The (New) Ephemera

I’m very excited this week to be able to able to announce that Infinity Plus’s new ebooks venture, which to date has featured a hugely strong roster of writers and has even more lined up, is going to republish my collection, The Ephemera. I’ve always been extremely proud of the marvelous job that Elastic Press […]

NAF : ZOEY VAN GOEY / Propeller Versus Wings

I listened to your record and it made want to jump out of a window, but in a good way. So begins, Sackville Sun, the third track on Propeller Versus Wings, and that is as succinct a summation of the impact of Zoey Van Goey’s anticipated second album as I can imagine. The winsomely colourful […]

Etiquette Of Silence

A Plea Against Arseholeish Behaviour At Gigs Firstly, a confession: Many years ago, I was at a gig at the old Wembley with my brother. I’d not seen him in months and there was loads we needed to say. The gig was a big-name, double header. The stage was several miles distant and the “big […]

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Some time in early 1984 I did something that changed my life. I went to a gig at the Glasgow Apollo. Everyone has a first gig story, and I imagine there are thousands similar to me whose own recollections involve the faded glitz of that venerable venue – the red and the glittery gold interior, […]

Interesting stuff that I read in January

So this new year I had but one resolution – to read more stuff. Last year was a seriously shoddy effort in terms of picking up a book/magazine/e-reader and enjoying all the good fiction at my disposal. So, in an effort to …make a decent effort… I’m going to attempt to post a monthly update […]

Songs in the key of…M

Continuing the occasional dip into my alphabetical trawl through the MP3 archives. Mary Ann – Ray Charles Maybe – Harry Nilsson Mean Ol’ Misery – Aberfeldy Medal Around Your Neck – Sparrow And The Workshop Meet The Elements – They Might Be Giants Memphis – Cry, Cry, Cry Men, Beasts or Houses – Fol Chen […]

Locus

First day of the month = new issue of Locus. Fresh off the epub press and into my android phone. I’d already browsed a fair amount of it by the time I arrived at work, which is great. Yay, for modern things! I’ve got a soft spot for Locus. It has a certain style of […]

Pirate Musical Redux!

Since Arrhythmia has been accumulating a certain amount of attention lately, I thought it might be a good time to remind those who like that sort of thing about my first musical-story (storical? musy?), the swashbuckling (up to a point) pirate adventure entitled: “The Last Note Of The Song”. The idea for this story came […]

Songs in the Key of…B

Thought it might be nice to revisit the thing I did a couple of years ago where, instead of having my mp3s on shuffle as is my usual practice, I let the player just trawl through the list alphabetically and see what it throws up. It’s a nice way to get a snapshot of what […]

Isolationism, and a resolution

I don’t often talk about the writing here. It only really surfaces when there’s something to tell people about. A milestone, a publication, a nomination. And when you’re working on something long, it can be a long time until you’ve got something to report. Monday’s news made me realize that Arrhythmia was the only piece […]