tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23665912411808755142024-03-16T18:51:57.734+00:00The Antonine ItinerariesAntony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.comBlogger460125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-19734982348390400732024-02-27T17:41:00.003+00:002024-02-27T17:45:55.551+00:00New Book News<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyawFA7gO-5a3JbLu2OUMUAgKTNfxyeC-3oUXWFrqIbK8n16ejBk1ZvYZWkjlgvaVQICWkbzcax1r2HB-ddW8weInFN3J41CLloefSBzCYTtlxSNvr4mWKdOQ_7mNl9YZ_t6JiyIz6yzScXpsNu98DuREUEcv-pKqA0AnPnr-VTRc-Hmaqo1sZZSkSCzw/s640/fall-of-the-house-of-usher-1928-usa-image-24-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyawFA7gO-5a3JbLu2OUMUAgKTNfxyeC-3oUXWFrqIbK8n16ejBk1ZvYZWkjlgvaVQICWkbzcax1r2HB-ddW8weInFN3J41CLloefSBzCYTtlxSNvr4mWKdOQ_7mNl9YZ_t6JiyIz6yzScXpsNu98DuREUEcv-pKqA0AnPnr-VTRc-Hmaqo1sZZSkSCzw/s320/fall-of-the-house-of-usher-1928-usa-image-24-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I'm excited at the moment because my next book has now entered the typesetting and design stage, which is usually my favourite part of the writing and publishing process. I'm using a new Hastings-based typesetter and designer and ideas are being batted around as I type. It's not quite finished as there are a couple of people to interview and a research item that's proving surprisingly difficult to track down. I find that once typesetting commences it's a spur to completion. The finished book will be published by Accumulator Press and I hope will be available through the previously used online channels (eBay, Big Cartel etc) and a number of independent bookshops. It will be a signed limited edition paperback with French flaps, probably with postcards and extras - maybe a print - retailing at somewhere around £20 to £25. There will also be some promotional talks and events in the next six months. Watch this space . . . </p><p>THERE ARE STILL PLACES FOR THE DAVID MCGILLIVRAY TALK ON 22 MARCH <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-confessions-of-david-mcgillivray-tickets-812425144477?aff=erelexpmlt">HERE</a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-9579215617955133062024-02-12T13:56:00.002+00:002024-02-12T13:56:42.132+00:00Fat Tuesday<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiOd1ynC40gfEY6IBYlZuW8cYQuX9W-X0cBht2QupGH6UezdIV0WR1kQmF40-t5-4zQLUYerhK2DJ-i2s3dJ967UXD0gUyo3ORywE7f8VAgcgSz4JyBdAhWGqlhTU0HruFLGwcogPKGSraEh2OpncsO3_8IRGYyORlM2PeusAA2tDgbuAF3Gr-2-t_5c/s5562/WONK_UNIT_-_FT_-_LORD_NELSON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3737" data-original-width="5562" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiOd1ynC40gfEY6IBYlZuW8cYQuX9W-X0cBht2QupGH6UezdIV0WR1kQmF40-t5-4zQLUYerhK2DJ-i2s3dJ967UXD0gUyo3ORywE7f8VAgcgSz4JyBdAhWGqlhTU0HruFLGwcogPKGSraEh2OpncsO3_8IRGYyORlM2PeusAA2tDgbuAF3Gr-2-t_5c/s320/WONK_UNIT_-_FT_-_LORD_NELSON.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge8EFSaPgrUYZMRLMEiZu2GIsyySfvK43nrYarX3soU1yBD0Zl7dox_7dCrrgG8NCNAb2oYH2bpI1I4dRpwGdJNXX52NW7e3WQRu8ehSB6aOZgjQtPS_lFiGTmSnwAHzUHOuFSXmZBeF5HpS9xq1RY0ziCyIv1CkinMpxUQs-rdaCvQFJfj_8sJyoiai0/s1000/opd-3-web-res.