Christopher Bollen for The Destroyers.
You can read the judge's comments in this Bookseller article.
Until next year...
Carol Bevitt's blog on her writing and inspirations, along with occasional literature related news...
Friday 1 December 2017
Sunday 26 November 2017
It's Time for the Bad Sex in Fiction Awards...
Not sure whether you could call this a highlight of the book awards year, but it's certainly 'different'...
"According to the prize’s organisers, the Literary Review, the purpose of the prize is to draw attention to “poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction”. The prize is not intended to cover pornographic or expressly erotic literature." (The Bookseller)
It seems there were a few nominations that despite being well supported didn't quite fit the spirit of the award so were ruled out.
So here are the titles and authors of the 2017 contenders:
"According to the prize’s organisers, the Literary Review, the purpose of the prize is to draw attention to “poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction”. The prize is not intended to cover pornographic or expressly erotic literature." (The Bookseller)
It seems there were a few nominations that despite being well supported didn't quite fit the spirit of the award so were ruled out.
So here are the titles and authors of the 2017 contenders:
- The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet.
- Here Comes Trouble by Simon Wroe.
- The Destroyers by Christopher Bollen.
- War Cry by Wilbur Smith (with David Churchill).
- Mother of Darkness by Venetia Welby.
- The Future Won’t Be Long by Jarett Kobek.
- As a God Might Be by Neil Griffiths.
You can read the extracts in the Guardian's article here.
This year's selection is much better than it's been in previous years; perhaps the trend for sex scenes in books that really don't need them has passed, so the poorly written stuff hasn't reached print.
So my contenders from this year's crop: The Future Won’t Be Long by Jarett Kobek, and for what on earth is he going on about- it's sex not Meccano- The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet.
The results will be announced this coming Thursday (30th), and no doubt the winner will get a few extra sales as a result...
This year's selection is much better than it's been in previous years; perhaps the trend for sex scenes in books that really don't need them has passed, so the poorly written stuff hasn't reached print.
So my contenders from this year's crop: The Future Won’t Be Long by Jarett Kobek, and for what on earth is he going on about- it's sex not Meccano- The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet.
The results will be announced this coming Thursday (30th), and no doubt the winner will get a few extra sales as a result...
 |
| decision time... |
Monday 20 November 2017
Think Eyes...
Yes, I'm still here.
It's been a month of good and bad since my last post.
It's been a month of sorting, packing, dismantling, cough & cold- feeling very weak- and getting new varifocals.
I'd been having problems with my eyes for a couple of months, so booked my annual eye appointment at the Opticians - two months early. The good news is I'm less short-sighted than I was, but the less positive news is that I have the start of macular degeneration.
I now have new super-duper glasses, with lenses that transition in bright light; less issue from glare and fuzziness with car headlights and illuminated bus signs too. But best of all I can look at the computer screen without doing head contortions to focus, and my eyes aren't tired after a couple of hours.
I'll have to get a new photo taken next month so I can update my profile picture with the new specs.
It also means I can get on with some writing now- when I'm not packing boxes!
Meanwhile here's some useful advice from the College of Optometrists re Screen Use.
Eyes are an important work tool for every writer so look after them...
Image from Pixabay.
It's been a month of good and bad since my last post.
It's been a month of sorting, packing, dismantling, cough & cold- feeling very weak- and getting new varifocals.
 |
| New glasses... |
I now have new super-duper glasses, with lenses that transition in bright light; less issue from glare and fuzziness with car headlights and illuminated bus signs too. But best of all I can look at the computer screen without doing head contortions to focus, and my eyes aren't tired after a couple of hours.
I'll have to get a new photo taken next month so I can update my profile picture with the new specs.
It also means I can get on with some writing now- when I'm not packing boxes!
Meanwhile here's some useful advice from the College of Optometrists re Screen Use.
Eyes are an important work tool for every writer so look after them...
Image from Pixabay.
Monday 16 October 2017
Finding Treasure in Boxes...
Now I need to say at the start this treasure is not the archetypal pirate treasure- coins, jewellery and other goodies along with the odd skull.
This treasure is my past writings.
As a teenager I used a pen and pages of A4. I moved on to a portable typewriter, and from there to a Brother Word Processor- work was saved to floppy disks. (Yes we're talking 20th century...)
Then I moved onto my first computer (an XP) with a floppy disk drive in the tower, so I carried on using them.
When that computer eventually died Windows 7 was the latest operating system; but it didn't have a floppy disk drive anymore, so I had to buy an external version with the USB connection.
I was able to access some of the items, but others were unreadable. I left them in the storage box and resigned myself to searching for a programme that would enable my computer to read my saved work. It never happened and I packed the box away somewhere.
After all I did have some of the work printed out ...somewhere.
