tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406954797938576972024-02-07T21:03:40.640+00:00Electric LullabyNick Triplow on books, films and musicNick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-10715285752400211502018-09-27T21:07:00.000+01:002020-03-05T09:14:13.969+00:00LEGACY OF BRIT NOIR – BLOODY SCOTLAND POSTSCRIPT<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHPqMphYL8GDEP7GZoLaEtja9Neaw0vKZ5CPqUh25225AnMx0VmXHfKmVYg1BfG1nvr-_oxbBmneCN37x1oyaFIG58ITzSGRzJZyfzCCjpsopyaQ3V6zehNX8yyadmaCJ9o7oVX68792q/s1600/brit-noir-pic-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHPqMphYL8GDEP7GZoLaEtja9Neaw0vKZ5CPqUh25225AnMx0VmXHfKmVYg1BfG1nvr-_oxbBmneCN37x1oyaFIG58ITzSGRzJZyfzCCjpsopyaQ3V6zehNX8yyadmaCJ9o7oVX68792q/s400/brit-noir-pic-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Widmark in Night and the City (1950)</td></tr>
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I was lucky enough to join the exodus north to the glorious
city of Stirling last weekend for the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival for
the panel, The Legacy of Brit Noir. Joining novelists Cathi Unsworth and Harry
Brett and ably directed and moderated by crime writer, Douglas Skelton, the
conversation was free-flowing and the audience ready to engage with the
discussion at Q&A time. All in all a fantastic weekend with some
interesting and thought provoking debate, great scenery, a healthy dose of end of the pier entertainment, and a few beers with old and new friends. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For the most part, the Brit Noir panel covered ground we
knew well: in brief, an attempt to define noir in the US and European tradition, how
the genre in Britain emerges from an influx of European artists, writers and film makers
in the 1930s and 40s and, similarly, blacklisted writers and film makers forced
to leave the US in the 1950s. The noir sensibility, particularly of the film-makers,
permeates British writing of the 40s, 50s and 60s, and creates many of the staging
posts between the earliest exponents of the British roman noir and the defining
moment in 1970: the publication of Ted Lewis’s <i>Jack’s Return Home</i>, filmed in
the summer of that year and released in 1971 as <i>Get Carter</i>. I don't think anything was quite the same after that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some of the references we discussed are well known and there
are a handful of minor novels and films which I know were influential in Lewis’s
writing. Adding in the varied knowledge of my fellow panellists and Doug
Skelton, the book and film mentions were pinballing like a Soho arcade on a
Saturday night. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, for those unable to make it to Stirling, and for those
who did and left wondering why we didn’t do a reading list<b>*</b>, these are the books
I remember discussing, or at least were mentioned in conversation – the list is
by no means exclusive of the genre, nor is it intended to be. Others may be
able to fill in the gaps. Looking down the list, many of these were filmed at some
point, often overshadowing the source novels, and a fair few remain out of print, but all are worth tracking down and re-reading.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>They Drive by Night</i> (1938) – James Curtis <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>A Gun for Sale</i> (1936) <i>Brighton Rock</i> (1938) – Graham Greene<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Night and the City</i> (1938) – Gerald Kersh<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Third Man</i> (film) – Carol Reed (1949)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Long Memory</i> (1951) – Howard Clewes<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Hell is a City</i> (1954) – Maurice Proctor <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Hell Drivers</i> (film) – Dir. Cy Endfield (1957)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Saturday Night, Sunday Morning</i> (1958) – Alan Sillitoe<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>This Sporting Life</i> (1960) – David Storey<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Criminal</i> (film) – Dir. Joseph Losey (1961)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Crust on its Uppers</i> (1962) – Robin Cook (later to gain
greater recognition as Derek Raymond)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Negatives</i> (1964) – Peter Everett<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Whitsun Weddings</i> (1964) – Philip Larkin<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Burden of Proof</i> (1968) – James Barlow</div>
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<i>Jack’s Return Home / Get Carter</i> (1970); <i>Plender</i> (1971); <i>GBH</i>
(1980) – Ted Lewis</div>
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<i>A Red File for Callan</i> (1971) – James Mitchell<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Laidlaw</i> (1977) – William McIlvanney<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>He Died with His
Eyes Open</i> (1984); <i>The Devil's Home on Leave</i> (1985); <i>How the Dead Live</i> (1986); <i>I
Was Dora Suarez </i>(1990) – Derek Raymond<o:p></o:p><br />
<i>Red Riding Quartet </i>(1999 - 2002) David Peace<br />
<i>The Ultras </i>(2004) Eoin McNamee<br />
<i>Without the Moon </i>(2015) Cathi Unsworth<br />
<i>The Long Drop </i>(2017) Denise Mina</div>
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<b>*</b>With thanks to Louise Fairbairn for the suggestion.</div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-28828653303558712322018-06-20T16:00:00.000+01:002018-06-20T16:00:52.196+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMWEBAQQo97nY0BoQ_O6n27TN-j6UqOQosp1xdODwu0f6EnfSPP60Qr4lv3TzkTw21MFB2Sm1uy29BandWsHn3m4CWgRVPN11WoJe6f4YNQ-z6D2E-bHEzQcsT8PS3O-blKv5wBMndDhX/s1600/Creative-Workshops-Nick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1189" data-original-width="830" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMWEBAQQo97nY0BoQ_O6n27TN-j6UqOQosp1xdODwu0f6EnfSPP60Qr4lv3TzkTw21MFB2Sm1uy29BandWsHn3m4CWgRVPN11WoJe6f4YNQ-z6D2E-bHEzQcsT8PS3O-blKv5wBMndDhX/s640/Creative-Workshops-Nick.jpg" width="444" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Life writing, memoir, autobiography. However you describe it, sometimes you just want to tell your story. Or to know how to make the most of the life story of someone you know. Writing nonfiction, particularly when you're so close to the subject, can be a daunting task. The idea behind these workshops, delivered in partnership with the Lil Drama Company at PAD Studios, is to demystify the writing process, to give participants the techniques and tools to enable them to approach their writing with confidence. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">In many ways, traditional history tends to focus on the momentous; but now, arguably more than ever, everyday life experiences of people are the places we go to hear the truth. I'd hope that over the three weeks of workshops participants can work towards finding their voice, bringing together memory and history to make sense of their own experiences, framing them on the page in a way that communicates and gives us all a greater understanding.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">For more info on this, Dave Windass's stage writing & production workshops, and Peter Knagg's poetry workshop, visit the Lil Drama Company website:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://lildramacompany.uk/lil-workshops/">http://lildramacompany.uk/lil-workshops/</a> </span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-13733457072159721722018-06-10T17:57:00.000+01:002018-06-10T22:32:42.592+01:00Paris in the Dark - Robert Olen Butler<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uQ819v1IjMZka4iiCjmzjnpTfuoLdN4Ap2-4xOeZpX9gHtu7vZJhK9UDbP6jzE4d9XwIVtHcPdORXFMmadqgNvXPnPlsgqoWII1OgFczFzR2r5eH1v7M3gjyCn-w2MqtW_wZh1J1tyqG/s1600/Paris+in+the+Dark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uQ819v1IjMZka4iiCjmzjnpTfuoLdN4Ap2-4xOeZpX9gHtu7vZJhK9UDbP6jzE4d9XwIVtHcPdORXFMmadqgNvXPnPlsgqoWII1OgFczFzR2r5eH1v7M3gjyCn-w2MqtW_wZh1J1tyqG/s400/Paris+in+the+Dark.png" width="258" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">Paris 1915, the United States’
entry to the First World War is eighteen months away. President Woodrow Wilson
is committed to keeping America out of the war. Christopher Marlowe ‘Kit’ Cobb,
American correspondent for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chicago
Post-Express</i> and undercover agent for the US government, is resident in the
city, ostensibly to tell the story of the volunteer American ambulance drivers
helping the war effort, their nightly convoys ferrying French wounded to the
city’s hospitals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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With war raging, the city’s morale
on the verge of collapse and French authorities desperate to maintain control,
Cobb the spy is assigned to investigate a wave of bombings of civilian targets.
