Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Pleased to announce publication of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness:the Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester on Amazon's Kindle today.  Very much a labour of love this one.  It can be found at http://www.amazon.com/dp/BOO651QML2

Ace Warriors and a Very Old Joke

In last week’s exciting episode of “The History of Ancient Britain” (The Roman Invasion AD 43 to AD 410)Neil Oliver informed us that the name of the ancient British tribe  the Catevellauni means “Expert Warriors”.  Oh tosh! What a lousy translation.  I live in the Catevellauni territories – their tribal capital was about six miles to the north just the other side of St Albans – and I can tell you straight we would never have called ourselves “Expert Warriors”.  Not a chance.  We would have referred to ourselves as “Ace Warriors.” Get that Neil Oliver? Ace!

The leader who took on the Romans and regrettably lost was known as Cassiovellaunus which apparently translates as ‘Head of the Expert Warriors’ but he was clearly known to his mates as Cassio because it is in that familiar diminutive form that he is commemorated around Watford in local place-names such as Cassiobury, Cassiobridge etc. 

Quite why he is remembered so fondly in Watford is not at all clear but he may be the king who gave the town its name.  Legend has it that a king was riding casually one day through the ford at the bottom of the high street when he turned to his companions and said memorably “What ford is this?”  Thereafter the town became known as Watford but without the question mark.

The fact that nobody can remember which king or the name of his companion has led some historians to doubt the accuracy of this story, some going so far as to claim it is entirely apocryphal.  They insist that the name was coined by some peasant called Wat who lived on the banks of the river, possibly conning passing traffic out of a small fee by allowing them to cross the ford, thus giving the town the name Wat’s ford.  If that were so it would be called Watsford and since there is no more evidence for the plebeian Wat than there is for the geographically-challenged king I go with the king. 

If it were not Cassio, who was after all a local Hertfordshire man so should have known where he was at, then I nominate Ethelred the Unready whose soubriquet please note does not mean unready but is Anglo-Saxon for ‘ill-advised’.  I’d say that someone who rides into the middle of a river and then asks where he is would be most definitely ill-advised.

Anyway, after the king cracked this memorable joke it seems that for ages afterwards countless travellers felt it incumbent upon themselves to repeat it ad nauseum until the locals ceased to be amused, then ceased to show polite amusement, then got really narked and built a bridge. End of.

If you would like to know more about Watford's local history try The Ghostrider available in kindle and paperback editions.

If you would like to know more about Celtic Warriors try The Wonderful History of The Sword in the Stone also available in kindle and paperback editions.

Strictly Come Dancing - The Early Years

Strictly Come Dancing has cornered the market in celebrity glitz and glamour with its combination of stardom and ballroom dancing.  But it was not always thus. 

I well mind the time when the height of ambition for a ballroom dancer was to be picked to represent Home Counties North as a member of the formation dancing team.  In those days gas fitters and spot welders sewed their sequins on themselves and that was just the girls.  Nevertheless back in the 1960s being able to dance ‘properly’ was still regarded as a useful social skill. 

My friend’s mother, appalled by our weekly habit of dancing round our handbags at the Top Rank and fired by the romantic vision of us being swept off our feet by a nice middle class boy in a smart tuxedo, arranged for us to attend weekly ballroom dancing classes instead which were held in a room over The Tudor Inn which is neither Tudor nor an Inn but that is neither here nor there. 

The lady who ran the dancing school was tiny.  I mean tiny.  The top of her head barely reached my shoulder and I am only five foot tall.  Bearing in mind she was never to be seen without six inch stiletto heels I reckon she must have been about four foot five in her stockinged feet.  There was a professional dancer, male, who retained extraordinary rigidity no matter what the dance rhythm.  Definitely no hip action there.  He was polite but distant. Possibly he was more afraid of me than I was of him but I never thought of that at the time. In fairness he did wear his own suit.

 There were two other young people in the school, both of whom were long-standing dance partners and keen to enter competitions.  They knew all the steps to all the dances and all the fancy stuff so they gave us a wide berth and just danced with each other.  I don’t think we ever spoke. The other members of the class were all very elderly gentlemen who to our teenage eyes – admittedly poor when it comes to the judgement of actual age – were about ninety. They were definitely all pensioners.

One chap really was ninety.  He sat in the corner all evening until it came to the Last Waltz  (which was always danced appropriately to “The Last Waltz”) when he used to rise with difficulty and gallantly ask me to dance.  Unfortunately he could only manage one turn around the floor after which he had to retire exhausted leaving me to stand abandoned in the middle swaying pathetically in time to the music until I could shimmy discreetly to the door.  I have never danced all through “The Last Waltz”.  Such is the gap between the romantic dream and real life. 

I’m sorry to say we didn’t last the course.  We never realized my friend’s mother’s dream by meeting a well-mannered young man in possession of his own suit.  Within a few weeks we were back at the Top Rank dancing round our handbags. Ah well.

Downton Abbey

Last night I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey having noted criticism in The Mail that it was going downhill.  I have to agree that despite prodigious efforts to introduce emotion and high drama, the hero seriously wounded, one of the characters dying, a deathbed marriage etc. I did find myself singularly lacking in feeling.  I remained obstinately dry-eyed throughout. Downton Abbey is a very handsome drama with an excellent cast so where is it going wrong?  I put my finger on the size of the cast.  There are simply too many characters.  The writer has also clearly taken on board the lesson repeatedly given in screenwriting classes that in film drama scenes should be kept short.  Unfortunately in this case they are too short.  The narrative flits about all over the place so that in no scene are the actors given enough time to build their characters.  They are expected to create a character out of  sometimes a single line.  The fashion in TV drama for the short scene has reached epidemic proportions.  I often remark that in CSI Miami I think David Caruso must be paid by the word his character has become so laconic.  He certainly doesn't have to work very hard as he rarely has to memorise more than a line. The result is very shallow characterisation. In drama the audience learns about the character through the things they say.  It is true that in film speech is less important than in theatre - you can show something of the character's mood and responses in close-up - but they still need to say something. Downton Abbey needs to concentrate on just one or two of the main characters and allow the actors a bit more space to develop them instead of taking the scatter-gun approach which paradoxically makes the story neither more interesting nor dramatic.  Normally, being a writer, I like to lay the blame on everybody else when a drama goes wrong but in this case I'm afraid I think the writing is to blame unless of course its the editing in which case I apologise. 

