Authors Electric

Just Published by The Book Mill No biographer should write anything for love - biographies are expensive to write and they promote the work and life of someone else, taking time and effort away from your own writing.  But, I've just spent two years of what little life I might have left writing about someone else, spending money on air fares, train tickets and hotel rooms which I will probably never get back.  I reckon I've probably spent the best part of £10,000, if you add in the permission fees and the printing costs.  Does that shock you? When I was approached by the Trustees of the Norman Nicholson literary estate, they (and I) hoped that the book would be funded by one of the big publishers.  Norman was one of the Faber poets and had been published as a prose author by Robert Hale and Penguin.  But publishing has changed massively in the last five years and there's been a seismic shift in attitude to literary biography. Unless there is some kind of m...

First of all, why are you here when you could be enjoying the wonderful Edinburgh eBook Festival ? Second, this has been a month dominated by a fever of around 40 degrees that has seen most of it spent in delirium (such as one day and night long episode when I was convinced that the Peak District had been made illegal and kept screaming out "but it won't go away"), followed by utter exhaustion. Which means my productive time has been somewhat curtailed, so forgive whatever rambling comes out. Nonetheless, this state of affairs has chimed in with a series of articles that has appeared recently in the Guardian triggered by the release of " The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink ", and also my recent reading, in preparation for hosting an event with the author at Waterstones (have they made their official minds up about the apostrophe yet?) Piccadilly, of Taipei by Tao Lin, one of today's most famously and unashamedly drug-fuelled writers. Not to mentio...

Pure, White and Deadly, by John Yudkin           This is a review of two books.           They have little connection with Authors Electric's usual subject of independent publishing, but as I've spent years watching this poison damage the health of my family, I feel strongly on the subject and want as many people as possible to hear of these books. So I post here, to a larger audience, rather than on my own Nennius blog .           I know I shall probably be accused of being a kill-joy, but I think people should have the information in these books - to ignore if they choose. But an uninformed or misled choice, is no choice at all.           I was haunted in the supermarket recently. In almost every aisle, a voice whispered in my ear, “Pure. White. And deadly.”         ...

Susan Jane Smith, B.Sc.            Do you believe all children in the world deserve and need the following  (extracted from my book “ Emotional Health For Emotional Wealth ” )?              Freedom from fear.           Freedom from inflicted physical pain – that means no hitting or kicking them;  no burning them (including stubbing cigarettes out on their bodies), not being knifed or shot.           Freedom from imprisonment in their homes (no shutting in cupboards or cages, no tying up).           Freedom from neglect – not living with inadequate parents/carers who do not provide three nutritionally-balanced meals every day. Not living with drug takers or alcoholics, not having to take care of an adult who is physicall...