In the wake of one blast, he returns to pay his Café bill. His waiter catches the prevailing mood: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘“The Barbarians,” he said. Meaning the
Germans. “They are among us.”’</i> Suspicion falls on infiltrators among the refugees streaming into Paris from Alsace, northern France and Belgium. Cobb picks up the bombers' trail, navigating blacked-out streets and refugee bars with deadly
consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">It’s hard to escape the contemporary
resonances in Robert Olen Butler’s depiction of 1915. Old empires are
crumbling; Europe tears itself apart. As violence is brought to the streets and cafés and
terrorism used to justify outside intervention, Cobb is forced to question his own and his government’s positions. The parallels here are as much
Graham Greene’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quiet American </i>and
the earliest days of the Vietnam War as they are early 20th century Europe
or 21st century everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">‘A man’s naked arm, severed at the elbow,
its hand with palm turned upward, its fingers splayed in the direction of the
café, as if it were the master of ceremonies to this production of the Grand
Guignol.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
Cobb’s character is entirely convincing
as journalist and spy; drinking, lying, lie detecting and reckless endangerment
are transferable skills. And if at times he seems an almost Buchanesque
hero – his Mauser pistol is permanently tucked into his belt – Cobb is never entirely
untroubled, particularly when his relationship with Louise Pickering, an
American nurse traumatised by the wrecked bodies of men she treats, threatens
to expose the vulnerability of his double life.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">As a reader, there’s always a
risk of that ‘late to the party’ feel when coming to a character part way into
a series – this is the fourth Kit Cobb novel after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hot Country</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Star of
Istanbul</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Empire of Night</i>
– but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Paris in the Dark</i> stands alone
as a thoroughly rewarding thriller. (That’s not to say you won’t want to track
down Cobb’s earlier outings.) Butler skilfully paces the narrative, balancing deception,
misdirection and reveal with historical realism, quality writing, and insightful modern
perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p><br />
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<em>Paris in the Dark is available for pre-order and will be published by </em><a href="http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&isbn=9780857302458" target="_blank"><em>NoExit Press</em></a><em> in October.</em> <o:p></o:p></h4>
Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-18524183157448778282018-05-16T08:53:00.000+01:002018-05-18T09:35:27.332+01:00GETTING CARTER: Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&isbn=9781843448822" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&isbn=9781843448822" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1040" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUL1fIt3WCjt9y5nkSHM2qJzcMB7AZ653itdEKUNFzk6ZaccXMJhLANq3VeT8EaZ-DeuxQ7vkAkJo-GT69gsvCETDKwS67UZvz05_BY_Iif330UNMN9PbnOwPNc_xzOkwv4w_SEbPm8VHr/s640/Getting+Carter+-+cover+hi-res.jpg" width="416" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">This weekend sees another long-held ambition realised: for Ted Lewis to be a subject on the </span><a href="http://www.crimefest.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><strong>CrimeFest</strong></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> Authors Remembered panel. As the festival reaches its ten year landmark, it seems timely to be sitting alongside colleagues, discussing the enduring influence of this crime fiction pioneer, particularly with a copy of <em>Getting Carter</em> in hand. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Since publication last year, the response to the book and interest in Lewis and his work has exceeded any and all expectations. Sometimes an untold story catches the imagination, but never without the help of friends. I'm grateful to all those who have supported <em>Getting Carter </em>along the way, particularly Ion Mills, Steven Mair and all at </span><a href="http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&isbn=9781843448822" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><strong>No Exit Press</strong></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">, Cathi Unsworth and the noir family, Paul Oliver at Soho Press / Syndicate Books, and the writers, readers, reviewers, bloggers and festival organisers who spread the word.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">A year ago if anyone had told me <em>Getting Carter</em> would have be shortlisted for the HRF Keating award alongside writers whose work I've read and admired, I doubt I'd have believed them. Not so long before that, I was ready to accept the book would never see the light of day. So a final thank you: to all those who told me <em>just keep going</em>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">NT</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Barton upon Humber</span></div>
Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-50602729610616990212015-12-02T14:46:00.001+00:002016-06-07T00:27:42.854+01:00FACE VALUE: Northern Crime Short Story Winner/FRANK'S WILD YEARS: New Edition/TED LEWIS: Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Northern-Crime-One-stories-northern-ebook/dp/B018MZY7H6/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=00B3KZBP208NF77JVH8Z" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Northern-Crime-One-stories-northern-ebook/dp/B018MZY7H6/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=00B3KZBP208NF77JVH8Z" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3J3S0wnhLp6bAmadzipBExb_VQfPn06RuMFoSTlfEmFDvd2dFr2OJeV4RaYKcTock6FzAtqPQByPSMHqHzTABnAwyokthsESIvtmP1oe-e9Lwq7I-NDEiSKT3FOpbM3O3PhKF15kRfMjl/s400/img001+%25282%2529.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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<em><span style="color: black;">"From rural noir to urban terror, high concept drama to blunt force trauma, Moth Publishing presents its first collection of prize-winning short stories."</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: black;">2015 is about to end with a result. My story <em>Face Value</em> is a winner in the inaugural Northern Crime Short Story Competition. With the winners' anthology released on Monday 7 December in paperback and E-book, it's a great way to sign off after a hard-working but not always the most productive of writing years. I'm especially pleased <em>Face Value</em> made the grade. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">This week also sees the publication of a new edition of <em>Frank's Wild Years</em>. I'm grateful to publisher, Caffeine Nights, for the opportunity to put right a few of the things which have bugged me since it was originally let loose on the world, and for continuing to show faith in the book. The altogether sharper <em>Frank's Wild Years</em> will be available online, in bookshops and at WH Smiths travel stores from 3 December. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Franks-Wild-Years-Nick-Triplow/dp/1907565140" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Franks-Wild-Years-Nick-Triplow/dp/1907565140" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5naqsDslP9GC-HpLyvVF_9NA0swOKLNYeVW0THlpT1FlnYk9mtn3tS6LwgHHNyj3UPAtaIz2lgMYs3xR2LJyx4qd6uZzipEjDuU0wHZSvnRpbcZJ7Rq9SrZ2n5Ff3YwXtapXSxuokQEH/s400/img002.jpg" width="257" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">This year I made a conscious decision to focus on finishing my longstanding and well-overdue book about Ted Lewis. Fiction writing, blogging and a lot more besides have gone by the wayside, but it's ready for that plunge into finding an agent who fancies it, and a publisher willing to back a book which tells the story of one of the most influential British crime authors of the 20th century. The research has taken me to some brilliant, sad, funny, enlightening and strange places, the writing process to some even stranger ones. Watch this space</span>.<br />
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-70780655425404128092015-11-03T14:22:00.002+00:002015-11-03T14:34:14.070+00:00James Varda: Chance And Time - One Year On<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3y-mcKorsBmWzcoTg0tV6BMbnM_1Vk2GXkQxSxH8GLqQJeGDaoG9SQRSx8Y_6RRBp2dIvvIGDjaln3GSDO9fSotAHzTMVQmD49QhOV-DFMm6EqZq3e8fu4X0CJ74onFRYObsh2zAqjs0/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3y-mcKorsBmWzcoTg0tV6BMbnM_1Vk2GXkQxSxH8GLqQJeGDaoG9SQRSx8Y_6RRBp2dIvvIGDjaln3GSDO9fSotAHzTMVQmD49QhOV-DFMm6EqZq3e8fu4X0CJ74onFRYObsh2zAqjs0/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">On his ABC (Australia) radio show <em>The Inside Sleeve </em>last week, Paul Gough introduced a couple of tracks from <em>Chance And Time, </em>the last album from James Varda who died in June this year. He introduced the section with a few words about how he came to know Varda's music in the late 80s through the John Leckie-produced LP, <em>Hunger</em>. He spoke about the strength of the songwriting and how the record had stayed with him over the years. He played </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSyiZM_HzDw" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: black;">Beside The Sea</span></em></strong></a><span style="color: black;"><strong><em>, </em></strong>the haunting penultimate track on <em>Chance And Time</em>, and <em>Only Love</em>, which, in a sense is the centrepiece, closing the Chance section of the album. For me - </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and I've listened to the album many times - there was something different about hearing the songs on a radio programme broadcast from thousands of miles away. It lacked the static and hiss of an old time analogue radio show, but felt no less distant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">It's a year since <em>Chance And Time</em> was released and nearly five months since James died. He would, I'm sure, have been pleased to know his songs were being played and that there were people listening to his music. These songs are too beautiful and moving not to find a place in the world. A year on they have lost none of their life-affirming power. Varda's achievement in creating a lexicon for cancer in line with his own experience, and one that refuses to resort to cliché, is inspiring in itself. But listening now, what comes across is just how much this is an album about life and love of life. The writing is honest and true; the playing and performances exquisite. The sentiment seems only to deepen as it becomes weathered by time. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia";">I'm sure I won't be alone among those who knew him and think about him not just today, but every day, to raise a glass tonight. <em>Chance And Time</em> is a great record. Pass it on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">For more info: </span> </span></span><a href="http://www.jamesvarda.com/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>http://www.jamesvarda.com/</em></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Facebook: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/JamesVardaMusic"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>https://www.facebook.com/JamesVardaMusic</em></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">Youtube: <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/JamesVardaMusic">https://www.youtube.com/user/JamesVardaMusic</a></em></span></span><br />
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-40255988838685851342015-06-16T13:32:00.000+01:002015-06-16T13:32:18.514+01:00JAMES VARDA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCgnsj6sjB-_Tpk3uVF4qrH2o5UocNDkrnAucNUcQ-_eYh5fMxfpEOhnViNbftvRWfqlp5dbv3ah8EkdmC6a4hotdDZC_aRjTcaWEu2fKs6h6Oh9sTqgryULnmY-BfWoodHCtBSyFO8E8/s1600/Chance+%2526+Time.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCgnsj6sjB-_Tpk3uVF4qrH2o5UocNDkrnAucNUcQ-_eYh5fMxfpEOhnViNbftvRWfqlp5dbv3ah8EkdmC6a4hotdDZC_aRjTcaWEu2fKs6h6Oh9sTqgryULnmY-BfWoodHCtBSyFO8E8/s320/Chance+%2526+Time.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">JAMES
VARDA: PRESS RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Small
Things Records</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> are sad
to announce the death of James Varda, one of the most distinctive singer songwriters
of his generation, at his home in Sheringham, Norfolk on 12 June, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">James had lived and worked with a rare form
of cancer for some time. He had known this day would come and until a few weeks
ago was reading and listening to music, as always inspired and inspiring in
equal measure. On 2014’s astonishing album, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chance
And Time</i>, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James turned his songwriting
talent to chronicling the experience of confronting illness and death, and in
doing so, created a unique language and music of love and pain, family, landscape
and loss. It is undoubtedly his best work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">James was the rarest of musicians, always
and only making records on his own terms. His 1988 debut, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hunger</i>, marked him out as the original indie acoustic outsider. His
gigs in those days were an electric experience and led to invitations to appear
on Channel 4’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Night Network</i>,
appearances at the Reading and Cambridge Folk Festivals, and a support slot on
tour with Roy Harper. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">His later work, the stripped down
acoustic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Valley</i> (2004); and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River And The Stars</i> (2013) showed a
writer at peace with the landscape, and with an instinctive feel for nature.