Hogarth and his World

The Foundling Hospital, London

The Foundling Hospital was established by Royal Charter in 1739 after a tireless campaign throughout the 1720s and 1730s by Thomas Coram, who made his fortune as a shipbuilder in the American colonies.  G. M. Trevelyan describes the period as “an age of aristocracy and liberty; of the rule of law and the absence of reform; of Latitudinarianism above and Wesleyanism below; of the growth of humanitarian and philanthropic feeling and endeavour; of creative vigour in all the trades and arts that serve and adorn the life of man.”  The Foundling Hospital represents that trend towards public philanthropy which sought to reconcile personal wealth with public virtue.  It also represented a new moral attitude that insisted that children were born innocent and should not be punished for the sins of their parents. In this respect John Locke’s ‘Some thoughts concerning Education’ (1693) was highly influential.  He argued that a person’s moral character is formed during childhood and that children could be moulded through education to develop into virtuous adults.

Thomas Coram was a social outsider but he had strong connections with the establishment, notably with the Prime Minister Robert Walpole and his brother Horatio.  With their help he persuaded George II to grant the Royal Charter and building began in 1742 on Lamb’s Conduit Fields which site was bought from the Earl of Salisbury.  

 The Building was designed by Theodore Jacobsen, an amateur architect of German descent who was a steel merchant by profession.  He was also a Hospital Governor so he offered his services free of charge.  His assistant was John Sanderson and the Surveyor was James Horne who was replaced in 1751 by Henry Keene.  The design reflects a strong Palladian architectural influence but ornamentation is kept deliberately plain as the charity did not wish to be accused of extravagance, but this is also in keeping with the English Protestant style of baroque architecture which keeps the Palladian proportions but eschews extravagant rococo decoration.

 A temporary building was acquired in Hatton Garden during the building of the main Hospital and this opened its doors to children in 1741.  The West wing for boys was completed in 1745 and the East wing for girls in 1752.  The Hospital’s Chapel built between 1747 and 1752 was formally opened in 1753.  Located between the two wings, its completion was partially financed by concerts given by Georg Frederic Handel who was also elected a governor.

A most notable feature of the Hospital which was a private charity is the part played by the artists of the day in financing it.  This reflected a sea-change in the status of artists and musicians who had up until this date been dependent on aristocratic and royal patronage subsisting on meagre pensions and treated as servants by their great masters.  The rise of the prosperous merchant class and a good grasp of commercial techniques allowed artists like Handel and Hogarth to make considerable fortunes without the need for aristocratic patrons.  Handel had begun as a court composer but tiring of his subservient position switched from opera to oratorio which was presented in the form of a subscription concert.  In this way he achieved financial independence.  Hogarth similarly made his money independently through the sale of engravings and prints which enabled him to maintain his position as a satirical observer of the evils and hypocrisy of his time. 

 The Foundling Hospital benefited from the donation of the works of many of the finest artists of the day and by making its collection available to the public it became in effect the nation’s first public art gallery.

 Inside the Hospital building are several fine original 18^th century interiors.  In one there is an exhibition of foundling tokens, small items, sometimes just a button, given by mothers on leaving their babies in the hope that they would one day be able to return to claim them and by these tokens be able to identify them.  Few of them returned and the Hospital retained them.

 The Committee Room, which is where mothers were interviewed before leaving their children, contains a fine painting by Hogarth, The March of the Guards to Finchley of 1750

The Picture Gallery is also an original 18^th century interior.  In the Court Room, where the Court of Governors used to meet, there is more display as this room was designed to impress future governors and donors.  The ceiling is a plaster work by William Wilton.  The paintings on display include Hogarth’s Moses before Pharoah’s daughter and Gainsborough’s picture of London Charter House.

William Hogarth is featured as a character in The Devil and the Bag of Nails by Carol Richards now exclusively available on Kindle from www.amazon.com

Hero or Villain?

Following on from my review of Stendhal's The Red and the Black I should say that I sympathize with Stendhal in that I had a similar problem with The Lady in Grey in that the hero, French novelist Guy de Maupassant is in some ways not a very likeable character and he in turn had a similar problem with his hero Bel-Ami.  We all know that a hero has to have a few flaws to come across as human and real - even Superman has to be vulnerable to kryptonite to make the plots more interesting - but too many flaws can make the hero unapproachable.  Maupassant himself was described by his contemporaries as rather cold and distant - his eyes, they say, drank everything in and gave nothing out.  His motto appropriately was 'Cache ta vie' - Hide your life.  He could clearly be very charming when he wanted to be but he had that writer's tendency to play the part of the observer looking at his world from the outside, a trait exacerbated by his training and the influence of the school of Zola which attempted to try to turn the novelist into a social scientist.  It was what made him a very good reporter. 

I am myself trained as a social scientist but there is a difference - one of which Zola was very well aware.  As a social scientist I expect my audience to be as objective as I am whereas as a novelist I wish to engage their hearts and minds.  Stendhal I imagine was attempting something of the sort in trying to write a very cynical and objective report of his own time but in making his hero so cold and distant he disengages the audience and loses their sympathy.  It is hard to decide if Sorel is a hero or a villain.  What makes the difference?  In the case of The Lady in Grey I think the answer lies in the characters around the hero.  They are warm and attractive.  You can get close to them if not to Maupassant himself who remains as enigmatic on the page as he seems to have been in life.  In engaging sympathetically with them I hope the reader finds the characters come off the page.  Did I succeed in making Maupassant a hero rather than a villain?  He comes perilously close to being the latter.  You will have to judge for yourselves.  He was a fascinating character. The Lady in Grey is now available in paperback and in a Kindle Edition.  Not an easy read perhaps but I trust my readers will find it a rewarding one. 

The Red and The Black by Stendhal

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14662.The_Red_and_the_Black" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Red and the Black" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311645389m/14662.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14662.The_Red_and_the_Black">The Red and the Black</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1481537.Stendhal">Stendhal</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/187199149">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Struggled to read this.  I found I failed to empathize with any of the characters.  The hero and heroines are so shallow - and I realize this is the point of the book - that it was hard to care what happened to them so in that respect Stendhal shoots himself in the foot.  It needed at least one sympathetic character to make you care.  As it was the final scene in which the hero gets his comepuppance failed to move me at all.  By that time frankly I couldn't care less.
<br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5830548-carol-richards">View all my reviews</a>

St Bride's Mystery

In 'The Wonderful History of the Sword in the Stone' (see previous blogs for details) I float the theory that in the Roman and post-Roman periods a temple complex ran along the north bank of the Thames in London from the Tower in the East to Westminster Abbey in the West.  We know there was a temple or shrine to Balan aka Bran, the Raven, at the Tower of London.  Archaeological remains have been found under the White Tower. 

Next came the shrine of his brother Balin, no remains alas but the name is preserved in Billingsgate (Balin's Gate).  The principal shrine on the highest point in the City of London was the site of the temple to Lud, the Sun God and Don, the mother goddess which gives the city its name (Lu'n Don in both Celtic and Cockney).  This site is now occupied by St Paul's Cathedral.  To the west the shrine of Merlin was on the Isle of Thorns or Thorney Island, then completely surrounded by water, which is where Westminster Abbey stands now.  However this configuration left me with a big gap even allowing for the river channel where one would expect one. 

