Wednesday 22 August 2012

The Paradox Of Publication Day

The official UK publication date of my new book, Come the Fear, is August 30. Yet last week, even before I received my author copies of the novel from the publisher, a friend in America already has hers, ordered from Book Depository and sent airmail. Other people I know have received pre-ordered copies.

That’s fine. I’m grateful to anyone and everyone who spends their money on a copy, but it does create a small paradox. There are bloggers and reviewers who’ve timed their release of pieces around the publication date. But when copies are already being shipped, how relevant does that publication date become?

In the greater scheme of things, of course, this is nothing, not even a trifle. But it certainly leaves me wondering. Anyway, now’s the books been released to the wild, I hope some of you will read it and enjoy it. Remember, too, that if you’re in Leeds on September 14, the launch for the book will be at Arts@Trinity on Boar Lane at 7.30 pm.

Monday 6 August 2012

Music, Politics...And Pussy Riot

Music has been a form of protest for centuries. A glance through any folk song collection reveals that, with people railing against injustice and laws that punished the poor but never touched the rich.

In the 20th century – the era when recordings really began and started to be commercially available, and the radio let thousands listen to something that otherwise might only have been heard by a few – Woody Guthrie, the Dust Bowl balladeer whose centenary was celebrated last month , had a guitar that killed fascist and words that described the plight of those who had little and lost everything anyway as the bankers grew fat.

Bob Dylan, who at the start of his career was very much Woody’s heir, made his reputation as a protest singer, coming out of the very politically aware folk revival (on both sides of the Atlantic) in the 1950s and early ‘60s.

After that, it was reggae and punk that took up the mantle, with Bob Marley, a longtime champion of the underdog becoming a global superstar, and bands like the Clash and others spitting out words of venom against a heavily weighted system. From there, jump to Crass, Chumbawamba, the modern folkies and…Pussy Riot.

The Russian women have taken a stand in a country and time where that’s politically dangerous. It’s easy to be a critic in the fairly liberal air of the West, but in Putin’s Russia words carry huge power. Their actions have been deliberate, their primary-colour appearances cartoon-like with the deliberate anonymity of balaclavas. Anyone could be Pussy Riot; they’re speaking for millions over there.

And now three of them are in court for their actions, for the ‘crime’ of performing a song that dares to suggest Putin should go in a church. It’s sacrilege. But in an Internet world, everything is broadcast, Tweeted and disseminated in minutes. We know what’s happening in their trial, how they’re being treated, and the fact that, on the surface, the trial is a politically motivated farce intended to stifle any opposition to Putin. The man himself told the British PM, David Cameron, that he thought the woman should be punished lightly. It’s an astute move. If the judge gives a very light sentence, then the power of Putin over the courts is obvious. If not, then he can shrug and insist that the judicial system is independent and there’s nothing he can do to influence it.

But the fact that so many people around the world know and care about what’s happening in this courtroom in Russia, that these women have become a focal point, shows that music can still carry a punch far beyond its weight, that it still matters, and that the art of the protest song, whether satirical, veiled, or blunt as a fist in knuckle dusters, is still vital to the well-being of society.

For all the talk of the Olympians competing in London being heroes, these women are the real heroes of 2012. They knew from the start exactly what they risked. They’re putting their freedom on the line to stand up and be counted. And that’s worth remembering and praising. Be glad that we live in a time when we can all learn exactly what’s happening and see the system exposed for the sick, totalitarian sham that it really is.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Let Good News Abound

It’s a time when good news seems to abound (and, aptly, it's Yorkshire Day). The other week, up in Leeds, I was showing my son the interior of Holy Trinity Church, which dates from the times of my Leeds novels. It suddenly struck me that this would be the ideal place for the launch of the fourth in the series, Come the Fear. After a quick word with the venue director – it’s now called Trinity Arts – things were set in motion, and a week ago everything was confirmed. There will be readings from the book by young actors, storytelling from a couple of England’s top storytellers – Shonaleigh and Simon Heywood (who’ll celebrate their marriage just two weeks before) – along with music and artwork from young artists inspired by passages from the novel. Hopefully a great evening’s entertainment, and for anyone around Leeds on the evening of September 14, come on down.

And then, yesterday, my publisher made an offer, which I accepted, for the next book in the series, At the Dying of the Year, which will be published February 2013 in the UK (June in the US). I’m thrilled. It was a difficult book to write, very emotional and draining. I won’t say why, but I will let slip that it’s the fifth in the Leeds series. Whether Richard Nottingham himself is in it – my mouth’s zipped, and if you read Come the Fear you’ll know why.

On top of that, I’m working on the publisher’s edits for the first of my Seattle books, Emerald City, which will appear as a simultaneous ebook and audiobook in the next few months and waiting to hear the audiobook version of The Broken Token. I feel as if I’m beginning to make at least a little headway. It’s been a long, hard slog, but when I finish something and feel that it’s good, it’s all worthwhile.