The Spoons That Are My Ears!

Sri Pada is 2243 metres high, which makes it almost exactly twice as tall as the highest mountain in Wales. At the top there is a 'sacred footprint' that some say belongs to the Buddha and others say belongs to Shiva. The idea is to climb it at night and witness the sunrise from the summit, at which time a Brocken Spectre effect takes place.

Marco Polo mentioned the mountain; Ibn Battua climbed it in 1344; and the first known ascent by a British climber was in 1815, by Lieutenant William Malcolm of the 1st Ceylon Regiment. It is a very promiment peak, which probably explains the fascination it has had on people throughout the ages.

This photo shows my first view of Sri Pada from the place where I stayed, in Maskeliya, a village near Hatton, where the famous and remarkable climber Eric Shipton was born.  

So much else has happened that I scarcely know where to begin. I sold a novella I wrote last year called Robot Love Story that I am very fond of. I have sold many stories to numerous anthologies, including a tribute story to J.G. Ballard that includes contributions from Michael Moorcock, Iain Sinclair and Will Self. I have sent my recently-completed novel, The Hippy Quixote, to a very highly respected agent, who has agreed to read it. I am forging ahead with the writing of my new novel, Average Assassins. And I am working on a collection of short stories and essays called Poppadum and Circumstance for an Indian publisher.

Also, to celebrate the fact that my novel, Nowhere Near Milk Wood, is now twenty years old, and bearing in mind that it's actually a fixup of three novellas, the individual novellas are being issued separately as ebooks. The Long Chin of the Law has been available for a while; but now Martye to Music and Taller Stories are also available. I also have a new book due out soon, which I will talk about in my next blog post, which should be very soon for a change :-)