Glom of Nit Newsletter #issue 5
Hi there and, I guess ... happy New Year? If it still can be considered either happy or a new year, given world events (particularly in the UK), because this month has been absolutely exhausting, pretty much whereever you live. Unless you live in New Zealand, in which case whoop-de-doo for you, and I hope you enjoy your beautiful scenery, liltingly pleasant accent, dry wit and enviably liberal government you absolute bastards.
Let's do some admin first!
THINGS I'VE WRITTEN THIS MONTH - relatively slim pickings due to working on two books and also struggling a bit with ... *gestures outside*. I did find time to write this review of the Bowie sort-of-biopic Stardust for Hey U Guys. I'll have a few more pieces turning up there in the coming weeks. Stardust isn't as bad as it could have been, and isn't as good as it should have been. It made me want to watch Tod Hayne's Velvet Goldmine again, a film, like Labyrinth, absolutely despised by a certain generation of Bowie fans and completely adored by another. *
MAGIC OF TERRY PRATCHETT UPDATE - I'm having a FEBRUARY SALE on my webstore, and for this month only you can get a signed hardback for £12. I feel a bit conflicted about this, because people have bought it at a higher price since last summer but ... that is how capitalism works, isn't it? You sell at full price, then you do Christmas, and then you put it on sale to try and tempt the people who have resisted so far. Feel free to send me a ranty Tweet about this.** In other news, we're finally back in stock at Amazon which is a massive relief, because as much as they're not necessarily a force for good in the world, Amazon itself is a sad necessity for an author these days. Magic ... sold out in November, and not having the book available there over Christmas was ... well, let's just say I was a teeny bit grumpy about it. As ever, if you're unwaged or struggling financially in some way and would like a PDF or slightly-foxed copy, please drop me a line and we'll see what we can do.
There's also been a couple of nice reviews as the book finds its way around the world (we're out in Australia now, which is exciting). The Canberra Times posted this lovely write-up, which bafflingly slips in a blatant advert for JK Rowling's Quidditch Through The Ages, which did throw me a little. I'll also grudgingly forgive them the misspelling of my name. This review from the Tea Leaves and Reads blog made me very happy ("Marc Burrows has done Sir Terry a great service. Heavily researched and well documented. Thank you Marc for bringing another piece of Terry into my home." -you're very welcome!) In the US there was also this nice write up from Booklist. Nice to get a bit of industry approval. Lastly in "press corner", just before Christmas I recorded an appearance on the Pratchat podcast to talk about Terry's lesser-known short story The Sea and Little Fishes. We squeezed quite a lot out of that. Ben and Liz are genuinely brilliant.
For those asking about an audiobook - there's finally going to be some movement on that. We're going to bring the paperback out in the autumn, and I'm hoping the audiobook will drop around the same time. Narrated by me, because I'm all I can afford.
MONTHLY MUSINGS
Last night I caught my wife giving me an amused, slightly suspicious look. "Go on, tell me then", she said
"What?"
"I know that look. It means you're thinking about a book you're writing and something just happened. I always know."
She was right. She usually is. In truth, most of my brain space is taken up with processing book stuff at the minute. We're getting to the consuming and distracted stage of The London Boys, my upcoming book about the parallel, criss-crossing careers of David Bowie and Marc Bolan. (In this case, I'd just received an email from Allan Warren, one of Bolan's early managers, confirming he was up for an interview.) The book is really taking a shape in my head now, though I'm sure that shape will warp and twist as I actually write the bloody thing.
I've always known that I didn't want The London Boys to be two biographies pressed together. There are any number of excellent Bowie and Bolan books available, and while I think I've got some interesting things to say, I'm not sure I'd be adding much to the straight*** biography pile. I've always wanted this to be more of a social history, tracing London's changing face as the contrast is dialed up from the post-war Blitzed-out, sepia city to the glittery explosion of Glam in the early 70s. The sexual, cultural, musical, magical revolutions of that era. Studying these two men has really underlined that for me. It's also a story, I'm increasingly sure, about class. The cast of characters have very different backgrounds — the solidly working class Bolan, Steve Took, the lower-middle class drop-out, Bowie, thrown out to suburbia in Bromley, occupying a fairly comfortable if unfrilly rung of the social ladder. The street-smart "Brooklyn Boy", Tony Visconti, the more travelled and adventurous Angie, the well-manicured, solidly white collar Ken Pitt and Simon Napier-Bell ... It made for very different interpretations and ambitions when it came to stardom and art. A perfect storm of working class dreamers and grifters, affluent, middle class, well-spoken (usually gay) managers and firebrand American imports. Throw in the contraceptive pill, the sudden availability of fabrics, materials and art rationed in the war-time years, and the graduation to adulthood of the world's first true generation of Teenagers and you get an absolutely unique time of social acceleration. Just like society went from horseback cavalry in World War I to the atom bomb in World War II, just as it took less than 70 years to progress from the invention of the airplane to landing on the actual Moon, the pace of change and development can be absurd. Those two young men were at the heart of a similar afterburner thrust. It's fascinating.
SOUND AND VISION: Recommendations
The Anchoress: The Art of Losing
Title track from Catherine AD's upcoming album. I was fortunate to hear an advance of the album, which I genuinely think is stunning. It's one of the albums of the year, without question. I'd put money on a Mercury nomination now. The title-track is gorgeous.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK
Absolutely and completely the thing I need on telly right now, and a clear wig-and-shoulders above the current season of it's US mothership. There is so much life and light in this show, and this group of queens is as strong as any assembled. Anyone claiming low-rent trash is in for a 1,000 word lecture in their inbox. My money is on Tayce, by the way.
Wandavision
Look, I know everyone is watching Wandavision. But I still want to take a moment to appreciate it, because it's a hell of a big swing. There's something really exciting about watching a franchise, band, TV show or writer hitting their imperial phase, and believe me that's where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is right now. That is a creative unit operating with extreme confidence, throwing completely mad ideas at the screen. In this case, distilling the most successful superhero movies ever and spinning them off into authentic period sitcoms. I guess if you going to convert to telly, you should lean in. I can't wait to see where this goes next.
Hatful Of Holloway
A covers compilation of London artists put together to raise money to support The Lamb, a lovely pub on Holloway Road struggling with the lockdown. My own band, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, contributed a cover of The Kink's 'Victoria', which we'd been playing on our last tour. The money all goes to support The Lamb ... at least, the bits that don't got to Ray Davies.
I think that's all I've got in me for now – please do drop me a line with any observations or enquiries (unless they're about typos), either by email reply or on Twitter and will see you next month.
Marc
* The verdict from David himself was "I thought the gay bits were good". Velvet Goldmine, that is, not Labyrinth. Although it's equally true of both films.
** I've also spent the morning trying to rewire my postal costs to account for Brexit. I think it all works. I've also added tracked shipping options.
*** "Straight." Ha.