Perserverence Makes Prizes

Just heard that Tamar Yellin's "The Genizah At The House Of Shepher" has won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer, or more dedicated, person. The book was a long time in the making, but it just shows you what you can do when you perservere.

I'm so excited for her I don't think I'll sleep tonight.

Well done, T!

E-books are beginning to tempt me

And that's something I never thought I'd say. Generally I haven't traditionally enjoyed reading from a screen, but book reader displays are getting higher and higher in resolution, and I have a feeling it won't be so very long before publishers are going to be faced with a pretty persuasive commercial and environmental argument that is going question the viability of traditional paper books.

That's a scenario that gives me the heebies. I love the physicality of books, the feel of the pages, the smell of the paper, the design of the whole package from cover art to typeface. Always have done. Physical books are things that I just want to have, and the fact that I've been dragging my heels over getting those five crates down to the charity shop to complete the literature side of our declutter hasn't gone unremarked. When I was a kid I always wanted a library in my house, a room lined floor to ceiling with books, even on the door. I know now that it's not going to happen. It's just not practical in a flat in Glasgow - but more than that, along with the rest of the world, I sense that I'm moving away from the physical book.

Cory Doctorow's article in the recent issue of Locus put this in a kind of perspective. He's right, much though I protest to not liking reading from a screen, I do it for hours every day. But for my non-work reading I don't do it sitting at my desk: I do it on the bus, on the train, sometimes (if it's really good story) walking down the street; I do it curled up in unnatural positions on the sofa, I do it in bed, and I do it a lot in the bath (which is, a real issue - I'm usually very careful, but splashes do occur and I've (only) once actually dropped a paperback in the water, and there's an obvious difference between having to shell out another £6.99 for a pb and buying a new reader and suffering mild electric shock) All that said, as soon as they produce an affordable device that fits into my preferred leisure reading model, I think I'll likely make the switch.

It's a way off yet, though. I love technology, and living in a world that offers you something new every two or three years, but I'm a second wave adopter. I'm usually skeptical of new technologies until I can see how they'll fit the way I want to use them, and then I go for them big time. This is related to a natural cautiousness on my part, but it's got a couple of advantages. The first is that I don't own anything as gloriously daft as laser disk player, but the bigger advantage is that new gizmos usually have to have the corners buffed off them by the general public before the gap between what the marketeers think people are going to want from a device and what people will actually use it for narrows to the point where you actually get something that's useful.

Part of me's looking forward to it greatly. Moving to MP3s for my music has revolutionalised my life. Having a device that does the same for my book collection will be amazing.

Giving up on my library though, it's like giving up on a dream.

Interzone is 25

With the publication of its latest issue (in the shops now!), Interzone magazine is officially 25 years old. I've been reading it for at least 80% of that time and over the years it has introduced me to an uncountable list of fantastic writers that have enriched my life. I've eulogised about the mag before, and there's no need to do so again in detail, but:

1/ Interzone started me writing (and has yet to find a way of stopping me).
2/ Interzone has for a long time now been the keystone of British genre fiction; its editors have an unerring eye for new talent that quickly become household names.
3/ Interzone 209 (out now! buy it!) features an interview between myself and Mr Duncan, plus a new Book Of All Hours story by Mr Duncan, PLUS new stories by M John Harrison, Gwyneth Jones, Alastair Reynolds, Jamie Barras and Daniel Kaysen.

How is it possible you've finished reading this and not gone out and bought the thing, or better still ordered a subscription!

Sort of Mellow

That's the way I'm feeling today. It might be because I've taken an impromptu day off to get some writing done, or it might be the music I'm listening to at the moment.

So, a coupla recommendations for you.

1/ Being launched on Monday, The Ballads Of The Book. A rather exciting arts council funded project produced by Chemikal Underground that has seen songwriting collaborations been some of Scotland's most interesting writers and independent musicians. Not sure exactly why the combination of prose writers with songwriters should be considered such a groundbreaking move, myself, but there you go, certainly the results are very impressive indeed. And they include a marvelous effort that combines the talents of Aereogramme with our very own Mr Duncan of this parish.

Order it now.

2/ Had a bit of a CD splurge at Fopp and Avalanche last week and came across a few gems, including recent work from Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies, The Feeling. The Plimpton's new album Pomp is high energy madcap entertainment from end to end. And the absolute star for me is The Spell Of The Trembling Earth by The Porch Song Anthology. It's a superb collection of low key murder ballads and appalachianesque country folk. The singing is beautiful and the playing matches it. Gorgeous stuff.