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1000" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge8EFSaPgrUYZMRLMEiZu2GIsyySfvK43nrYarX3soU1yBD0Zl7dox_7dCrrgG8NCNAb2oYH2bpI1I4dRpwGdJNXX52NW7e3WQRu8ehSB6aOZgjQtPS_lFiGTmSnwAHzUHOuFSXmZBeF5HpS9xq1RY0ziCyIv1CkinMpxUQs-rdaCvQFJfj_8sJyoiai0/s320/opd-3-web-res.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Hastings Fat Tuesday has come around once more - an opportunity to roam around Hastings Old Town pubs watching bands and musicians playing 20 minute sets for free, including some rising local stars such as <a href="https://hashbrandnew.com/Artists/Borough+Council">Borough Council</a> and <a href="https://theopd.bandcamp.com">Office for Personal Development.</a> I'm also hoping to check out The Veltmans, Black Limes, and Creature Creature. Apparently quite a few people are travelling some distance especially for this increasingly popular festival. See <a href="https://hastingsfattuesday.co.uk">here.</a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-33643682891401623782024-02-06T11:26:00.005+00:002024-02-06T11:42:45.084+00:00David McGillivray Talk in London<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvC2NFaplz7dao3aSNPD5X_7IsTW31G1WuUXR1azuA607CvsYJ_5SSN4go1Q7AblSLGvZnB8VaD7RC-yHlPV0_9mwFptXFrSufMnErkyabeM_foINlgo1nVmJOQmd0wrPR3TlAXj2kyH06OQghrMtY9_j1hNLIjAV2pgQNXEUR3gLSmkqe-iGZXJSGMjk/s840/david-mcgillivray.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="840" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvC2NFaplz7dao3aSNPD5X_7IsTW31G1WuUXR1azuA607CvsYJ_5SSN4go1Q7AblSLGvZnB8VaD7RC-yHlPV0_9mwFptXFrSufMnErkyabeM_foINlgo1nVmJOQmd0wrPR3TlAXj2kyH06OQghrMtY9_j1hNLIjAV2pgQNXEUR3gLSmkqe-iGZXJSGMjk/s320/david-mcgillivray.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTls-WjY4PDcsiakVCqugn56OdDHMBAEaUf9A8yrWMJZNRdmwq5w8LO4kx589RXu_yci-YGCR1YUvK6vBDcD_AwaTjFz9LKADZG2rsc25XgaOyk54jYrEwVLf-9jmgy9DBVcKh8ixS_J81FnGKujza8Swje0G8JZvjTWOoSttu3H3_J6M35Pe1nLZLKc/s388/House_of_Whipcord_poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="256" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTls-WjY4PDcsiakVCqugn56OdDHMBAEaUf9A8yrWMJZNRdmwq5w8LO4kx589RXu_yci-YGCR1YUvK6vBDcD_AwaTjFz9LKADZG2rsc25XgaOyk54jYrEwVLf-9jmgy9DBVcKh8ixS_J81FnGKujza8Swje0G8JZvjTWOoSttu3H3_J6M35Pe1nLZLKc/s320/House_of_Whipcord_poster.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYhfxIMdqsLq8z_wwuwUEqfHTaLakZDxFROro5e4Z2xRXnt0d73n4UYsIC02HKNegbGRKBit1VMHxKKjU5ps1y1nCUhtvQkj5vLo7Xyw8_CHd-cyR_tHva7w72aLTfNu4DjKOL6z-WJM9L-QDpXf_MNO9NPKGMuUbOL266g_MgML0iMGhoPBhLXNBHKmw/s200/House_of_Mortal_Sin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="140" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYhfxIMdqsLq8z_wwuwUEqfHTaLakZDxFROro5e4Z2xRXnt0d73n4UYsIC02HKNegbGRKBit1VMHxKKjU5ps1y1nCUhtvQkj5vLo7Xyw8_CHd-cyR_tHva7w72aLTfNu4DjKOL6z-WJM9L-QDpXf_MNO9NPKGMuUbOL266g_MgML0iMGhoPBhLXNBHKmw/s1600/House_of_Mortal_Sin.jpg" width="140" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-Tqrp_kjExuaoXgOZVvWHulXKoJ5q-s0a27dtEsWRVQFZlxwfl3ocZ7lTzCZaNuTHUCMun1pWZl_y-EZggab0JMupGwQ8T5C_jeEXcVgImeWudNFCogHorTzOOIkjVrTO2_mQQghm3aLe1r7eiyFSJl_ZtNVTOXtOviZw5Qw03IJ55JF4_PcwFG1T5A/s1360/712CAd7IucL._SL1360_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="1037" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-Tqrp_kjExuaoXgOZVvWHulXKoJ5q-s0a27dtEsWRVQFZlxwfl3ocZ7lTzCZaNuTHUCMun1pWZl_y-EZggab0JMupGwQ8T5C_jeEXcVgImeWudNFCogHorTzOOIkjVrTO2_mQQghm3aLe1r7eiyFSJl_ZtNVTOXtOviZw5Qw03IJ55JF4_PcwFG1T5A/s320/712CAd7IucL._SL1360_.