The Folded Man – Matt Hill

by Caroline Smailes on May 16, 2013

I am thrilled, proud and a little bit tearful to be welcoming my friend Matt Hill to my blog. His debut, ‘The Folded Man’ is published TODAY.

the_folded_man_front‘The Folded Man’ was named runner-up in the fiercely competitive 2012 Dundee International Book Prize by a judging panel including Stephen Fry and Philip Pullman. Of the novel, Stephen Fry said, ‘THE FOLDED MAN captures the smell and essence of Britain through its main character, his desires, addictions and strange courage. Written with direct vividness that keeps one inside its totally realised world.’

And I met Matt many years ago because of writing, written words helped us become friends. His skill comes from his mind-blowing imagination and his ability to dance across genres. He is talented, his writing is original and, in simple terms, ‘The Folded Man’ is like nothing I’ve read before.

‘The Folded Man’ is set in Manchester, in 2018, in a rotten city that has been devastated by war. The promise of a prosperous North is gone, nationalism runs riot. The first industrial city is dying – its people have been left to fend for themselves.

And living amongst the neglect and chaos is Brian Meredith – a socially awkward being, an addict, a wheelchair-bound man who hates his very existence. And, it possibly doesn’t help that Brian is a mermaid – or at least he thinks he is.

This is a remarkable debut, Brian Meredith is an unforgettable character. He is a modern day, working class, J. Alfred Prufrock, on drugs. And this sharp satire has all the makings of a modern classic. ‘The Folded Man’ is one to own, to read, and then to reread in 2018 when we’ll all discover that Matt Hill is possibly a wizard.

And to celebrate the launch of ‘The Folded Man’, and to make sure we all visit before 2018, Matt Hill has listed the top eight things that he loves most about Manchester:

MH_portraitI left Manchester last summer but still go there in my fiction – mainly through Street View and those funny little memory-maps you layer up over time. Here are eight things I love most.

1. Fab Cafe

The only place in the world that’ll serve you Super Noodles on toast with your pint. It’s basically a shrine to Gerry Anderson – everywhere you look there’s a Thunderbirds model dangling from the ceiling. Then there’s the Dalek, STAR WARS arcade cabinets, a DJ booth modelled on the Enterprise bridge. And endless curio from countless other SF/fantasy galaxies. Sticky floors, crap draught beers, totally brilliant.

2. Beetham Tower

The Beetham hasn’t been standing all that long, but it’s hard to imagine Manchester’s landscape without it. It’s obnoxious, grey, slabby, totemic; all roads seem to lead to it. And it has its own great stories: cannabis farms high up in swanky flats; exhibitionists doing terrible things against floor-to-ceiling windows; the full-grown tree up in the penthouse; the eerie howl it makes in high winds. I’m slightly obsessed with it (which is possibly why I’ve blown it up in the book).

3. Pulling into Manchester Piccadilly by train

Piccadilly is familiar however long you’ve been away. You know you’re close – home – when you see the Etihad stadium, the scrubland near Ashburys. It’s a good feeling, however silly that sounds. (There used to be another marker out there, too – an ace sculpture called B of the Bang – but that was made from metal spikes that started falling off so they pulled it down.)

4. Being close to the countryside

I grew up east of Manchester, where the counties start to rub against each other. You’ve got reservoirs, blank hills, awesome roads, crisp air – all about 20 minutes’ drive away.

5. Castlefield

Beyond the arches at the far end of Deansgate, the canal opens up into a basin, locks and all. Loads of inoffensive nicey-nice pubs and bars as you’d expect, but there’s plenty of grass and open space for disposable barbecues and bumming about next to the water. It looks ace in winter, too, when the water freezes and petrifies barges for days at a time. I like a nice barge.

6. The John Rylands Library

Deansgate has its own charm: Victorian brick, preserved warehouse fascias, a deceptive length (I’m still unsure about how long it takes to walk end to end). But if Beetham Tower is its showpiece, the modern-city centrepiece, the John Rylands Library is the ornate locket it keeps to its chest. It’s a beautiful building.

7. The Knott Bar

It’s a strange pub this — a sort of cross between a shed and a greenhouse that some lunatic fastened to the underside of a viaduct. Still, loads of ales and the best bangers and mash in the world make this my favourite pub in the world as well.

