This Tuesday, 9th of January, I’ll be sharing a story at City Voices. This is a regular event hosted by Offa’s Press. I’ve read here a few times in the past, although not for a while now, and it’s always a great evening hosted by Simon Fletcher.
Also on the bill will be Parvenu Brigue, Alex Vann, Marion Cockin and Steve Pottinger.
I’ll give a brief chat about Floodgate, Digbeth Stories, and our next collection, Night Time Economy – I’ll even have a few copies with me if any wants one, cash only though. Not sure what I’ll read yet, but whatever it is it’ll be new and unpublished.
City Voices is at The Lych Gate, 44 Queen Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1TX. It’s £5 on the door and all kicks off at 19:30. See you there.
This is a great opportunity for a design or illustration student to have their work on the cover of a new book due to be published this year. The successful submitter will receive a copy of the book and an invite to the book launch in Birmingham. The opportunity has been offered to students at BCU in Birmingham but it is open to anyone in the West Midlands area – people further afield are welcome to submit but they may struggle to get to the launch event.
There’s not much turn around time on this as the deadline is the 20th of February 2023.
If you are interested the full brief can be found here or you can scan the QR code below. Any questions can be posted below.
I don’t tend to post a lot of reviews here, but I’ve made an exception for Lisa Blower’s Pond Weed and here’s why….
I read this very quickly much quicker than Selwyn and Ginny’s journey from Stoke to Wales. This is the third book of Lisa’s that I’ve read, and they continue to grow in richness and depth, much like the contents of one of Selwyn’s pond experiments. If you haven’t read Sitting Ducks or It’s All Gone Dark Over Bill’s Mother’s House, you really should.
Pondweed concerns itself with Ginny and Selwyn an unusual couple who were neighbours in their teens and have met again in their late 60’s and early 70’s with Selwyn being the slightly older and supposedly wiser of the two. Ginny is our unreliable narrator who steers us through the present via the past and who has a larder full of secrets that are gradually revealed along their journey.
Pondweed starts when Selwyn arrives home early from work and instructs Ginny to pack her bags as they’re going on holiday to Wales. Try as she might she cannot get the reason for this impromptu break or their final destination. This book is all about language, the words the characters use and the economy and finesse with which Blower uses them to convey a situation or a character. At one-point Selwyn and Ginny stay in a grim room at a pub called The Swan with Two Necks,
“The room is dissatisfying and small. The door opens onto the double bed with its feeble white duvet, and there’s a window above the bed, with curtains that don’t meet in the middle.”
Brief, concise and crisp – much crisper than the sheets on the bed.
Throughout the book, we are treated to quotes from Selwyn Robby’s The Great Necessity of Ponds. I found these quotes interesting for several reasons. Firstly, I’d just dug, lined and filled a pond in my garden so any tips are greatly received but more importantly it was a glimpse at Selwyn’s inner life and his lifelong passion, and they often reflected what was going on in the book. This quote from the beginning of The Tenth Day chapter could equally relate to Ginny and Selwyn’s journey and relationship,
“Water beetles can fly, and they readily leave the pond, usually at night, to indulge in long flights in search of possibility. During the course, they occasionally mistake the wet road for a stretch of water and come to grief.”
At the beginning, I found myself siding with Ginny dragged away from home with no real explanation, chance encounter after chance encounter leading her to correctly assume there’s a method in Selwyn’s madness, but as their journey progressed it was Selwyn I started to side with as Ginny projected her distrust upon Selwyn’s actions.
There’s lots to love in this book. The two main characters are expertly realised with depth and humour as is Ginny’s mother, Meg and the mysterious Bluebird as well as the caravan with its optics and fish in the glass pedestal of a washbasin which, with its shedding of letters and weird plumping is almost another character in its own right. The convoluted car journey mirrors Ginny and Selwyn’s romance, of sorts, and is realised with craft and precision. I loved losing myself in this book with its attention to character and place, real characters and real places, and I’m sure you will do too.
