them here.
The Young Person’s Library I am gradually moving the children’s book
catalogue over to this site. Access it here.
Fair Submissions I am gradually moving the Opportunities
List to this site. Find it here.
New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.
Happy reading and
writing.
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