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March Monthly Staff Picks
Posted Tuesday March 16th 2010
by Nikesh ShuklaThis month Booktrust staff recommend everything from Welsh coming-of-age tales to short stories by Flaubert.
Angharad: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The book is made up of six separate but interwoven narratives that span four centuries. The first is the journal of Adam Ewing, a notary in the distant nineteenth century, who is adrift in the Pacific and surveying the impact of colonialism. The second is a series of letters by a young, caddish composer in the 1930s, from where we jump to 1960s America and the mystery of Luisa Rey. Next, we find ourselves in the 22nd century where ‘fabricants’ serve food and strive to become ‘sentient’ human beings. Zachry’s tale of a post-apocalyptic world is a fascinating glimpse of a world where brand names replace nouns and storytelling has survived science.
A wonderfully written book, it is easy to get absorbed into the lives of the different characters and it’s fascinating the way Mitchell artfully links the different narratives in a myriad of subtle ways.
Roland: The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt
An interesting book that throws together the tensions provoked within a family on the death of a father… -
Dodgem Logic... a new 'zine from Alan Moore
Posted Monday March 15th 2010
by Nikesh ShuklaFans of Alan Moore and the city of Northampton will be pleased to know that he has a new ‘zine out called Dodgem Logic. Alan Moore is, as I’m sure you’re only too aware, the mind between genius works like V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Batman story The Killing Joke (that influenced the film The Dark Knight), and a little heard-of project about superheroes in Cold War paranoia called The Watchmen.
Dodgem Logic is a scatological ‘zine in Moore’s preferred style of surreal mysticism, coupled with humour and scathing political allegory. It also celebrates his love for his hometown of Northampton. The first issue comes with a CD featuring choice Northampton bands. The pages are filled with music reviews, fashion tips, recipes, health advice, gardening (of the guerrilla variety) all with a subversive edge.
Moore’s status as magus of the British writing community/chief avenger of the comic book genre means he commands a high status of input from writers and comics. Issue one has an impassioned celebration of Twitter and its connectivity from sitcom guru Graham Linehan, a beautiful and slightly sombre (but still funny) comic strip about love from the immensely talented Josie Long…
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'Constellation' - an exclusive poem by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Posted Friday March 12th 2010
by Nii Ayikwei ParkesI leave you with this, a poem I have been playing with on and off for the last year and a bit, which I hope I’ve finally nailed; something that speaks of perseverance and high aspirations, both needed for those that dream of writing. It’s called ‘Constellation’ and I hope its small voice remains with you after the fire of my blogging has long burned out. Peace, love and mangoes from Accra.
Constellation
In his father’s house they dance on sand,
they turn their noses up at concrete
and when asked why they will speak
of the star-flecked night before he left:His father has thrown him a party
and he is dancing with the colourful
abandon and sweat of transition. His
uncle – the peacekeeper who returned
from a tour of duty with a sturdy stick
where his left leg, his footballing leg,had been – taps him on the shoulder
and tells him to go out into the world
with the kind of fire and fearless light only
a child knows, to never give up, to reach
for the stars. Then the uncle performs
his party trick, whirling on the leghe still has – his fugu…
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Week 3: Time and Space
Posted Friday March 5th 2010
by Nikesh ShuklaThis week has been a strange week in this new world of getting the book whipped into shape. It’s been taken away from me now by the editors at my publishing house to run through with an array of coloured pens. So I’ve had nothing to do on the book. From mania to space in the space of a week. Suddenly with all these evenings free, I’ve been trying to remember how to fill my time, what I did to fill my time pre-book.
So I’ve been walking, watching films, listening to music, reading and enjoying the current arc of The Amazing Spider-man comic. These simple pleasures are refreshing me and inspiring me to no end. I feel ready for the next round of edits to do.
I haven’t been just sitting around and not writing though. I’ve been working on a few short stories, one about a punch-up at a wedding and one about looking for lost fingers. I’ve been attending some brain-food events like wordPLAY, Book Club Boutique and London Word Festival’s launch. I’m gearing up for a short story night in Farringdon at the Free Word Centre, where I’ll be reading alongside Nirpal Dhaliwal, Stuart Evers, Nimer…
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Week 2: The Fortress of Solitude
Posted Thursday February 25th 2010
by Nikesh ShuklaIt’s been a trying week of re-reading the same manuscript I’ve been tinkering with and editing for months with a view to making it better still. Most writers always say that at this stage, they’ve stopped reading anything else altogether. I haven’t stopped reading other fiction though and among the books I need to review for Booktrust, I’m rereading favourite passages from The Rotters Club, from Sag Harbor, and from Londonstani, all having acted as inspiration for the book. I’m deconstructing the passages now, though, working out what makes them good and what I can learn from them. I’ve made an editing playlist featuring some Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart and Spiritualized interspersed with the songs mentioned in my book, for it is about music. But I’m still not being hugely effective.
So I escape for a few days to Bristol, on the pretence of visiting my in-laws. I have designs on camping out on their dining table and working away. The change of scenery does me good and plays a neat little mind trick on my subconscious. A new writing space, away from the one I sat in for hours writing my book, gives me the freedom to be less…
