Fork in the Road

It's time for a change, so Un:Bound will be effectively closed over September. This will all still be here or the time being, but there will be no new posts.
In October we will return from FantasyCon refreshed, reinvigorated, refurbished, revamped and probably other stuff beginning with RE.

In the mean time feel free to browse the archives, revisit old interviews, I will be putting up more of the alt.fiction audio so follow @unboundblog on twitter for updates on that and I hope you will think the disruption was worth it when we are done.

Events | Theakstons Crime Harrogate

Our ‘occasional’ team member, Keith B Walters was at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival last month.
Not that we saw too much of him as he was busy attending all the events with his ‘blogger in residence’ hat firmly in place and a Press pass which he assured us he hadn’t made at home.
Whilst all of his other crime related reports can be seen over at his own blog http://booksandwriters.wordpress.com , he has offered one for the team here with a report on one event which was probably better placed on UnBound.
He hopes you like it and, who knows, maybe we’ll hear from him again in another year…. unless an unfortunate accident involving a candlestick and a library occurs at H'gate 2012.
_____________________________

The Outer Limits.
This could be a case for Mulder and Scully. Instead it’s Special Agent Andrew Taylor who will be delving into strange new worlds as he investigates the growing popularity of novels which blend paranormal elements with crime fiction.
Sarah Pinborough, S.J.Bolton, Patricia Duncker and Phil Rickman are the authors whose books go bump in the night.


This was a slight break from the norm for the Harrogate Festival, but with so many novels currently straddling the crime and horror genres it was a very welcome addition to the panel.
If it had been held as part of next year’s festival then I am certain that John Connolly (one of the finest exponents of the blending taking place) would have been on the panel.
But, as is often the one of the best things with the festival, there was a great range of authors on the stage, only two of whom I’d read and so was sure to go away with another list of books to seek out – and I did.

S.J. Bolton kicked off proceedings as chair Andrew Taylor asked each of them to speak a little about their books and their own interests.
The author of great novels such as ‘Blood Harvest’ and her latest ‘Now You See Me’ said that the best quote she had was from her husband, who compares her work to Scooby Doo and tells her that she writes great ghost stories without ghosts. Taylor bolstered her confidence by stating that, with her latest novel, she has written a ‘wonderful contemporary rift on the Jack the Ripper case.’

Patricia Duncker is a Professor of English Literature at Manchester University, but she doesn’t think she’s slumming it now that she’s considered as having written a ‘crime’ book. ‘Check out ‘The Lifted Veil’’, she encouraged the audience, ‘Classic literature with dead rising!’ Her book uses a religious sect and has been likened to Jekyll and Hyde. The sect idea has always been of interest to her, with a particular interest in the Jim Jones religious cult and the Temple of the Sun sect mass suicide in 1988. She also spoke at length about some great mysteries, some that are never discussed and have never been explained away, such as an eclipse that covers a star for three whole years every nine years, but no one knows what it is that’s covering the star for that period.

Sarah Pinborough said that it was John Connolly who inspired her to see that horror and crime can work together, and also that she was fascinated by Milton’s Paradise Lost. But, despite using horror and the supernatural, she never wanted to rely on a supernatural element to wash away the ending or conclude the book. Her second novel in the Dog Faced Gods series ‘ Shadow of the Soul’ is out now. She mentioned that for research for the book she googled some information on bomb-making for tension in her book but, realising the Police might come after her for searching for such information on the web, she thought it’s best to google some porn quick!
When she was at Harrogate a few years back a crime writer told her that the crime genre was frowned upon in general – her response to this was ‘Jesus Christ! – You should come to my neck of the woods’ Horror is a lot less ‘pushed’ in bookstores than crime fiction.
She reads more crime than horror these days ‘I like a good serial killer…story. I still see ghosts – but sometimes it’s because I’m drunk.’