I had nothing to fill in the space between Ludgate Circus at the bottom of Ludgate Hill which leads up to St Paul's and Covent Garden (Tyburn which in Celtic means house on the edge of a stream so this is probably where the river channel started) although we know that throughout the Middle Ages this area was filled with religious houses but recently I was doing some research for quite other reasons into the history of St Bride's Church in Fleet Street which revealed an intriguing mystery.

St Bride's church in flames in 1941 with only the steeple left standing

St Bride's was heavily bombed during the Blitz in 1941 and the church destroyed except for its distinctive tiered 'wedding-cake' spire.  The church was subsequently rebuilt but I was interested to learn that prior to its rebuilding archaeologists excavated the site and discovered beneath the foundations a 'mysterious building' dating to the second century AD. The archaeological team could not decide what this mysterious building was but I think it may have been the next temple in line dedicated to Brigid/Aranrhod, the daughter of Don and sister of Lud and be a missing link in this long run of Romano-Celtic temples. 

The church website currently concludes that the dedication to St Bride's (or St Brigid) refers to St Brigid of Kildare.  She was a real person, an Irish princess who became an influential leader in the Celtic Church, but she did not live until the 5th century so the second century building cannot have been dedicated to her.  In many stories about her she is confused with the earlier Celtic goddess Brigid and it seems likely that - given the traditional association of the site with a Brigid - that the second century shrine was dedicated to her predecessor. 

I don't know what became of the archaeological information collected by the dig but I would love to hear from anyone who knows where it is and whether there is any more evidence to back up my theory.

Lud's Church

This week Claire Balding on BBC's Radio4 is presenting a programme describing a ramble through Lud's Church.  The name instantly caught my eye.  Although I once lived in that neck of the woods I confess I had never heard of it before.  It's a narrow fissure in the rocks of the Peak District where the cliffs reach at one point a height of 150 feet.  Hardly the Grand Canyon but an unusual natural feature in the British landscape and apparently quite impressive when you are inside.

But what about the name?  To correct two errors I found on the internet although it is in the Peak District Lud's Church is not in Derbyshire but in North Staffordshire and the name has nothing to do with Luddites.  The Luddites were 19th century machine-breakers.  There is no historical evidence to suggest they were engaged in secret worship.  The official tourist website suggests that the name derives from its use by 15th century Lollards but I think the name is much older than that. 

There is also a tradition that it is the original of the 'Green Chapel' described in the fourteenth century story 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight' which, if true, suggests that the religious history of the site pre-dates both the Luddites and the Lollards.  As the translator of 'The Wonderful History of the Sword in the Stone' (to see details view earlier blogs) the 5th century book that lies at the heart of Malory's Morte Darthur I was immediately attracted by this link with Arthurian romance. 

Sir Gawaine is a character in the 5th century book.  He is one of the sons of Lud. Who was Lud?  He was the Celtic God of the Sun whose cult seems to have dominated Druidism in Roman and post-Roman Britain.  According to the writer of The Sword in the Stone his cult came to Britain at around the same time as Christianity circa 40 AD just before the Roman invasion.  His cult seems to have originated around the city of Arras in Northern France then spread as far south as Lyons and northwards and weswards to Normandy, Brittany and the British Isles.  His name is recorded in many British place names in its various forms Lud, Lludd, Lydd (which is how you pronounce Lludd, Nudd, Nidd and Nodens (Brythonic Celtic incorporates the same mutation as modern Welsh whereby you change the initial letter of certain words if preceeded by 'the'.  In England at any rate this seems to have involved switching L for N).  In The Sword in the Stone King Evelake (Welsh - Afallach or Mistletoe) comes to Britain with Joseph of Arimathea bringing their respective gospels.  These theologies had so much in common that by the mid-5th century the two churches were able to merge which is what 'The Quest for the Holy Grail' is all about.  In that story King Mistletoe literally passes away and hands over to the Celtic Church.  Lud's Church is an important site in helping us to piece together this vital period of intellectual development in Britain's post-Roman history.  I must visit it soon.

Not Jane Again!

The latest literary news in the UK is that much respected crime author P.D. James is planning to write a murder mystery based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Regular readers of this column will know that I am not a great fan of Jane Austen and that I can't stand the works, collected or otherwise, of the Bronte sisters and deplore their domination of women's literature.  Frankly the only reason they have such a dominant position is because for years they were deemed the only female novelists suitable to be read by delicately nurtured females who could have no greater ambition than to make a mercenary marriage.  Both featured on the curriculum at my girls' grammar where the headmistress, even in the 1960s fondly liked to imagine we were 'gels'. (We weren't!)  More politically minded and rather better novelists like Maria Edgeworth, Elizabeth Gaskell and Mary-Anne Evans (George Eliot) did not get a look in.  Oddly this restrictive approach to literature did not apply to male writers.  I studied John Osborne's 'Luther' at A-level which influenced me far more than Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte.  I have always liked writers with ideas. 

Even more irritating is the effect on the film industry.  How many versions of Jane Eyre do we need?  The latest remake is now on general release.  If a film isn't based on an actual Jane Austen novel it seems it is either Jane Eyre or it's a modern re-telling of a Jane Austen novel (Bridget Jones Diary, Clueless etc).  Enough surely!  The most exciting event in Persuasion is when someone catches a cold.  Puh-lease!  If I pitched that story to a TV executive I would be out on my ear faster than I could say 'Jane!'  Every pointless remake is a brand new original film that doesn't get made.  Please, everybody, give it a rest. 

I am full of admiration for these women in getting their work published - difficult enough at the best of times - and more than a little annoyed at publishers who still think this is the standard of literature required for 'women' (why do women need a separate category anyway like children?) - I just wish the books were more ambitious.  To Jane and Charlotte, Anne and Emily may I just say Maria, Mary-Anne and Elizabeth all did it.  Wrote proper grown-up books I mean.  Why didn't you at least give it a try?

By the way I have nothing against Janes in general.  My father never called me anything else.

Costume Drama - getting it right.

In London Fashion Week I have been watching two television dramas where fashion is all important - a re-run of the BBC's "The House of Elliot" about a 1920s London fashion house and the current series of "Downton Abbey".  The hats alone are worth the price of admission.  I have a personal weakness for 1920s cloche hats and "The House of Elliot" is stuffed with superb examples. Attention to detail in the costume department is apparent in both series.  Sadly the characters are thinly drawn and the drama weak to insipid and so slow.  The clothes are fabulous but just as the best actors can fail to shine without a good script the same can be said for costumes.  

Then there is the authenticity of the dialogue which must match the costumes if a historical drama is to have any credibility.  Now as a writer of historical fiction I am aware that this is a tricky area.  Do you stick faithfully to the language of the period and run the risk that the audience will not understand a word of it or chance the occasional anachronism in the interests of clarity? 