8. Northern chatterboxes

A lot of people don’t like being called ‘love’. I don’t mind it, though. Actually, Manchester types, for the most part, take their time to say hello and ask how you are. Usually with one word: ‘alright?’ – but always earnestly. It makes buying a pint or two of milk a nicer experience – I’d hate for that to change.

*

About Matt Hill: Matt Hill was born in 1984 and grew up in Tameside, Greater Manchester. After completing a journalism degree at Cardiff University, he trained as a copywriter. Matt currently lives and works in London. You ll find him on Twitter @matthewhill.

{ 0 comments }

Guest Post: Sue Welfare asks, ‘What’s it all about?’

by Caroline Smailes on May 14, 2013

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome the super-talented Sue Welfare to my blog today. She’s talking about what it is that makes us all love stories. Over to you, Sue:

Cooking Up A Storm

What’s it all about…?

I should never have been a writer. I’m the kind of person who likes, if not order exactly, then at least a regular rhythm to life. I like security, a regular income and money in the bank, none of which are certainties when you’re self employed, and certainly none of which are evenly vaguely certain if you make your living as a self employed writer… But after nearly twenty years and around thirty novels , lots of scripts, hundreds of articles and short stories later I can’t imagine doing anything else.

When Caroline invited me to write a guest blog I wondered what I should write about… maybe some tips for those who wanted to write, or maybe a bit of a moan about the state of publishing or a cheery fanfare for what I genuinely believe are incredibly exciting times ahead, but I kept coming back to the question: what is fiction for? What is it that makes us all love stories? What makes us want to read or watch a film or follow a series on TV?

Sometimes for me, because I’m a creature of compromise not conflict, as a writer it’s a way of getting my own back, of saying that thing I wish I’d said, of winning, and making life fair by evening the odds and of making life certain and sure, when it most certainly isn’t in the world outside of my imagination.

I think the same is true for readers. Fiction is the place where we can try out other lives and other experiences, where we can vicariously enjoy the conflicts, pain, joy and delight of other people’s dilemmas – we can empathise and judge, condemn or cheer on without worrying what other people think.

I mostly write romantic comedy and I read mysteries and thrillers, and it occurred to me that oddly enough they are not dissimilar, in that they have a strong and predictable underlying structure, which doesn’t make them dull – far from it, we can all play with how that structure is used – no, rather it makes it reassuring to know there really is a master plan behind it all.

As a reader, however complex and convoluted the plot, I want to know that I’m in safe pair of hands and that at the end of the book the baddie will get his comeuppance and main character with end up with the right person. This in no way trivialises either genre – plots can be dark and twisted and nuanced but at the end of the day, I think we want to be left with the sense that there is justice and rightness and order in an otherwise chaotic world. It is one of the things I value most as a reader and try to deliver as a writer.

Fiction let’s us try on other hats, other roles, other scenarios and is the only art form that allows us to vicariously experience the thoughts of other people as we move from view point to view point, head to head – and that is what I think fiction is for – to paraphrase Mario Vargas Llosa, to give us the chance to live a thousand lives when we are expected to live only one.

*

About Sue Welfare: Sue lives and works in sunny East Anglian, writing as Sue Welfare, Gemma Fox and Kate Lawson. In between moving house, raising a family, falling in love with the gorgeous Phil,singing in a choir, walking the dog, working in the garden, taking endless photos and cooking, Sue/Gemma/Kate is also a scriptwriter, originating and developing a soap opera for local radio, along with a pantomime for the town in which she lives. Housework doesn’t figure very high on her to-do list. Writing as Gemma Fox, Sue was short-listed for the Melissa Nathan Comedy Romance Award in 2006.

Sue’s latest ebook ‘Cooking up a Storm’ combines romance and recipes – at £2.99 you can have a great read and find something tasty to whip up for supper:

When newly single Sarah Peterson rents a cottage on Kit Roseberry’s country estate and swops cooking supper for rent, she isn’t expecting TV producer, Magda Holmes, to fall for Kit and his culinary skills, or offer him a slot on her TV show.