In 1992 Phil Rickman was told by Macmillan Publishers ‘You are the new Stephen King’ – He’s since found out that there were about seven authors all told that at the same time. He decided that he had to get off of the ‘horror’ shelf as it was getting too small.
So, he set to write a cosy mystery with a serial killer – ‘and they put it on the horror shelf!’
Phil is best known for his Merrily Watkins series and he recalled with fondness that a reader thanked him for finally getting rid of the Derek Nimmo character/perception of a priest. He went on to speak for a while about ‘Deliverance Consultants’ (Exorcist is not a word used much any more) and a case in Yorkshire in 1974 where a man was ‘exorcised’ and then went home to kill his wife and remove her face! This was after the ‘exorcism’ – so that one had clearly failed. ‘You’re supposed to take the demon out!’ It was after that case that the term ‘Exorcist’ was pretty much dropped in favour of ‘Deliverance Minister or Consultant’.
Phil’s next book (11th in the series) ‘The Secrets of Pain’ will be published in November. His phrase he uses for his work is that ‘A crime can be resolved.’

‘So’, Andrew Taylor asked, ‘Are we the new spearhead in crime? Are we the new Scandinavia? I certainly hope so!’

S.J. Bolton said of the books they write, that it’s almost like writing two books at once. The crime elements need to be credible but they also need to weave a ‘spooky’ story – AND weave the two together.

Patricia Duncker ‘We’re going back to writing Medieval ‘Mysteries’’

Andrew Taylor ‘We’re escaping from the ‘cul-de-sac’ of a whodunit.’

Patricia Duncker then had a Donald Rumsfeld moment when she said that it is ‘The mystery that we know, the mystery that we do not know, the …….’

The panel then spoke of their influences and favourite books and authors – Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca came up quite a lot at this point.

Sarah said her influences were primarily Du Maurier and John Wyndham.
Phil went with Enid Blyton and her supernatural mysteries which began with the ‘Rubber Duck Mystery’ – comparing them to the same style of storytelling that S.J. Bolton now uses.
S.J. cited Stephen King and Charlotte Bronte – ‘Jane Eyre was the finest thriller ever written’ – she them went on to give spoilers to the plot!
Patricia added that ‘Rebecca’ is basically a rewrite of ‘Jane Eyre’. She then added The Bible as it has everything - Stephen King scenes, people eaten by dogs, homosexuality and, it’s written by God!
Both Phil and Sarah spoke highly of another author, Graham Joyce – labelled as a fantasy/magical realism author – which kicked off a whole ‘labelling’ discussion, to which I think the outcome was they really didn’t mind too much as long as they weren’t labelled paranormal romance!

Phil added that there is now a sub-genre label ‘Clerical Mystery’ – ‘You don’t want to go there!’ And then, for reasons I cannot recall, the subject turned to Fred and Rosemary West - I think because Phil had some work done on his house in Herefordshire and discovered the builder was a relative of Fred’s. He went on to say that nobody knows how many he really killed – it’s suspected it could be up to forty – when he killed himself the case was closed but many are left wondering if their daughter or girlfriend might have been a victim of his. The gallows humour of an Estate Agent in the area being able to advertise a ‘nice terraced house, 2 up, 7 down’ put the end to that part of the conversation and it seemed a bit odd that a fantasy/horror crime discussion had suddenly lurched into a very grim reality.

They spoke about labelling and type of book again- to ensure that a reader gets exactly what they came in for, and Patricia noted that this forms ‘comfort reading’.

The conversation turned to titles for books and the struggles they sometimes have in getting the title they want – authors want the book ‘tin’ to tell the reader what’s inside the ‘tin’. At this point (and I think it was Patricia) a recommendation was made to read a book entitled ‘In the depths of the forest’ which features a murder at the start of the book from the point of view of the victim who is stabbed in the eye!

Patricia rounded things up by stating that ‘We need to stick to what we’re good at. There are occasional squabbles over titles and things, but publishers know their stuff.’

And then it was time to step back out from The Outer Limits – a very welcome change of pace and style from the rest of the festival, and something I’m sure we’ll see more of at future Harrogate festivals as crime and horror fiction boundaries merge further still.

Already lined up for next year’s event are John Connolly and Charlaine (True Blood) Harris – so prepare for the criminal activities to get ever darker.

To keep up with next year’s events and author announcements and to start making your plans and bookings, go to www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime

Keith

Fantasy Con 2010 | BFS Award Highlights

Last year Un:Bound stepped in to film the awards last minute due to a lost camera. If you are going or thinking of going or didn't think your were thinking of going but might, or something, here is a short highlight reel from last years awards ceremony.

More Book related video goodness can be found at www.unboundve.com

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

All is not well in the town of Nutwood, somewhere in leafy southern England. A well-respected local gentleman, and an English diplomat normally working in Napoleons France, is dead. The local police think it’s suicide. But in that case, why did he send a message asking for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minster and the Minister of Defence shortly beforehand?

