Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere! I checked all
your favourite places: the butcher’s shop, the tin foil factory, the urinal
cake stalls. Well, I’m glad you’re back.
A lot’s happened since we last spoke, and I'm about to disappear into delicious Asia for a month, so pull up a broom handle, take
a seat - let's recap our asses off.
I didn’t see you at my book launch in October. Busy, were you? Yeh, too busy for cake! You fool. Well, it all went swimmingly. Cake was eaten,
(too much) beer was guzzled, books were bought, and poetry was talked about. If
you STILL don’t have a copy of The GreenDress Whose Girl is Sleeping, there’s plenty of time to buy multiple copies
and stuff them inside stockings before we all tear into the national
religious-cum-corporate holiday known as X-mas.
Reviews
So far the new book’s received 5 stars all round on Amazon and
Goodreads. Thanks mum! I'm still hovering over that elusive first soul destroying review in the New York times or something, so here are some choice comments from online-land:
“work of accomplished subtlety. A virtuoso performer of his work, Jones is clearly a writer and poet worth watching. His poetry and prose seems likely to blaze brightly over the coming years.” – Blythe K Robertson, Amazon
“A stunning first collection” – Zaphod Peeplepod, Amazon
“engaging, relatable, memorable, lapidary” – Daniel Young, Goodreads
“the language used here is beautiful but never at the expense of storytelling, the emotion and the immediacy of the subject matter. “ – Marrissey, Amazon
“vibrant and relevant beneath Russell Jones' pen. Jones is a master story teller whose inspiring medley of scenes justifies his place among the ones to watch.” – Amazon ‘customer’
“Russell Jones' poetry is beautiful. Perceptive, attention to minute detail, it strikes a chord with one's own reality. “ – Joanne Morris, Amazon
Chapbook due
Much to my surprise, Spacecraft Press have decided to publish my sci-fi poem, “Birds 1.0” (which is about robotic birds laying an egg) as a chapbook!
They do all sorts of weird and wonderful things with prose and poems, including turning them into dice-like cut-outs, transparent portfolios and circuit-board designs. I’m intrigued to see what they do with this poem. Due out early 2016.
Prose
No big news on the prose front, although my second novel, The Happy Land has been redrafted (8 times) and is now in the hands of the powers that be. I’d love to see it published; it’s a young adult novel about a girl who’s tracking down a time-bending kidnapper with glass teeth. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll soil yourself.
I’ve also entered a short story, “The Worm” to Glasgow University’s new science fiction medical humanities’ writing competition, which you can do too (the deadline is the end of January). My story is about a teacher who must administer pills (“worms”) to students, which, as they’re absorbed, release new knowledge into the pupil. It’s based on real research called
The Cannibalism Experiments by James McConnell in the 1950's. He fed trained
flatworms to untrained brethren, claiming the untrained worms performed
behaviours the trained worms had learned previously. So, trained flatworm
memories found a new home when eaten.
Editing
Two big projects here: Shoreline ofInfinity (Issue 2) is ready for pre-order. I’d not previously mentioned this on
my blog (for some reason!) but I’m the poetry editor and deputy of Shoreline of Infinity¸ a new sci-fi
magazine from Scotland. Issue 2 took the team many beers and discussions to get
it in place, and there’s a great array of prose, interviews, book reviews and
more. Plus, poetry from Ken MacLeod and Iain M Banks!
Second big project is a
contemporary anthology of poetry. I’m co-editing it with
wonder-human Claire Askew. We’re in the early stages but it’s already beginning
to look like a really fun and exciting collection (with as little mention of
dead white men as possible!)
Events
Event Horizon runs on the last
Thursday of every month (except December, I’m in Thailand eating rice and
playing with elephants). January promises to be a banger!
I’ve also done a few readings
around and about, but keep your eyes on this space if you fancy coming to
future events and readings.
That’s
about all – go away! (I love you, don’t leave me)
Russell Jones