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Another event for the diary. If you are in London on the evening of Friday 22 March why not visit Westminster Music Library where David McGillivray will be talking about his varied life in the British film and entertainment industry as a performer, writer and critic. Probably not suitable for children. </p><p>It's FREE and starts at 6.15</p><p>I shall be doing the introduction and Q&A.</p><p>Now I must finally get round to watching <a href="https://www.arbuturian.com/culture/film/house-of-whipcord">House of Whipcord</a>.</p><p>BOOK THROUGH EVENTBRITE <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-confessions-of-david-mcgillivray-tickets-812425144477?aff=erelexpmlt">HERE </a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-71807033686403400982024-01-25T13:17:00.003+00:002024-01-25T13:17:23.959+00:00Films and Filming on Radio 4<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRBWB220uDA1BLrx5T9JKVcyj9PLCYzacCs3kE67Q08WynseyrndKe2_so5sKVpQSF8cByuP4FYlOtnip8ORz7fotHOr-_bn6yEsaNOy8dSJeZaJomibGtc5uc1Githn4IbKleqd6yXuoNKmvxuIHJ60woYmf36GRewSAVdHD9VzsX84_c0xiV181U4o/s2560/EPSON018-scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1986" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRBWB220uDA1BLrx5T9JKVcyj9PLCYzacCs3kE67Q08WynseyrndKe2_so5sKVpQSF8cByuP4FYlOtnip8ORz7fotHOr-_bn6yEsaNOy8dSJeZaJomibGtc5uc1Githn4IbKleqd6yXuoNKmvxuIHJ60woYmf36GRewSAVdHD9VzsX84_c0xiV181U4o/s320/EPSON018-scaled.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><p>A reminder that the episode of the Radio 4 documentary series <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001pfg8">History on the Edge</a> with Anita Anand about Films and Filming was repeated this week and is available on BBC Sounds for a while. I put in a brief appearance showing Anita and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McGillivray_(screenwriter)">David McGillivray</a> old copies of the magazine. </p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-1113486156835889142024-01-25T12:40:00.004+00:002024-01-25T13:26:46.915+00:00Teddy Boys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuEG57GKZ9zYRN0YtAKOP-WHobEB3ke3NytNPzolXeGqLWz_TRfnCLxO3HOLzkoT8KWUDaxgkVvMjvCXONVMjgFTO0sDO5KvOUlj7mTPa4dExRfqWbt-yHl5Jp5NVOf5q3jkLizlm4RMX1q1kANH0_qu2EN8_B8_5_Z3b6sRYUTI5xDiewT5xgc1cYLU/s1080/final%20-%20teddy%20boys%20poster%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuEG57GKZ9zYRN0YtAKOP-WHobEB3ke3NytNPzolXeGqLWz_TRfnCLxO3HOLzkoT8KWUDaxgkVvMjvCXONVMjgFTO0sDO5KvOUlj7mTPa4dExRfqWbt-yHl5Jp5NVOf5q3jkLizlm4RMX1q1kANH0_qu2EN8_B8_5_Z3b6sRYUTI5xDiewT5xgc1cYLU/s320/final%20-%20teddy%20boys%20poster%20.