Category: books

After The Event

On By Mick CanningIn A Persistence of Ghosts, books, promoting, writing30 Comments

Yeah, the book’s out. I’ve gone through the motions, but at the moment I feel I don’t really care what happens to the thing. I feel flat. Is this normal? I can’t remember if I’ve felt this way after publishing previous books. Perhaps it’s because it took so long this time around. I love the process of writing but the marketing sucks. I hate the feeling I’m pressurising people into buying something. Partly, I think, it’s a typically English sort of thing – I feel really embarrassed about self-promotion, about blowing my own trumpet. It’s ‘not what we do’.

Except, of course, we do. That’s just a caricature, really, although inevitably some of us do fit into that description. Some of this feeling I think is wanting to get on with a new project. A need to move on and explore something different. I’ve lived with the damned thing for so long, thought about it, talked about it, agonised over it, I just want to get stuck into something different! With no distractions.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m proud of the book. I’m pleased with how it turned out. The characters, the story arc…but I do hate the promotion. I suppose it’s a particularly personal thing; I was asked if I would do a book launch, to which I replied no, I wouldn’t. I don’t like reading in public, I wouldn’t really want to do a question and answer interview. That’s the introvert in me. But if a few people get to read it, and if they get something from it, then I guess I’ll be pleased. I know that doesn’t seem like much of a return for ten years’ work, but there you go.

But I find I’m writing notes frantically, and I’ve begun a small project, a poem, or perhaps short poem cycle, that I’ve had in mind for a while. And the notes will either end up as ‘zine articles, or even another novel.

Maybe both. Who can say?

The Other One…

On By Mick CanningIn books, Fiction, India, Making Friends with the Crocodile, publishing, Review7 Comments

I have been so focused upon getting A Persistence of Ghosts out into the world recently, that I sort of forgot I have other books. One of these is Making Friends with the Crocodile, which is another novel set in India, but this one focusing on Indian protagonists. Blogging friend Smitha recently bought a copy of this, and Smitha’s very generous review of the book can be found here.

The blurb:

There is an Indian proverb: If you live by the banks of a river, make friends with the crocodile.

Set in India, this is a novel about the corrosive relationship between a mother and daughter-in-law, and the position which women hold within that society. Siddiqa’s son has brought his new wife, Naira, to live with them, so Siddiqa is no longer the lowliest in the household, for she now has a daughter-in-law to assume that role. But when Naira accuses one of her husband’s friends of sexually assaulting her, all their lives begin to spiral out of control.

Go on, you know you want to!

A Persistence of Ghosts

On By Mick CanningIn A Persistence of Ghosts, books, Fiction, India, publishing, writing19 Comments

So, it’s gone out into the big wide world.

My new novel is released today. I don’t write many of the things and the last one came out ten years ago, so I guess this counts as an Event (note the capital letter).

Woohoo!

And I suppose I should tell you what it’s all about:

‘After Independence in 1947, Stephen Chapman’s family are one of the few British families who decide to stay on in India. Life in the peaceful Northern Indian hill station of Khodiganj goes on much the same as before, yet in 1951 his parents make the sudden decision to return to England and afterwards refuse to even talk about their time out there.
In 1988 Stephen returns to Khodiganj, determined to find out the reasons for their sudden leaving, even if those reasons might have been better kept hidden. And during the following weeks he finds he is drawn inexorably into the small English diaspora remaining there, with their own secrets and ghosts.’

And where to find it: It’s on Amazon, both as POD paperback and Kindle.

And for those of you in UK, you can order signed copies from my Etsy shop (if you’d like a dedication, message me), or just message me anyway and I’ll send it privately and take a quid off into the bargain (pay by PayPal).

Tell a friend or two. Spread the word!

And, of course, if you could leave a review somewhere, that would be most helpful!

A New Novel

On By Mick CanningIn A Persistence of Ghosts, books, Fiction, India, publishing, writing34 Comments

Well, it’s certainly been a while. Two complete revisions and countless edits – a total of ten years in the making! Just as well I don’t create series (unless you count the zines).

