Oh for goodness sake. My batty writer is all of a tither. Will someone go and fetch the pink pills?

Moi has pparently been selected for the pick of the short story reviews, on Mslexia's website. CLICK HERE FOR MSLEXIA'S WEBSITE

the feature is headed:

In each issue of the magazine reviewers assess books across selected genres. These are the ones they liked best.

Well OF COURSE they liked Moi the best!! Why are we surprised? I put on my best jumper for this picture, and I am gorgeous.

This is what my batty writer is pleased about, again. I wish she'd just shut up and get on with writing a sister book for Moi...



Full review:

SHORT STORIES
reviewed by Francis Clarke
Words From a Glass Bubble by Vanessa Gebbie (Salt, £12.99)

There is a wide range and variety in the 19 stories in Gebbie’s Glass Bubble. In the poetic ‘The Kettle on the Boat,’ we see events from the viewpoint of an Inuit child and a fragile world is brought to life; a poignant finality is deftly captured in the image of a kettle sinking in the sea. ‘I can Squash The King, Tommo,’ with its Dylan Thomas echoes, has a blithe and energetic narrative drive, and the emotional weight of it is carefully kept in balance with the thread of each character’s revelations so that the climax is genuinely moving. Characters teem throughout the collection, and Vanessa Gebbie boldly takes on different voices, from a teenage boy in care to a boy with a junkie mate. The stories themselves are riveting, but phrases like ‘Billy…always looked wise but hurting like Jesus being nailed to the cross…’ occasionally keep characters at arms length rather than bringing them to life. All of these stories bar one have won or been placed in major competitions and the humour in some of them is especially enjoyable. In the title story, for example, a plastic Virgin Mary is taken out for a drive, ‘...her face like a small boy’s pet mouse in a blue hood,’ and Serbian Vera is a character in the otherwise sad ‘Irrigation’ who is simultaneously tragic and hilarious to great effect.

I WAS ON RADIO!!

I'm famous! I was on the radio! My batty writer was the guest on Coastway Radio in Brighton.

There was loads of natter about Moi, naturally, then lots of boring stuff about writing, teaching, competitions... but my batty writer also talked about going loopy!!

She did. She talked about looping the loop. See. I SAID she was batty. She also talked about seeing a polar bear in Spitzbergen and writing in the garden shed.

THIS was her music. (Cover your ears. I did!)

1) Tom Lehrer, The Elements
2) Tom Lehrer, She's My Girl
3) The Beatles, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
4) Andreas Scholl (Countertenor) Blow The Wind Southerly (beautiful!!)
5) Carl Maria von Weber, Clarinet Concerto no 1 in F. minor op.73, Rondo
6)Donovan, Jennifer Juniper

THEN it was dead funny... we were meant to have Dusty Springfield and, I Only Want To be With You...only Rosemary pressed the wrong button, and instead we had Ken Dodd singing Happiness...

I nearly died. Is there NO style?

A brilliant hour, great publicity and a good laugh!

Signed Books

My batty writer went to Brighton today with a pen.

Then she called into Borders Bookshop and scribbled her name in Moi, then a nice man stuck a purple sticker on Moi saying 'Signed by the Author'.

But it's the wrong colour! It doesn't go with my jumper!

But my batty writer was very delighted to see Moi on a table propped up under a sign saying 'Brighton choices'... So I am hopping about when people hover nearby....


Then she went into Waterstones Bookshop and a nice lady found her a table to write her name in a few more of Moi.

In that shop I am propped up so People can see my jumper, too...but I'm next to a funny looking man called John Updike. Don't like the look of him much.

Readings!!!

My batty writer is going to read.

Well big deal really, we all know she can do that. Just showing off again, I expect.

But she is reading out of Moi... of course, where else? Silly question.

May 14th Border's Bookshop Brighton, evening do.

May 29th (probably) Skylark Bookshop Lewes (watch this space...)

July 6-13th all over Bantry in Ireland (wheee. I haven't been to Ireland. I want to try Murphy's...)

July 14th Stoke Newington Bookshop



What I want to know is what's wrong with June?


Huh?

Reviewed in Mslexia

It is amazing to watch my batty writer opening the post then sitting down with a cup of tea to read a review in a magazine called Mslexia.

