15/12/2007
A Christmas Story for you
So here's a little ditty with a Christmas theme for you - I hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry to announce that there won't be any physical gifts dropping through the letterbox this year - I just don't have the cash. Still, if you all buy copies of 13:55 for your friends for Christmas then maybe next year your luck will be better;-) Have a great holiday everyone. Love Nick.
Cold Turkey
It never ceases to amaze him, that thing that life does, how quickly it can switch from one state to another. A year ago, for example, he had been happily married - and that was no cliche: he had been married, and happy with it. And then one Friday evening he came home, and life did that thing that it does. He had fish and chips under one arm, and a bottle of Fitou in his hand, and he was jangling his keys and Melissa was waiting for him on the couch - as expected - only Tony, the guy from over the road - his squash partner - was there too.
<more here>
5/11/2007
Four new shorts
So I finally managed to stop knocking walls around for a moment and do some writing. Amazing how hard it is to get down to writing after such a long break. Amazing how much willpower it takes to actually sit and pick up a pen!.
Anyway, the beast is back in gear and lurching somewhat hesitantly down the road again - and here's the result, a few little ditties wot I wrote.
Do tell me what you think!
Story 1: Californian Haggis
It is colder up here than he had thought it would be. Of course, he knew that the Poconos were gonna be cold in winter. He had those photos of he and Gina with the snow-capped mountains in the background to remind him of that. But he had somehow romanticized the idea of the cold and in doing so had reduced it to crisp glittering frost and whisky nightcaps and log-fires - images which have nothing to do with the dirty melting sludge outside his doorway, or the fact that he can see his breath as he tries to get the damp kindling in the fireplace to light.
<more here>
Story 2: A Million Years Of Evolution
“Cute,” he had said - it was true, that was the word he had used - and it would probably haunt him to the grave. The gay guy who thinks the dormice are, “cute,” would be his handle for evermore, at least within the bounds of this tiny village.
Certainly, he couldn't seem to cross paths with anyone these days without one of them saying the word cute, in some context or another. “Oh, the cottage will be so cute when you've finished,” or “it used to be so cute when Annie lived here - she had roses around the door,” or sometimes, less subtly, “how are you getting on with the cute dormice?”
And the truth was that he wasn't getting on with them at all. And he wasn't finding them cute anymore.
<more here>
Story 3: Cold And Dry
Kelly lowers the final bag of shopping into the boot of the car and stretches her back which - at the mere thought of unloading at the other end - is starting to ache. She turns to the caddy for the wine. The shopping is heavy, but it is the wine - four bottles in each mini-crate - that she hates carrying the most. And she's sick of shopping which is unusual for her, but Christmas, well, the list just goes on and on.
<more here>
Story 4: That Thing that Life Does
It never ceases to amaze him, that thing that life does, how quickly it can switch from one state to another. A year ago, for example, he had been happily married - and that was no cliche: he had been married, and happy with it. And then one Friday evening he came home, and life did that thing that it does. He had fish and chips under one arm, and a bottle of Fitou in his hand, and he was jangling his keys and Melissa was waiting for him on the couch - as expected - only Tony, the guy from over the road - his squash partner - was there too.
“We have something to tell you,” she had said, and he had known immediately what it was.
<more here>
28/8/2007
Any Angels in America?
If you live in the states or you know anyone who does, I really need your help.
My wonderful book distributor (sorry, distributor!) Bookazine, has taken a whole pile of my books in the hope that US sales will at least equal UK sales. The market there, is, after all, five times bigger. But despite all of the rave reviews that 13:55 EST got in the UK, I have so far been unable to get a single mention in any US newspaper/magazine. They just don't seem interested in a new English writer.
The result is that sales so far in the US have been truly pitiful - and we're talking single digits here!
The big problem for me is that if things don't pick up Bookazine will have no choice but to send the stock back to me! Eek.
So please, if you know anyone in the US please tell them about my books.
They are available from Amazon and can be ordered from any bookstore in the US/Canada.
And if you live in the US, please tell your friends, the library, and the local bookstore (or even buy a copy!).
And if you work for a magazine, well... I will, as they say, do anything for a mention ;-)
Help!
7/6/200713:55 Eastern Standard Time released into the wild.