Kit can’t boil water, but he’s got the look and needs the money. Magda is keen to go for a traditional feel, happy families, picnics on the beach and birthday teas, so Sarah – along with her two boys – finds herself as undercover cook, and an instant wife and family for Kit’s TV debut.

But what will that do to Sarah’s fresh start, her new man, ex-husband and the rest of her life? Is it a recipe for disaster or does it have all the ingredients of a great romance?

Cooking Up A Storm is a classic rom-com, and includes recipes for all the dishes cooked by Sarah and Kit. An easy read, one that is both warm and deliciously uplifting. Be sure to check it out.

{ 2 comments }

The Foster Husband – Pippa Wright

by Caroline Smailes on May 6, 2013

To celebrate the launch of the very wonderful ‘The Foster Husband’ by Pippa Wright, I’ve got 3 COPIES to give away and all details can be found after my (gushing) thoughts on the novel:
the-foster-husband

Kate left her seaside home town of Lyme Regis for the bright lights of London when she was eighteen, and never looked back. She had it all: the glamorous career, the lovely house, the gorgeous husband.

But now she’s back: unemployed, separated, and holed up in her dead granny’s bungalow. Worse still, she’s forced to share the bungalow with Ben, the clueless and domestically challenged fiancé of her bossy sister Prue. Ben is a man in need of simple instruction. And Kate is a woman in need of a project. So she decides to secretly train Ben, her foster husband, as a selfless pre-wedding gift to her sister.

But Kate may still have a few lessons of her own to learn…

That’s the blurb of ‘The Foster Husband’ offered on Amazon, but, in all honesty, I don’t think it sells this novel enough (can I say that?). I think it lessens and lightens a novel that is jam-packed with refreshingly unexpected story twists and reveals. I have read all of Pippa Wright’s novels and raved about each of them, but this one is, by far, my favourite yet (although I might say that EVERY time!).

In ‘The Foster Husband’ the reader quickly sees that Kate has found herself back in Lyme Regis, her hometown, a place that she ran from many years previously. The reader then learns that Kate has now run from London, so her running away has brought her full circle. The reader wonders why, on two levels. And these two storylines intrigue and unravel, as the narrative progresses.

But, I can’t be the only reader who hears the words ‘Lyme Regis’ and thinks ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, can I? And the genius of ‘The Foster Husband’ is that it pulls on threads and nods to the themes from that classic novel, but twists them in an utterly modern way. Convention, duty, the isolation of an individual searching for self-hood, love, prejudice, judgment, Kate almost taking on the role of ‘poor Tragedy’ within small town gossip mentality – the links to the themes are convincing, but this isn’t at all a retelling. ‘The Foster Husband’ offers clever nods, nods that made me smile far too much.

There is no doubt that ‘The Foster Husband’s’ plot is clever, that the twists are unexpected and that the writing shouts of confidence and experience, yet it is the characterisation that made this book for me. As the book progresses, it is clear that Kate is only revealing what she wishes the reader to see. And so the reader is patient, aware that Kate will disclose all when she is ready. The reader almost takes on the role of a patient counsellor, allowing the ‘client’ to divulge. Kate tells us about her sister Prue – obnoxious, bossy and not at all likeable – and Prue’s fiancé Ben, who is wet and made me feel slightly nauseous. Kate’s parents are shown as almost being scared of her, Mrs Curtis (her neighbour) is portrayed as being wonderfully eccentric and the town gossips are heard, making it clear that they see Kate as abandoned, as a scorned woman. I liked that none of the female characters were perfect (or particularly likeable), they all had flaws, they all threaded together into the convincing narrative. I liked that Kate and her mum laughed at ‘The Notebook’ (I feared I was the only person alive that laughed at it), I adored the short chapters and I absorbed this book over a single weekend.

Kate’s story is revealed by a split plot. We see her in the present, then we read chapters that disentangle from the very beginning of the growth of her relationship with her husband Matt. As a reader, we are waiting to see why Kate ran from London, as well as being intrigued as to why she ran from Lyme Regis. Kate’s resistance, the fact she recognises that she’s doing a fine impression of the French Lieutenant’s woman, made me read that little bit faster. I was anxious for the secrets to be exposed.