Then I see it's a review of me!!! Oh I'm famous. Must be!

And I'm with that Taking Pictures by Ann Enright again... only she, of course IS A GENIUS IN CAPITAL LETTERS, and my batty writer isn't. No way! She's got that Taking Pictures book. I've seen it. I don't think she likes it though cos she keeps saying Oh God and shaking her head when she reads it. I said she was batty.

And another book is reviewed called Far North and other Dark Tales by Sara Maitland... I expect my batty writer will buy that one now.

But the reviewer did say some nice things about me, and I'm dead pleased. And they used a picture of MOI to illustrate the reviews... but I'm not surprised. I AM rather lovely.

They said this:

'wide range and variety' (of all of Moi)

'poetic...fragile world brought to life...poignant finality deftly captured' (of Kettle on the Boat)

'Dylan Thomas echoes...blithe and energetic narrative drive... emotional weight carefully kept in balance...' (of I Can Squash the King, Tommo)

'Characters teem throughout the collection... boldly takes on different voices'

'The stories...are riveting'

"The humour is especially enjoyable..'

"Serbian Vera is a character in the otherwise sad Irrigation who is simultaneously tragic and hilarious to great effect.'


phew.

Short Story Website and moi...

Me and my batty writer are given a mention on The Short Story Website! I'm sandwiched between two very illustrious writers... Ann Enright and Sophie Hannah... wow

SHORT STORY BOOK NEWS HERE

mind you I'm not surprised. I've always liked sandwiches. Jammy ones are good. Raspberry. And peanut butter, yum.

And another nice 'review' thing

I've been over to my batty writer's blog, and she's wittering about being in the local Waterstone's Newsletter.

I dunno what all the fuss is about. They only said this... (well, and interviewed her as well. It'll all go to her head... just you wait...)



"... contains some of the most beautifully crafted and engrossing stories that one can read,...a rare talent...characters becoming real as she relates their tales with wit, compassion and an unflinching eye."

Yes but, no but. Look! This is moi they are talking about. Not my batty writer. Look! 'CONTAINS' they said. SHE doesn't contain all that stuff, I do....

give a girl her due...

huh.



.

Another party!! Wheee...

The Nightingale Theatre, Brighton..LINK HERE



A huge thank you to New Writing South (link HERE) for organising a lovely party last night to launch Words From a Glass Bubble in my ‘home city’.

The venue was perfect: The Nightingale Theatre, above Grand Central Bar in Brighton. It’s a great space, and for the audience of about 30, there was bubbly flowing, nibbles, and a terrific atmosphere… everything candle-lit.

It was so professionally done. I was introduced very generously by Andrew Marshall (link HERE), with whom I work in a face to face writing group… he’s an extraordinary talent… writes best-seller self-help books, musicals, plays, fiction, and he’s a journalist on several broadsheet newspapers.

I read Dodie’s Gift and dedicated the reading to Zadie Smith, who took such a battering in the press in recent months for sticking up for standards. I think it went down well… although my dear Dad (who is fairly deaf) said afterwards that he thought it ‘went on a bit…”!

I was really delighted to meet up again with Carol Hayman, another extraordinary talent. She is very involved with New Writing South, but was also writer-in-residence for a BBC writing competition in 2006… we met in a one-to one workshop, and she was so positive and encouraging about my writing. I look back now and realise how very important that was… it would have been so easy to lose heart back then.

Read about Carol Hayman HERE… and watch out for her TV adaptation of the sparkling Ladies of Letters radio series she co-wrote… I wonder if it will be Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge again… fingers crossed.

Sales seemed to go well, lots of signings, and a great couple of hours afterwards in Grand Central bar, with impromptu juggling lessons from the expert Rob Horsman, and rather a lot of crisps. The chef had gone home.

---------------

However, (and this is me talking now, not that batty writer...) I prefer crisps. They had yummy salt n vinegar ones that make your tongue frizzle,and even more yummy sweet chili ones that make your eyes frizzle.

I can juggle anyway so didn't need that Mr Horsman teaching me. Actually, that's what I'm doing in the cover photo, but the photographer just cut out the juggling balls. Clever what they can do. I was successfully keeping 46 red ping pong balls in the air whilst skipping along this road.

Don't believe me?

Huh.