I am inclined to go with the latter provided it does not stick out like a sore thumb.  For one thing perceived anachronisms often turn out on close inspection not to be anachronistic at all. In Jane Austen dramas for instance adaptors faithfully follow the books making the characters speak in perfectly grammatical complete sentences but Jane Austen is following a literary convention.  No-one actually spoke like that.  If you check out late 18th and early 19th century afterpieces, short playscripts which record the language as it was spoken, all classes uses the same contracts - can't, won't, didn't etc - as we do. 

I have two historical films currently in progress. "The Lady in Grey" based on the life of French writer Guy de Maupassant is set in 19th century France but fortunately the characters all speak English so the problem of precise idiom is neatly side-stepped.  The second period piece "Master Merryman" is set in 1497 when English was drifting somewhere between Chaucer and Shakespeare and  yet to be fully formed.  The language would be so unfamiliar to a modern audience they would miss all the jokes so both the original Medwall play which lies at the heart of the story and the swashbuckling adventure around it will be in modern English so the comedy will work for modern film-goers.  If it doesn't - well there's always the costumes which will be gorgeous.  And the hats! Oh the hats!

The Lady in Grey and Master Merryman are both available as novels either in Kindle or paperback editions.

Assange autobiography

Julian Assange doesn't want his autobiography published (which is apparently not an autobiography at all but a biography compiled from interviews by a ghostwriter, the morality of which we might also consider while we're at it).  His argument is that the ghostwriter has no right to publish this material without his consent.  The irony that the person objecting is only noteworthy as the head of Wikileaks which exists to publish material without consent will not have escaped the general public but that aside what is the copyright position?

The Duke of Wellington famously responded to the insistence of a former mistress that she could publish her memoirs detailing their scandalous affair with a curt "Publish and be damned" which was consistent with his other famous riposte on the subject "I do not like what you say Sir but I will defend to the death your right to say it."  On the whole I think the Duke had the right idea.  If every individual can exist that effectively his or her life is copyright then no newspaper, no writer, no blogger come to that would be able to reproduce that individual's words or actions without being liable to the allegation of breach of copyright even if, as in the Assange case, the material has been provided freely and willingly.  This would be on top of the already existing laws of libel and defamation which surely should be sufficient protection.  Lord knows where this would leave us with phone-hacking!

Best to stick to the line the writer can say what they like without consent and you have the right equally to defend yourself in print on the same basis then leave it to the court of public opinion.  If people like  you they won't believe the libel and if they really like you they won't take any notice of it if they do.  But as to deceiving the public by selling a book you claim to have written when it has actually been written by somebody else - now that really shouldn't be allowed.

Kindle Bestsellers

The Serpent's Cove and The Wonderful History of The Sword in the Stone have made it onto the Amazon Kindle bestsellers list. My foray into direct publishing seems to be paying off.  Hooray!

New improved photo of The Serpent's Cove

Blogger have updated their system with new improved photo system so I am trying it out.

Latest news: The Serpent's Cove entered the Kindle Bestseller List and doing quite nicely.  This was my very first novel which I wrote principally to see if I could write a novel.  I had written a couple of plays for the BBC and decided to try this new form.  It's a light regency romance - I decided trying to write The Great Novel would entail twenty years of writing Chapter One and getting no further - and I wrote it in three weeks and had it accepted for publication within six.  I had no idea at the time how lucky I was in achieving such a quick success.  Nothing else has been quite that quick or easy. Here is the cover by way of a test photo. How does it look to you?

Lady in Grey Price Shock!

 

I checked yesterday on www.amazon.co.uk and was alarmed to discover that they had listed The Lady in Grey at a price of £40.91.  This seems a bit steep for a paperback novel.  The proper price should be £14.91.  I have contacted Amazon this morning and asked them to correct it so keen purchasers should hold back until they have amended it. The US$ Price of £19.99 on www.amazon.com is correct.

Booker Prize Long List

 

Master Merryman now available in paperback from www.amazon.com

Man Booker Prize 2011 Long List

The Man Booker  Prize 2011 Longlist has been announced. The chosen books are as follows:

Julian Barnes             The Sense of an Ending

Sebastian Barry         On Canaan's Side

Carol Birch                Jamrach's Menagerie

Patrick deWitt           The Sisters Brothers

Esi Edugyan              Half Blood Blues

Yvette Edwards        A Cupboard full of Coats

Alan Hollinghurst     The Stranger's Child

Stephen Kelman       Pigeon English

Patrick McGuinness  The Last Hundred Days

A D Miller                 Snowdrops

Alison Pict                Far to Go

Jane Rogers               The Testament of Jessie Lamb

D J Taylor                 Derby Day

The titles were chosen by a panel of five judges chaired by author and former director-general of M15 Dame Stella Rimington.  A total of 138 books were considered.  The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 6th September with the winner to be revealed at a ceremony on Tuesday 18th October.  Good luck to all.







Master Merryman - new cover

Proofing of Master Merryman almost done so I can replace Kindle Edition today and send pdf to paperback publishers.  Only very few minor errors I am happy to say.  Here is the new cover which I think looks very handsome.

London Jazz Awards 2011 Hotlist

The shortlist has been published of the nominations for the London Jazz Awards 2011.  The hotlist is as follows:

Julian Siegel
Submotion Orchestra
Gareth Lockrane Big Band
London Horns
Matt Roberts Big Band
Jason Yarde
Christine Tobin
Soweto Kinch
Sue Richardson
Rachel Musson
Peter King

Details of the awards and biogs of all the artists can be found on the London Festival Fringe website.  Good luck to all.

Culture Schlock

In all the recent scandals that have engulfed the newspapers I have noticed an unfortunate turn of phrase creeping into journalistic shorthand   - that is the inclination to ascribe everything bad that happens to a 'culture'.  Yesterday we had 'culture of collusion' (Guardian) and 'culture of phone-hacking' (Carl Bernstein in the Washington Post).  Then there are the old stand-bys 'culture of bullying', 'culture of secrecy' and that old chestnut 'culture of dependency' (ie everyone is on benefits).

Journalists will of course always coin shorthand expressions in order to get their copy down to a manageable length but I wonder if this particular literary habit is not becoming too destructive to be useful. 

In every case we are asked to believe that the 'culture' concerned consists of one negative influence.  This is hardly a culture which as defined by Tylor is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society." 

What the journalists are referring to is in fact a custom - the repetition of a certain mode of behaviour which is accepted as the norm within an organisation. A custom is simply a repetetive habit and can be changed.  Culture is much more deeply ingrained. Fundamental to the culture of the free press is that it is a symbol of progress and of the spread of a more open form of government.  Phone-hacking is only a very recent and relatively minor technical glitch.

