Remember Taking Comfort?

I know I've been concentrating on the Axe recently, but it's only just over a year ago that my other novel, Taking Comfort, was published in the UK by Macmillan New Writing. Taking Comfort came out in the States and Canada recently. Big territories. Easy for a little book to get lost. But I've been lucky to have a couple of very generous people take a chance on it and pass on their impressions. One of those is the writer Ben Dooley, a contributor to the literary website The Millions.

He says:

A novel about materialism may sound, at first, cliche, but it's carried off with a deft touch, the material presented in a way that is at once fresh and familiar. Morris plays a dangerous game with his narrative, constantly switching perspectives and focusing the action in each chapter on the relationship between a character and an object. The gambit pays off, as we're shown the inner life of a multitude of characters, both incidental and essential to the main action of the story, a tactic that allows Morris a hard-to-achieve combination of introspection and brisk pacing.

Read the whole thing here.

My thanks also to the writer Ania Vesenny who was kind enough to plug Taking Comfort in an interview on Kelly Spitzer's blog. The interview is really worth reading (aside from the mention of TC) because it's a great introduction to Ania. Apart from anything else, she lives in an extraordinary place called Baffin Island, which I would imagine has an interesting effect on her writing. And the novel she's working on sounds amazing.

She's no bitch.

I'm talking about the blogger who calls herself the Fiction Bitch, though personally I would call her the Fiction Angel. Not only did she write a wonderful review of Taking Comfort, she has now nominated it as her fiction book of the year (2006) on Susan Hill's blog. That's the second list I've made it onto!

So thank you, Bitch.

Feel the embossing

I picked up some copies of my other book this lunchtime. I was amazed to see that they've given me an embossed title with shiny red foil lettering.

Does this mean I've made it? Maybe I should give up now. After all, it doesn't get much better than shiny embossed lettering. I can honestly say it's what I've been working for all these years.

1,197 and counting.

The last time I looked, the trailer for Taking Comfort on aol uncut had received an amazing 1,197 views. That's far more than on any of the other video hosting sites I've put it. Two people have ranked it. But no one's left a comment. Anyone fancy being the first?

Sad news.

Sparky, one of the two goldfish Luke got for his birthday last Monday, has died. Goldie seems to be thriving.

Significant developments in America.

Apparently there have been some elections and Bush got a big dose of shock and awe, but it wasn't that I was thinking of. No - it was the fact that you can now pre-order the trade paperback of Taking Comfort on amazon.com.

It seems that some people already have.

Only one more copy left...

... on amazon.ca.

Some kind Canadian put it out of its misery, please. There will be more - the trade paperback edition is being released in Canada next Spring. This could be a last chance to own moment.

(Slightly surprised to learn that my Canadian amazon ranking is higher than my UK amazon ranking, but these things change daily, if not hourly, or minute-ly, or second-ly. Not that I check that often. Honest.)

A reader writes.

I got the following message from someone who's read Taking Comfort. Like me, he's a member of the writers' website writewords, which I think is how he found out about me and the book. It also explains the first line of his message.

Anyhow, I really loved his response, particularly because I have been searching for a way - without damaging my chances of anyone ever buying the book - of warning people that the book may not exactly be to everyone's taste. I think "Beadle's" response is just about perfect in that respect.

Hi Roger

I suppose one of the problems of being a published author on a site like this is that you get nutters like me contacting you as if you're their best mate!

I just wanted to say that I have just finished reading Taking Comfort and wanted to congratulate you. I also wanted to tell you that I came nearer than any other book I've read to throwing it across the room in frustration.

I struggled with the way it was written at first, the repetition of words and phrases and sentiments. I was more than halfway through before it finally clicked and I felt the rhythm of the writing, the spiralling of the characters’ minds, their confusion and doubt.

Maybe one of the reasons I reacted against it so strongly initially is that it was a very accurate rendering of that turmoil one’s mind goes through dealing with everyday issues, whether it is seeing tragedies or just coping with the rush hour tube traffic.