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>If you're in Hastings on Thursday 15th February musician and writer <a href="https://profilebooks.com/work/teddy-boys/">Max Decharne</a> will be talking about his latest book on Teddy Boys at <a href="https://hastingsbookshop.co.uk">Hastings Bookshop</a>. I shall be 'in conversation' asking some pertinent questions (especially as I know very little about Teddy Boy culture) at this FREE event. </p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-79919934138952186992024-01-14T13:14:00.002+00:002024-01-14T13:18:58.387+00:00January 2024<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYim2ABoCqER6BbOThNq7zHfF9PKVNvbK_l1DWGkqaeuINU4mwstEoB-KBS1sALcEsuGdCUuItRArDSQZgQCH-MdMU-c3hblVKhkWiZLOAJzTaC-seCQwdHoqu7qvKZwKl73Df06kWYEzgT7qIsH3qnfUxtd4gqnc-wwlR2Ma-2msDyxx9_Gkvlqgi8M4/s960/c9835196a4dba156d84f01bbdf63c9bf.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYim2ABoCqER6BbOThNq7zHfF9PKVNvbK_l1DWGkqaeuINU4mwstEoB-KBS1sALcEsuGdCUuItRArDSQZgQCH-MdMU-c3hblVKhkWiZLOAJzTaC-seCQwdHoqu7qvKZwKl73Df06kWYEzgT7qIsH3qnfUxtd4gqnc-wwlR2Ma-2msDyxx9_Gkvlqgi8M4/s320/c9835196a4dba156d84f01bbdf63c9bf.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1H1eZDpmjHjoJN1EfM1w6G1wq0zVR5ZeRQsXbBcMLi1OwM7Q-nUu9CGOxqdcZuBEIp_izZd_915EswiSHEakb1xRwz5DzKGiUsI2GO1w-jAXcTh3G7oPZu_RiDYXBKfpARCJYUe_MBNqdiffDqYyZwRSTjAXowqtSlbMBVhHOZSiZa-tVbnpNGf5xsy0/s1350/9780374282240.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1H1eZDpmjHjoJN1EfM1w6G1wq0zVR5ZeRQsXbBcMLi1OwM7Q-nUu9CGOxqdcZuBEIp_izZd_915EswiSHEakb1xRwz5DzKGiUsI2GO1w-jAXcTh3G7oPZu_RiDYXBKfpARCJYUe_MBNqdiffDqYyZwRSTjAXowqtSlbMBVhHOZSiZa-tVbnpNGf5xsy0/s320/9780374282240.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwABUbiKxR0dY9A-X8oIY9mIlhRZjBcfHXvKwB8oLtlTwmkCxA-zIQkoZZdH2UJZ17cZ-3ODhv1LXGonZx5RJ_0vV4cKi2ickcJOvLTuxKMTRpQXsGsZqtDiN-TyVcVCo9sVKNMrfZDOKcDjXO4xUwgu_jnLHX7udkpX1CIm9eCPUy1mAiOZZoshAId5I/s269/Unknown.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="187" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwABUbiKxR0dY9A-X8oIY9mIlhRZjBcfHXvKwB8oLtlTwmkCxA-zIQkoZZdH2UJZ17cZ-3ODhv1LXGonZx5RJ_0vV4cKi2ickcJOvLTuxKMTRpQXsGsZqtDiN-TyVcVCo9sVKNMrfZDOKcDjXO4xUwgu_jnLHX7udkpX1CIm9eCPUy1mAiOZZoshAId5I/s1600/Unknown.png" width="187" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTBazlY5KKIMZJTcJ1bMVTua34R4i_BF3gues-U3t-L4QSn8p9ph82uhD6cpUwF8YXxX9mL622eXR1BYAJTGoBHkraZMqFBSiWRegulZZene5wfgnQf8JEWMU-E7UWxI86vGM3wO-QIRzM6Fx9eid6u4GQ6PN8C0u5c7CqwnWyx4VaL4h_-YGqB41T5M/s1250/402U_THE_SHIVER_OF_THE_VAMPIRES_slipcase_3D_72dpi_RGB_transp_1296x.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTBazlY5KKIMZJTcJ1bMVTua34R4i_BF3gues-U3t-L4QSn8p9ph82uhD6cpUwF8YXxX9mL622eXR1BYAJTGoBHkraZMqFBSiWRegulZZene5wfgnQf8JEWMU-E7UWxI86vGM3wO-QIRzM6Fx9eid6u4GQ6PN8C0u5c7CqwnWyx4VaL4h_-YGqB41T5M/s320/402U_THE_SHIVER_OF_THE_VAMPIRES_slipcase_3D_72dpi_RGB_transp_1296x.png" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Happy New Year!</p><p>This year I'm hoping to bring out the book I've been working on since the COVID lockdown and a period of illness. I am aiming at publishing it at some point in the late spring/early summer if possible.