And I did, I read faster, I absorbed the clues, I thought I had it sussed, yet the reveal was unexpected. And I LOVED that the reveal was unexpected.

‘The Foster Husband’ is a refreshingly sharp and modern read. It flipped the clichés of female fiction and left me thrilled that I wasn’t able to figure out the twists and revelations. And I especially loved that those revelations made me sob.

After reading ‘The Foster Husband’ I’m left with many thoughts to consider. The part that made me cry was when Kate finally faced up to her past, when she stood still, stopped running away and voiced her secrets (that isn’t a spoiler, all great novels need some personal growth in there). Maybe it’s because I recognised that I’ve attempted to escape and hide from my past before, and maybe I nodded at that realisation that there comes a time when there is no place left to run. Self-growth, acceptance, that unravelling of the past to explain the present.

But don’t be fooled by my sobbing, ‘The Foster Husband’ isn’t a depressing book, not at all. This novel is full of humour, heart, superb characters and wise sentiment. It is true, a mother is only ever as happy as her unhappiest child, but it is that realisation that our past defines us that has left me still thinking about the narrative hours after finishing the novel.

Pippa Wright is, without a doubt, one of my most favourite writers of women’s fiction. Her stories are refreshing, utterly modern and not at all frilly. I love it when reading a book leaves you feeling like you’ve just spent the night chatting to a friend. And, I love that I’m left wondering what Kate did next.

 I’ve 3 COPIES of ‘The Foster Husband’ by Pippa Wright to give away. Simply leave a ‘please pick me’ comment by 3pm (GMT) May 09, then I’ll pop all names in a mug and ask a small child to select a winner. This competition is open to all.

* PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED*

 

{ 37 comments }

Speaking as a Parent: About Bullying

by Caroline Smailes on May 3, 2013

mother's loveFrom a parent’s viewpoint, a child being bullied is possibly the first time when you can’t simply ‘make it better’. It appears after years of kissing fingers, placing plasters over cuts, calming tears after nightmares. Your instinct is to tell them to ignore the bullies, then you change and suggest they stand up to them and fight back. You consider fighting the battle for them, you wonder about confronting the child’s parents. You wonder if there’ll be a day when your child will finally snap and strike out at their persecutors. You rarely worry that it’ll get so bad that you child will want to take their own life.

But it happens. Increasingly, we read about the cases, they’re reported weekly.

As parents we recognise signs, we know that something isn’t right with our child. A child’s school marks lower, the child doesn’t want to sleep, they don’t want to wake up. Their moods alter, they become aggressive, secretive, they are angry with their parents, they cause arguments with their siblings. The atmosphere in the home alters, some days you dislike your child. One day the child may come home with a black eye. It’ll be about then that moods escalate, hopefully the child will break down and talk about their daily torment at school. But the child’s telling to their parents doesn’t take away their fear, the parent can’t simply ‘make it better’, the bullying has been happening for a couple of months, it is already part of their daily life.

In my day, you were bullied at school but home was a safe environment. Children were bullied daily, yet when they left school each day they could stay in their own bubble at home, weekends were a blessing. That’s not the case for our children. The Internet and smartphones allow the bullies constant contact. Our children are exposed, it is terrifying just how easy it is for children to destroy each other. The bullying is constant, there isn’t an escape.

Nowadays, the methods of bullying are sophisticated. They can pick on the child all day at school, taunts, pushes, calling names. The child reacts, they’re upset, this feeds the bully as they’ve hit a nerve. The child leaves school, desperate to be home. They turn on Facebook and see a new level of attack.

I’ve seen it happen. Bullies leave comments, or they add a new level of sophistication. They copy personal photographs from a child’s Facebook page. They used Photoshop to add details, to name call, to say how ugly or slutty the child is. They then post the photograph onto their own walls, tagging the child, but leaving them unable to remove the photograph. Yes, as a parent we can report the photograph, but this often happens at night and by the time the photographs have been removed everyone has already seen it, liked it, commented.

Now there is ask.fm – a hideous website that claims ‘Ask and answer. Find out what people want to know about you!’. It allows for anonymous questioning, children are being destroyed via that cowardice, that anonymous asking or saying anything. The reported deaths, linked to the bullying on this site, are rising. Our children are seeing suicide as an option, as an escape.