Furthermore we have to ask ourselves is this a defence?  The inference is that the wrong-doer did wrong because everybody else was at it.  This is a denial of personal responsibility.  The lack of a corporate conscience is being used as an excuse to allow the individual to evade blame.  How can this be healthy?

Additionally the use of the term 'culture' when we mean collective responsibility means that a whole community is being tarred with the same brush.   During the expenses scandal all MPs were branded corrupt even though it turned out most of them had acted within the rules, however stretched those rules had become.  A very small number were found to have acted illegally and have suffered as a result, but the fall-out is that we are now daily being informed in the newspapers that all of our political representatives are corrupt.  I do not believe that to be true.  Some MPs may be corrupt but most of them are not.  The same is true of our police officers and our journalists. 

In recent days there has been a shift from blaming the individual, to blaming the 'culture', to blaming the institution itself although no institution can of itself be corrupt only the individuals working within it.

This may seem very nit-picking but the way in which we use language changes our perception of things.  If the use of the term 'culture' to indicate a whole community of professionals leads us to conclude that our most important social institutions are rotten to the core without, so far at any rate any solid evidence, then this is not good for our society as a whole.  There may have been wrong-doing and there may be a need for active reform but our parliament, our police force and our free press are not bad institutions.  On the whole they are a positive force for the good.

Bullying Bankers

I was, as I am sure a lot of people will have been, horrified this morning to read of Byron Fraser who was driven to attempted suicide because the bank, with whom he had taken out payment protection insurance, refused to pay out and as a result of the ensuing dispute have inflated his debt from around £15,000 to £250,000.  This is a bloody disgrace.

And I know better than most because I have been on the receiving end of the bullying tactics of a former bank (former in both senses as they now no longer exist) who sold me PPI on a loan of £3,000 back in the 1990s.  It was the bank's policy to deduct the whole amount of this insurance at the start of the loan and add the repayments on to the capital.  In the course of the loan I fell seriously ill and was unable to work so I did the natural thing in order to protect the loan repayments - I claimed on the insurance. The bank's response was to decline the claim and put me under intolerable pressure, at a time when I was in great pain and distress, to clear the loan. 

I was saved by the fact that General Accident, who were the insuring company, wrote to me directly informing me that there was not, and never had been any insurance in place.  Yet the figure of £900 was clearly showing on my statement as a deduction for the insurance policy.  So I went back to the bank and made a claim for compensation which was I was entitled to in law as they had not provided the insurance for which they had charged.

Then followed several years of constant harrassment and bullying, repeated letters and phone calls, even though the bank was aware I was ill and on my own.  Because I was so ill and worried that I was perhaps not handling the matter objectively I went to a solicitor and asked him to deal with it on my behalf.  Reassuringly he told me there was no problem as the law was clearly on my side and he would write to the bank and settle the matter. 

For six months the bank simply refused to answer his letters.  In the end I had to write to the Managing Director and insist that the bank responded to my solicitor.  Their response was to demand to come to my home so they could bully me in person - three of them against one - but when I responded by saying we could discuss it by all means but in my solicitor's office with him present they suddenly went away. 

Eventually with the threat of Court Action on our side the matter was settled but in the longer term as a result of all the attendant financial difficulties that this dispute caused I did lose my home and in the intervening years my financial position has never really recovered.  But I can sympathize with Mr Fraser because I was nearly driven to suicide by the constant pressure the bank put me under for a total debt of £3,000 which I had taken the trouble to insure.  Obviously I would not have taken on the debt if I had not believed the insurance would cover it.

I hope that Mr Fraser can win his case.  The whole business of payment protection insurance stinks. Not only were the insurance policies sold to people who would never be eligible to claim, those who claimed on quite legitimate grounds of sickness and unemployment have been subjected to outrageous bullying tactics by the banks who are supposed to have a care for their financial concerns.  In my case the insurance was sold but never even put in place with the insurance company.  Had I not claimed I would have paid £900 for nothing at all.  Who was going to get that I wonder?

What was most distressing in my case was the refusal of the bank to discuss the matter sensibly (their letters made no sense to either me or my solicitor) and settle the issue within the law.  The banks seem to have forgotten a basic principle - that banking is based on trust.  In the past two years they have not only lost everyone's money they have lost their one significant asset - the confidence of their customers.  They should remember all their other assets belong to somebody else.

Jane Austen - not a great writer?

Following on from my blog yesterday I read in the paper this morning that Jane Austen's unfinished novel 'The Watsons' has been sold at auction for $1.6 million dollars.  The big question is was it worth it?  Does it demonstrate breath-taking originality and a ground-breaking leap forward in English literature?  Sadly no.  It is, or would have been if she'd got round to completing it, more of the same.

This is what is so disappointing about Jane Austen.  She writes very nicely but is she a great writer?  The answer I fear is no, she was not.  Her world is a very narrow one and although she was writing for quite a long time at one of the most revolutionary periods in British History you would not know it.  There is no artistic development.  The one original feature her writing had at the outset, her quirky sense of humour, disappears half way through leaving us with a picture of, I'm sorry to say, a rather uninteresting and undeveloped mind.  Compared with Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot,even Maria Edgeworth, style apart, her writing is rather infantile. 

It is true that towards the end of her life when money was an object she may have had good reason for sticking to her successful formula but great writers don't do that, they move on and innovate and that is something she never managed to do.  I have quite enjoyed reading Jane Austen but then I have quite enjoyed reading a lot of other 'lesser' writers too.  I have nothing against formula written novels and have written the odd one myself, but do I think her manuscript is worth $1.6m.  Well I wouldn't pay that for it even if I won the lottery.  It's a curiosity, nothing more. 

What do writers know about literature?

Doris Lessing once gave a lecture (not entirely tongue in cheek) in which she asserted that English Literature Departments are the natural enemy of the writer.  She was right of course.  They are.  What do writers know about literature?  Writers' heads are stuffed with the stuff of literature of course but you don't judge the comfiness of an armchair by the stuffing although if the quality of the stuffing is poor you will soon notice.  What do I know about writers anyway?

I know that Dylan Thomas used to put out beer bottles instead of milk bottles when he lived in Cwmdonkin in Swansea.  I know this because my friend's gran used to live opposite him and she told us.  Eye witness account see.  I also know he chose to live in one of the most beautiful places on God's earth, Laugharne.  Lucky chap.

I also know that Jane Austen declined to marry a chap called Harris Bigg-Wither.  In her day a married lady novelist was obliged to be known by her husband's name.  Would we ever have heard of Jane Austen if she had been credited as Mrs Bigg-Wither or been able to sit through an A-level course  without sniggering.  I think not.  Come to that would she have been able to hear herself referred to as the same without dissolving into tears of laughter.  It's a name that was bound to be fraught with difficulty for anyone with a sense of humour, a sense that Mr B.-W himself presumably lacked or he would have gone just with the Bigg or the Wither but never both.  Frankly I wonder if he ever existed at all.  I think she made him up.