With his gifts as writer and guitar player to the fore, he aimed for perfection
and, on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chance And Time</i> (2014), he
knew he had made a record which could not be bettered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">And
let my place be a sound, the colour of a church<br />
With windows lit in deep blue light, flooding sky and earth<br />
And let my place be a rhythm, supple and assured<br />
On which a melody can build and rise and words can find their worth<br />
Let my place be a chord, that echoes through the years<br />
Let my place be an affirmation, a handshake, a ‘Yes!’<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Let
My Place<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> – </i>James Varda 2014<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">There will be fuller tributes in due
course and, if there’s any justice, his work will find long-overdue wider
recognition in the weeks, months and years to come. But for the moment our
thoughts are with James’s wife and sons, family and friends. We will all miss
him terribly.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-84498884039150426122014-11-03T18:07:00.001+00:002016-06-07T00:43:43.741+01:00New Music: James Varda - Chance And Time<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHB2hrlRBBEC7OmkMyFjSvp6VJlCoZZf6UGJJrcdrJiryixnYMAlEeW6_S3e9BWfmCpKCe49TH73DVunFCZBLYxOnBqbG_GEp28MiP34vouq5sEOp7AUwaPaRyA-CBN0HrnkNs85gqmgu/s1600/Chance+&+Time.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHB2hrlRBBEC7OmkMyFjSvp6VJlCoZZf6UGJJrcdrJiryixnYMAlEeW6_S3e9BWfmCpKCe49TH73DVunFCZBLYxOnBqbG_GEp28MiP34vouq5sEOp7AUwaPaRyA-CBN0HrnkNs85gqmgu/s1600/Chance+&+Time.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: black;">If last year’s <i>The River And The Stars</i> was
the sound of James Varda’s artistic reawakening, the new album <i>Chance And
Time</i> (2014) - released today on <i>Small Things Records</i> - finds him playing with the grace and flavour of an English Elliot
Smith. On every level, this is an extraordinary piece of work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: black;">Varda has said that things have ‘fallen into place’
on this album. Always a great guitar player, he's
on virtuoso form. Every careful arpeggio and minimal lick gives the song what
it needs and no more. </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: black;">To paraphrase Townes Van Zandt, Varda has always had to
‘sing for the sake of the song’. Bringing together many of the musicians who
played on <i>The River And The Stars</i>, there’s a powerful sense of a band
coming together who buy into that ethos. Special mention to Johanna Herron
whose vocals melt perfectly into Varda’s on <i>Our Love Will Never End</i>,
Fliss Jones whose piano on <i>Beside The Sea</i> is a piece of understated
brilliance, and Nick Harper who makes an appearance with some great playing on <i>One
Thing After Another.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";">Chance
And Time</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> carries a sense of things that need saying: from the sweet melodies
and rare moments of <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9odPFezdyHA" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>May This Moment Ever Glow</strong></span></a> </i>and <i>Let My Place,</i>
to the cold reality of <i>The Doctor Spoke </i>and <i>Only Love,</i> Varda
creates series of exquisite and unique soundscapes. <i>Pass It On</i> delivers
a love song to England, to love, to life and everything that is precious – the
natural landscapes of East Anglia and the coast, and the music that sustains
him. Varda spins a universal truth from the intensely personal and there are
moments on this record that come back to you long after the last note’s echo. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Writing and recording entirely on his own terms with little, if any, recognition from the mainstream music media – it was something of a minor victory for Mark Radcliffe to play <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmpchBqTYe8" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>Our Love Will Never End</strong></span></a></i> on the Radio 2 Folk Show a few weeks back – Varda remains the acoustic outsider with indie sensibility. <br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: black;"><em></em></span></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: black;"><em>Chance And Time</em> is an astonishing album. As a chronicler of life, landscape, love and pain, Varda is unmatched among British songwriters. His writing has never been more precise or delivered a more telling emotional punch; as always taking on the broadest of influences – New York new wave to Dylan and Philip Glass, the poetry of Jane Kenyon, the photography of Robert Adams, and dozens more besides. He’s always made very good, thoughtful records with well-crafted lyrics and great guitar. But here’s the skinny: 26 years on from the John Leckie-produced <i>Hunger,</i> the lyrics, melodies and musicianship on <em>Chance And Time </em>are as good as you'll hear. James Varda plays, writes and sings better than ever and, in doing so, has produced the most powerful work of his career.</span></span></div>
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This is a kosher, solid gold, five-star record.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><em><span style="color: black;">Chance And Time is available from: </span><a href="http://www.jamesvarda.com/Shop"><span style="color: black;"><strong>http://www.jamesvarda.com/Shop</strong></span></a><span style="color: black;"> or via amazon and other outlets. </span></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><em><span style="color: black;">For more info, news and updates, follow @JamesVardaMusic on twitter or the James Varda facebook page.</span></em></span></div>
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</span>Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-30035378706140255702014-10-06T18:56:00.000+01:002014-10-07T08:45:25.430+01:00Ted Lewis at the BBC Written Archive<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1Y4WM6VRcX9DMEOHgkinVx2ZIGixJ9TOUl1yRarRPBB0X9UtmDZ1fosB9YNBS88UJEo-sOdQYIP9QU0QzSCasMrFFBZkVDKY0wd3bnKrc7R8-VNSBCnB8536CAxEU_Lnn_nh0mVV4njq/s1600/Ted+Lewis++-+BBC+Writer's%2BFiles%2B050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1Y4WM6VRcX9DMEOHgkinVx2ZIGixJ9TOUl1yRarRPBB0X9UtmDZ1fosB9YNBS88UJEo-sOdQYIP9QU0QzSCasMrFFBZkVDKY0wd3bnKrc7R8-VNSBCnB8536CAxEU_Lnn_nh0mVV4njq/s1600/Ted+Lewis++-+BBC+Writer's%2BFiles%2B050.JPG" height="231" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BBC Written Archives Centre - 'bigger on the inside'<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">You
feel the BBC Written Archives Centre ought to have some kind of grand entrance, an
archway in the shape of a 1940s wireless, something deco to welcome the visitor
with hushed reverence. Then again, a bungalow just off the B481 near Reading is
as good as anywhere. What matters are the treasures within. Somewhat ironically,
it’s bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Researching
and writing a book about Ted Lewis, I’ve long realised there is no complete
record of anything, anywhere. It is a process of assembling fragments; holding onto
clues and pursuing leads. Verification and connection. A file in the BBC archive
is as close as I’ve come to documenting a thread of Lewis’s life in a single
place – dates, times, official letters on flimsy corporate memo paper. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">And that's the wonder of such a comprehensive archive; as
a writer/researcher there is nothing that quite compares to primary source
material and new discovery. And this during a period in Lewis’s life where I
think his writing for television equalled, if not exceeded, his fiction output
for quality and relevance. What I find in the archive certainly wears its badge
of truth in some striking ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Add
to the experience the interest and support from staff who go above and beyond to
help – for which many thanks – to locate documents, files and microfilms of
scripts. The archivists and researchers are genuinely interested – shortly after
a conversation explaining which programmes I was researching and who Ted Lewis was, I hear
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<br />Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-53302846612217646672014-09-03T20:34:00.004+01:002014-09-03T20:34:46.211+01:00The Jack Carter novels by Ted Lewis - Reissued by Syndicate Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4nt88mFS11NVrfAYT-Md22SoW4OhdbjUhfwzD_0_g7O-jUP7BwyzkVEUAjOgssFVIgfhldmphJ_H9W0tlxxkAJlvwQlgoGjQNiSTLpx-B-oZIPdr39sRI3rs5CsZPPlvDPvnXPWNu_BR/s1600/10620803_304766703039660_8269887944206255903_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4nt88mFS11NVrfAYT-Md22SoW4OhdbjUhfwzD_0_g7O-jUP7BwyzkVEUAjOgssFVIgfhldmphJ_H9W0tlxxkAJlvwQlgoGjQNiSTLpx-B-oZIPdr39sRI3rs5CsZPPlvDPvnXPWNu_BR/s1600/10620803_304766703039660_8269887944206255903_n.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">It's been a long time coming, but </span><a href="http://www.syndicatebooks.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><em><strong>Syndicate Books</strong></em></span></a><span style="color: black;"> is about to re-publish the three Ted Lewis novels featuring Jack Carter. The first, originally published as <em>Jack's Return Home</em> in 1970, was later re-titled <em>Carter</em>, then <em><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Carter-Jack-Trilogy/dp/1616955031/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409770543&sr=1-3&keywords=ted+lewis" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: black;">Get Carter</span></strong></a></em>, in the wake of the 1971 film, adapted from Lewis's novel and directed by Mike Hodges. Notably, the film substituted Newcastle for Scunthorpe, Lewis's unnamed 'frontier town'.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: black;">With Carter dead at the end of the movie, Lewis returned to his main character in 1974 and 1977 for the prequels <em><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Carters-Law-Carter-Trilogy/dp/1616955058/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409770543&sr=1-1&keywords=ted+lewis" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: black;">Jack Carter's Law</span></strong></a></em> (retitled <em>Jack Carter and the Law</em> in the USA) and <em><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Carter-Mafia-Pigeon-Trilogy/dp/1616955074/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409770543&sr=1-4&keywords=ted+lewis" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: black;">Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon</span></strong></a><strong><span style="color: black;">.