(cover mock-up)

So, the lowdown. The title of the book is A Persistence of Ghosts, and it is set in India, as was my first novel. But where the first novel was set on the North India plains, in a small village, this one is set in a fictitious hill station in the foothills of the Himalaya. Whereas the first one had an entirely Indian cast, this one deals with the British community who stayed on after Independence and their interactions (or not) with the Indians there. I’m planning on a release date of 18th August, although I might yet bring that forward (or push it back if the proof copy shows up a lot of errors!).

The tease:

After Independence in 1947, Stephen Chapman’s family are one of the few British families who decide to stay on in India. Life in the peaceful Northern Indian hill station of Khodiganj goes on much the same as before, yet in 1951 his parents make the sudden decision to return to England and afterwards refuse to even talk about their time out there. Then in 1988 Stephen returns to Khodiganj, determined to find out the reasons for their sudden leaving, even if those reasons might have been better kept hidden. And during the following weeks he finds he is drawn inexorably into the small English diaspora remaining there, with their own secrets and ghosts.

‘Information’ Overload

On By Mick CanningIn AI, artificial intelligence, books, comment, communication, internet, misinformation21 Comments

I’ve had this post in mind for a while without actually getting around to writing any of it. But I felt it would fit in well here, following on from my last post.

We are supposedly better informed today than we were twenty, fifty, a hundred years ago. I’m not sure I agree, though. Certainly, there is no lack of information available, and access to it couldn’t be any easier. In fact whatever you want to know, you can find it online. Anything. Whether it be true or false, it’s there online. And because all this information is easily available, and because billions of people have access to the internet, it can be spread incredibly far and wide in a tiny amount of time. It is certainly not just AI that has led to this. The internet was full of misinformation long before AI was an issue.

I heard a few years ago that university students were forbidden to use Wikipedia as a source for essays and research. The people who add information to Wikipedia do not have to be any kind of expert. There is a certain amount of checking, but I don’t know how rigorous it is. Certainly, it is not unknown for mistakes and deliberate falsehoods to be added. This is why I have never used it as an information source. At best I have found what I might be looking for on there, but then gone to a reliable site to check it. For medical information, for example, I would use the UK’s NHS site. For historical information, I might use a top university website, or a large museum’s. A site where the information will have been uploaded by experts and specialists.

YouTube seems to be ridiculously popular with huge numbers of people as an information source. There are, of course, YouTube channels by very reputable people and institutions, but also a huge number of ones which exist solely to spread misinformation and total lies. And while it may be easy to tell some of the bad ones from the good, that still leaves large numbers that might or might not be reputable.

The same is true of social media. Countless sites run by Holocaust deniers, Nazi sympathisers, and every sort of conspiracy theorist from Flat Earthers to those who believe the world is run by paedophile alien lizard people. Again, while most of these are obviously what they are, many are less so.

Why so many sites spreading disinformation? The first reason is that there are many people who believe the crazy conspiracy theories. I’m not getting into the hows and whys of this, but the psychology is interesting. But the second reason is money. Many of these sites are monetised, so that the more clicks they get, the more views, the more money the site owner ‘earns’. Probably a feeling of power, too.

And to return to AI briefly, if anyone is in any doubt that it will make things up or provide misinformation, should you ask an AI program for examples of misinformation from an AI program, it will provide them. Whichever way you look at that, it is proof.

The advent of physical self-publishing, too, has contributed to this, albeit less seriously. The vast majority of self-published books are fiction, but who is there to check the accuracy of the supposedly factual ones?

As difficult as it is to separate fact from fiction now, how will it be in five, ten, or twenty years down the line? Or a hundred? We already treat historical records with a certain amount of suspicion, aware that many of them will be biased or fabricated. I suspect that generations to come will decide it is impossible to be certain of anything that happened in these times.

In a way, they will be the new Dark Ages.

The Footpath Book

On By Mick CanningIn books, footpaths, walking, writing28 Comments

Once, I thought I’d write a footpath book, a guidebook for an area I walked frequently and knew well. As well as the practicalities of walking the paths – pointing out turnings that were easy to miss, alternative routes, the geography of the paths – I would also discuss the history and geology of the area, the wildlife and architecture, the folklore…

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of examples of these books.