The Devil and the Bag of Nails - Press Freedom

The Devil and the Bag of Nails (available exclusively on #kindle) is a novella about the activities of journalists, their underhand tactics and bitter rivalries and the importance of the scoop.  So far, so very topical except that the book is set in 1732 and is about the shenanigans that accompanied the passing of the first Gin Act. 

The story demonstrates both sides of the Press.  In the first place it shows that it has been divided on political lines since its inception, initially between Whig (labour/lib-dem) and Tory (conservatives and far right) and political rivalries are what gave the Press its lifeblood in the first place.  Expecting the papers to be politically neutral is depriving them of their birthright.  The power of the Murdoch press in the UK is not due to its size or importance but the fact that the press is so evenly divided the Murdoch papers (politically unaffiliated) are able to hold the balance.  Therefore, if they change sides as in the last election, it is likely to tip the balance and sway public opinion.  It was for this reason the last two governments were inclined to court their good opinion not because Rupert Murdoch owns an unfeasibly large proportion of the press because in fact he doesn't.

Secondly it reveals the importance of a free press in allowing political campaigns to be fought on paper instead of in the streets.  The hero of the story, the editor of "The Champion" (so successful it is published three times a week and sells a whopping 2000 copies) is a reformer. His rival, the slippery Sylvanus Urban whose name is not his own, has formerly been involved in The Mug Street Riots when political rivalries spilled onto the street and ended in the army opening fire on the rioters.  These men have discovered that if the pen is not necessarily mightier than the sword it is at least less destructive.  In the story it is, rather unusually, the pro-Government Champion that is campaigning on behalf of The Gin Act that will enforce licensing of gin shops which are causing disastrous levels of alcohol addiction among the urban poor depicted graphically in Hogarth's Gin Alley.

From its beginning Britain's free press has campaigned on behalf of the weak, poor and vulnerable.  It has campaigned for good causes and against corruption in high places.  Our current headlines are not new, nor should we be unduly shocked by them.

But we should be disturbed by the direction all this fuss is leading in.  The Press in Britain has not always been free.  It's roots lie in the 1670s when a government with absolutist tendencies was prepared to dissolve parliament at the first sign of dissent and deprive its citizens of any kind of political representation apart from riot and armed insurrection.  At the same time it imposed strict laws of censorship which effectively made it a capital offence to write or say anything against anybody.  Brave men flouted the law to print the truth and campaign vigorously for a parliamentary system that was fair, representative and incorruptible. 

It took quite a long time to get this and clearly we still have some way to go but these men, not yet journalists but followed by the cream of the profession, were heroes.  We still need such heroes.  This is no time to turn our backs on them.  I poke fun at the editors in the story mocking their pretensions and bitter rivalry but underlying the comedy there is a very important battle being fought with disastrous and dangerous consequences for the losers.  We may sometimes dismiss the papers as tomorrow's fish and chip wrappers but it is not all frivolous. A successful democratic system needs an informed electorate.  We may not always love our press but we need them.

The papers make a lot of enemies and just lately they have made a lot in parliament which is a pity because the history of the press and parliament go hand in hand.  MPs may be pretty mad (not entirely without justification) at the journalists but it would be a mistake for them to see this present crisis as an opportunity for revenge.  In the future they will need the press and the journalists will need them.  There are and will be many occasions when the people will look to them both to provide them with a voice. 

The public mood in contrast to the media and parliamentary frenzy is one of gentle resignation.  Yes we know our journalists are a dodgy lot.  Sometimes they go too far in search of a story and we would rather they went easy on people who do not elect to live and die by the media.  We raise our eyebrows at editors who claim they are not responsible for the activities of those they hire.  Surely such actions as illegal phone-hacking should never be undertaken without the sanction of the editor? If there is a public interest defence it is the editor who should decide this not some hapless reporter who is over-anxious to keep his job. 

It is very proper that there should be an inquiry into any criminal activities carried out on or behalf of journalists so that lines may be drawn making it clear what will and will not be regarded as in the public interest but journalists must be allowed to sail close to the wind.  Self-regulation may seem a contradiction in terms but in the end the press has a very firm and powerful regulator, to wit, you and me, Joe Public.  Let us remain the first resort in regulating the press just as the press is, on many occasions the last resort by which we may defend ourselves.

Upcoming Book Festivals

">
23 September - 2 October 2011
The Daily Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature
Ten day celebration of children's books and reading featuring some of the biggest and most creative names from the world of children's publishing
http://www.bathkidslitfest.co.uk

23 September - 2 October 2011
Wigtown Book Festival
Readings, lectures, debates and performances in Scotland's National Book T~own
http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com

6 - 9 October 2011
Beverley Literature Festival
An annual celebration of the arts and writing and reading in the historic East Yorkshire market town.
http://www.beverley-literature-festival.org



30 September - 16 October 2011
Ilkley Literature Festival
Features readings, discussions, performances, workshops, readers' events, literary walks and a children's and young people's weekend
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk

6 - 16 October 2011
Birmingham Book Festival
Annual festival featuring appearances from leading contemporary authors plus workshops and a range of special events.
http://www.birminghambookfestival.org

7 - 16 October
The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival
Ten days of discussions, debates and happenings featuring a heady brew of the best writers, thinkers and agenda-setters
http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature

13-23 October 2011
Manchester Literature Festival
Celebrates the power of writing across all creative and technological media in a cutting-edge programme that aims to promote internationalism, diversity and independence
http://manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

14 -21 October 2011
Wells Festival of Literature
Talks on fiction, politics, poetry, travel, history, biography, science, philosophy and more in beautiful cathedral city.
http://www.wlitf.co.uk

Looks like September/October will be a busy time for book-lovers and writers. 

Edinburgh International Bookfest 2011

The website for the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011 has just been launched.  Tickets are on sale from today 26 June 2011.

Highlights include:

Vintage and Second Hand: Creating Cool Looks on a Budget Age 10+
Sophia Bennett of The Threads and Lynne McCrossan author of The Girl's Guide to Vintage reveal how to pick up cool vintage clothing and jewellery. Sunday 14 August 5 - 6 p.m.

I recall when my nieces were teenagers they raided my wardrobe of all things seventies (all my party stuff) and went home with a sack full of 'vintage' cool stuff.  Suggest this is the way to go! Go visit your cool (but now possibly not quite so slim) Auntie.

Thursday 18 August 4 - 5 p.m. Robert Aldrich discusses Cracking the Code of GCHQ.


Robert Coover, giant of American literary post-modernism talks about myth and metafiction on Saturday 20 August 5 - 6:00 p.m.

Niall Ferguson considers whether we are living through the dying embers of Western ascendancy. Perhaps he will consider whether 'ascendancy' should be in the vocabulary of politicians in a global village. Hear him on the subject Friday 26 August 6:30 - 7:30 pm.

