I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest on the Authorized Podcast a few times now, but this novelisation of the 1969 WWII movie Play Dirty has been the most fascinating. The film stars Michael Caine*, was directed by Andre de Toth, with a screenplay co-written by Melvyn Bragg. The novelisation is by the mysterious Zeno, and we do some digging to discover who he really was. I have to explain Melvyn Bragg to Americans, and we spend about ten minutes getting confused about the difference between a ‘presenter’ and a ‘host’. And it’s all fun! Enjoy…
*It’s his 91st birthday, today, 14th March. Happy birthday, Sir Michael!
Back when I was a sales rep for Headline publishing, I would drive all over the south east of England from my home in Epsom, Surrey. I decided that if I was going to be stuck in a car for much of the day, then I would use that time to fill my brain with some good nutritious listening, which meant a lot of Radio 4, including In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg and Women’s Hour. But the day almost always started with the Today programme and so many of my early morning traffic jams were in the company of one of its presenters James Naughtie. So it was a particular delight to be offered the chance to interview him for the podcast. Of course, whenever I’m interviewing a journalist I worry that I’ll fluff if and look like an amateur, but James was great and put me at my ease right away. It’s a fun interview and James’s Will Flemyng spy thrillers are from all accounts proper page-turners.
Later in the podcast, inspired by my chat with James about books as treasured things, me and Mr D discuss how bookshelves are like carefully arranged shrines with sacred objects (books!) from significant moments in our lives. I recalled buying a copy of David Selzer’s The Omen in a second hand English language bookshop while I was holiday in Spain when I was about 11-years-old. I can’t tell you how many times I read and re-read this, but I loved it, totally falling for the (fake) quotes from Revelations. I’m pretty sure this was the first horror novel I read (unless you count Jaws, which I probably should) and it sparked a love of the genre that’s never left me. Just holding it on my hands takes me back to that holiday and happily reading in the shade… What was the first horror novel you ever read? Let me know in the comments below…
I’ll scribble my signature and your choice of dedication (keep it clean!) and pop it in the post. I’ll even throw in a free bookmark. All my books are currently in stock and there are bundles available if you want to bulk purchase and save money!
I had so much fun discussing William Kotwinkle’s extraordinary novelisation of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial with the gang on the Authorized Novelizations Podcast. This is in-depth stuff and full of surprises. The delightful and often bizarre choices that Kotwinkle makes elevates this book above the average movie tie-in. Settle in for a rollercoaster ride. It’s on all the usual podcast providers, but here’s a link to Apple podcasts.
I was hoping to do one of those unboxing videos for my new book, but they’ve delivered the book… here.
Babes in the Wood is the second of the Witches of Woodville books. And… After the events of The Crow Folk life has returned to normal for Faye and her fellow Witches. Then a group of children arrive…
They are kindertransport children fleeing the Nazis. They finally have a safe haven in Woodville.
I explain what it’s all about here on one of my walks…
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello folks, how are you? Hey, who wants a free short story? You do! Definitely well, you can have one right now. Just sign up to my newsletter if you haven’t already. And it’s called I’ll See You in My Dreams. And it features Miss Charlotte, Southhill, who, if you’ve read The Crow Folk you’ll know, she’s one of the witches in the Witches of Woodville, and she has something of a mysterious past, maybe a bit older than she at first looks, which is why the story starts in 1593. And it asks the question, “Would you stop time to save someone you love?” Let’s have a listen to a quick bit right now…
Charlotte Southill first met Time when the plague came to London. Many thought the bitter winter would kill the summer’s pestilence, but it endured and the deaths only increased. The theatres and taverns closed. The streets were lousy with rats and handbells clanged as bodies were taken away on carts. Charlotte had never so much as caught a cold in her 38 years, but that was a reason for that. Lizzie was not so fortunate. She complained of aches and a fever two days ago. On the first day she kept vomiting. Then the swelling came. Charlotte had tried every apothecary trick she knew, but nothing would work. Lizzie’s breath rattled. Her body was riddled with buboes, and it was now only a matter of time.
