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WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF WHITBOURN
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What's New OR: 'Yo, ladies ... What's happenin ? Whatever Next ? [ Downs Lord Triptych / The Two Confessions / Amy-Faith & the Stronghold] |
Dispatch dated June 2001 - 'WHAT'S BEGUN IS HALF DONE ...'
With brave young heroine 'Amy-Faith' leading the attack under cover of an inspiration bombardment, JAW has advanced the frontiers of his bold change of direction, 'THE STRONGHOLD', 25,000 words into Null-Mundania territory, establishing a defendable beachhead whilst the 'DOWNS-LORD DOOMSDAY' proofs divert him. With one third of the book safely gathered in, Amy-Faith stands on the threshold of the eponymous baroque fortress-cum-crusade, a dead solicitor behind her in Godalming High Street, and hordes of ravening Null in hot pursuit. And after that it livens up.
Also mooted, but presently less concrete, is a new short story series of
ghost and/or 'erotic' tales set in a variant 18th century Oxford University.
Not quite Oxford as it was, indeed, not quite England, but a close
relative of both, albeit with the weight of history and sensuality enhanced to
almost drippingly oppressive proportions. Standing
in relation to reality as does, say, a gothicised platoon of Kate Bush ( circa
1976 ) look-alike Israeli women-soldiers, to the cast of ''Eastenders'.
Or the 'Brittas Empire's cunning and sultry 'Laura Lancing' ( criminally
under-acclaimed actress Julia St. John ) to Madonna ... Recently
published were: 'Excuse
Me'. 'Shadows & Silence'.
The Ash Tree Press. 2000 A Heathrow-based short ( ghost ) story, partially written in authentic 'saarf' [ south of England ] dialect and also, alas, somewhat laced with authentic 'industrial language'. 'Just
Hanging Around'. 'Ghosts & Scholars'. No. 31. 'Haunted Library'. 2000 Another
ghost story ( an English living tradition I'm fond of ) set in and around St
Andrew's Church in Farnham, Surrey, resting place of all-round South-country
yeoman hero, William Cobbett ( soldier, writer, radical, politician and
farmer 1763 - 1835 ) 'The Hills Are Alive'. 'Interzone' no.165. March 2001. A sullen, randy, city-boy roams the South Downs and meets ... someone interesting in the best pub ( I know of ) in England: The Lewes Arms, Lewes, East Sussex. Incidentally, someone has pointed out that, together with 'Bury My Heart At Southerham ( East Sussex )', published in 'Midnight Never Comes', The Ash Tree Press, 1997 and 'Furriners' ( unpublished ), this story completes 'The Mount Caburn trilogy' of linked short stories. That same high and beautiful hill / hillfort just outside Lewes, so beloved of myself and hang-gliders, features prominently in each. A nice thought that never occurred to the stories' author at the time. I
also did a couple of interviews: 'Confessions
of a Counter-Reformation Green Anarcho-Jacobite'. Interview. 'Starburst'
Magazine. No. 266. October 2000 'Whitbourn's
Wisdom'. SFX Magazine Interview. SFX No 73. January 2001 The latter was adorned with an ... unfortunate picture of some middle-aged bloke with my name inexplicably attached beneath. Clearly an impostor ( see 'Behold the Man' elsewhere on this site ). There's also been lots of SFX books reviews ( including a 'we-are-not worthy' one of 'Lord of the Rings' and, ditto, for Phil Rickman's latest two 'Spiritual Procedurals' featuring Merrily Watkins, Anglican priestess and exorcist for the diocese of Hereford ). On the assumption that the reader already has some degree of familiarity with Tolkien's work, may I respectfully suggest they purchase a copy of Mr Rickman's 'Wine of Angels' / 'Midwinter of the Spirit' / 'A Crown of Angels' / 'The Cure of Souls' ( in that order ) and thus assist another major talent to deserved megadom. This jaded old ghost story reader and writer never thought to have his neck-hairs raised in such a manner ever again, but Rickman achieves it with nigh faultless writing and without recourse to gore. And so to bed. JAW
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