Time for me to climb on my soapbox. My attention this week was caught by the story of British author Alan Shadrake. The 75-year-old writer has been held by the Singaporean authorities for promoting his book on the death penalty that still exists in the country. He has been arrested for alleged criminal defamation and “other offences”, and his passport has been impounded. (more…)
Honest Publishing Blog
Articles, news and latest writings from alternative, original voices.
Long Live Harvey Pekar
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Harvey Pekar was a talented comic book writer and music critic.
I remember when I first watched the American Splendor film. I wasn’t expecting it to be as funny, dry and realistic as it turned out to be. I wasn’t expecting anything and it blew me away. So I went and immediately bought the American Splendor graphic novel which turned out to be superior to the film. Here were stories of Harvey Pekar’s day to day life, of his work colleagues, obsessions, neurotic thoughts and behaviour, Harvey relentlessly grappling with working life. Here was somebody who put everything into publishing his own comic book, who became an underground hero and who continued to work the same dull job for the rest of his life. This was no celebrity, no fifteen minute wannabe, you got no laugh a minute catchphrase. (more…)
Musings on News
Friday, July 9th, 2010Imagine being a news presenter. Those guys repeat the same stuff over and over again. Imagine that! The same five news items over and over again. Every time that news article returns, the poor sods must swallow back an element of self-hate and disgust. Dig deep. Think about the news presenter and don’t ever complain about your job again. (more…)
Writing Joy
Friday, July 9th, 2010Writing can be a joyous thing. It can become the purpose of your life. You can settle down into a routine in which words bounce from your fingertips, joyous paragraphs and whole stories emerge. So beautiful and fulfilling these can be and feel that it’s almost a shame anybody else needs to see them. But you yearn to share what you’ve done with your very fingers, like a child. Look mum! Look reader, look what I can do with words! (more…)
iPads and Charity Shops
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010I am stood in the white, angular confines of Manchester’s Apple store, an iPad in my hands for the very first time. I’ve spent twenty minutes with Apple’s latest creation and have found it, in many ways, to be electrifying. Already I have used it to surf the web, watch a video, and now I am playing a game in which I steer a rally car through forests by simply tilting the device. I am absorbed, child-like in my wonder.
Alas, my first experience with the iPad as an e-reader would later leave me unexcited and cold. Reflections bounce from the rich, glossy screen, and the page-turning animation becomes old quickly. My arms soon begin to ache from holding it. I’m thinking too much about leaving fingerprints on that pristine surface. (more…)
Reading The World Cup
Thursday, June 17th, 2010As I sit in front of my television for the next month, transfixed by the joy of World Cup competition, I wonder what World Cup history is all about, what stories lie beneath the facades and motivation.
A book that I am interested in reading is Death of Glory! – The Dark History of the World Cup by Jon Spurling. I enjoy reading journalistic pieces exposing interesting stories and I’m sure political manipulation is rife when such a world wide event takes place. Another book would be The Soccer War, by Ryszard Kapuscinski, one of my favourite journalists. The Soccer War covers the war between El Salvador and Honduras leading up to the 1970 World Cup. If it’s anything like Kapuscinski’s other books, it will be a beautiful written account of his travels, with stunning insights. (more…)
‘The Wooden Tongue Speaks’
Monday, May 24th, 2010Honest Publishing is pleased to announce its latest publication by emerging talent, Romanian poet and author, Bogdan Tiganov.
‘The Wooden Tongue Speaks’ is the revised edition of a collection of short stories and poetry set in post-Ceauşescu and post-Cold War Romania.
The book takes readers on a journey through the author’s home town of Braila in the east of the country, where social, religious and political issues are explored through an array of colourful characters and narratives focusing on the newly, supposedly liberated world. (more…)
