All Simian until today

I'm having to oscillate between two different manuscripts at the moment. Maureen and I are going through Chapter 1 of 'The Missing'(or the first part of the novel as it doesn't really have chapters) sending copies backwards and forwards to one another. At the same time I am printing off the first version of 'DarkFather', which is being read by Madame Vin. I'm hoping the stories don't become too intertwined by accident. I would hate for the Missing Man to suddenly pop up in The Gap.

I'm also at the start of a 'get fit for the Cairngorms bike ride' regime, which was going fine until I pulled the tendons on the inside of both elbows. They have been in exaggerated spasm since last Friday causing me to walk around with my arms bent like an Orang-utan. This has resulted in Madame Vin threatening to put things just out of reach and fits of giggles when I bend simian like to pick them up. Fortunately today the arms are once more straight making me feel all evolved.

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'The Reapers' is the new Charlie Parker novel only it doesn't star Bird and instead focuses its plot on Louis and Angel. I think this book has been at the back of the mind of all John Connolly readers since he introduced us to the characters in the first novel. The two characters have grown with the books but their pasts, often hinted at, has never been fully explored. This book sets the record straight allowing us to watch Louis grow from a poor marginalised southern boy in a racist society through pain and anguish which leads him to becoming a cold hearted killer who is eventually redeemed (as much as a killer for hire can be). It also shows the love and respect Angel and Louis have for one another, the bond that keeps them together and the shadowy lives they must live to protect each other.
It also introduces us to the characters in their lives, from the humble and loyal mechanic Willy and Arno, the local bar owner Nate and the dark brooding presence of Parker, who you realise is just as fearsome (if not more so) than Louis.
As ever the book is well written, cleverly plotted at a fast and rising pace. My only gripe is that the character of Bliss, yang to Louis' ying, is skipped over a little too quickly. I wanted to know more about him, for him to built up like The Collector of previous books. Not that I'm complaining because as usual Connolly has produced a brilliant and creative thriller.

Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves however was a bit of a disappointment. Gaiman I've written about before and remains one of my favourite writers but this fell flat in both ideas and the language used. I haven't read anything by Reaves before so have nothing to compare it to. I don't know if it was the fact of co-writing a book that meant their individual ideas and voices were lost in the joint effort but I just found it lacking in imaginative sparks.
The Subterranean volume is as always beautifully produced, however there are a couple of glaringly obvious editing mistakes.

Finally I finished the week reading 'Arkham Asylum,' a 25 th Anniversary release of the Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean comic. I first read this over a decade ago and though the story works only in fits and starts the art work is amazing.

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Read this week:
The Reapers by John Connolly
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrisson and Dave Mckean

Age Banding

You've probably already read about the new initiative by some publishers to add an age range to books as a guide for parents when choosing a new book for their offspring. The story has made the press and a full outline of the issues can be read in The Telegraph and at the BBC. I have to say having just finished 'The Darkfather' I'm against the idea, the reasons being:

a) Books should be read for enjoyment not because they mark base camps along the Everest of reading. I read books that are meant for children but its the story and the characters, the language and the created world that makes it for me, not some arbitrary age grouping.

b) When I set off to write a novel I have no idea about the age group it fits into. The story develops and the language along with it. The language I use is suitable to the story not the age of the reader.

c) As I child I came to books late (I read mainly comics as a youngster) but when I started to read I read voraciously and worked through everything from 'The Hobbit', to 'Great Expectations' to the works of Shakespeare. If I had known that were I to pick up a book and be stigmatised by those around me by the 'age' of the book then I might not have picked some of them up.

d) If you're an adult choosing a book for a child and don't know what to buy - speak to a bookseller or a Librarian. I've worked in both positions and I can tell you the people working in books do it for the love of the works and not the pay (which in most cases is rubbish). Go to a good book shop and ask for help. The staff will impart their knowledge freely and try their best to help you.

So that is why I've added my name to the Philip Pullman lead campaign and ask that you do the same. Details can be found here.

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Started on the editing process of 'The Missing' today with my editor Maureen. She's leading me down the rubbish strewn path of missing colon's, sentence restructure and tense clarification. Chapter 1 has been reviewed and we should have that finished within the next couple of weeks. She's read the book twice and says she enjoyed it (phew!).

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My new leather jacket has arrived - hurrah! It's taken some time due to my rather poor Lycos email account which seems to be acting up at the moment and the trip to Japan. But it is now here and looks wonderful and fits perfectly. Many thanks to John at Bad Wolf for sorting it all out for me.

Catching up

Couple of things came through in the email whilst I was away.

The short story 'Pastoral Effect' will be published in the June 09 issue of New Horizons magazine. This is one of the magazines produced by the British Fantasy Society, I'll check to see if you have to be a member to purchase a copy.