To solve the mystery, Scotland Yard has put its best man on the job, Detective Archibald LeBrock. Did I say best man? I meant badger. A bowler-hatted, pistol wielding detective in the style of Sherlock Holmes (complete with his own Watson, in the form of Detective Ratzi, his debonair assistant) he forms the centre of the marvellous SteamPunk anthropomorphic graphic novel which is Grandville.

The book draws the reader in from the start, with a chase sequence between a steam carriage and a group of policemen wearing steam powered roller-skates. This sequence also introduces you to Bryans graphic style, with use of colour sets to link certain sections. For example, the start takes place in an industrial area next to a metro arch, and is portrayed in muted colours of coppers and greys, with wisps of smoke and steam blowing around, whereas Nutwood is in the vibrant greens you’d expect of a rural English Town.

The plot is certainly is a page turner, with twists, thrills and fights interspersed with great detective work, dry English wit and the occasional flurry of romance. It is also a book which rewards you the more times you read it, as there’ll be little details you pick up each time. Also included are homage’s to previous anthropomorphic works from the French artist J.J. Grandville who inspired the books distinctive setting and characters through to Rupert the Bear (Those who noticed that the Nutwood mentioned earlier was his hometown, give yourself a pat on the back) as well as other works of fiction and art, often subtly tweaked to suit Bryans world setting. It was also quite a topical book for the present, with the talk of anarchists and super weapons in the plot relevant to modern readers at the time of the Iraq/Afghanistan occupations.
For its beautiful art style, its wide range of SteamPunk setting and the sheer amount of work and love that has gone into it, I cannot help but recommend this brilliant Graphic Novel to you. I will also review its sequel "Grandville: Mon Amour” sometime in the future.

Until then, best wishes.

Kerl

P.S. Some of the information above was drawn from a speech by the author entitled “Grandville and the Anthromporphic Tradition”. If you get the chance to see this talk, do so. Bryan is an excellent presenter and he brings the thought process and history behind Grandville to vivid life. He also signed my book. Yay!

If this sounded of interest to you, consider reading:

Blacksad by Diaz Canales and Guarnido
Like Grandville, Blacksad is an anthropomorphic detective novel, but set in the turbulent times of the late 50’s/early 60’s America where the threat of atomic obliteration looms in the background and a great nation tries to find its way in the world after the Second World War. Against this background, the titular Blacksad, a Feline detective, follows trails of corruption, jealously and scandal that will make him question himself and the society he lives in. Again, beautifully drawn and well written, Blacksad is well worth a read. For what sounds serious above, there are also some lovely heart-warming moments and a few good laughs along the way, particularly with the sardonic notes from Blacksads own journal of events, written in true cop-drama tradition.

P.P.S Did I mention that with it's tectured cover, the book itself is a work of art?

Writers Reading | MD Lachlan

MD Lachlan is author of Wolfsangel and Fenrir, the first two parts of an extremely excellent werewolf series moving through time and mythology. Lachlan talks about music and writing feeding into each other, it's a twist for writers reading, but a god fit for our Friday vibe. 
_______________________________________

‘When I was a child
Running in the night
Afraid of what might be

Hiding in the dark
Hiding in the street
And of what was following me’.


Very often when I’m writing I’ll get a tune of some sort come into my head that stays with me until I’ve finished the book. At the time I was writing Fenrir it was Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZJQ2a1MnY. It particularly attached itself to the character of Aelis – the Frankish noblewoman whose pursuit by dark forces is the main focus of the novel.

I often find that the song I have in my head has a big influence on what I’m writing. For instance, in Wolfsangel it was Psychic TV’s Thee Full Pack, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K89TsKAoKDk with its simmering, creepy guitar, spooky timpani and chilling dog attack sound effects. Hence Wolfsangel – particularly the witches – has (I hope) a sort of creeping horror to it, a feeling of people trapped in a terrible destiny. This is what the song evokes to me and I found I was using it as a sort of mental reference point – particularly when writing about the witches of the Troll Wall.

The difference with Fenrir was that I consciously used Hounds of Love as the inspiration for the character of Aelis and the pace of the novel. This was primarily because I love the song and wanted to achieve its sense of someone still pursued by childhood fears it contains.