It was a challenging book, or perhaps I’m just not challenged in that way very often. But I want to congratulate you because ultimately you created a world that was frightening yet comforting in its reality (which was also frightening), as well as being familiar but very alien (which again scares the pant off of me).

Ultimately I also liked the plot – I’m big into plot, and narrative, which is why I sometimes get frustrated with books that look like they’ve been “written” rather than just appearing fully-formed in my hands.

I’ll go now before I out stay my welcome. Good luck with this and your future work.

Cheers

Beadle

I would also like to say that in a further message Beadle went on to say this:

I can see that it would be quite easy to see back and say - ah, let's make this straightforward - but you didn't and that takes guts, and the people that supported you to get it published also show guts, so beyond your own achievement I think it shows a bit of light in the murk of the publishing industry. [My emphasis.]

Uh, if there are any people who still have it in for Macmillan New Writing, please take note.

Agatha Christie's things.

I was reading through last Saturday's Guardian today (only a week late) when I came upon an interesting article by Kathryn Hughes: Hunger for the Corporeal.

She makes some good points about

"the desire to possess material fragments of people and places that have been important to us."

As she says:

"an object no longer simply embodies its material value; what counts is the narrative in which it becomes embedded."

It put me in mind of this book.

Kathryn Hughes has written a book about Mrs Beeton.

Lessons in the realities of book publishing.

Lesson Number 1.

There was quite a commotion at Day Job Headquarters yesterday evening.

"Does everybody know David Beckham is at Waterstones?"

"What's he doing there?" was the quite reasonable question.

"Signing books," came the slightly surprising response. I mean, David Beckham signing books? Who would have thought it.

"Shall we go?"

"It'd be rude not to."

So off they went, a positive exodus of otherwise quite sensible people, who had upto now betrayed no interest in the life, work, or literary career of David Beckham. But Christ, here was a genuine celebrity, an a-list star, a hero, almost, in a bookshop nearby.

And there you have the whole celebrity publishing phenomenon explained.

Lesson Number 2.



However, the most eagerly awaited book in the Morris-Yarham household was not David Beckham's autobiography, or whatever it is he's peddling, but the latest Captain Underpants epic novel from the pen of Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People.

Anyone who's met my son Luke will know that he is the world's biggest Captain Underpants fan. They will know this because Luke will tell them.

Anyhow, the new book arrived yesterday, at long last, all the way from America. It's not out in the UK yet. Yes, we're mad, but you've never experienced pester power like this, and at least it wasn't for a Play Station or a kiddy quad bike. It was for a book. Books are good. Books we like. Books we encourage.

Is it really possible that the big, gap-toothed-grinning joy, the I'm-so-excited-I'm-shaking excitement, the laugh-out-loud pleasure, the Dad-Dad-look-at-this wonder could have been caused by the arrival of a mere book?

We now have the happiest six-year-old boy on the planet living in our house.

So what is lesson two? Just that I think people who predict the end of reading are wrong.

If you would like to experience a similar excitement at the arrival of a new book, click here now.

Broken glasses.

Last night I sat on my glasses and thoroughly broke them. Some fool had left them on the sofa. I mean! How stupid is that?

I thought at first that I had sat on one of the kid's cheap - but dearly treasured - pieces of crap (or toys, as they call them) but no. The quick pop of snapping plastic was the left lens of my supposedly indestructable spectacles. The frames are fine, as they are made out of that flexible metal that returns to its shape no matter what you do to it. I guess I'll get them repaired.

Although I was annoyed with myself, I think actually it was probably better, for the emotional equilibrium of the house, that I broke my glasses, rather than one of Claire or Luke's toys.

So what does all this have to do with Taking Comfort, the subject of this plog? Well, I had taken my glasses off and put them down somewhere (yes, I was that fool) in order to read from the book in question. I wasn't reading it through, just looking for a passage to read at a certain forthcoming event, more details of which will be coming soon...