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Showing posts from October, 2011

Author Interview

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Today I’m interviewed on the All The Days Of blog, hosted by the wonderful Chrizette. I’ll also be doing a book giveaway for The End of the World . You can check it out here .

“They say you are a man of good… taste.”

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Today I have a guest post on the Sapphicscribe blog of bestselling author Saffina Desforges. It's part of a series of Halloween themed posts, and in mine I share my experiences of working with rats on the set of Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" . You can head on over there and take a look by clicking here .

Stevie Smith

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I'm not terribly into poetry, I have to admit. I hope any poets or poetry aficionados will forgive me for saying this. But it's the truth. However, since I was a teenager, I've been a huge admirer of the poems of Stevie Smith, so I thought I'd drop one in here from time to time, as I think they're magnificent. I'll start with her most famous and probably my favourite poem...or in my top 5, at least. How could it not be? Not Waving but Drowning Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he's dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.

The Craft…The Movie?

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After its successful run at this year’s Off Cut Festival in London, it seems The Craft will now be turned into a short film. Andy Lewis is an award winning editor and filmmaker who happened to see The Craft at the festival last week. He contacted me to see if I would be interested in having a short film version of the play made, which naturally I thought was a terrific idea. You can check out some of Andy's excellent work on Vimeo or on his website . I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses and of course when it's finished I'll let you know where you can see it.

Off Cut Festival Finals

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Well, The Craft made it through last weeks performances at Riverside Studios during the Off Cut Festival and garnered enough votes to make it to the finals this week, where it's playing every night until Saturday. Saturday's performance will be the final which will happen in front of an audience of industry luminaries, including Olivier Award nominated playwright Moira Buffini. Actress Patricia Hodge was also scheduled to be one of the judges but unfortunately had to pull out, which is very disappointing. I'm not sure yet who's stepping in to take her place. My little play in such venerated company! It's quite humbling.

The End of the World ~ Frugal Find of the Day

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The End of the World is today's Frugal Find of the Day over at The Frugal eReader site. Are you prepared for what comes next? Accustomed to a life of cosseted seclusion at home with his parents, Valentine is suddenly faced with making his own way in the world. His new life is quickly upended, however, when he's mugged at gunpoint. Finding shelter at a mysterious inn run by the dour Mrs. Anna, he soon encounters a Bosnian woman with a hole where her stomach used to be, an American entrepreneur with a scheme to implant televisions into people's foreheads, and a Catholic priest who attempts to lure him down inside a kitchen sink. Then things start getting strange... In this story based loosely around the state of Bardo from The Tibetan Book of the Dead - an intermediate state where the dead arrive prior to rebirth - dying is the easy part. Getting out of Bardo and returning to the land of the living is a far more perilous proposition, and unless you know what you're doi...

The Craft

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My short play The Craft just played its first performance last night at the Off Cut Festival at Riverside Studios , in Hammersmith, and was very well-received, according to Lydia, the play's director. She said there was much laughter and many compliments paid after the show, so I'm hoping the remaining performances do as well and hopefully garner it enough votes to move it into the finals next week. If your in London with a free night (or afternoon) why not head over there and check it out? My play performs in its group again on Friday the 7th (7:30pm), Saturday the 8th (at 3:00pm), and Sunday the 9th (7:30pm). Break legs, guys!