I have an editor for 'The Missing'. The erudite Maureen will be undertaking the task and we hope to get things complete in three months. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

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Read several books whilst away:

Mariah Mundi - The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor takes a while to get going but is full of wonderful gothic inventions and is set in a world that might be Victorian England but then again might be somewhere completely different. It tells the story of the orphan Mariah in his new occupation as servant in the Prince Regent Hotel, a massive monstrosity built on supports over a cliff face with steam elevators and something nasty hidden in the basement. There he meets the feisty Sacha and soon finds himself embroiled in a mystery concerning vanishing children, magic tricks, the Kracken and tunnels underground. Once it beds in the story sets a rapid pace and those the language might be difficult for some children the invention should keep them reading. I will now go back and read the book that he first published - Shadowmancer.

In the Miso Soup is a translation of a work by Ryu Murakami from Japan. It's dark and funny and deadly and terrible violent. Sort of stuck half way between a Tarantino movie and an Ian Banks novel. Its well written and the translated with deft by Ralph McCarthy. Short and brutal but with a heart (cut out and pulsating in a clutched hand).

Tokyo by Mo Hayder is a simple thriller involving the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking during their war against China, plotted against an outsiders involvement with the Yakuza in modern day Tokyo. The main character 'Grey' I found a little difficult to understand but the reason for this soon becomes evident and you understand why she has been used. The other great mystery of the story, a Chinese herbal medicine and its contents is the books downfall with its source being obvious early in the story.

Read this week:
Mariah Mundi - The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Tokyo by Mo Hayder

The long one about Tokyo

I had been told to expect culture shock. Japan after all is Asian in mind and deed, insular and yet modern, but this is a creeping type of culture shock. You don’t experience it all at once, it seeps into you slowly. Rather than the freezing cold shock of ice cubes down the back of your shirt, it is the dropping of the temperature as you move into the frozen waste lands. Things are obviously dissimilar, the signage is difficult to read, the land smells different, the usual becomes slightly more difficult than normal but Tokyo is a city, and you know the way that a city works. They are the same all over the world. But after a time you realise that Tokyo is different - very, very different.

First the expected. Tokyo at night is (and I know that this is almost a cliché) the city of Bladerunner. The soft rain, neon lights pulsating, smoke filled bars up hidden stairs. It is as if you’ve stepped through the screen right into Deckard’s world, a land of replicants and off world colonies. It’s beautiful and raw, with the thrill of possibility around every corner. But you were anticipating that, you’ve seen the pictures, you know what to expect.

Day time Tokyo is just as thrilling, but in a calming, clean and polite way. I’ve always thought of cities as dirty, angry places. All those people living cheek by jowl with all the rubbish, noise and pollution spilling out onto the streets, but it would appear not so in Tokyo. With a population of 12 billion they have created a city that is clean and polite, that embraces the future whilst heeding the past. People are courteous and kind, get out a map and look vacant (something I’m good at) and within seconds a helpful local will point you in the right direction. Perhaps it’s because the Japanese have created a city that works. In our two week holiday I did not see a train that was late, an electric door that didn’t fail to open, a ticket barrier that did not work, or a toilet seat that wasn’t gently warmed electronically. I didn’t see rubbish on the floor, wanton vandalism, or any signs of aggression. Either Tokyo works in ways that we at home can and will never understand or else Tokyo has a dark, misshapen portrait in its own attic.

We stayed in the plush Park Hotel in a new-ish district called Shiodome (pronounced shi-oh-dom-ee). The hotel staff were brilliant, attentive but knowing when to give you space. The hotel was immaculately kept and wonderfully situated. If you go I can’t recommend it enough. Around Shiodome you have everything you need. The area is ultra modern with underground, over ground and monorail trains next to the hotel. Every type of restaurant you want is within walking distance; from the Japanese salary man barbecue pits to high class (with great views) restaurants. I had the best Italian meal outside of Italy ever in a purpose built Italian section of the city behind our hotel.
We visited like crazy – Imperial parks, museums of the future, Buddhist temples and Shinto (fascinating religion) shrines. We saw Mount Fuji (which is not as easy at it sounds) and failed to see a massive waterfall. We rode the famous bullet trains and drank in the same bar as Bill Murray, and we ate and ate and ate…

The highlight for me was learning a few Samurai sword moves from Tetsuro Shimaguchi, the head choreographer in the swordfight scene in the snowy garden in “Kill Bill: Volume One” (he played the role of Crazy 88 (Miki) in the film). Apparently I’m a natural, but I think he says that to everyone. I have a film on VHS of me and Madame Vin that I’ll get copied to the blog as soon as it is on disc and then you can make your own decision.

So that’s it, holiday over, but I will definitely be going back to Tokyo - I don’t know when buts it’s on my radar. For now it’s back to work and finishing off ‘Dark Father’.