The Spoons That Are My Ears!

The belated booklaunch of The Postmodern Mariner is due to take place on December 11th, this coming Saturday! Although the book was published in 2008, circumstances have conspired to make this one of the most postponed launches in booklaunching history!

From the beginning I knew I wanted more than just a booklaunch. So with the aid of steampunk druid, Gwilym Games, I drew up a brief schedule of events to follow the launch. The launch will last only for the first hour and in that time I'll do some readings, talk about my work in general and The Postmodern Mariner in particular, answer any questions that anyone has, and probably also answer some that no one has. That's part one.

The second hour will be devoted to the work of Arthur Machen, still the finest prose author Wales has ever produced, and this part will include the Welsh première of a short film inspired by Machen's 'The White People'. Machen has a loyal cult following but he deserves to be more widely known.

The third and final part will be concerned with authentic Welsh fortean phenomena: sea serpents, ghosts, bipedal talking horses, will o' the wisps, were-leeks, etc.

The event is free (of course) and should be an edifying experience! The venue is the Discovery Room on the first floor of Swansea Central Library and the event will begin at 12:00 noon and last until 3:30 PM. The official name of the event is WEIRD WALES.

So now. What else has been happening? After a short break from writing to recharge my batteries, I have resumed the writing of a novella I began maybe seven or eight years ago, 'Bone Idle in the Charnel House', and I'm enjoying this task very much...

Also, I've just had a half-page story published in an anthology of microfiction called Exposure. It's a nice-looking anthology issued by Cinnamon Press. But why do I always have difficulties spelling the word 'cimmanon'? Other spices don't give me any comparable sort of typographical trouble. True, I'm always unsure of whether to write 'chilli', 'chili' or 'chillie' but I'm currently unaware of a Chilli Press. If such an outfit existed, no doubt they would specialise in works by Chilean writers?