</p><p>In the meantime I really must post more often. To counteract the post-Christmas torpidity, some things that have caught my attention recently:</p><p>It's a pity I missed out on buying <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2023/10/17/london-show-plagued-with-bad-luck-after-buying-viral-cursed-painting-19676750/#:~:text=A%20horror%20attraction%20decided%20to,went%20viral%20over%20the%20summer.">this 'cursed' painting </a>that was on sale in a charity shop in St Leonards and has since been bringing 'bad luck' to its owners. Now on display at the London Bridge Experience. I wrote a blog entry about a couple of other 'cursed' works <a href="http://theantonineitineraries.blogspot.com/2014/09/der-tod-als-freund.html">here</a>. </p><p>Some recent reading has included John Szwed's fascinating biography of collector, film maker, occultist and eccentric Harry Smith <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374282240/cosmicscholar">Cosmic Scholar</a>. Responsible for compiling the hugely influential Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith's animated films are well worth viewing on You Tube - an obvious influence on Terry Gilliam. There's one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yghe3A2wANo">here</a>. </p><p>Also Alex Ross <a href="https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-rest-is-noise-listening-to-the-twentieth-century-alex-ross?variant=32696000774222">The Rest is Noise</a>, a book about 20th century Western music I've been meaning to read for years. It's a big book on a thorny topic, but I'm gradually making my way through, listening to the music described online while reading. I'm having to write about 20th century music in the new book, so, as a non-musicologist, I'm looking for ways of approaching the subject.</p><p>I seem to be increasingly divorced from contemporary culture, so I won't be giving a list of my favourite music or films of 2023 as I've barely seen or heard any. There's so much stuff from the past to catch up with! I'll just say that I've enjoyed finally getting the chance to view the early films of <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-jean-rollin">Jean Rollin</a> which have been released on Blu-ray over the last few months. I like the oneiric Surrealistic qualities of his vampiric visions. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-74702391413055151352023-10-30T17:35:00.001+00:002023-10-30T17:36:40.818+00:00November and December<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Es6GRi5UD_lPTNDhOwNi2mFLVI2-ZjkXYxzlKl91OIwFXXZSyTnlF8HPMS_Y5Vmn72UUXNm7HL1kwEO12eZ2BWC-hA-XVaSr38s5VQS4YHxst1k3KIwxGECkCq32Lw7EUh0F5mNwKok6bdQf1_JdCQcBXsskX7tr1V9s6Bb0afQb9uqYPGwKkU_hveA/s512/0326fb5e-b14d-4b2a-a33f-1c4280de383a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Es6GRi5UD_lPTNDhOwNi2mFLVI2-ZjkXYxzlKl91OIwFXXZSyTnlF8HPMS_Y5Vmn72UUXNm7HL1kwEO12eZ2BWC-hA-XVaSr38s5VQS4YHxst1k3KIwxGECkCq32Lw7EUh0F5mNwKok6bdQf1_JdCQcBXsskX7tr1V9s6Bb0afQb9uqYPGwKkU_hveA/s320/0326fb5e-b14d-4b2a-a33f-1c4280de383a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I must post here more often. </p><p>I am really hoping to finish the writing of my new book before Christmas to be out by the spring. </p><p>Upcoming Events</p><p>Friday 17 November King's Road talk by Max Decharne see <a href="https://www.westminster.gov.uk/event/kings-road-max-decharne-westminster-music-library">here</a>. FREE</p><p>Thursday 