dickens with teeth
February is nearly done and dusted, and it's been a busy month for me. I have been doing a lot of editing, re-writing of At Day's End, Book 3 and I'm pleased with the way that's going but my self imposed deadline is looming and I'm getting a bit panicky under the collar. Is it possible to get panicky under the collar? If so, I am.
But my February mind has also been full of other distractions, inspiring stuff that has been sparking my imagination; the song Human by Rag 'n' Bone Man for one. I was in a cafe with a friend and this began playing on a music show on the TV in the corner of the room and our conversation just stopped. We just stopped talking to listen. It's so rare that a piece of music, a voice can do that for me nowadays but this song had that ability. It's been playing on repeat at home ever since. Amazing.
A book title caught my eye; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. What a great title. I believe it's a crime story, but I don't know for sure as the title doesn't give much away on that front. But it is a title to conjure with. It conjures all sorts of images for me, sent me daydreaming about different fictional worlds. I checked out Mr Bradley at a popular on-line retailer and his other titles include; The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, and Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd. Is there an award for best book title? This author would have a trophy cabinet full.
The BBCs Taboo from the minds of actor Tom Hardy and his father Chip is a window into a Victorian world where Jack the Ripper might thrive. A light is shone into all the corners of a corrupt London where Dickens couldn't take us. The violence is brutal, life is hard and filthy and usually doesn't end well. This is a workhouse, madhouse nightmare and utterly compulsive. One character had his tongue cut out, another had his balls cut off, a cheese grater style torture implement is used on Delaney (Hardy) at one point, but it was the sight of Tom Hollander chewing on a cow turd and then licking pigeon shit off his fingers that had me shielding my eyes. Compelling.
I heard someone I used to share a house with talking on the radio about the new opera he has been working on. He has written the libretto in Middle English. I'm impressed. He was a writer when I knew him but this is a departure from what he did back then. He wrote for the theatre. I worked for him when one of his plays went to the Edinburgh Festival. It was a story of crime and how it affects the perpetrator. I also heard Jake Arnott interviewed about his new novel. He speaks really well Mr Arnott, he is engaging and enthusiastic, a great listen. I went to see him give a talk in Waterstones once, about his crime writing.
So two writers I've shared air with on the same radio show, on the same night. Brighton links them, as it does Rag 'n' Bone Man, who hails from there too. Stories about crime links Bradley to the other two writers. And there isn't a character in Taboo who isn't a criminal, apart from maybe Delaney's son. This may all be coincidence of course, the crime theme, or just a hankering after my old home town of Brighton, but I'm looking for some synchronicity at the moment because that is what I need from the last few days of February this year.
But my February mind has also been full of other distractions, inspiring stuff that has been sparking my imagination; the song Human by Rag 'n' Bone Man for one. I was in a cafe with a friend and this began playing on a music show on the TV in the corner of the room and our conversation just stopped. We just stopped talking to listen. It's so rare that a piece of music, a voice can do that for me nowadays but this song had that ability. It's been playing on repeat at home ever since. Amazing.
A book title caught my eye; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. What a great title. I believe it's a crime story, but I don't know for sure as the title doesn't give much away on that front. But it is a title to conjure with. It conjures all sorts of images for me, sent me daydreaming about different fictional worlds. I checked out Mr Bradley at a popular on-line retailer and his other titles include; The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, and Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd. Is there an award for best book title? This author would have a trophy cabinet full.
The BBCs Taboo from the minds of actor Tom Hardy and his father Chip is a window into a Victorian world where Jack the Ripper might thrive. A light is shone into all the corners of a corrupt London where Dickens couldn't take us. The violence is brutal, life is hard and filthy and usually doesn't end well. This is a workhouse, madhouse nightmare and utterly compulsive. One character had his tongue cut out, another had his balls cut off, a cheese grater style torture implement is used on Delaney (Hardy) at one point, but it was the sight of Tom Hollander chewing on a cow turd and then licking pigeon shit off his fingers that had me shielding my eyes. Compelling.
I heard someone I used to share a house with talking on the radio about the new opera he has been working on. He has written the libretto in Middle English. I'm impressed. He was a writer when I knew him but this is a departure from what he did back then. He wrote for the theatre. I worked for him when one of his plays went to the Edinburgh Festival. It was a story of crime and how it affects the perpetrator. I also heard Jake Arnott interviewed about his new novel. He speaks really well Mr Arnott, he is engaging and enthusiastic, a great listen. I went to see him give a talk in Waterstones once, about his crime writing.
So two writers I've shared air with on the same radio show, on the same night. Brighton links them, as it does Rag 'n' Bone Man, who hails from there too. Stories about crime links Bradley to the other two writers. And there isn't a character in Taboo who isn't a criminal, apart from maybe Delaney's son. This may all be coincidence of course, the crime theme, or just a hankering after my old home town of Brighton, but I'm looking for some synchronicity at the moment because that is what I need from the last few days of February this year.
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