First up I wanted to emulate the breathless pace of the song. After a couple of strong beats at the start it’s off at a tumble. Likewise Fenrir is basically one long chase that begins after chapter 2 and doesn’t really stop until…. Well, can’t give too many spoilers. There’s really the sense of stuff happening in the song and I wanted that for the novel – a huge forward momentum, no meandering about or wondering where the threat is coming from next. As in Hounds of Love, the threat is right on your heels.
More than that, though, there is a sort of vertiginous feeling Hounds of Love evokes that I get myself when I contemplate time passing, the speed at which the present falls away into the past, the glimpses of your former self that sometimes intrude on your day to day life. I sometimes feel my younger self almost as a tangible presence watching me in my everyday life and this is a very unsettling experience. I’m aware I sound battier than Bruce Wayne here and that I haven’t expressed myself very well. However, this pleases me. Because what I found myself doing when writing Fenrir was expressing something that I simply couldn’t say in any other way. That, to me, is one of the key reasons to write and that’s what Hounds of Love does for me – it expresses passionately a feeling that is deep within me but that I couldn’t possibly nail down by explaining it.

There’s also a certain spookiness to Kate Bush’s music and it’s one of the things I like most in fantasy literature – from Alan Garner’s Owl Service to Tolkien’s dead marshes and Lovecraft’s mad gods.
So this is one of things I was trying to get to in Fenrir.

It’s maybe summed up by this passage in which Aelis remembers her youth at Loches on the river Indre near Tours in Francia. She is running from magical forces and has stopped for the night, accompanied – among others - by some fishermen whose boat she has hired. This was my stab at getting the Kate Bush feeling down on paper.:

‘She huddled into the fire and touched her neck. It was very sore from where she had pressed in the tip of the sword. She looked at the faces of the fishermen in the firelight. They seemed like spirits of the underworld to her. It was as if there was something else behind the day to day.
At Loches there had been a little chapel. Her uncle the Marquis had commissioned a man to paint some biblical scenes for it. She had sat and watched as he mixed his pigment and egg and made the faces of the apostles appear on sheets of wood.

Every day Aelis watched him and, eventually, he asked her if she would like to be the model for a picture of the child saint Agnes of Rome. He had painted her outside in the clear summer light, on a panel he had used before, for an unsuccessful attempt at a depiction of St Catherine. She’d been fascinated to watch herself appear from the mess of colours he kept in his little pots and to hear the story of how St Agnes had refused to marry the prefect’s son, so the prefect had her put to death. Roman law didn’t allow him to kill a virgin, so he had her dragged naked through the streets to a brothel to have her raped. But she prayed and hair grew all over her body to cover her nakedness and each man who tried to rape her was struck blind. A pyre was set for her but the wood would not burn so a soldier stabbed her through the throat.

When the picture was done Aelis went with the artist to the kitchen to eat and to flirt with him. When they returned, a shower of rain had blown into the clear blue day, washing part of his painting away. From beneath the face of the child, the eyes of the woman Catherine peered out. The image came to her because that was what was happening to her now.
Memory, or something like memory, was becoming so powerful that the world she walked through seemed no more than an impression, a shimmering of sun on water, a shadow on fog.’


The other thing I took from Hounds of Love is that there’s nothing arch or restrained about it. There’s no sense that the writer is anything other than utterly consumed by the emotions she’s conjuring. It’s a passionate song that evokes something mythic and unsayable – something about childish fears and the fragility of human existence – there’s no cynicism to it.
I really admire that - something that may surprise people who’ve read my mainstream work, which is so cynical even I sometimes want to slap me.
Kate Bush’s music – Hounds of Love in particular – is overbrimming with feeling, with a bubbling witch’s brew of emotion and a weird sort of spirituality, a real mythic sense. It’s also a bit mad. I hoped to take some of that when writing Fenrir.
Fenrir is out July 21. See the book trailer here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eSYlvuFpCU

Work experience at Tor/Pan Macmillan publishing

Hi everyone! It's been a while! I won't bore you with the details of the past year at university, I'm going to talk about relevant stuff! (What? Relevant stuff? No way! I thought you were just a drunken student waste!) Yes, yes, I have been doing book stuff too! There are two video reviews on their way and (buh buh buh buhhhh!) I've done two weeks of work experience at Tor, an imprint of Macmillan publishing!

