New Tunes

These last few days have been good for new music. I haven't got time to write the full post I'd like to, so I'll just link to the tracks.

The first, Witch Hunt, comes from the guys in Hawk Eyes (formerly Chickenhawk). It's a really cool slice of riff that reminds me of early Black Sabbath and also of Death From Above 1979. You can stream it (or download it) here.

The second is Holy Fuck, the first track to be released from I Am The Avalanche's forthcoming album, their first relese since their 2005 debut. Vinnie has one of my favourite voices in punk, and his performance on this doesn't disappoint (I still miss The Movielife, though). You can hear it here.

And last but not least, the new Into It. Over It. track Where Your Nights Often End is up here. It's nice and chilled, lots of layered guitars and soaring vocals. Lovely stuff.

The Gibbet's Cross

So the poll to name my novel has closed - with a grand total of 12 votes - and the result was a landslide in favour of The Gibbet's Cross. Which is good, as that was the name I secretly wanted to win. In my head I've been calling this story Jack-in-the-Green since I started writing it, but as soon as I came up with The Gibbet's Cross it stuck. So that one winning made me happy.

If you voted, thanks. I promise I'll actually finish writing this one, and that it will be available to read in one form or another. Preferably in a nice high-end hardback with rough paper released through a Big 6 publisher; I can dream, right?

Anyway. Progress the last week or slow has been slow as I'm in the middle of the busiest month of my life, moving house and working all over the place and lots of other things. I fully intend to get back to it, and I want to hit 25k words by the end of next week. I plan for the first draft and first edit to be finished and out to beta readers by the end of September. Then it'll be draft two, edit two, and then I'll see what shape the manuscript is in after that. This is a new process for me - I've completed a couple of manuscripts before, but never followed through with edits and general polishing. The size of the task ahead of me is a bit daunting, but I really want to tell this story and I really want to have people read it.

Get to, Chris. Get to.

Red Phone Box

My episode of Red Phone Box, Convergence, has gone live today. If you don't know about Red Phone Box, you should. Here's what Salome Jones, the mastermind behind it, has to say about it;

Something strange is happening whenever anyone gets into a particular London red phone box. A bevy of new and experienced writers set their creative powers to defining a darkly magical London. Red Phone Box is waiting for you…


Red Phone Box (the English name for phone booth) is a collaborative writing project. Every Wednesday and Saturday, another story will be published, written by a contributing author.

The main idea is to have the stories link up in some way, hopefully beyond just the appearance of the phone box. Each writer will read what’s come before and try to come up with something that adds to, builds on, builds up, or changes what has already happened.

Plans are well underway for an anthology of all the stories (plus an equal amount of new, anthology-only stories) to be collected in an ebook and (I think) a physical, dead-tree-variety book as well. It's a fantastic project, and I had a great time writing the story. I highly recommend you read it from the start.

Manchester

I'm sitting in the flat I've spent the day moving unable to go over to the new house because we feel safer on the third floor than the ground. There are police helicopters going overhead all the time and about an hour ago we heard a car exploding at Salford Precinct.

We're situated about half a mile from where it's kicking off in Salford and just over a mile from Manchester City Centre. Hopefully the trouble will stay isolated in those areas but if it spreads we're right in the middle. It's pretty scary.

I've already had a call from my manager to say they had to evacuate the store sharpish; they've had to leave money in the tills and if people get into the Arndale then it's likely I'll find a shop in ruins in the morning. And to top it all, two of my best friends are in their flat in the city centre literally hundreds of yards from where riot police are lining up against scum who only care about themselves.

What the fuck, Manchester? Get your act together and leave my city alone.

EDIT: As of 21;30 we can now smell burning. It smells like wood rather than a car or a house but it's strong and getting stronger. We have no idea what it is and can't see flames; I think that's the most unsettling part of it. I have a feeling things will get uglier now that it's getting dark. 

EDIT 22:07 A police helicopter just hovered over our estate for a few minutes with its searchlight on. It scanned around our estate then headed into Manchester following Blackfriars Road. As I type this it's overhead again, or a second chopper is.