</span></strong></em></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg90NVtSl21EvMPXCT7kQ4BLMVJxlhyphenhyphenyOkO6TQ99aIz2NZGqp9ORrpWJLdUnlUzLBrweCNXx6_ZRn_qCOWzb2wjsx9Hdi9yedaHQPctyqoGewGQZfPCwT3AOF3Yiu1KxtT2yhQ8Mc4ofmt/s1600/10511441_304766713039659_3035687731770495213_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><em></em><strong><em><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg90NVtSl21EvMPXCT7kQ4BLMVJxlhyphenhyphenyOkO6TQ99aIz2NZGqp9ORrpWJLdUnlUzLBrweCNXx6_ZRn_qCOWzb2wjsx9Hdi9yedaHQPctyqoGewGQZfPCwT3AOF3Yiu1KxtT2yhQ8Mc4ofmt/s1600/10511441_304766713039659_3035687731770495213_o.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></em></strong></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Syndicate has created a must-have package with great design and excellent layout. I was pleased to contribute a biographical afterword for <em>Mafia Pigeon - </em>the novel which, in essence, brings the story to the point at which <em>Get Carter</em> begins. Lewis's style - his prose is unremittingly bleak and brutal - has influenced generations of crime authors, many of whom, most notably David Peace, have lined up to offer their appreciation in book jacket comments. Mike Hodges has written a new foreword for the novel that launched his feature film career.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpgdsYmk-H1DRc4yu7KHhiRiIRGxqVna2YKrs5zWfCevQORihBJtFqmFofdZ5eJa9WzCK5XGg_KIHs8zjBFhB1mkRPdBkmDV-QxzIT97xbjaA4enAgOQ6mNeHElXIfYueOht_WK2QU94V/s1600/10561782_304766709706326_1582494574271330538_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpgdsYmk-H1DRc4yu7KHhiRiIRGxqVna2YKrs5zWfCevQORihBJtFqmFofdZ5eJa9WzCK5XGg_KIHs8zjBFhB1mkRPdBkmDV-QxzIT97xbjaA4enAgOQ6mNeHElXIfYueOht_WK2QU94V/s1600/10561782_304766709706326_1582494574271330538_n.jpg" height="320" width="193" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: black;">The books are gaining momentum with some great coverage, the most recent - a piece written by David L Ulin in the </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-get-carter-and-the-birth-of-british-noir-20140902-story.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><em><strong>LA Times</strong></em></span></a><span style="color: black;"> - marks <em>Get Carter</em> as the point at which contemporary 'British noir begins'. It's hard to argue otherwise. Ulin maintains that Get Carter 'sums up the hard boiled ethos' as well as anything he's ever read. What is certain is that, after <em>Get Carter</em>, the British crime novel darkened; TV crime became tougher and, for Lewis, nothing would ever be the same again.</span> </span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-34774758156405170622014-08-08T08:03:00.000+01:002014-08-08T08:03:11.141+01:00Water's Edge on an August Morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Waking early this morning, I walked the route I used to take with the dogs.</span> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBcTCCdacIII45z96yl-4krZmZIOUL6eIVIIjuUH8koa6fKVPNBvqQnihvRYSr0txPVHWp0wEcCm9P5kBJVb0jVYFwa2szmL_RHU2B3_CObrK-sZC88Xu2HDcZ6xtQtLRUvsgFXQQeNAE/s1600/Waters's+Edge+8+8+14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBcTCCdacIII45z96yl-4krZmZIOUL6eIVIIjuUH8koa6fKVPNBvqQnihvRYSr0txPVHWp0wEcCm9P5kBJVb0jVYFwa2szmL_RHU2B3_CObrK-sZC88Xu2HDcZ6xtQtLRUvsgFXQQeNAE/s1600/Waters's+Edge+8+8+14.jpg" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The river and the Water's Edge lakes were still, the sun just breaking through a bank of cloud.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQM6cAyIZIcXKeDeVom1s6KQdnNmV05iUTGMYUEavy8Zd_gCyejqhNUIFPrGY1kzCRwnJ-zetOgNh6OmD-oBf65rOg7sw6RAZ_N0yN0OIuN5WkXyIDgnKXs_88XrYGYdx0-usORQKtI-EW/s1600/Image0733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQM6cAyIZIcXKeDeVom1s6KQdnNmV05iUTGMYUEavy8Zd_gCyejqhNUIFPrGY1kzCRwnJ-zetOgNh6OmD-oBf65rOg7sw6RAZ_N0yN0OIuN5WkXyIDgnKXs_88XrYGYdx0-usORQKtI-EW/s1600/Image0733.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sometimes, we need time to think, an uncluttered space to resolve the things that woke us early in the first place. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Or to think of nothing at all, just let the film play.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span>Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-36332920438424219032014-07-23T22:19:00.000+01:002014-07-23T22:19:46.310+01:00A Farewell to Dora Bryan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUuzN4A_8fy6oLKbdVRfK3i66rSR6DjEQKIDLi8GHvBAxFsqJLnT5GkQujX4OPasNfYz4DO27RHOQxgF4wsyzjZ6PfLxap3OMWQQmXg-o9JAbNjYv6lXhJx8aiaPI7snunUWZFum8xUWyy/s1600/Dora+Bryan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUuzN4A_8fy6oLKbdVRfK3i66rSR6DjEQKIDLi8GHvBAxFsqJLnT5GkQujX4OPasNfYz4DO27RHOQxgF4wsyzjZ6PfLxap3OMWQQmXg-o9JAbNjYv6lXhJx8aiaPI7snunUWZFum8xUWyy/s1600/Dora+Bryan.png" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Something about Dora Bryan's appearance in a film was a guarantee of a particular kind of authenticity. Her performances in films like <em>The Blue Lamp </em>and <em>A Taste of Honey </em> added colour and character in the days of black and white. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">In THE WOMEN THEY LEFT BEHIND (2009) we told the story of Rita, the wife of a Grimsby fisherman. An offer of a trip to London in the <em>Grimsby Evening Telegraph</em> in 1969 had given George and Rita their first chance of a weekend away. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">'The lady over the road said she’d look after my kids and we went to London. It was the first time George and I had been away together without the kids and it was the first time I’d been to London. We went down on the train and stayed at the Green Park Hotel. I remember going to Petticoat Lane and walking around Piccadilly Circus on the Friday evening; I wanted to see the lights and the ladies of the night. On the Saturday we went to a show with Dora Bryan at the Prince of Wales Theatre. We went into this pub for a drink and a sandwich afterwards and she was behind us talking and she saw us. Well, we’d been sat near the front and I’d laughed so much that when George said something I nearly wet myself. She heard my laugh and came over and said, “You were on the second row, I’d recognise that laugh anywhere.” She shoved my husband along the bench and sat talking to us. She was lovely, ordinary, like us.'</span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-63979924547590558782014-07-09T19:16:00.000+01:002014-07-09T19:44:27.591+01:00THE LEGACY OF TED LEWIS - Soho Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5HP9cCX4EoFNTxlupfkoPMzWL7cqadOB3TyEzFTuGpL-D5_KlziCkdIcL0mhO6HG5eKV0ON4HULsVHqumX7hZ3k7_dC-uxg4dhfCA0qsd0EqrayFLNLmngLQQjsvragk8GijfFBjnXha/s1600/Books+and+Bookmen+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5HP9cCX4EoFNTxlupfkoPMzWL7cqadOB3TyEzFTuGpL-D5_KlziCkdIcL0mhO6HG5eKV0ON4HULsVHqumX7hZ3k7_dC-uxg4dhfCA0qsd0EqrayFLNLmngLQQjsvragk8GijfFBjnXha/s1600/Books+and+Bookmen+picture.jpg" height="311" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">With <em>Syndicate Books</em> taking on the re-publication of Ted Lewis's novels, beginning with the three Carter novels, there's a very good chance this overlooked British crime author will, at last, get some of the credit he deserves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">As Syndicate's Paul Oliver says, Lewis's </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">influence on popular culture is to the second half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century 'what Hammett and Chandler’s was to the first half.' </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The full text of Paul's piece is available on the <a href="http://sohopress.com/the-legacy-of-ted-lewis/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: black;">SOHO PRESS WEBSITE</span>.</em></strong></a><strong><em> </em></strong>It's a great pen picture of Lewis's significance to crime writing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><em>Get Carter</em> is re-published in September, 2014. Click <em><strong><a href="http://sohopress.com/books/get-carter/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">HERE</span></a></strong></em> for further information.</span> </span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-39076224415795518012014-05-29T13:51:00.001+01:002014-05-29T13:51:57.306+01:00TED LEWIS - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNiwXbvyFXLPIo6vMMOpnzmmgqz8hyRK9VC8SSs_8s6kMXeVlOpj0m5DLQS7UT73l4P7D76kJsh6oxyeMSvOSdBzVJyigJeIxtYBfR7YqVmJRQRimJ3_SbpUQENfp0XfZv2maC2MwcW8Rv/s1600/Ted_Gateshead12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNiwXbvyFXLPIo6vMMOpnzmmgqz8hyRK9VC8SSs_8s6kMXeVlOpj0m5DLQS7UT73l4P7D76kJsh6oxyeMSvOSdBzVJyigJeIxtYBfR7YqVmJRQRimJ3_SbpUQENfp0XfZv2maC2MwcW8Rv/s1600/Ted_Gateshead12.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The <em>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</em> (ODNB) first approached me shortly after <em>Lewis's Return Home</em>, 2012's Radio 4 documentary about Ted Lewis. Today sees the publication of the
</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">latest update of the <i>ODNB,</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> which adds biographies of 99 men and women
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The May update
includes a special focus on the history of British cinema, from the silent
films of the 1910s to 1970s thrillers such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Get Carter</i>. The update marks the fiftieth anniversary of three
celebrated British films, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary Poppins</i>,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zulu</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Becket</i> with biographies of the actors, directors, and
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">It includes, for the first time, an entry for Ted Lewis which I wrote last year. On the road to greater recognition for one of Britain's literary innovators and author of arguably the best crime novel of its era, it's a signpost. But in context with the beginning of the re-publication of Lewis's novels by </span><a href="http://sohopress.com/books/get-carter/" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: black;"><strong>Soho Press</strong></span></em></a><span style="color: black;"> later this year, it seems that things are moving in the right direction.</span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Highlights and extracts from the update, along with an