All sounds very interesting and Edinburgh is a great city to visit.  Also you might just catch the tail end of the Fringe.

The Serpent's Cove

The Serpent's cove is now live on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/BOO55O0R68

Light romance. Adventure. Suitable for younger readers 10 - 15

Lizzie, the strange child brought up by mad Granny Tulliver, is only allowed out at night.  Her life of shadows is shared by the 'gentlemen' who land their illicit cargoes in the Serpent's Cove.  When she meets Richard Merritt, the handsome young Riding Officer, her life changes dramatically until he mysteriously disappears.  Fate takes Lizzie into fashionable society and the company of the famous playwright Anthony Lindley, whose friendship seems set to bring her happiness.  Suddenly she finds her life is in danger. Why does Mr. Lindley count a highwayman among his friends and who is the Methodist preacher?  Not until these mysteries are cleared up can Lizzie find the path to fortune and solve the enigma of The Serpent's Cove.



Recipe for Chocolate Cake

Every baker needs a good recipe for a chocolate cake.  Here is a tried and tested one.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
175g (6oz) butter, softened
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
3 eggs
160g (5 oz)  self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g (1 oz) cocoa powder

Method

Preheat oven to 170C, 340F,  Gas Mark 4.  Lightly butter two 7 inch cake tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.  Put the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs (one at a time or the mixture will curdle) and beat in.  Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon (or pulse on food processor).  Pour into the two tins and level.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins.  Remove and allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a rack.  When cold sandwich together with butter cream or marscapone and dust with icing sugar or cover with chocolate icing or melted chocolate depending on how chocolatey you want your cake to be. 

Goes well with a good romance.

The Devil and The Bag of Nails

Selling books on the internet is quite fascinating as you watch your book turning up in unlikely places.  Amazon have now listed The Devil and the Bag of Nails on their German website under Amazon.de:comedy.bags. It's quite a short  book, really a novella and there is a strong tradition in German literature for the novella.  (Although Dorothy Parker said she promised her mother she would never use the word and I am a bit inclined to agree with her).  I have no idea what German readers (who are reading it in English) make of it but I did have two radio plays translated into German many years ago (both comedies) so perhaps there is something in my comedy that appeals.

The book is only available on Kindle at present from Amazon.com

Recipe for Carrot Cake

This is a very good recipe for Carrot Cake.

Carrot and Orange Cake

Ingredients
4 oz (125g) Butter or Margarine
4 oz (125g) Soft brown sugar
4 oz (125g) Grated carrot
6 oz (175g) Plain whole meal flour (or half wholemeal/half white)
3 level teaspoons of baking powder
1 level teaspoon of cinnamon or mixed spice
pinch of salt
grated rind and juice of half an orange (or a tablespoon of orange juice)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of milk

Method
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add the beaten eggs a little at a time and beat well.  Put the wholemeal flour in another bowl and sieve in with the baking powder, salt and spice. Mix in the grated carrot.  Now fold the two mixtures together with the orange juice and just enough milk to make a soft consistency.  Grease a 6 in (15 cm) round cake tin and put a circle of greaseproof paper in the bottom.  Fill with the cake mixture and level.  Bake at Gas Mark 3, 325F, 160C for about an hour or until well risen and set. 

Or you can throw the whole lot in a food processor and whizz for a couple of minutes until a soft consistency.  It works just as well. 

When cool you can slice the cake in half (make sure it is very cool or it will be inclined to crumble) and spread one half with marmalade then sandwich together with butter cream or marscapone.  Dust the top with icing sugar or ice with orange icing and decorate with candied orange slices.

Enjoy with a good book.

Recipe for Irish Tea Bread

To commemorate the Queen's visit to Ireland here is a recipe for Irish Tea Bread which is delicious spread liberally with butter and served with a cup of tea and a good book. To make a celebratory version use luxury mixed fruit with cherries and pineapple pieces in.  For the everyday version just ordinary mixed fruit.  If you forget to soak the fruit overnight it will be just as good if you soak it for two hours on the same day.  It's measured very roughly in cups. I just use a good-sized tea cup.

Ingredients
12oz/350g mixed dried fruit (the kind with peel)
1 cup of cold tea
2 cups of self-raising flour
1 cup soft, dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 egg

Method

Soak the fruit in the cold tea overnight, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Bake in a 2lb (900g) loaf tin for 75-90 minutes at 350F, 180C, Gas Mark 4, covering the top with greaseproof paper for the first hour so that it does not brown too quickly.  Cool on a rack and serve sliced as it is, or buttered.

My revolutionary career

I have recently been doing some work on Raymond Williams' 'Culture and Society' and was struck by how much his ideas influenced the Wilson Government of the late 60s and rather surprised to realize just how much they have shaped (unconsciously) my revolutionary career. As an artist you think of yourself very much as an individual and don't realize how much your work is influenced by the zeitgeist.  I have always thought my career to be a chaotic mess but looking back over the past forty years I see there is an interesting pattern to it after all.

1960s

I was fairly typical of the rising working-class of the late 60s that Raymond Williams concerned himself with and who made up the backbone of the support for the Wilson government.  I grew up on a London council estate.  My grandfathers were respectively a miner/Labour councillor and a master craftsman from the Midlands.  My parents were both in the caring professions, Dad a social worker and Mum a nurse and subsequently a primary school teacher.  I was the first girl in my family to go to university, aided by the introduction of the maintenance grant.  As I had three brothers I would probably not have been able to go otherwise.  It was still usual to educate the boys first.

1970s

Although not a rabid feminist I was not immune to the upsurge in feminism in the late 60s and early 70s encouraged by the fact that on leaving university I was unable to find a really suitable job because at every interview the (then usually male) Personnel Officer would take one look at me and say 'You'll be married in six months'.  I think the fact that I have never married has something to do with the fact I wanted to prove them wrong.  I eventually succumbed to social pressure and settled for a secretarial post with the BBC (almost the only path into production for a girl at that time) in their Further Education Department.  This in itself was very Wilsonian.  The emphasis on universal accessible education meant that, just after I left, the department gave way to the Open University.  I left the BBC to go into another innovation of the 1970s, subsidised regional theatre and joined the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent to work on a pioneering community theatre project which typified the idea of publicly subsidised art taking culture to the people. (It was funded by the Department of the Environment). I then spent three years as a housing officer writing in my spare time, both plays with a regional/dialect slant.