But that, naturally, would require me to walk each path carefully noting every point at which I would need to remark on these details. But I know me. I would be coming up to a point where I knew I needed to take note of the vagaries of the route, or points of special interest, and then a mile or two later I’d realise I’d been working on a poem in my head and had forgotten all about the task in hand….I would just find it impossible to keep my focus on the technicalities while walking. And I don’t really do technicalities very well, anyway.

And to have to do this for every step of every part of these routes, well, it’s not what I do. While walking, I’m inclined to drift along, my mind wandering, my focus flitting from one thing to another – whatever catches my eye at the time.

It will just have to go down as another of my discarded projects. The footpath book is for someone else to write.

New Year New You Meh

On By Mick CanningIn books, New Year, reading, resolutions42 Comments

Anyone still following their New Year’s resolutions? Good on you. As a rule I don’t make them, but this year I have drawn up a bit of a list. Partly, this is a coincidence. I’m on Goodreads, and they encourage you to set a reading target for the year, which I usually do as I think it provides that little extra spur to get on with it when I don’t feel much like reading.

When I’m feeling a bit meh, for example.

But the timing of the Goodreads prompt, being at the start of the year, not unnaturally suggested I might compile a little list of targets in other areas, which I did, but which I’m not going to be foolish enough to share here. Anyway, those few of you who follow me on Goodreads might notice that the couple of books I’ve been reading so far this year are books I’ve read before. And that’s because one of the resolutions I’ve made is that I shall re-read lots of books this year that I have read and enjoyed in the past. Favourites of mine. Books that give me real pleasure to read. In fact, the TBR pile beside my bed is currently eight books, not including the one I’m reading, six of which I’ve read before.

Re-reading a book is always a good idea anyway, as one inevitably notices things one didn’t notice the first time around. But my motive is pleasure, pure and simple. I shall still read some new books this year, but I shall focus strongly on those I’ve read before that I love. We’re often told, in one way or another, that we ‘should’ read this or that book, or that it is an ‘essential’ read (I know I’ve been guilty of it myself in the past, and will no doubt do it again). Well, this year, those folk can shove off. And take their ‘essential’ reads with them.

New Year’s Resolution lists seem to be routinely full of ways to ‘improve’ the maker of the list – make them fitter, get a better job, etc etc – rather than simply to bring pleasure. And although that’s perfectly laudable, it’s important not to forget pleasure for its own sake. It’ll help us get through the year.

A Bit of Digging

On By Mick CanningIn books, family history, opinion, research47 Comments

Well, they arrived yesterday.

I have finally got my family history book formatted and printed, and I reckon it looks quite decent. So all I need to do now is to get it posted out to family members.

While researching all this, I naturally made a lot of discoveries. Some were certainly more unexpected than others, though. From previous research my father had done, we already suspected that my great grandfather had changed his name, possibly on a whim, from Prater to Canning. I was able to confirm this by, amongst other things, a comparison of various dates of birth in his family. This immediately removes the possibility of my searching back to see whether my name has any noble / famous / important roots. This is something that matters a lot to some people, although obviously only along the male line, which is why it seems to matter much more to men.

Although I turned it up too recently for the book, I have learned details about my father’s life in WWII which I would otherwise never have come to know. I had no idea – and seemingly nor had anyone else in the family – that from 1940 until joining the regular army in 1943 and being posted to India and Burma, he had been part of what had been dubbed ‘Churchill’s Secret Army’, soldiers trained to operate behind enemy lines in the event of a German invasion of Britain. Fulfilling the same role as the French Resistance, they would have carried out acts of sabotage and hit-and-run attacks to slow the enemy advance. it was only after that threat had receded that he joined the ‘Regulars’.

And then, less unexpectedly, there were the stories of extreme hardship: the early deaths, the poverty, the workhouse, tuberculosis and pleurisy…

Of course, if it was possible to search back far enough, we would all find we had a common early human ancestor, which gives the lie to the importance of race.