A little while ago the Un:Bound team unveiled the first Un:Bound Video Editions, where we were shown around the Pan Macmillan building in London and gained interviews with some of the key people involved in the publishing of books. (There was a little magic problem going around, but I've not noticed anything too suspicious since then...)

Since then, I got back in touch to ask if I can spend two weeks working for them since I've been thinking about going into Publishing as a career. Over the two weeks I met new people as well as getting back in touch with interviewees such as Julie and Chloe (who I suspect turned me into a rabbit) and can honestly say it was one of the best things I've ever done.

I was living with some friends in Wimbledon, which is about an hour's commute by train and tube from Kings Cross where the Pan Macmillan offices are based. This was during a fortnight of ridiculous heat and sunshine! The journey to and from work was phenomenally sweaty (lovely) and the air conditioning in the offices was on full blast so I was packing cardigans!

I spent my time helping out by reading through the various manuscripts that Tor have submitted to them both my agents and writers in the UK and the USA. I was surprised to learn just how many American agents send manuscripts to Tor UK. I can't say anything specific (obviously) but I read through several manuscripts and had a go at using some of the software to get books on the shelves. I was allowed to sit in on a few meetings and I learned a lot more about the process of getting a book published than I'd thought I would!

I was in the care of Catherine and Julie, and they were absolutely brilliant- finding things for me to do whenever I pestered them for jobs! For putting up with me every day for a solid fortnight I think Adele and Vince will agree that they deserve some sort of medal!

A massive thank you to everyone at Tor and Pan Macmillan for making me welcome and giving me the chance to work with you, I hope to see you again soon!

Blood | K J Wignall

Blood

by KJ Wignall

pub: Egmont 

design: Sharon Chai
out in September

Blood is Wignall's first foray into the YA market. It's a successful move. 

Will has been a vampire (he prefers the term undead) for over 700 years. All that time he has known nothing about who made him or why, but now, suddenly things have changed. 

The book is a supernatural adventure, with a good historical grounding and a mystery to be unravelled. Will was 16 when he was turned and in some ways will be frozen at that age in spite of his years. The chapters mostly follow the lead characters but a few are Will talking about his history, it adds a bit of an Interview with a Vampire feel to the book which is extremely effective in creating a sense of Will's real age and experience. 

The writing lives up to Wignall's usual excellence,  the lead characters are interesting and likeable, the tension at the appropriate times is effective and i'm delighted to say that while there is a hint of a romantic affection between leads it is not central to the book or laboured in anyway, in fact it's almost presented so i can be put aside and not interfere with the important stuff. Nothing sparkles. 

The book has all the trademarks of the current crop of YA paranormal writing, young protagonists, one human, one not, a relationship that can't/shouldn't happen, danger and mystery, but this is an adventure, not a romance, it's about Will finding out why he is and Eloise working out who she wants to be. Their friendship makes them both more than they are alone and it's heroine is as spirited and capable as those of Holly Black's books, but gentler and less dark.

I am Team Eloise!

Stuff, some good, some bad, some interesting.

First of all the unbound team was terribly sorry to hear about Colin Harvey passing. We met Colin through Alt.Fiction and he was lovely to work with. 

On a happier note huge congratulations to Lou Morgan for signing with Solaris. I was privileged to be an early reader for Blood & Feathers and you all have a real treat coming. Solaris have been turning out excellent titles and this will sit well with that company.  

A reminder that this Saturday Mark Chadbourn is signing at Leicester Highcross Waterstones 12:30-2:30pm there will be cookies. There is an interview up on LeftLion. 

Last Saturday I went to London for a Clarke Award tweetup. If you don't already follow @clarkeaward I strongly recommend it because the tweet up was great fun and a wonderful opportunity to meet award winner Lauren Beukes who gave a reading and a short talk on SF before hanging with her tweet fans for a little while, then some of us headed to the pub and exchanged @'s over burgers.  And yes the sloth is soft and furry and cute. 

Banners in the Wind by Juliet E McKenna

The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution Book 3

It’s a good measure of this book that, considering that I started at the third book of the series, I still found it readable and found myself interested in going back and reading its predecessors to gain the full story in detail rather than the occasional reference to past events made in the book.
The premise of the book is also interesting. The country of Lescar was born with the decline of a greater nation, has been experiencing turmoil since its creation due to the rivalry between the dukes that form its rulership, and much money is spent on hired swords and internecine warfare between them.

