Sunday 15 January 2017

Ghost Story IV
















Ghost Story IV will follow on from Ghost Story I to III looking at horror over a series of at least 30 poems told in 30 days.

In previous stories, we explored horror through a tram crash in Salford where a ghost came to warn a man about the forthcoming crash to a shooter at a un-named train station and a poisoned rat king running amok, Ghost Story IV will follow a new theme and turn the volume up louder than before.

In this story, although the core characters from Part I to III will remain Andy and Michelle, a human and a ghost trapped in a whirlwind of a puzzle of a up coming un-seen horror creeping into play, Part IV will focus on a character who came into the forefront Ghost Story III right at its end, Mandrake with his war that was hinted at during Part III now boiling over and exploding from one point onto the streets and into the underworld.

Andy and Michelle will still be an important part of this story and the full narrative, as will Inspector Brooks and Ghana and all over surviving characters (so far) but Ghost Story IV will look at things at a slightly different way before spinning back into focus and dragging the reader on a gore filled journey

As always told over 30 days, Ghost Story IV will consist of short and sharp poems designed to build up the tension and by the end of the sequence will leave the reader battered to the point of exhaustion but filled with an excitement what next?

And where next?


Due to start: April 2017

More details here 

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Review of last year / a few hints of things to come in 2017 / 2018

Review of last year..

Some quick notes on things that happened last year..

  1. Ocean in a Bottle pretty well managed a EP or album throughout all of 2016 which I am pleased over and it should carry onto in 2017 all being good.
See here for more details – https://oceaninabottle.bandcamp.com

  1. Spoken Label– my interview podcast with writers, poets and all kinds of artists and I managed to do 36 separate podcasts throughout 2016. It is currently sleeping but the second season of it should start towards Spring 201The archive for this can be heard - https://spokenlabel.bandcamp.com/

  1. I maintained doing solo poetry readings through 2016. Although none were videoed – highlights of some audio can be heard on my own bandcamp page Andy
    More details here - https://andyn.bandcamp.com/

  1. Work has been progressing slowly but surely on my third full length book ‘From the Diabetic Ward’. Expect a release date in 2017.
  1. My second full length book The End of Summer was re-released at the end of 2016. It can be bought here and has had some excellent reviews https://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Summer-N-Andy-ebook/dp/B01LY7YR9K
  1. A split book with Nick Armbrister, Europa II following on from our well received anti war book in 2014 also followed. This can be seen here

  1. A steady stream of publications has also followed this year. These can be read here

  1. My live band A Means to an End alas finished in 2016 but not before releasing their debut album.
This can be heard and purchased from here

  1. Ghost Story III – my third Napwrimo Supernatural series was released and blogged

     (Part 1 to 3 were also released in a book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Story-Andy-N/dp/1326774522)


Plans for 2017 are varied but will hopefully include:

  1. From the Diabetic Ward
My third full length poetry book.
 
  1. Ghost Story IV

  1. The Wall ‘series’
(A series of epic fantasy – swords and sorcery poems set in a world which has a land called The Wall in it – the first one is now called Enemy of the Wall. All being good when the third is done – I’ll then be able to start looking for a publisher for the book and then work on the next three)

  1. Acers and Jokers (A joint comedy novel with Adam focusing on two very stupid kids akin to the Inbetweeners who get fed up of seeing the local drug lords make loads of money and decide to join in with chaotic results)

  1. The Author Series – more likely 2018 at least but this will be a rewrite of childhood novellas wrote focused on a character called The Author who is a Charles Bukowski ish kind of character mixed with John Carter from Mars who stumbles his way into all kinds of adventures.



Tuesday 3 January 2017

Post little tib bits from Write Out Loud Stockport

A few of you know I go to Write Out Loud Stockport and always love getting the report from John Keane who runs it with his always fun write ups.

Here is the one for December which features my pieces only:

Lightening the mood, Andy gave us a remix of an old poem, a fictional thank you letter by Snow White to Father Christmas – predictably full of fun, frolics and (cough) innuendo.

Caught up in the spirit of the season, Andy read us The Snowman Came Alive, a poem vaguely inspired by Raymond Briggs’ soulful fairy tale. Sadly, the Snowman’s ruminations came to nought in the end. And we were lucky it wasn’t Simon’s Snowman…

Andy delved into The origins of Evil (with the Birth of Evil aka The Origin of Billy the Kid) with an evocative piece about a gangster in Stretford who went by the name of Billy the Kid. He ended up in Boot Hill – no surprises there, then.

Andy’s poem (From a new sequence Europa II – Part VIII) seemingly contained the deathless line ‘Moaning like Lanterns’ – a phrase worth the price of admission right there.