I have seen how much cyberbullying can devastate a child. I have seen a child change their Facebook status to, ‘I’ve had enough, I can’t go on’.

This is when parents have to step in, contact the school and attempt to make everything better. Different parents will deal with this in different ways, schools will support or ignore. Sometimes the bullies are made to take down the photographs and posts, they are not always punished. Facebook is an issue for many schools, not enough schools have zero tolerance on cyber-bullying, it’s a tricky issue as it happens outside of school hours.

As parents we can’t take for granted that schools know the best way to deal with social media. They are also learning and developing, they are adapting. Each situation is different and a blanket approach will not often work. Many children don’t even realise that they are bullying others, they are simply joining in ‘banter’, trying to belong and desperately hoping not to be the next focus of attention. It’s about survival, it’s guided by a terrifying pack mentality. The online world gives many children a confidence that they’d not show in the real world, they can be funny, they can be ‘liked’. What they don’t realise is the devastating effects that bullying can have on a child attempting to develop into adulthood.

There are too many horrific stories surrounding cyberbullying that end in an innocent child taking their own life. The fact that suicide is an ‘option’, a consideration for our children is alarming. I urge other parents to look for the signs, but also to talk to their own children about the right conduct online. The lines of right and wrong, the rules that allow society to function, the ability to respect others – there’s something about the online world that blurs definitions and the consequences of these acts are devastating.

Childline and Bullying UK offer advice and support on cyberbulling.

{ 12 comments }

Book Review: A Fucked Up Life In Books

by Caroline Smailes on May 1, 2013

BookcuntOne of the reasons why I love paper books is because of what I leave in them after or during reading them. My bookmark will be a train ticket, a note from my child, a postcard, a boarding pass, a receipt – I like that I can link the book to a specific moment in my life. My bookshelves overflow, so many books read and holding a little something that one day will evoke a memory. Books and moments, they thread through my adult life together. I imagine my children trying to unravel the clues, one day.

Yesterday I opened a book. I was curious, I couldn’t remember the ending. I found a prescription in it for folic acid, at page 27. It was a book I’d started reading in a doctor’s waiting room, I’d miscarried before I’d taken the prescription to the chemist. I could never finish that book.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I read ‘A Fucked Up Life In Books’ by Bookcunt. And ‘A Fucked Up Life In Books’ is just that, a memoir that recounts a key moment in the author’s life through the books she was reading at that time.

Bookcunt is a writer. She will ‘get’ why I can’t ever read that book that hides the folic acid prescription. But, mainly, she’s one of those writers who can evoke emotion by only giving the reader part of her. She holds back, she is protected, yet sometimes what she doesn’t say has just as much impact as her stunning words.

Bookcunt is anonymous. It’s not that she’s hiding, it’s more that there’s not a need to know who she is. Her anonymity perhaps makes her brave. This is a brave memoir, it is a flash into her mind, it reveals her heart. I hope her identity isn’t discovered, I love that she’s all about words and books. Bookcunt swears, she’s crude, she makes me laugh.

I read ‘A Fucked Up Life In Books’ in one sitting. I read it again a few days later. Both times I cried at ‘Flight of Dragons’, as her dad showed her the true magic of books. I became angry during ‘Goosebumps’, at a child overhearing words that can break. I read how abusive adults can be, I fell a little bit in love with her dad. I learned that Bookcunt is worth forty camels and that once she read a book during sex. I smiled at how often she attracts nutters and I loved why she hid under her desk at work. Her words made me feel that little bit more normal. Adventures, misadventures, loneliness and love, I think that this memoir is truly unforgettable.

But, the final chapter might actually have broken my heart.

‘A Fucked Up Life In Books’ is a glimpse into a beautiful mind.This memoir isn’t about a controversial blogger who says ‘cunt’ a lot. This is about a real person, a lass who is never late, who shouldn’t be crossed, about someone who is fiercely loyal. I like her, I get her, I’d love her to read ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to me. But, mainly, I love that it has inspired me to buy and keep a book journal, the first entry will be all about Bookcunt.