9 November Stereolab Black Box Hastings</p><p>Saturday 2 December The Blue Orchids The Piper St Leonards on Sea <a href="https://hastingsflyer.com/hastingsevents/the-blue-orchids-at-the-piper/">here</a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-62368834004140989042023-10-30T17:31:00.002+00:002023-10-30T17:31:20.420+00:00Parc Asterix 26 October 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9SKNAL8OiZ_ViqOuAuBQCbNz2bL_PoYc8i5x1CNyntKTPvSOVqNBXpx1G_cfYKztSvukfZan9po2llXabuSkZD753l-qkhtE5eUS_5ypvC1U1uBbUAImGI-_VpFz1AoCToIkRHHiCjNx_OjopxSb2GLYiPsz9Fh1GG_qXsgSLPGDftPwgWE89ObwPBI/s4608/20231026_122854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9SKNAL8OiZ_ViqOuAuBQCbNz2bL_PoYc8i5x1CNyntKTPvSOVqNBXpx1G_cfYKztSvukfZan9po2llXabuSkZD753l-qkhtE5eUS_5ypvC1U1uBbUAImGI-_VpFz1AoCToIkRHHiCjNx_OjopxSb2GLYiPsz9Fh1GG_qXsgSLPGDftPwgWE89ObwPBI/s320/20231026_122854.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFuQ0q48wwyQZZgj_7qinlADHCVP5ETbRp3ANMx06CL74FDAqMfvNhf0y-DWREFyU_YdJYMmImB8apcciqF4mCloFwp0Qw2NuhhuUXklUuzy9Ugrya53wPBfoXQSvIi9qzDVHkWxBpqPxG0h-GswJ4MeO8nuT2cxsi0ZdVkW8BE_FONBaLOEJONYhx-Qs/s4608/20231026_140542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFuQ0q48wwyQZZgj_7qinlADHCVP5ETbRp3ANMx06CL74FDAqMfvNhf0y-DWREFyU_YdJYMmImB8apcciqF4mCloFwp0Qw2NuhhuUXklUuzy9Ugrya53wPBfoXQSvIi9qzDVHkWxBpqPxG0h-GswJ4MeO8nuT2cxsi0ZdVkW8BE_FONBaLOEJONYhx-Qs/s320/20231026_140542.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4ilkiS7Gv7neT8e0R9ezKat6GRfuDfAGcGcjxhtAFiRrRwZgVAUh4nK0tCBvgHvih_3cDekPwySwkwUM9CHz7aTGiq3GtON_fXIp9bI-T4GJ1Jzsbq6QNXSFs8Y9Nbs6yDakGhJBH8KJPEeu2c66wAL_f_WjNZkcgzWH-UDXFkDdHpfKALjfnwrNFCI/s4608/20231026_140321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4ilkiS7Gv7neT8e0R9ezKat6GRfuDfAGcGcjxhtAFiRrRwZgVAUh4nK0tCBvgHvih_3cDekPwySwkwUM9CHz7aTGiq3GtON_fXIp9bI-T4GJ1Jzsbq6QNXSFs8Y9Nbs6yDakGhJBH8KJPEeu2c66wAL_f_WjNZkcgzWH-UDXFkDdHpfKALjfnwrNFCI/s320/20231026_140321.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-31478135035760084582023-10-30T17:25:00.003+00:002023-10-30T17:27:41.919+00:00Netherwood at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAltnvR_5gd7EEjsZfWMg7yFHjR36E8hllk1pBOuutIs2a9VJmsac150TqL_odc5WXnQf7mINlp3JhW0h9nAzU7mbaLeTW02uwjVA_QBGTtnQ5qaj1Dl6OT8sXP9N9FBz9qlsO6sGaNHrLCP-1CRZXI0TpseiuMuLc6win67vJGphro4DrTanchmVrSM4/s4608/20231012_195929.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAltnvR_5gd7EEjsZfWMg7yFHjR36E8hllk1pBOuutIs2a9VJmsac150TqL_odc5WXnQf7mINlp3JhW0h9nAzU7mbaLeTW02uwjVA_QBGTtnQ5qaj1Dl6OT8sXP9N9FBz9qlsO6sGaNHrLCP-1CRZXI0TpseiuMuLc6win67vJGphro4DrTanchmVrSM4/s320/20231012_195929.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xbQTXo6P28pS0IZm0-gNotJoegWGByyWa7TMM-XhnQ9G9y17gF7nl54Zrbx3X7NFzzYHk9kpgZERxFU6HFT8xtj4ednp1LjMFgnoQZMxeQStwMfNKQu8GC58TOjnA1AYkKDa05ipTPD2pJsCj6NfkqbzG7Zgf-tgEeT7ltioV9RPqmP2f_mbbbt-X3g/s4608/20231012_195950.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xbQTXo6P28pS0IZm0-gNotJoegWGByyWa7TMM-XhnQ9G9y17gF7nl54Zrbx3X7NFzzYHk9kpgZERxFU6HFT8xtj4ednp1LjMFgnoQZMxeQStwMfNKQu8GC58TOjnA1AYkKDa05ipTPD2pJsCj6NfkqbzG7Zgf-tgEeT7ltioV9RPqmP2f_mbbbt-X3g/s320/20231012_195950.