OoOOOoooh! I have no idea what clip I was going to use, but I assume it’s going to be an “Oooh!” bit, you know, for the sake of marketing. Well, I hope you enjoyed that, because there’s going to be four of them. Four short stories in the Miss Charlotte quartet. Four. Quartet. See what I did? And they’ll tell a much bigger story over the course of the four stories, one a month every month for the next four months. So, yeah, just sign up to the newsletter and hopefully enjoy them. There’ll be e-books and there’ll be audio versions as well every month. So yeah, sign up now, put a link below and do that sort of thing. But yeah, it was, it was, it was fun to write. Short stories are hard, they’re really hard. There’s no room for my usual waffle. I have to be very concise. I have to thank my editor, Julian Barr, for really cracking the whip on this one. He’s a tough taskmaster. And to Andy Bowden for the cover art, which is just splendid. And thank you to everyone who’s bought a copy of The Crow Folk, who’s put a review up. It’s always massively, massively appreciated. Four weeks in the Hive chart in the UK, that’s the chart for a lot of the independent bookshops in the UK. I thought I was going to be out after three weeks. I was at number 19. I got back up again to thirteen. So thank you. Thank you all. You’re all bloomin’ marvellous. Um, Book 2, uh, Babes in the Wood coming in October, October twenty seventh. I see preorder links for that pop up online because that’s what happens. Publishers put it on their database, push a button and (blows raspberry) it feeds out to the Internet. That’s the actual noise that it makes when they push the button. And so yeah, I’ll put a link on the website so you can find it on there: witchesofwoodvile.com and any pre-orders would be appreciated. Check out The Hive, check out Bookshop.org – that helps indie bookshops. And of course, as you know, Amazon, Waterstones and all those lovely people as well. Whatever way you want to do it, any pre-orders much appreciated. So, yeah, free short story. Get in, enjoy and happy reading.
I was delighted to gatecrash Ian W Sainsbury’s Friday night chat last week. We discussed Alpha/Beta Readers, book covers, Facebook Groups, the joy of editors, the wonders of notebooks, Ursula Le Guin and why whenever Ian hears my voice he thinks of dog poo…
Hello folks, Mark, Stay here. It’s January 6th and the UK has gone into lockdown for the third time, third time’s a charm and that means all bookshops are closed. So if you want to buy books… In particular, if you’re going to buy this book. Where can you go? Now, uh…
All sorts of options. All sorts of options. Number one, I would suggest you go to Coles Bookshop in Bicester because they’re selling signed copies of the book with a free signed art print, signed by myself and the artist Harry Goldhawk. Look at that. Marvellous. Look at it. Ooh. That’s port of call number one.
If you’re a if you’re a Waterstones fan or if you never used Waterstones before, try them because they have a wonderful thing. Every time you buy – spend ten pounds – you get a stamp and if you buy books as much as I do, then in no time at all. You get a free book or ten pounds credit. Fantastic. So get it from Waterstones.
If you live overseas, well, The best place… When I say overseas, outside the UK, obviously go to The Book Depository. They have free postage and packing worldwide, which is a wonderful thing. And very often you get free bookmark. Not my bookmark, but you know, a bookmark. Just get it for the bookmark. And then apparently there’s some online start up called Ammaz? Amzz? It’ll come to me… Anyway you can… Look it up online. Just Google it. But, yeah, if you’re working in a bookshop, and they’re on furlough now and, you know, help them support them as much as you can. We’re going to need them more than ever.
We interrupt this video to bring you an update on behalf of UK bookshops. Many still operate on a click and collect or mail order basis during lockdown. And we’ll be able to get you all the books you can eat. Also, check the Hive and UK.Bookshop.org, an easy way to shop online and support local bookshops. You’ll find links to these below. Now back to your regular broadcast from somewhere in Kent
So yeah. I put some links for all this gubbins below. Where you can get not just my book… They do all sorts of books, but yes, support your local bookshops. And, you know, if you can’t get out much, use Amazon. I know it’s fashionable to hate them, but, you know, if you are housebound or whatever, they’re bloody good at what they do. So, yes, anyway, Oh here we go… Out of the woods. It’s a metaphor for something, innit What a wonderful day to go for a walk. Happy reading. See you again soon.
Mark Stay Writes 