Authors Electric

  Definition: Laptop hoboes tap into free Wi-Fi at coffeeshops or restaurants, commandeering tables with power outlets and sometimes parking for hours on end.                                                                     ***** There is no truth to the rumor that author Julia Jones has said she'd rather die than be a laptop hobo in any MacDonald's or Starbucks. But we can imagine the aversion of AE's most elegant writer to the thought of writing that way. On the other hand, Wendy H Jones plugs in anywhere when on the road--a trait she shares with such great vagabonds as the late Jan Needle and Hunter S Thompson. It's a well-known fact around the globe that Wendy was born wearing vagabond shoes. I admire the works of both Joneses. But, as a longtime hobo who loves to work in cafes, I share Wendy's penchant for ...

Jan Needle - Baxter Ferret or Boddington Stoat? * Reposted from 9 May 2014 * In memory and appreciation of Jan Needle, 1943--2023 When I was making  plans for a party to celebrate the new edition of Jan Needle's Wild Wood  I began to fantasize about asking all the guests to arrive dressed as the character who most closely resembled their secret self.  The male guests would have had a generous choice: the Big Four from Wind in the Willows -- Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad ( and perhaps Otter for the more elusive spirits) and then Wild Wood 's dour ideologue Boddington Stoat, flamboyant champagne  socialist,   O.B.Weasel, geriatric Harrison Ferret and any number of old sea rats and enthusiastic volunteers. I would be Wild Wood 's Daisy Ferret, the tyrannical illogical mother, always ready to lash out with her ladle at any furry offspring within range while dimpling at O.B.Weasel's waistcoat and raising ...

The Carpenter and Other Stories  Years ago, more than forty of 'em, I landed a year as a writing fellow at a teaching college in Scarborough. I apologise to the college. Young and inexperienced as I was, I didn't shine as a fellow. In fact, I think the only reason I got the place was because as soon as I saw the calibre of the other applicants, I gave up all hope of getting the job. (One was, for instance, Authors Electric's very own Jan Needle, who would have made a far better fellow in every way than me. Sorry, Jan.) Knowing that I had no chance took all the pressure off and I decided to just practice my interview technique. When called in to meet 'the board,' I was relaxed and chatty and rather looking forward to a cuppa at the train station. Only towards the end of the interview did I start to read the glances the interviewing board were shooting each other and realised, with cold horror, that they might actually choose me. I knew I'd be no good but, if...

Lying Doggo by Jan Needle Most   people use this blog   more or less non-politically. Which is probably a good idea. However, there comes a time when politics seems impossible to avoid. Such as now, for instance. The way I see it, Britain, and possibly the whole world, is moving towards a pre-fascistic state. In America we have Donald Trump, of whom the least said the better, but England, rather than Britain,   seems hell bent on catching up. My father would probably have disagreed, but I always assumed we were a pretty moral nation. Or as Tony Blair once put it (key hollow laugh) 'pretty straight'. But what can   one make of a government that appears to be run by a man who does not apparently know the difference between truth and lies? Who has as his ’Sidekick’ a person who expects us to believe the way to get an eye test is to drive three dozen miles with a baby in his car. Presumably, if all goes well, his eyes are fine. If not – so what? A governme...