Mark Charan Newton

A brief comment on page 299 of the edit of Nights of Villjamur:
Let’s get rid of the fashion magazine stuff—this is not a bonkbuster.
And very true, it isn’t. It was only a couple of lines of dialogue that was highlighted, but it did make me smile. These comments become quite entertaining after a while. Did [...]

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One of my favourite reference books is The Book Of Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges.
If I have a problem with the fantasy genre at the minute, it is that, on occasion, it does not embrace… erm… fantasy. It can be quite conservative in the imagination department, and I wonder where the fantasy has [...]

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I mentioned before about my inclusion in ut, but this great line up has been posted for Darkness on the Edge: Tales Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen. I’m apparently the finale…
I’m a big fan of the Boss. He’s second only to Dylan in intensity and depth of lyrics, but streets ahead in [...]

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Just a few thoughts on symbolism. I’m currently re-reading Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun series, and I’m really fascinated by the use of symbolism. I won’t go into detail here, but there are good essays here and here if you’re interested. Now, is it me, or are symbols totally out of vogue [...]

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Matlock: a strange mixture of old and new. Chrome, brass and leather-trimmed bistro bars stand alongside shabby collectible shops. Old ladies prefer the company of old ladies in tea rooms with steamed up windows, and that haven’t been decorated in years. Walkers stride through traffic with a nonchalance and purpose of street kids in Delhi [...]

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I’ve received the first chunk of the edit of Nights of Villjamur from Peter Lavery. It came with a slip saying “Hope it’s not too much of a shock”. I looked at the manuscript. I laughed.
Time to lose the ego.
It’s funny, because I’ve seen interviews where Neal Asher talks about Peter’s scary pencil. I sent [...]

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Okay, so this is totally a geek thing, but how cool is it? (Linked to from Bookninja.)
For those of you who don’t know, ISBNs are the International Standard Book Numbers you get near the barcode. Every title has a unique ISBN. And to see them as graffiti is simply awesome enough to make me want [...]

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A good convention, Alt Fiction, based in the Assembly Rooms in Derby. Cheers to Alex for such dedication to organise it.
Far too many folks there for me to catch up with in the four hours we hung around. But I like this con. It’s all about the fiction. All about the writing, the craft of [...]

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It’s always interesting, when I see writer blogs, to say publicly who your influences are, I find. Plus it’s a shortcut to the ‘Oh, dude, so, like, whose books are cool?’ answer.
Main ones:
Don DeLillo
M John Harrison
China Miéville
Conrad Williams
Ernest Hemingway
Lesser, but still significant:
Steven Erikson
Jonathan Lethem
Christopher Priest
David Peace
Henning Mankell
Lawrence Durrell
J.G. Ballard
A mixed bag of genres, but I [...]

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One of my favourite writers, Don DeLillo, makes the front cover of The Onion.
Awesome. I love that magazine. DeLillo is by far the best prose stylist I’ve ever come across. Underworld is perhaps the greatest novel. Sometimes, when some of his paragraphs are flying with cool structure and word selection, there is nothing better. Nothing. [...]

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