introduction to the new content, are freely available at the <em><a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</strong></span></a></em> website </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: black;">from</span></a> Thursday 29 May.</span></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span>Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-22540073396154956282014-03-23T12:57:00.000+00:002014-03-24T09:25:28.047+00:00'DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE': GILL HOBSON, LIGHTLINES@ABBEY WALK GALLERY<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: bold; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></span></span></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmwTOussotBc6AjaRkbyQWXCn27LHY9KiYsnzPMIiImgLZe7Vvkm_VpuehZP9aGP2kgNw8Pz1c25eDvpEuheniDjvTWVsXPKuVxBah72r7dXihKvXPTaV8Xokg99AkDB8CoYbJ1mGj8Vs/s1600/neg3+Light+Lines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmwTOussotBc6AjaRkbyQWXCn27LHY9KiYsnzPMIiImgLZe7Vvkm_VpuehZP9aGP2kgNw8Pz1c25eDvpEuheniDjvTWVsXPKuVxBah72r7dXihKvXPTaV8Xokg99AkDB8CoYbJ1mGj8Vs/s1600/neg3+Light+Lines.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lightstain 3 - Gill Hobson 2014</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: bold; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do I dare <br />
Disturb the universe? <br />
In a minute there is time <br />
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">T
S Eliot, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">‘You’re
looking for a place to live, a new home. You write down a list of the things
you need – the essentials mainly, then the things you’d like. You see a few
places, none of which fit the bill. Reluctantly, you agree to view a house
which, on paper, has none of the things you wanted. The moment you walk in, you
feel you know this place and it knows you. It’s like an embrace. There is an
instinctive sense that speaks of home.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">, Gill Hobson’s new
exhibition, sets out to explore the intuitive resonances at play between us and
the spaces we live in. Developed from a project comprising more than 5,000
photographs of her own home taken over a three-year period, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i> includes photographic, film and installation
approaches which tease out some of the complexities of our
relationships with our spaces of dwelling. The work is profoundly affecting,
and as unsettling as it is thought-provoking. The works, says Gill, ‘are about making the familiar strange’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">In the
world of the <em>Lightlines</em> images, light is dark and darkness becomes light. A towel hangs
drying across a radiator. A shadow filters from beneath a door. Someone was
here and we walk a voyeuristic path through that person’s home, sensing their
absence, feeling the space not as they have felt it, but in our own way. The
scenes are not staged: beds aren’t made; cushions are un-plumped. This is,
above all, a lived-in domestic space.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">I found
myself drawn to odd angles, juxtapositions of doors, mirrors, stairwells and
reverse light coincidences – sinister splashes of red in a glass door pane are
heavy with a sense of foreboding, suggesting some kind of twisted noir
dénouement waiting to happen. But that’s just me. Gill recognises the images are
open to different readings. ‘It's not always apparent what is happening; there's an intellectual uncertainty at work that invites the
viewer to explore and draw their own conclusions. Sometimes an image suggests
a link with something or triggers a half-remembered recollection. They have
this capacity to transport the viewer to other times and places.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">That’s
not to say all the images are open to such literal narrative interpretation.
Some wilfully refuse to give up their secrets without close attention. ‘They’re
less readable, more abstracted, playing with ideas of how we read space, and
provoking notions of the canny and the uncanny, the homely and unhomely.’ In
that, they are seductive, a little weird, and quite beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">There’s
also something hauntingly poetic about them. In Eliot’s often quoted sense that
‘genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood’, you become involved
on an instinctive level before coming close to any sort of understanding. And
even then, these ordinary, domestic, compellingly other-worldly photographs
make meaning elusive. You establish a connection, only for it to
be undone when a shadow or a corner of the image reveals itself to the eye. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5rs3TUQfhUhRwcPC4fwdphcq9L6pUlTsIttP9IRSO1GHt-UmIGvWcPlwSSiXIiyEkH_D2gyUg2irEdsX-qqXbasUusvpD0xkLXg8UsVhCumq71jH7NNDeDh5fPvDeaGuYJwPZAZKFC2f/s1600/neg9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5rs3TUQfhUhRwcPC4fwdphcq9L6pUlTsIttP9IRSO1GHt-UmIGvWcPlwSSiXIiyEkH_D2gyUg2irEdsX-qqXbasUusvpD0xkLXg8UsVhCumq71jH7NNDeDh5fPvDeaGuYJwPZAZKFC2f/s1600/neg9.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lightstain 9 - Gill Hobson 2014</span><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">In
examining how the strange becomes familiar and familiar can become strange in
our own living environments, Gill talks about the influence of Walter
Benjamin’s ideas of the optical unconscious. ‘We believe that our eyes capture
reality, that what we see is what there is, but it’s more information than our
perception can process (and we choose the way we wish to see things anyway). The
photograph captures more than the eye can see automatically, without filtering
out the parts it doesn't care for, so when the eye looks at a photograph, so
much more is revealed. It's as if we see the scene anew and in doing so consciously
find echoes of what we had unconsciously seen.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">It’s a
quality equally present in the installation piece <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mnemonic</span></i>.
Gill says, ‘In the moving image work, still images are mirrored, layered and
cut through, referencing each other in a kind of feedback loop that suggests
different associations, different configurations. Flickering references disrupt
the ease of viewing, bringing moments of uncertainty and placing the work in
direct dialogue with the stills. Our recollection of the static image becomes
absorbed into a new way of seeing and remembering which combines what we know
and what we are still discovering. A mnemonic is a device which helps a person
remember something. The work plays with this idea by proposing new memory
configurations: the viewer becomes the third point in a triangulation, a call
and response between artworks, moving image and themselves.</span> <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">When we encounter space
we’re constantly in this feedback loop, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mnemonic</span></i> plays
with ideas that these resonances are in motion, either coming into being or
dissipating to create new configurations of memory.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Memory
and recollection are intimately bound up with photography and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i> possesses a haunting elegiac quality. A reminder
that living spaces surrendered to the must-have tech and décor desirables of
our age are now places from which we explore other dimensions. Homes are
reduced to vessels of connectivity. We sleep, we eat, we hook up. In that
sense, the collection is a frozen moment, connecting it to the history of
photography and technology. ‘The scenes in <i><span style="font-style: italic;">The
Lightstain Series</span></i> are purposefully empty of people,’ Gill says, ‘they
look a little like stage sets <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">and </span>could
be read like narrative scenes. Similar to Atget's photographs of Paris streets,
there is a forensic quality: we see the scene more clearly for not being in it,
and it becomes a setting where something has or is about to happen - the
photograph is a suspended moment which represents the particular conditions of
where life takes place.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">I
suggest it would be interesting to see the still images on a larger scale. For
Gill, there’s something about the intensity of the smaller image. ‘Scale is an
important dynamic: the size affects how the image may be read. The
increased scale and manipulation of the moving image work proposes a more
theatrical reading – like a staged backdrop to activity. It speaks of a more
constructed visual idea, and allows the images to operate in different ways. Through
the smaller size, the intensity of the images is enhanced;
they speak of intimacy. Using the imagery at different scales sets up different
dialogues.’ The framing too acts to domesticate these striking images: each
frame has been individually selected and painted to compliment the particular
image. Their separation from the moving image work and from each other makes
each a discreet and particular statement in direct contrast to the multiple and
layered imagery of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mnemonic</span></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">What is
certain is that the works which comprise <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i>
document a way of living. Intensely personal, yet commonplace enough to propose
ideas about our own living spaces and the feelings they generate, replete with
all that entails. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">With
plans to show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i> at Red Gallery in
Hull, 20:21 Gallery in Scunthorpe and The Ropewalk in Barton over the next year
at an advanced stage, Gill is certain the work will develop and change. She’ll
also be setting up discussions and developing a publication for the
project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘I want to look at different
ways these ideas can be mobilised with other people, other places, that’s why
I’ve developed it in this particular way, about one person, one place. To
research and make art about environment in this way allows you as an artist to
experiment, to take risks, to elaborate in personal ways. It sets up ways to
explore the capacities for action available to the individual free from
considerations of wider cultural space. Traditional conceptions of home, with
its’ ideas of safety, of privacy, of retreat is being re-configured, eroded at
an astonishing rate by technologies of communication and surveillance.