Does any of this research really matter? Well, in some ways, no. Does it sound crazy if I say that despite all my work, it does not matter that much to me? I’m very much in two minds over this. A lot of this felt more like an intellectual exercise than a personal quest. It was interesting to find out where my great grandparents and their parents had lived, for this felt just close enough to be a part of me. But before them? And especially when I could discover nothing more than their names and some vague dates? No, not really. Throughout this project I have been especially keen to be able to put names to old photographs, for this seemed the only way to make these people come alive again, or at least begin to. That I’ve been able to positively identify some of them feels more satisfying than pushing a line back another hundred years, although I do have nearly every branch back at least to the 1700’s, but in every case it is the stories I’ve found out about these people that matter.

But back to my question. Does any of this research matter? I do think it has the potential to bring us a little closer to our families by emphasising our shared history, and I’ve greatly enjoyed long discussions with cousins about our various researches and discoveries. But beyond that? Well, I’ve enjoyed learning the social history involved with my family, the realities of how people actually lived in the towns and countryside over the last few hundred years. And as well as emphasising my connection to my extended family it has also, as I wrote a few month ago, given me a greater sense of connection to the land where I live.

I have enjoyed exploring the past, but I’m not going to live there.

At Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival

On By Mick CanningIn books, Exhibitions, Literary festival, Tunbridge Wells30 Comments

Tunbridge Wells now boasts a literary festival. Over four days this year it hosts talks from well-known writers such as Michael Rosen, Michael Parkinson and Sheila Hancock. But not just the big names.

Yesterday was the day local writers could book a table and hawk their wares. It’s been some time since I’ve taken part in one of these, in fact, I’ve only done it once before, I think. When I used to regularly have paintings in exhibitions, I spent a lot of time essentially doing the same thing – chatting to other painters, talking to members of the public who might buy a painting and generally ‘networking’ (I still find that a slightly silly word). Although talking about Making Friends with the Crocodile did have another effect – it reminded me again that I’m beginning to feel I ought to take one final trip to India, sometime.

Anyway, I think I should probably do one of these more often. Did I sell armfuls of books? No, but I sold a few. I had some good conversations with members of the public and other writers, It also seems to have the effect of energising my commitment to writing, which is something that happened to my painting at exhibitions, too. Talking about my books and projects encourages me to focus afresh on them and, basically, get my finger out and get on with it, which can’t be a bad thing.

So, I’d better get on with it.

Review of Shadowlands by Matthew Green

On By Mick CanningIn books, Matthew Green, Non fiction, Review, Shadowlands, UK, writing14 Comments

In this book Matthew Green charts the decline and eventual abandonment of eight British settlements; a diverse selection ranging from the Stone Age settlement of Skara Brae in the Orkneys, through several Medieval villages and cities and up to the twentieth century, to an area emptied of its inhabitants during the Second World War and a village that was abandoned when the valley it inhabited was flooded to create a reservoir – although in that case ‘abandoned’ is the wrong word, since that particular story is a harrowing tale of folk driven from their homes at the diktat of decision makers far away, not even of their own country.

In each chapter he tells the story of the decline of the settlement drawing upon written records for all but the oldest, Skara Brae, for which he relies upon archaeological evidence, and some of the more recent, for which he uses a mixture of eye-witness accounts and the testimonies of those who had heard their stories at first hand. Of all the stories here, that of Dunwich is probably the most famous, with its myths of bells from long-drowned churches being heard far out under the waves, although the popular description of Dunwich as a ‘drowned city’ is inaccurate, as it fell away into the sea as the cliffs beneath it were eroded away. But much is known of Dunwich, with many extant records and maps of the city, enabling Matthew to chart its decline and eventual end in some detail.

Hirta is the biggest island of the St Kilda archipelago and was occupied for at least two thousand years until 1930, when the final thirty six islanders voted to leave. By then, most of the families and younger residents had left for the mainland, and their traditional way of life had become unsustainable. Until a couple of hundred years ago the islanders were virtually cut off from the rest of Scotland, due to the distance and the difficulty of making a landing at the island. Existing almost exclusively on a diet of seabirds (remarkably, they were apparently lousy fishermen!), the islanders lived a remarkably difficult life and it is no surprise that as they were exposed more and more to the outside world, more and more of the islanders opted to leave for a better life.

I found I was drawn deep into these stories not just because I found them so fascinating, but also because of Matthew’s skilful and easy style. A very well researched and beautifully presented book, I’d definitely give it five stars out of five.