I highly recommend this memoir to you all.

{ 14 comments }

Two Liverpool Events: Moby Dick on the Mersey and Book Lover’s Extravaganza

by Caroline Smailes on May 1, 2013

K&MI’m very much looking forward to being involved in two events in Liverpool next week.

Moby Dick on the Mersey, May 4th-6th, 2013: Liverpool’s first ever Moby Dick marathon reading takes place at the Merseyside Maritime Museum over the three days of May 4th-6th 2013, and will involve up to 135 readers, each tackling a chapter of the novel.

I’m thrilled to be reading Chapter 89, ‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’, on Monday 6th May at 9.10am, which will be on the historic, tall ship (pictured above) Kathleen & May. Do pop down over the weekend and show your support to the amazing organisers and this exciting event.

Book Lover’s Extravaganza, 7.30pm, Friday 10th May at LEAF, Bold Street, Liverpool, L1 4EZ. £1 entry: As part of the In Other Words festival, LEAF Book Club and Waterstones are teaming up to host an evening of book-based fun to raise money for The Reader Organisation.

There will be much literary entertainment, including a quiz, shared reading sessions, and appearances from local authors including myself, Cathy Cassidy (Chocolate Box Girls series), David Jackson (Pariah) and Deborah Morgan (Disappearing Home).The event aims to bring together readers and writers from across Liverpool and looks to be a great evening!

{ 0 comments }

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton: More reviews and interviews

by Caroline Smailes on May 1, 2013

Three weeks since publication, the reviews are still popping up:

This will be my last update post for ‘Arthur Braxton’ because today is May 1 2013, the day my Arts Council England funding starts, giving me six delicious months to write something new. A new chapter, in an utterly literal way. I’m a mix of nerves and excitement. Wish me luck!

{ 7 comments }

Events: Pulp Idol – Wirral Heat

by Caroline Smailes on April 24, 2013

It’s that time of year again.

The Wirral heat of Pulp Idol, that unique writing competition for unpublished novelists, will take place next Monday (29 April) from 6-8 p.m. at Hope Place, 259 Woodchurch Road, Prenton CH42 9LE.

Entrants to the competition will have been allocated a heat to attend. At the heat each writer will read for three minutes from the beginning of their first chapter and will answer questions from a panel of judges. The judges will then select those writers they wish to put through to the final.

Cath Bore will be the hostess with the mostest for the event. I’m thrilled that I’ve been invited back to be on this year’s panel of judges, with Luca Veste and David Jackson. Last year David and I had such different tastes in novels, it made for much discussion to reach a final decision. I’m hoping for the same this year, with Luca added to the mix to spice it all up.

It’s free to get in. Do come along. There’s been no mention of cake.

{ 2 comments }

A New Chapter: Lime Street and Grants For The Arts

by Caroline Smailes on April 21, 2013

Print

Six weeks ago, I applied to Arts Council England and the National Lottery for ‘Time to Write’ funding.

For those who don’t know, Arts Council England supports arts and culture using money from the government and the National Lottery. I put in an application to grants for the arts, based on a synopsis for my new novel LIME STREET and an outline of interest shown in it already from professional bodies (more on this, soon).

And on Friday I received a letter telling me that my application has been successful. The grant is for six months (starting on May 1 2013), allowing me time to focus entirely on LIME STREET (working title). The novel will be set in Liverpool and will draw on the life of a man who was associated with The Beatles.

In basic terms, this means that LIME STREET will be part of a nationwide network of projects that benefit from the support of Arts Council England and funding from the National Lottery. The application being successful was totally unexpected. I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled and truly grateful I am. Not having an agent and being at the end of my contracted novels with The Friday Project, the validation and sense of someone new believing in me has thrown me off-balance. I didn’t expect to feel so overwhelmed. But having the weight of Arts Council England behind the novel makes me determined to up my game. You all know how I like a challenge.

Now I just need to write a new novel. (Did I say just?)

{ 10 comments }

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton: Catching Up

by Caroline Smailes on April 21, 2013

Things are slowing down, I’m catching up. People continue to be lovely about me and about ‘The Drowning of Arthur Braxton’. In the last few days:

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries