Bestsellers make money. They do. And they get written about. Take John Locke. And money is great because you can get stuff and live. But to me, bestselling books are a sick marketing exercise, nothing less than playing on the fantasies of the masses. (more…)
Honest Publishing Blog
Articles, news and latest writings from alternative, original voices.
Glastonbury is Dead
Sunday, June 26th, 2011“I think it could well become more political. We’ve always been a sounding board for lots of unrest. If people are really faced with dire circumstances, that will get them angry and motivated, and that’s the way we’re heading at the moment.”
So said Glastonbury creator Michael Eavis last week of his world-famous music festival. I have never been less convinced. (more…)
Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’: From Scroll to iPhone App
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011What a transition Jack Kerouac‘s On The Road has made. It started off as a 120-foot scroll of taped together tracing paper, with no margins or paragraphs. It might as well have been written on the back of a cigarette packet. For me, it was the perfect treatment of Kerouac’s dazed-and-confused prose that left readers reaching for a bottle of whiskey, and an atlas. (more…)
Finding Role Models for Women Writers
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011I feel compelled to jump onto my feminist soapbox and wave my agro feather-duster whenever I think about Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. All three of whom have been celebrated as a kind of holy trinity in works such as Bowditch’s The Ophelia Project. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with celebrating these writers’ lives and I’m sure Rachel Bowditch had nothing but noble intentions. (more…)
Bed
Monday, June 6th, 2011Blurbs are the butlers in the big mansion standing over the dead Lord with the cup of poison in his hand. We all know how they get on the back of the page. We all know how they worm their way onto the front of the page. It’s no secret. A phone call. A letter. An email. (more…)
‘Jazz’ Now Available in Paperback
Saturday, June 4th, 2011Jéanpaul Ferro‘s Jazz is now available in paperback. Tackling the full spectrum of human emotion with considered wit and intricate prose, this is a collection of poetry that will reach both lovers of the genre and those just discovering poetry publishing. (more…)
Why Religion and Faith Still Matter
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011Of Gods and Men, a film about Christian monks in Algeria, has made me, through the ideas it presents and represents, rethink my place in the world. Religion bashing has once again become cool, as it’s generally acknowledged that only idiots believe in what they can’t see. Individual responsibility, Sartre screaming in the collective ear; but if the individual is an empty vessel then I believe society is a brothel filled with cheap sensory overload, false promises and superficial relationships. Say I spend time fulfilling daily duties for a paycheque (that paycheque goes towards basic necessities and fancies, no more) and in my free time I Tweet, Facebook/Facestalk, drink, go to the cinema (hardly, too expensive these days, download it), gossip about Apprentice… where does wisdom and understanding come into it? Can the teachings of holy books be replicated by Twitter or the rising careers of pop scientists? (more…)
Packing
Saturday, May 28th, 2011I have been packing books, books, books, books, books, books, books, books, books, books, books, books, so many books. This is the time when I really hate books. But still I would never have a Kindle or some other device that they are trying to sell me. I will only buy a Nook if that Nook could blow me while I was reading a naughty book. (more…)
Walking
Saturday, May 21st, 2011We all walk. You walk. I walk. Although I am not walking now, but very soon I will walk, I will walk over to the kettle and make myself a cup of tea. Some walk quicker than others, some have a strange walk, some a funny walk, some of us have a serious walk, some march, stride, saunter, glide. Some walks are coquettish and some walks are so supercilious. You could be walking while reading this, you could be wishing you were walking, you could even now walk away. (more…)