Lightlines </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">is a
contemplation of creativity and agency in the increasing time–space compression
of the everyday.’</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">I came
home to my own familiar space and caught myself glancing at corners of rooms, the
unstuck curl of a wallpaper edge, the way the light fell and cast shadows. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightlines</span></i> has a remarkable capacity to make us think about
the way we perceive our living spaces. To notice and re-notice the traces and
reminders. As Philip Larkin wrote, ‘Home is so sad. It stays as it was left/shaped
in the comfort of the last to go/as if to win them back.’ But the more you find
yourself drawn into these images and the ideas that underpin them, the greater
the realisation of how little we know of what ‘home’ in the 21st<span style="font-size: small;">
century genuinely means.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="mailto:Lightlines@Abbey">Lightlines@Abbey</a> Walk Gallery
previews on 25 March. The exhibition is open to the public 26 March – 4 May,
Gallery opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 9-5pm. For further information about
Gill Hobson and her work: </span></span></i><a href="http://www.gillhobson.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">www.gillhobson.com</span></span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></i></div>
Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-61792647851116527542014-02-05T12:57:00.000+00:002014-02-05T13:23:59.722+00:00SHORT STORY COURSE - Grimsby Minster, February/March 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47TyppLGYREVRtOjiJB9LLhlrYAIFP84vOZHihPknc3N8FHSgsQ7mav3naWUnR8dndel8RG_G9qRgS6Sc3UWYrWarWnJFvxayhkphwwgraU66asN7mAlXDyWmKsbctPO__0clfJxykEEe/s1600/Image0549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47TyppLGYREVRtOjiJB9LLhlrYAIFP84vOZHihPknc3N8FHSgsQ7mav3naWUnR8dndel8RG_G9qRgS6Sc3UWYrWarWnJFvxayhkphwwgraU66asN7mAlXDyWmKsbctPO__0clfJxykEEe/s1600/Image0549.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's taken a while to get together, but things are finally sorted for the first of what I hope will be a series of creative writing courses at Grimsby Minster. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This six week programme is aimed at anyone with an interest in writing short fiction and looks to build on some of the ideas tested in last year's 'story lab' sessions. The focus here will be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">on participants’ own
work. Although writing experience isn’t essential, a commitment to write and read
short stories is.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Over the six weeks, I'll introduce various aspects of contemporary short fiction, creative nonfiction and flash fiction through reading, discussion and a range of writing exercises.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Each participant will have the
option to have their work read and critiqued as part of
the course, as well as receiving up to date information on writing competitions
and routes towards publication.</span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><em>The course costs £60 and takes place: </em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Thursday 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Feb, 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Feb, 6<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> March, 13<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> March, 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> March, 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> March between 7-9pm </em></span><em>in the Community Room at
Grimsby Minster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></em></span><br />
<em><span style="color: black;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: black;">It's advisable to book in advance as places are limited. To book or for further information, drop me a line at </span><a href="mailto:nick.triplow@btinternet.com"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>nick.triplow@btinternet.com</strong></span></a></em><br />
<em></em> </span> </span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></i> </div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-48940196274328524792013-12-15T16:45:00.002+00:002013-12-15T17:07:50.736+00:002013: A YEAR IN BOOKS<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <span style="color: black;">A year of books with research, re-reading, new
fiction and nonfiction finding its way into this mixed up, muddled up selection.
One way or another, these are the books that made a mark for me in 2013. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Spring <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfvRh9ec7ctyxQQffKuGfQ6sVmCdQHMNdKd7Eqj2LjpMjy6hhRAJOutASwmW74zqkQkrNQ193na11i13nmMVFg2QIRqApm8u-_90-mY8rsbchHQGJdp1SkniYeYxrgINhXwBOJgWkhyfm/s1600/Swear+Down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfvRh9ec7ctyxQQffKuGfQ6sVmCdQHMNdKd7Eqj2LjpMjy6hhRAJOutASwmW74zqkQkrNQ193na11i13nmMVFg2QIRqApm8u-_90-mY8rsbchHQGJdp1SkniYeYxrgINhXwBOJgWkhyfm/s320/Swear+Down.jpg" width="209" /></span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">RUSS LITTEN – Swear Down; ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – The Hound of
the Baskervilles (Pulp! The Classics edition); TED LEWIS – Jack’s Return Home,
Plender, Billy Rags; JOHN McVICAR – By Himself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">In <em>Swear Down</em>, Russ Litten’s heartfelt and thoughtful take
on the crime story there’s a murder – at least one –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an ambitious cop, unsympathetic bosses and an
investigation. Litten created and subverted the classic odd-couple partnership in
a single sweeping journey. In May, I reviewed the novel for LITRO Magazine
and the close reading revealed layers of storytelling and character that placed
<em>Swear Down</em> up there with the best of British fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">The new collection of classic novels in pulp fiction covers,
old style orange-edged paper and tongue in cheek blurb are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a great addition for Sherlock
Holmes completists, crime fiction fans and lovers of pulp art. The
chance to re-read <em>The Hound of the Baskervilles</em> was an absolute pleasure. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">The novels that brought Ted Lewis to prominence - notably <em>Jack's Return Home:</em> these were
re-reads, close reads, line by line analyses that risk wringing the pleasure
from the process. That Lewis's writing holds up is a testament to his storytelling. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">The comparative analysis between <em>Billy Rags</em> and McVicar
<em>By Himself</em> generated some new and interesting ideas. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Linking fictional events to biographical detail and understanding
where you as the chronicler of the author’s life place yourself, makes for a
unique and sometimes intense reading experience. You have to believe it’s all
there to be understood; sharpen the critical faculties and leap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Summer<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">JOHN BANVILLE – The Untouchable; TONY FLETCHER – Boy About
Town<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Until this summer the only John Banville novel I’d read was
<em>The Sea</em>. In July this year, I took Banville’s stylish spy novel <em>The Untouchable</em>
on holiday to Cornwall and was gripped. It is a superbly written book,
believable and compelling with a wonderfully sardonic narrator who never quite
tells an unembellished truth or an absolute lie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Interviewing Tony Fletcher for the Head in a Book session at
Hull Central Library felt like something of an end and a beginning. Fletcher
had given me my first exposure with a couple of poems published in his fanzine
<em>Jamming!</em> at the dawn of the 1980s. His memoir <em>Boy About Town</em> tells the
thoroughly engaging story of Tony’s life and the love of music that led to him meeting
Keith Moon and having the chutzpah that found him invited into the The Jam’s
inner circle from 1978 onwards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Autumn<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">STEPHEN KING – Joyland, On Writing, Different Seasons
(including Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption); DICK CLEMENT & IAN LA
FRENAIS – The Complete Porridge Scripts <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Finding Stephen King again was a little like catching up
with a band you used to like and wondering why you ever stopped listening in the first place. I
bought <em>Joyland</em> as a holiday read, never got around to it and watched it
gather a couple of monthsworth of dust. When I got down to it – another novel
with a pulpish retro cover – I read it in a weekend. A classic mystery
with a strong sense of character and a bittersweet emotional pull. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Reading <em>Joyland</em> coincided with some work I was doing to develop The Story
Lab – a series of creative writing workshops. It drew me back to King’s classic
treatise on storytelling and his own creative writing process, <em><a href="http://biblioteka.teatr-obraz.ru/files/file/English_cinema/Stephen_King_On_Writing.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>On Writing</strong></span></a></em>. An
essential read for any aspiring author. The King trilogy completed with
Different Seasons – a collection of four pieces of short fiction fronted by the
novella <em>Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption</em>. Still a compelling story in its
own right and well worth re-reading alongside Frank Darabont’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hugely successful screen adaptation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Another pre-read for The Story Lab sessions,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>The Complete Porridge Scripts</em> was an
unadulterated pleasure. It also highlighted the rhythms and patterns of
character dialogue and Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale and Fulton Mackay’s masterful
interpretation of a script. Telling a story in 28 minutes that we’re still
watching and enjoying 40 years later. It’s all there – in the writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Winter<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">PETER ACKROYD – London Under; KEVIN SAMPSON – Awaydays; NICK
QUANTRILL – The Crooked Beat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">I try to read and learn from those non-fiction authors who
make any subject as engaging to read as the most visually imagined and powerfully<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plotted novel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter Ackroyd accomplishes this with <em>London
Under</em>, an atmospheric introduction to the world under London. Spring and
streams, gang hideouts and London Underground stations – Ackroyd looks into the
darkness and sees the monsters lurking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">I met Kevin Sampson for the first time in November at a
screening of <em>Get Carter</em> for the Humber Mouth festival. I’d read, enjoyed and
was inspired by <em>Awaydays</em> some years ago. The story of Carty, a member of
Tranmere Rovers ‘Pack’ of travelling hardcases at the fag end of the 1970s, the
novel weaves pop culture and fashion references between explosive violence and
casual sex. A fast, furious and thoroughly absorbing story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><em>The Crooked Beat</em> is Nick Quantrill’s third and most
accomplished Joe Geraghty novel. I’ll declare an interest here; Nick and I have
taken our writing to audiences in libraries, bookshops, reading groups and
community centres under the banner <em>The Humber Beat</em> for the last couple of
years. I first heard the opening of <em>The Crooked Beat</em> in a library in Hartlepool.
