The Spoons That Are My Ears!

* 'Special Treatment' - the first (lengthy) chapter of a new novel that will be a weird Western called THE BOOMERANG GANG.

I also wrote more pieces for various story cycles I am engaged on, including CITY LIFE, which is almost finished, and I began a new fantasy series set in Wales called MY BEASTLY UNCLE. I finished my huge (100,000 words) DABBLER IN DRABBLES project in four volumes. There will be an omnibus edition next year but I have vowed never to write another drabble. This project took up too much of my time and the end result was too small a reward for the effort involved.

I wrote a lot of poems, but I do feel I am rapidly moving out of the poetry phase I have been in for the past five years. My poems are only absurdist ditties anyway. If it wasn't for Borderless Journal regularly publishing them I might have given up already. I note that I have written 2174 poems in total, of which 161 were written when I was younger. I think this is almost enough for anyone.

I wrote only one article and no plays at all. For some reason I lost interest in writing non-fiction. I love writing plays but they are never produced and only rarely published, so my motivation has been lacking somewhat.

Conclusion: a much leaner writing year than last year, but that's hardly a surprise. Last year was excessive. 

GROWL AT THE MOON (Telos Publishing) was my only trad published book this year. I am very happy with the way it has turned out. All my other books were self published, but one of them, IN THIS POEM, I think is my best poetry collection so far, for whatever that is worth.

My novella, MY RABBIT'S SHADOW LOOKS LIKE A HAND, was translated into German and published as Der Schatten meines Hasen sieht aus wie eine Hand.

Among anthology appearances, I think that my 'Thirteen Castles South' in INFERNAL MYSTERIES (Egaeus Press) and 'What Actually Happened' in MEDUSA (Flame Tree Publishing) were the two standouts.

As for sales: when it comes to my work trad published in anthologies, I have no idea what the numbers are, but when it comes to my self published books and ebooks, this year was my most profitable so far. I sold 3340 books. My ambition is to sell ten of my books every day. I haven't achieved that, but am inching closer. These figures are still miniscule when compared with big writers out there. 

I began the year in India. I returned to the UK and spent time in Bristol, Birmingham, Exeter, Swansea, Ystalyfera, Aberystwyth and Pontrhyfendegaid. I hiked the whole of the Gower coast and did other hikes in mid Wales. I was a guest of honour at the Podgorica Book Fair in Montenegro and I have been invited back for next year.

The best novel I read in 2024 was undoubtedly PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov. I had been meaning to read it for decades. Astounding in every way. Getting back into Nabokov last year is the best reading choice I have made for a long time.

The second best novel was THE MAGUS by John Fowles, which despite some passges that dragged, turned out to be a masterpiece.

I was also happy to finally engage with Malcolm Lowry. ULTRAMARINE made me an instant fan. Now I will seek out his other work. A SEASON IN SINJI by J.L. Carr is the best novel by this writer that I have read so far. AUGUSTUS by John Williams was good, as are all four of his novels (but ultimately STONER is the only essential one). OMENSETTER'S LUCK by William H. Gass has some of the most incredible dialogue exchanges I have encountered in fiction. Not an easy read as a novel, though. LIFE IS ELSEWHERE by Milan Kundera might be the best novel I have read by him. My enthusiasm for him has somewhat waned over the years and I wish I had read this one before the others. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole. Brilliant but creaky in parts. I can almost understand why his editors kept pushing for revisions, but they should have published the novel anyway, knowing that he would probably go on to write even better things, and it's a shame he never got the chance to do so.

As for short story collections: LOST IN THE FUNHOUSE by John Barth is sheer genius. However, I can understand why many people wouldn't like it. The stories tend to be writing about writing. But they are immensely clever. THE SECRET OF THIS BOOK by Brian Aldiss is a late collection but one of his best. Lots of the stories don't work well but those that do are tremendous and the volume is satisfying as a unit despite the weaker material.

As for non-fiction, only one book really stood out for me this year. THE PREMONITIONS BUREAU by Sam Knight. A good reading year, all in all.