I received my copy of Songs For The Elephant Man the other day and its a beauty. This great collection of short stories is yours for mere pounds – £8.99 for eighteen stories!
You can order this from any good bookshop or buy it direct from the publisher’s website by clicking here.
You have two chances to hear me read from my latest book, Submerged, next week.
First up is City Voices in Wolverhampton. It all starts at 7:30 at The Lighthouse a few minutes walk from the train and bus stations. City Voices is one of the Midlands’ finest spoken word evenings and never fails to delight with its range and quality of work on offer. I will be selling books.
Secondly, will be the official Birmingham launch of Submerged, and it’s going to be a corker, but don’t just take my word for it check out the line-up here.
The keen eyed of you have noticed that Submerged is now out. That means you can go down to your local bookshop, check out the Mantle Lane online store, or search your favourite online retailer and get yourselves a copy.
Those of you who are more outgoing can meet me and some bloody excellent writers for an evening of stories and booze when we launch Submerged on May 15th at The Birmingham Whisky Club.
We’d all love to see you there.
The flyer says it all, but I can’t stress enough how great the other writers are and how wonderful an evening it promises to be. If you like fiction you’re in for a real treat.
The Birmingham Whiskey Club, 76 Vyse St, Birmingham B18 6HA.
Train
There are easy train and tram links to the Jewellery Quarter station from which we are a few minutes walking distance away.
Walk
You can also walk from the city centre, which will take you approximately 20-30 minutes.
By bus
The following buses stop in the Jewellery Quarter: 16, 60, 87, 8c, 276 & 9.
Car
There is on street pay & display parking available
which is free from 6pm. Or the Jewellery Quarter parking garage is a
short distance from us if that is your preference.
Another quick one – I just don’t have the time at the moment. This is a view of the south end of Coniston in the Lake District. It’s all fibre tipped pen and is actually black on white paper. The image is a sepia brown due to me taking the pic on my phone for speed.
I did do a little tinkering in Affinity Photo to add the sepia splashes of cloud.
I’m hoping to get a bit of time at the weekend to do some longer drawing and some writing. That will hopefully be on Sunday once I’ve got my reading at Birmingham Literature Festival out of the way and finished working with my young writers group on the Saturday. I’ve set Saturday evening aside for watching crap with the family and drinking beer.
If you’re in Birmingham this Saturday morning (October 6th) come along to Birmingham REP, the Mezzanine, and hear some great stories from a bunch of wonderful writers. Hell, you could even buy some books.
I’ll be reading a short story, along with a host of excellent writers, and selling some books as part of the Room 204 meet up. It kicks off at 10:00 am this Saturday, October the 6th, at the Mezzanine, Birmingham REP.
Click here for booking details – entry includes coffee and a pastry!
Last Saturday, we launched Night Swimming, at the ‘book festival in a day,’ States of Independence. When I say we, I mean Matthew Pegg – a marvellous and industrious human being – introduced it, and I read a brief extract from one of the stories.
Matthew did a top rate job taking about Mantle Lane Press and the three collections that are out now, including, Night Swimming. My reading went really well; there was a great reaction from those there and a posting of purchases on Twitter soon after.
Night Swimming is:
“A collection of dark, urban tales: the pros and cons of stealing a pensioner, a mothers prison visit, incipient love and roller skating, the guilt of a brothers death, and a past love burnt out by rioting. Stories that deal with loss, longing and hope.
Garrie Fletcher writes about the gaps between lives, the pauses between stations and the static hiss of the city. The moments he captures are fleeting and easily missed, but resonate like a steel string plucked above a pickup, distorted and electric.
Mantle Lane Press small books can be slipped into a pocket and make an ideal stocking filler for literature lovers. ”
To get your hands on a copy of this beautiful book just click here. You can also order it from your local bookshop, or if you’re local, to me, get in touch, and I can get a signed copy to you.