As Nick finished, closed his kindle, there was an audible gasp. You know when
you’ve hooked an audience and Nick Q just gets better and better. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">Thanks for reading. Here's to 2014 . . . </span></span><br />
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-54691764673786458762013-10-24T14:32:00.000+01:002013-10-24T21:18:01.958+01:00Reading Event/New Fiction - 'Freeman Street'<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAIO8xiYcxo46FI_SnoY6OrD57r6tK0A4FnNUpzBdsrG-i1oT1-vjBbkpdKEUD1yaWIyJJZ3qwhDb08c8dFZx3GlAi-fHsVLq_49kt-4lKr4rBD-38pZvjqJIwft90ro1t3u8wwmIp5Xq/s1600/freemo+market.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAIO8xiYcxo46FI_SnoY6OrD57r6tK0A4FnNUpzBdsrG-i1oT1-vjBbkpdKEUD1yaWIyJJZ3qwhDb08c8dFZx3GlAi-fHsVLq_49kt-4lKr4rBD-38pZvjqJIwft90ro1t3u8wwmIp5Xq/s320/freemo+market.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freeman Street Market - circa 1955</td></tr>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">“… like me dad used to say,
when the absent friends outscore those who’ve turned up, it’s time to call it a
day.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Freeman Street</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> is a new short story (at least I think
it's a short story) commissioned for this year's Great Grimsby Literature
Festival.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Although
its foundation is partly in research carried out for the social history book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Women They Left Behind</i> in 2008/9, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeman Street</i> tells the entirely
fictional story of Julie, once the wife of a fisherman, who finds herself on a
pilgrimage to Grimsby after thirty years away. As the trip unfolds and once
familiar streets roll by, Julie is increasingly haunted by an episode from her
past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">I’ll
be reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeman Street</i> for the
first time at Grimsby Minster on Friday 25 October as part of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Local Life</i>, a lunchtime (12.00-1.00pm)
reading session for adults, alongside other new pieces of work commissioned for
the festival.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-77493869161904743762013-10-07T11:56:00.000+01:002013-10-07T11:56:05.171+01:00HUMBER MOUTH 2013 In Conversation with Mike Hodges/Get Carter Screening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGl6Hgd7dyT4XsmrP2W1tmkSDrf-cmADKq3W1deaPCrVWKOz4bykOsA2yDtzUmGz-57gjfXeAR8m8wuGdz8NdBJAUFw8koo0vRMoMc6znD_r7B5WDc_Azt281kSBgIZ3728etYGUdTCMh/s1600/BV7I4sRCEAAmVCg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGl6Hgd7dyT4XsmrP2W1tmkSDrf-cmADKq3W1deaPCrVWKOz4bykOsA2yDtzUmGz-57gjfXeAR8m8wuGdz8NdBJAUFw8koo0vRMoMc6znD_r7B5WDc_Azt281kSBgIZ3728etYGUdTCMh/s400/BV7I4sRCEAAmVCg.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In the <em>Observer</em> review of <em>Get Carter</em>, written on the film's release in March 1971, you get the feeling the reviewer is in something of a quandary. He dubs it his 'commercial film of the week', but seems to feel a little ... <em>dirty</em> about it. He writes of the film's dubious morality and, whilst finding it impossible not to identify with Michael Caine's anti-hero, Jack Carter, 'a very unpleasant thug who goes up to Newcastle to find out who murdered his straight brother...' he is less easy with the way he 'kills or screws anything that moves'. In a week where the other main commercial release was <em>Love Story, </em> the reviewer finally admits his 'shameless enjoyment', concluding that <em>Get Carter</em> is like 'a bottle of neat gin swallowed before breakfast. It's intoxicating all right, but it'll do you no good'.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">All of which is a roundabout way of announcing I'll be in conversation with <em>Get Carter</em> director, Mike Hodges for this year's Humber Mouth Festival at <em>The One Gallery</em> in Hull on 13 November. The event starts at 6.30pm with a screening of <em>Get Carter, </em>followed by an in-conversation session and concluding with an audience Q&A.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Inviting Mike Hodges to Hull for Humber Mouth 2013 is something of a coup for the festival organisers, Shane Rhodes and Wrecking Ball Press. I'm thrilled to have been asked to take part. Forty-two years after its cinema release, <em>Get Carter - </em>adapted by Mike Hodges from Ted Lewis's 1970 Scunthorpe-based novel <em>Jack's Return Home</em> - remains an era-defining crime thriller in which whatever was left of 1960s optimism gets a dose of cold, violent reality. It still packs a punch and, for me, it is the point at which the British crime thriller comes of age. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><em>Keep up to date with this year's Humber Mouth Literature Festival via the </em></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/humbermouthliteraturefestival" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><em><strong>facebook page</strong></em></span></a><span style="color: black;"><em> and twitter </em></span><a href="https://twitter.com/humbermouth" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><em><strong>@humbermouth</strong></em></span></a></span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-4622444975474957162013-10-03T14:27:00.001+01:002013-10-03T15:20:16.429+01:00Great Grimsby Poetry Relay - Reader 51<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">There was something rewarding being Reader 51 for half an hour or so this morning for the Great Grimsby Literature Festival and National Poetry Day poetry relay. Leaving the laptop for the morning and taking a walk to the bridge, I found the east walkway closed, so schlepped under to the western path. The further onto the bridge, the more pronounced the thunders and rumbles of articulated lorries. They feel close, really close.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">The noise, the movement, the vibration, the grey-brown river churning up sandbanks - it's a long way down. In place, just beyond the Barton side pier - some 500 metres from the shore - in time for the 11:44 reading. I said the words. A brief extract from Coleridge's <em>Rime of the Ancient Mariner</em>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Yet she sail'd softly too:</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze -</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">On me alone it blew.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">O dream of joy! is this indeed</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">The lighthouse top I see?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Is this the hill? Is this the kirk?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Is this mine own countree?</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">It's not surprising that rivers, oceans and waterways inspire poetry. This place is no exception. Philip Larkin's poem <em>A Bridge For The Living</em> put it far better than I can exactly what this great structure means to the region. The poem is wonderfully read by Tom Courtenay in Dave Lee's stunning film, originally made for the 2011 Humber Mouth Festival.</span></div>
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<br />Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-69477455665323545892013-09-29T10:09:00.000+01:002013-09-30T14:09:39.099+01:00HEADS UP FESTIVAL: So You Want to be a Crime Writer?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What
struck me about the four writers of crime fiction who came together yesterday
afternoon under the banner <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">So You Want to
be a Crime Writer?</i> was the degree of consensus that emerged as to what it takes
to write a crime novel that engages readers and keeps them reading. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In the appropriately
surreal setting of The Other Space – the live performance area for <em>Ensemble 52’s</em>
innovative theatre piece <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Sketches</i>
– David Mark, Nick Quantrill, Luca Veste and I undertook our own investigation
into the writing process. Each of us read an extract from, and discussed aspects
of a book (just the one, mind) that has influenced our writing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">David Mark</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Winter</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Original Skin</i>.
