Authors Electric

  People who’ve read previous posts of mine will know I have a deep love of music, primarily classical but other genres as well. It forms a permanent soundtrack to my life, and provides a palette of colours as a background. See, I have synaesthesia. I ‘see’ colours when I hear music (well, all sound, really, but music is much more overt). It’s not something I’ve spent much about – I was in my twenties before I realised it wasn’t the normal state of being for people, and that it had a specific name. All I knew up to then was it was easy to tell when my guitar was in tune as each open string was a specific colour. I say I ‘see’ the colours, but that’s probably a simplification. It’s not the same as seeing something visually, as closing my eyes makes no difference – I still get the same images as I do with eyes open. It was earlier this year, when the BBC Proms were on, when my wife discovered that when I talked about the different colours of the music, I was being lite...

The invisible bookshelf - do you have one? I do.      There are writers you know about, whose work you are definitely going to read 'one day' because, yes, you know it will be rewarding, which is why you put them on the invisible bookshelf in the first place, but somehow, you never get round to it. Leslie Wilson, who wrote the poignant Young Adult novel, set in Hitler's Germany: 'Last Train From Kummersdorf' has been one of these. She's a colleague, no, a friend , and I'd never read her - shameful.      I will, I will, I promised myself - but never did. Then her new book: 'Malefice' , was posted on Facebook. I was intrigued by its cover image, seduced by hints of evil, witchcraft, magic, impressed by its recommendation from the illustrious Hilary Mantel, and hey! it came in a Kindle edition - irresistible! Dear readers, I bought it.      There are times when a work of art - a novel, a poem, a painting - seems to echo p...