Then last weekend, clearing one of the shelves in the corner bookcase- it needs to be moved for the rewiring work- I pulled out a compact blue box from the corner. I knew what it was instantly. My floppy disks.
Downing the small paintbrush (for dusting books) and soft cloth I went to my office and rummaged on the shelf for the floppy disk reader- would it even work on the Windows 10 desktop?
I plugged in the USB and nothing, it wasn't recognised. All my excitement at my discovery went pancake flat. As a final check before unplugging I opened File Explorer and there it was.
Reviewing the floppies I chose one labelled short stories 1, inserted it into the reader, listened as it whirred noisily, and then a box opened on my screen displaying numbered stories (SS1, SS2 etc).
Clicking on the first one, Notepad opened the story; I scrolled down and I immediately remembered writing that tale- it was one I'd wanted to rewrite, but thought lost forever.
Opening more,assured me they were okay, so I set about copying and pasting from Notepad into a Word document.
Then I found the disks from my first incomplete novel; I'd started writing it in 2000 and got to about 40,000 words where I'd reached my planned ending. That was when I realised that I'd only gotten half way, there was more story to follow- the possibilities had quickly started flowing through my mind.
But I stopped there. I realised that I didn't have the skills I needed to complete it- I didn't know anything about writing drafts. I had to go and learn how to write properly. That was how I came to join the local writers' club.
So it was with some trepidation that I now slipped the novel disk into the reader, but all that came up was a box showing formatting and asking me what I wanted to display it in, there were three choices, and in my disappointment I didn't really take in what it was asking me.
As I tried the other disks the same problem, my disappointment grew until I stopped and read what was being asked. I chose an option but nothing happened; it was a frustrated turn of the mouse wheel that scrolled down the box a bit, and there among the little formatting symbols was text I could read!
I began the copying and pasting again but accepted I needed to do this a bit at a time, so saved and backed-up everything I'd transferred.
That box isn't going to be packed away anywhere for some time.
So if I'm ever irritated by something Windows 10 does, please remind me that it helped me retrieve my early writing that I thought had been lost forever...
This treasure is my past writings.
As a teenager I used a pen and pages of A4. I moved on to a portable typewriter, and from there to a Brother Word Processor- work was saved to floppy disks. (Yes we're talking 20th century...)
Then I moved onto my first computer (an XP) with a floppy disk drive in the tower, so I carried on using them.
When that computer eventually died Windows 7 was the latest operating system; but it didn't have a floppy disk drive anymore, so I had to buy an external version with the USB connection.
I was able to access some of the items, but others were unreadable. I left them in the storage box and resigned myself to searching for a programme that would enable my computer to read my saved work. It never happened and I packed the box away somewhere.
After all I did have some of the work printed out ...somewhere.
Then last weekend, clearing one of the shelves in the corner bookcase- it needs to be moved for the rewiring work- I pulled out a compact blue box from the corner. I knew what it was instantly. My floppy disks.
 |
| A box of treasure |
I plugged in the USB and nothing, it wasn't recognised. All my excitement at my discovery went pancake flat. As a final check before unplugging I opened File Explorer and there it was.
 |
| Floppy disk reader, old manuscripts file box... |
Reviewing the floppies I chose one labelled short stories 1, inserted it into the reader, listened as it whirred noisily, and then a box opened on my screen displaying numbered stories (SS1, SS2 etc).
Clicking on the first one, Notepad opened the story; I scrolled down and I immediately remembered writing that tale- it was one I'd wanted to rewrite, but thought lost forever.
Opening more,assured me they were okay, so I set about copying and pasting from Notepad into a Word document.
Then I found the disks from my first incomplete novel; I'd started writing it in 2000 and got to about 40,000 words where I'd reached my planned ending. That was when I realised that I'd only gotten half way, there was more story to follow- the possibilities had quickly started flowing through my mind.
But I stopped there. I realised that I didn't have the skills I needed to complete it- I didn't know anything about writing drafts. I had to go and learn how to write properly. That was how I came to join the local writers' club.
So it was with some trepidation that I now slipped the novel disk into the reader, but all that came up was a box showing formatting and asking me what I wanted to display it in, there were three choices, and in my disappointment I didn't really take in what it was asking me.
As I tried the other disks the same problem, my disappointment grew until I stopped and read what was being asked. I chose an option but nothing happened; it was a frustrated turn of the mouse wheel that scrolled down the box a bit, and there among the little formatting symbols was text I could read!
I began the copying and pasting again but accepted I needed to do this a bit at a time, so saved and backed-up everything I'd transferred.
That box isn't going to be packed away anywhere for some time.
So if I'm ever irritated by something Windows 10 does, please remind me that it helped me retrieve my early writing that I thought had been lost forever...
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