Inspired by Jim Crace’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Being Dead</i>.</span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></o:p></span></u></b><br /></div>
<span style="color: black;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Nick Quantrill</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Broken Dreams, The Late Greats</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crooked Beat</i>. Inspired by Ian Rankin’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Standing in Another Man’s Grave</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Nick Triplow</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frank’s Wild Years</i>. Inspired by Graham Swift’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Last Orders</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Luca Veste</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> author of Dead Gone [Published by Avon,
January 2014]. Inspired by Steve Mosby’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
50/50 Killer</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NT, David Mark, Nick Quantrill, Luca Veste</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">The brief
panel discussion and audience Q&A covered a broad range of topics including:
the influence and support of experienced editors and their notable absence in
the world of self-publishing; the breadth of thought, style and approach in the world of crime-writing. To
summarise, these were the main consensus points: </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">1. You
need to read, a lot. It may seem an obvious point, but as more readers become writers,
keeping the reading habit shouldn’t be underestimated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">2. Develop
your own strong and original narrative voice. Each author had a tale of a
failed manuscript, you learn by writing and sometimes getting it wrong.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">3. The crime
writing genre and its sub-genres shouldn’t be restrictive – know the field,
understand the tropes and, where it works, don’t be afraid to subvert them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">4. Whether
it’s the choice and evocation of a specific location or the unsettling effect
of subverting expectations, a sense of place is a key tool in the crime writer’s
kit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">5. Where
is no magic bullet when it comes to publication – develop your craft, work the
Writers and Artists’ Yearbook for the right agent, and persevere.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Finally,
many thanks to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ensemble 52</i> for
putting on this free event as part of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heads
Up Festival</i>. From a quick scan of social media afterwards it seems many of
the aspiring writers who came along took a great deal from the perspectives of
the panel, the books discussed, and some honest advice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heads Up</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Head in a Book</i> series of events and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Humber Mouth Festival</i> coming up fast, there’s no doubt something is
happening in the City of Hull. It’s great to be a part of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-65968014697169866442013-09-25T17:18:00.002+01:002013-09-25T17:18:44.853+01:00Great Grimsby Literature Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">It's festival time again and first up is the newly-retitled <em>Great Grimsby Literature Festival</em>. A feat of organisational wonder by Charlotte Bowen and Jo Gray of <em>The Culture House</em>, the festival is spread across October (with one or two of the events continuing into November). </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Beginning with a splash on National Poetry Day, 3 October, with the Great Grimsby Poetry Relay. A unique event that will see 72 readers each reading a couple of stanzas of Coleridge's <em>Rime of the Ancient Mariner</em> at locations across the region. For the record, I'll be on the Humber Bridge at 11.44.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">On Friday 18 October I'll be delivering a lunchtime Q&A session at Grimsby Minster on the do's and don'ts and perils and pitfalls of writing and publishing. Kicking off at 12.30 (there's a closed session for Grimsby Institute Writing Degree students in the morning), I'm hoping participants will bring their own experiences to the party. I'll do what I can to offer solutions to this never-easy step for writers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">The big one for me is the first outing for <em>The Story Lab. </em>It's an idea I've been working on for some time. Taking place at a new arts venue, <em>Le Petit Delight</em> in Cleethorpes, I'll be exploring a range of skills for writing fiction and script, with the emphasis on the craft of story-telling. The four sessions are £24. There are a few places left, but not a whole lot and numbers are limited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: black;">For full details of these and loads of other events, check out and download <em>The Great Grimsby Literature Festival</em> programme at </span><a href="http://www.theculturehouse.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/GGLF_2013_Brochure_Low-Res.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><em><strong>The Culture House Website</strong></em></span></a>.</span></div>
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<br />Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-64798120208789170492013-09-07T09:04:00.004+01:002013-09-07T09:04:57.968+01:00Frank's Wild Years - FREE kindle edition<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's a deal, it's a steal, it's <em>Frank's Wild Years</em> and for this weekend only it's cheaper than chips. I'm not askin' a tenner, not even a fiver. Put your money away ladies and gents. This weekend only, it's FREE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: black;">Click <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Franks-Wild-Years-ebook/dp/B007M2TSNE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1378540351&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>HERE</strong></span></a><strong> </strong>for the link.</span></span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-17500116361878607332013-08-21T21:32:00.001+01:002013-08-21T21:32:37.839+01:00PINK MOON ... and clouds, lakes and river<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSwzz477KVD5lJLwyzWocVB8p3yT6R_hUUX1vVplW5yPK_kbEv3eBm1G32Cvx4D822aOEuTwMvFFAYTF4_q5Uo15fvaC75yOdVvoUxnvJ0fQtB6aHuGlV8CZMElbcEp5FN9jPLiYiVToE/s1600/Image0460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSwzz477KVD5lJLwyzWocVB8p3yT6R_hUUX1vVplW5yPK_kbEv3eBm1G32Cvx4D822aOEuTwMvFFAYTF4_q5Uo15fvaC75yOdVvoUxnvJ0fQtB6aHuGlV8CZMElbcEp5FN9jPLiYiVToE/s400/Image0460.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Waters Edge Lake, Barton on Humber</em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My regular walk along the Humber bank and surrounding countryside sometimes throws up surprises. You think you've seen all each season has to offer and then on an evening like this, you witness the natural world putting on a show.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJq1ql1WoQXJ_Mg-9rILy8IfV_wGx9CBgGIl8VdG5Hvw-fA7d6PHeBLO3BPhiTw8CFAGAg311Z-QoEs0fVhAd4DPPUKPTCio5sqsqjh_ag1iqImI_xPD0qF4PSfoYN6DIlFeyPt0ZE_j9v/s1600/Image0463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJq1ql1WoQXJ_Mg-9rILy8IfV_wGx9CBgGIl8VdG5Hvw-fA7d6PHeBLO3BPhiTw8CFAGAg311Z-QoEs0fVhAd4DPPUKPTCio5sqsqjh_ag1iqImI_xPD0qF4PSfoYN6DIlFeyPt0ZE_j9v/s400/Image0463.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the south bank</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">The outdated camera phone I use barely does justice to the incredible orange/pink wash that tinted the landscape for about 20 minutes this evening, but you get the idea.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4q2j3DaPhGqHuAxE9PRiNSAknO53-8O7U-HYGdTrzwYpSlREv45rPOitrZKJNXBByKbkrXpEVxmAQ12w5UihEwgMOr5MUUB7BiaH1ij2cCO4l9CuzqhlVWh-9tqgo_r-M64suXK4_m3c/s1600/Image0464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4q2j3DaPhGqHuAxE9PRiNSAknO53-8O7U-HYGdTrzwYpSlREv45rPOitrZKJNXBByKbkrXpEVxmAQ12w5UihEwgMOr5MUUB7BiaH1ij2cCO4l9CuzqhlVWh-9tqgo_r-M64suXK4_m3c/s400/Image0464.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Barton Haven</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And, because every film needs a soundtrack, but mainly because this was running through my head all the way around ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span>Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440695479793857697.post-17881390874485391762013-08-08T19:06:00.000+01:002013-08-08T19:14:53.693+01:00JAMES VARDA - THE RIVER AND THE STARS<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii2_K-IqNVpai4-2_QrQs5eDWTThoBnHlG7N4_xoIx0YUDicqqcsrCwF8SpMXKu9C8oWBSeeTulNr9reixrK-2LwLjbbjPdnMkcDRh1G8UEsK-mEyMJfDaBh8ovGbiZys1gN3hZmi_0BUC/s1600/James+Varda+i.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii2_K-IqNVpai4-2_QrQs5eDWTThoBnHlG7N4_xoIx0YUDicqqcsrCwF8SpMXKu9C8oWBSeeTulNr9reixrK-2LwLjbbjPdnMkcDRh1G8UEsK-mEyMJfDaBh8ovGbiZys1gN3hZmi_0BUC/s320/James+Varda+i.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">“Sometimes
you say things in songs even if there’s a small chance of them being true. And
sometimes you say things that have nothing to do with the truth of what you
want to say and sometimes you say things that everyone knows to be true.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 8;"> </span>Bob
Dylan - Chronicles<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’ve been haunted by James
Varda’s new album <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River And The Stars</i>
for just over a week now. First time I played it I sat in silence for a long time
afterwards. I wanted to listen to it again, but couldn’t for a day or so. I had
to wait until someone else was around. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">You wouldn’t think that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River and the Stars </i>is Varda’s first
new music in nearly ten years. Or that here was a folk singer, poet, songwriter,
guitar player whose first album – the John Leckie produced <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hunger</i> – was released 25 years ago. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Since the success of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hunger, </i>Varda has essentially avoided the
commercial grind of the music industry. Its belated successor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Valley</i> was released in 2004. But
as he told Time Out’s Ross Fortune at the time, ‘I never stopped writing songs’.
As an advert for quality control, it’s hard to fault.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Inspired largely by the
landscape of Dedham Vale in Suffolk, the songs on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River And The Stars</i> are imbued with a sense of the natural
world. There are cascading images of water – lakes, rivers, rapids and oceans
and at the centre, Varda like a traveller with one eye on the horizon and changes
in the weather. These are songs of summer turning to autumn; of dark nights and
quiet desperation; of an enduring love that shouldn’t be taken for granted,
songs of family, longing for peace and reconciliation with its absence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">The sky is unfolding<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">And still we cling to
things<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">That were never ours to
hold …<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>The Plan Is Unfolding<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Musical comparison with
Nick Drake might seem lazy and obvious, but songs like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Along The River </i>(a distant cousin to 1987’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sunday Before The War</i>) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Path Is Growing Deep</i> share something
of Drake’s timeless beauty. Varda’s acoustic guitar is ever present. Add to
that the rich colours of Laura Jane Davies’ backing vocals, Robin Ashwell’s
viola, Fliss Jones’ harp, piano and accordion, and co-producer Bugs’ drums and
percussion, and here is an album with depth that unlocks its secrets with each repeated
listening. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">As always, Varda’s poetry
is pure and true at the heart of things; but there’s a moment his voice seems
to catch on the album’s closing track, also called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River And The Stars</i>. You sense something deeper; as if somehow this
is a letter to the future, a poem cut off mid-sentence, an unexpected fade out
that leaves a question mark.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">Sometimes, as Bob says,
songs ‘say things everyone knows to be true’. But it’s a rare gift to say them in such a way that they take your breath away. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River And The Stars</i> is a great
album. I can’t recommend it enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: black;">The
River And The Stars is released on Small Things Records and is available from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-River-And-Stars/dp/B00CSOK1YQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375984945&sr=8-1&keywords=james+varda" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><strong>amazon</strong></span></a>
and James Varda’s website. </span><strong><a href="http://www.jamesvarda.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">HERE<o:p></o:p></span></a></strong></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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Nick Triplowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130933616531019668noreply@blogger.com1