In order to be able to write I have to temporarily suspend judgment about what I'm doing. It's just not possible to sit down and create something from scratch with that nagging devil on the shoulder saying, “Hum, this isn't very good, is it?” so I have to shut him up. It's a bit like the process they teach you for Zen meditation - you hear the distraction, acknowledge it, and gently tell it to shut up before pulling your mind back to the task in question. (I didn't stick at Zen meditation for very long - the local group seemed overly obsessed by burning innocence, ringing bells and strutting around in flapping robes which, though fun, didn't strike me as very Zen…)
So the process is - silence the devil, write the chapter, and repeat until the book is actually finished. Of course once the book is finished, the devil springs back to life with a vengeance. “What a waste of time - its crap,” he invariably says. It paralyses me and makes me totally incapable of judging my own work, so I have to turn to trusted friends to see if the egg that I have laid is a viable one. Amazingly, only once others start to tell me what is good about a work am I able to begin to see it myself.
After months of polishing and corrections, the book of course has to go out to a far wider audience - including book reviews. And that is a whole different level of stress. So far, thanks be, reviews of 13:55 Eastern Standard Time have been extremely positive (check them out here). After endless frustrations trying (and failing) to get a book review in The Guardian, (I only ever seem to get reviews in the gay press) I recently got involved in a fairly heated Guardian discussion about straight attitudes to gay fiction- you can check it out here. And one of the criticisms that was thrown at me (there were many) was my “obsession” with reviews, as though this demonstrates some failing on my part. Of course, it does demonstrate a failing - a lack of confidence, an over-eager desire to please, but are these really such bad faults to have? I think about the alternative - writing in a void, disinterested in what anyone else thinks about my work, and I truly wouldn't want to be that person.
Copies of 13:55 Eastern Standard Time are available now from all major bookstores or from BIGfib direct.
23/4/2007
Some Good News....
The print problems with, 13:55 Eastern Standard Time, appear to have been solved, and a big box of books is winging it's way towards me care of UPS. So I should be posting copies to everyone who ordered on the BIGfib website by the end of the month.
What's more, I got an email from Time Out magazine telling me that the reviewer loved the book and that they are printing a full, and glowing review. So that's great news.
Now all I need is a review in The Times and The Guardian, and I might even be able to pay the electricity bill....
12/4/2007
If anything can go wrong....
Initial copies of my new book, 13:55 Eastern Standard Time, arrived today - printing errors and all. For some bizarre technological reason - as yet unexplained - there are random italic letters throughout the text, most irritating. So, you guessed it, they won't be shipping as promised by April the 15th. The extra delay shouldn't be more than 10 days though, so I still hope you'll have them by the end of the month. Sorry! Order your copy now... here.
30/3/2007
Shipping by the 15th of April! 13:55 Eastern Standard Time.
My new book, 13:55 Eastern Standard Time, a collection of interlinked short stories will be available from major bookstores in June. Advance, signed copies will be shipping by the 15th of April - learn more, read excerpts, or better still (!) order your copy now... here.
5/12/2006
Roll Up, Roll Up, Get your cheap copies here.
I recently donated three dedicated copies of my novels to the World Aids Day auction organised by Prowler UK. Unfortunately, due to lack of publicity, or maybe lack of interest, there have been no bids whatsoever on my three novels... Whatever the reason, it's not very flattering!! Anyway, if you want to pick up all three books for two quid, and help the Terrence Higgins Trust at the same time, just click here. If you don't want them for yourself, why not get them as a holiday gift for someone? It's all for a good cause, after all. But be quick. The auction ends today!!
4/12/2006
Great review in Time Out.
The current Time Out Magazine (london issue) printed a lovely review of Good Thing, Bad Thing. If you don't mind knowing the plot of the book (the review contains numerous plot spoilers) you can read Paul Burston's lovely words online here, or you can buy it in kiosks until Wednesday.
17/10/2006
Good Thing, Bad Thing released early.
Good Thing, Bad Thing, is now available through general distribution (ie from Amazon etc) and I am assured that even though the official launch date is in December both Amazon UK and Amazon USA are now shipping copies. For purchasing options please click here.
Good Thing, Bad Thing, is now also available in Ebook format - A PDF file for immediate download.