1980s

At the very start of this decade I was one of the first wave of new women playwrights who began making a mark.  Prior to that I had been told I could not be a playwright quote "because there are no women playwrights".  Actually there were three, Pam Gems, Caryl Churchill and in radio Jennifer Phillips but that was about it. David Edgar writing in 1999 remarks with some wonder there are now two dozen. I don't think he was counting me so that makes one more. I had two radio plays produced by the BBC then moved on to writing novels and had three published in the decade - not a lot but I was also very ill which held me back a bit.  The second one was in itself a bit revolutionary being a detective story that featured a software designer as the detective.  In 1983 personal computers were in their infancy and the internet had not yet been heard of so this was one of the first detective stories to feature computers of which I am quite proud.  I was influenced by Thatcherism insofar as I bought a flat and moved to Milton Keynes.

1990s

The big innovation in the 1990s was the move to independent production in an attempt to break up the big arts insitutions and commercialize the arts.  I set up 'New City Films' and tried my hand at this but without much success as the dream of small independent producers swiftly faded over the decade as independent production became the province of larger companies with more capital.

2000s

Returning to London I moved to Richmond and took up painting.  When my mother fell ill I returned to live with her and look after her and unconsciously following another theatrical trend began writing plays and books exploring national identity and gender politics.

So looking back my career has been pretty much a model of artistic trends of the last forty years.  In this new decade I am again at the forefront of a new revolution, embracing new technology and trying my hand at direct publishing both in books and short films.  Who knows where this will lead?

I can't say my career has been financially very successful although I have managed to keep going, always a bit of a feat for an independently minded artist, but it has been revolutionary and looking back more on the money (figuratively speaking) than I thought at the time.

Good review for Columbanus

All writers like to say they take no notice of reviews but let's face it, we are all very happy when we get a good one.  I have today received from my publisher, Imprint Academic, a copy of a reivew they spotted in The Franciscan vol 23 No 2 May 2011 by Brother Damien SSF which I am happy to draw attention to.  I am particularly pleased as it's from a theological source where the writer might be expected to know his early saints. I am gratified that he finds my theories fascinating and found the book worth reading.  He says it utterly held his attention. More I cannot ask.

Recipe for Sunday Tea - Banana Bread

This is another very quick and easy recipe for Sunday tea.  It's a very good way of using up those bananas that go very soft very quickly in warm weather as you want the bananas soft, but not brown, to mash them.  It's another cake that makes a very good base for an ice-cream pudding. Toffee ice-cream goes especially well with banana.  I like it spread with butter like a tea-bread. You can just throw everything into a food processor and give it a good whizz.

BAHAMA MAMA'S BANANA BREAD

2 oz butter

1 egg

4 oz sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

2-3 bananas, soft for mashing

8 oz flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 oz chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add beaten egg and vanilla essence.   Mash bananas and add to the mixture.  Sift flour, salt and baking powder.  Mix into mixture.  Add nuts if you like them.  Bake in a greased loaf 11b loaf pan for about an hour or until a fork comes out clean at 300F, Gas Mark 3.  (The length of time depends on how moist your mixture ie how many bananas you use and how big they are so it's best to check with the fork test). 

If you want a larger cake just double the quantities and bake in a 2lb loaf tin for one and a half hours at 300F or Gas Mark 3.  

Amazon Publishing Embraces Romance

Amazon Publishing has launched its fourth imprint focussing on romance as it continues to expand its publishing business bringing together digital platforms and traditional book publishing. 

Montlake Romance will be available to readers in North America in digital and physical formats and will launch its first book, Connie Brockway's The Other Guy's Bride, in the autumn. The imprint will also publish romance, suspense, contemporary and historical romance as well as fantasy and paranormal tales. 

The Vice-President of Amazon Publishing, Jeff Belle, is quoted as saying: "Romance is one of our biggest and fastest growing categories particularly among Kindle customers so we can't wait to make The Other Guy's Bride and other compelling titles available to romance fans around the world.  We also know our customers enjoy genre fiction of all kinds so we are busy building publishing businesses that will focus on additional genres as well."

The other Amazon Publishing imprints are Amazon Encore which highlights previously self-published titles, Amazon Crossing which publishes foreign language titles and Seth Godin's imprint The Domino Project.

This is good news for Amazon writer/self-publishers like me because at present Kindle publishing is being disparaging compared to vanity publishing whereas it is in reality the opposite.  Vanity Publishing presupposes that you have access to a printer/publisher but not to the market.  With Kindle publishing you have access to a huge market which is why Amazon astutely renamed the awkward 'Digital Text Platform' Kindle Direct Publishing since this is a more accurate way of describing what you are doing.  However it does leave you without the advantage of an imprint brand and by introducing this Amazon are giving their writers that all important marketing tool.

Edinburgh Film Festival Line-up for June 2011

Edinburgh film festival organisers have announced their line-up for 2011 including the first film for 20 years to be directed by Oscar nominated screenwriter (and distinguished theatre playwright) David Hare and a sci-fi thriller starring the successful team from Trainspotting of Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner.

The Festival's official launch later this month aims to continue showcasing the work of British directors while also providing a platform for first-time film-makers.  Hare's film is the political thriller Page Eight featuring an all-star British cast including Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes.

The sci-fi thriller "Perfect Sense" starring McGregor and Bremner is directed by David Mackenzie.

Other films that will receive world premieres include "Albatross", a coming-of-age drama directed by Niall MacCormick and starring Sebastian Koch and Julia Ormond and Karl Golden's comedy drama about the 90s Ibiza scene "Weekender" starring Jack O'Connell of Skins fame.

Festival director James Mullighan is quoted as saying: "The Edinburgh international film festival has long been regarded as the ideal launch pad for important new British cinema and the place at which UK emerging talent is nurtured.  The films announced today confirm that those traditions continue into 2011. Of nearly 3000 films submitted to EIFF, 58 were British feature fiction films and we're delighted to be in a position to showcase some of them to Edinburgh audiences in June."

This year's festival, the 65th, will take place at venues across Edinburgh from 15 - 26 June 2011.

Also coming up:
The 17th London Australian Film Festival runs at the Barbican from 5 - 12 May 2011.  Among films showing are Red Dog, The Reef and Surviving Georgia.

Recipe for Lemon Curd Cake

I made this cake yesterday.  I have had the recipe for years but not made it for a while and I had forgotten what a nice light moist sponge it makes.  It's very easy, ideal for busy mums in the holidays, just throw all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz.  It's also a very good base for an improvised pudding - try topping a slice with some ice-cream, chopped banana and a squiggle of chocolate sauce.

Ingredients
4 oz (100g) soft butter or margarine
4 oz (100g) sugar
2 eggs beaten
5 oz (140g) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons lemon curd

Method

Mix all the ingredients together, beating until smooth.  Transfer to a 1lb (450g) loaf tin and bake at 350F, 180C, Gas Mark 4 for about 45 minutes until well risen and golden as well as firm to the touch. (Check with a fork and if still a bit too moist inside give it a bit longer - it depends how much lemon curd you use and how lemony you want the taste).

Serve with a cup of coffee and a good book.