Some of the people are rightfully angry at the squandering of their tax money thusly, not to mention the death and disruption fighting brings. Therefore, they’re revolting. The third book begins with the war in full flow and with the revolutionaries experiencing friction both within their own ranks and from the remaining dukes.

The story it written from several perspectives and includes a cast of key figures on both sides. It is a well constructed world and much of the story concerns the political movements required in a small countries warring rather than the stereotypical swords and sorcery action being the focus.

That doesn’t mean that the action isn’t well written when it comes into play... The sorcery element is also interesting. Due to its potential for mayhem, the offshore Archmage has banned the use of sorcery in the countries wars. Therefore, the revolutionaries have learnt a different form to the standard and its nuances and uses form an interesting strand of the book in its own right.

With good pacing, intriguing and artfully written plot Banners in the Wind was well worth reading and I look forward to having the time to read the predecessor books!

Regards to all,

Kerl

If this sounded interesting, please consider:
The Chronicles of King Rolens Kin, reviewed here: http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/07/kings-bstrd-chronicles-of-king-rolens.html

You might want to go beyond the initial review however, as my opinion changes substantially as the series rolls!

Mark Chadbourn | Signing

Mark Chadbourn is the author of the popular 'Age of Misrule' and 'Swords of Albion'
fantasy series' is appearing at Leicester Highcross Waterstones on Saturday 20th August.

Known for the sense of realism he brings to his novels he also has a passion for fairy tales and mythology that he blends with history to offer a fantastically rich read.

An interview with Mark will be on LeftLion on Monday but here is a sneak peak.


'When I started writing these stories, the intention was to set them around real events, to
show, I suppose, what was happening in the background and all around the edges. So
from that perspective, the real historical events acted as a spine to the story and I weaved
the plot around it.'

The Sight by David Clement Davis

I am! Yet what I am no-one cares or knows

My friends forsake me like a memory lost

I am the self consumer of my woes

It is not often I begin a review with poetry. Actually, it’s rare I start anything with poetry. So why start now?

Well, you’ll have to read “The Sight” to find out!
And why should you do that? Because it’s an excellent book and has been one of my top favourites since I first read it several years ago. Considering the stiff competition in that area, that it still stands the test of time says a lot about it.

The story is technically the second in “The Sight” trilogy. However very little reference is made of the first book (Firebringer) in this one and the very title of the third is a spoiler to the events in this one!

The story starts with the birth of two wolf-cubs, Larka and Fell, to a pack that has been driven from their old territory by the movements of the Balkar, or night hunters who operate under the command of the cubs “aunt”, Morgra, a dark-hearted individual who acts as an excellent villain for much of the story, beginning when she curses the cubs and their parents.

Events then follow the cubs, their parents and the pack as they seek to deny the curse building to a spectacular climax through a story with many beautiful, tragic and innovative sections.
The story draws you in with excellent writing and the sheer difference of its premise, written from a the wolves eye view it’s very different to most books with human or supernatural human bases. This difference is played upon in the book to make some interesting reflections on humanity, as well as allowing for the retelling of religion and mythology from a different perspective and using different characters.

All in all, I couldn’t recommend adding this book into your “to read” list more strongly.
Enjoy!

Regards, Kerl

If this sounded interesting, consider reading:
William Horwood “The Wolves of Time”: Set in a dark, dystopian future wolves from across Europe are drawn together to try and save their species, if not the world, from the strife that is ripping it apart.

Joseph Smith “The Wolf”: I’ve only read a few pages of this so far, but what i’ve read can be summarised with a jaw-dropping “Wow”. Dropping any anthropomorphism and focusing on the wolf as the pure predator which it is, the book is a beautiful, flowing piece. I look forward to reviewing it when I finish it!

And Finally:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hungry+like+the+wolf+duran+duran&aq=1&oq=hungry+li
Because!

Ref: Poetry written by John Clare. Full version is here:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-am/

Alt.Fiction 2011 Podcasts Mythology

I know a number of people have been waiting for this one in particular. They are slow going as the outside noise and acoustics in the room made recording trickier than last year and a lot of work is being done to clean these up as best we can.

But here is it Un:Bound and Alt.Fiction present 'Using Mythology in Writing' with Mark Chadbourn, Adrian Tchaikovsky and K.A.Laity