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAliNZNFLV7baCrb7ff8zXqwSCe3DiOjKA0gJXHDEDMeq_Jr_a6PSuxYygLI-C7lBSnydcIVaqVtxkQsmvDWG7jBVVlsyoWpZrRXB4Zv5LQhOMZyUWDir_7MMMXBgFvbmQeOEyZ8jxIQKo6rmPkigcLWRmus8F0EdxsWF7114aikhEFwarxqaFKedKC9Q/s4608/20231012_200007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAliNZNFLV7baCrb7ff8zXqwSCe3DiOjKA0gJXHDEDMeq_Jr_a6PSuxYygLI-C7lBSnydcIVaqVtxkQsmvDWG7jBVVlsyoWpZrRXB4Zv5LQhOMZyUWDir_7MMMXBgFvbmQeOEyZ8jxIQKo6rmPkigcLWRmus8F0EdxsWF7114aikhEFwarxqaFKedKC9Q/s320/20231012_200007.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>To Hastings Art Gallery and Museum on 12 October to attend a stimulating and uplifting event by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephenellcock/">Stephen Ellcock</a> in conversation with <a href="http://zoegilbert.com">Zoe Gilbert</a> about his latest book <a href="https://www.welbooks.co.uk/shop/p/2fdd4rco4c7ajc5mc9taij8wqnkzvx">Underworlds</a> I noticed in the room next door a display about Hastings resident Aleister Crowley, including a copy of Netherwood (first edition). I asked one of the gallery assistants about it as I'd never seen it on previous visits and they told me they bring it out for Halloween!</p><p>Photographs above taken by me that night.</p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-75881255756506821352023-10-03T12:52:00.001+01:002023-10-03T12:52:10.760+01:00Rescheduled King's Road Talk<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6yg5_1eBZIG3cczCjf3j82E94-7S1YKI26DR8gxYdXS2YDD3ilCeg9UsZiay8uJhNiksGI7vqx9M3pXx6YwbjsSkSLKqD7ksu4U7LBiQRMAefbooStEWulXQmS73jSMCNA9ra_RNHe-ba_3GASwAU5fZU1aGhFhKGyM6-y_usj0-kkgPn1G4H_HH7zXI/s875/img542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="875" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6yg5_1eBZIG3cczCjf3j82E94-7S1YKI26DR8gxYdXS2YDD3ilCeg9UsZiay8uJhNiksGI7vqx9M3pXx6YwbjsSkSLKqD7ksu4U7LBiQRMAefbooStEWulXQmS73jSMCNA9ra_RNHe-ba_3GASwAU5fZU1aGhFhKGyM6-y_usj0-kkgPn1G4H_HH7zXI/s320/img542.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfCqLBRjaJKkeToY5jyknAr6-EtdMEdsEtWALpaKjaKOkJ0Gn2TKvXCoHx__YxkD3bbLOsZTTARPKTZ1hqMKbTxKnR9C_-9CnJyKM2NfVpZc_HhF5q7FJCG-kdcq6CO5G7LTc5FF2bqMFeK3kEu2hor-2XNXaAbVPEzPzY3Ii86NYFrLRKEU-fYqk3yQ/s1960/chelsea-twiggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="1960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfCqLBRjaJKkeToY5jyknAr6-EtdMEdsEtWALpaKjaKOkJ0Gn2TKvXCoHx__YxkD3bbLOsZTTARPKTZ1hqMKbTxKnR9C_-9CnJyKM2NfVpZc_HhF5q7FJCG-kdcq6CO5G7LTc5FF2bqMFeK3kEu2hor-2XNXaAbVPEzPzY3Ii86NYFrLRKEU-fYqk3yQ/s320/chelsea-twiggy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>The talk by Max Decharne on the cultural history of Chelsea's King's Road has been rescheduled for Friday 17th November. I shall be the host at Westminster Music Library, off Leicester Square.</p><p>It's FREE but best to reserve a ticket through Eventbrite <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kings-road-with-max-decharne-tickets-723999200097?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete">here</a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-6037002045400633552023-07-24T17:13:00.003+01:002023-09-10T13:53:37.142+01:00Future Events and Appearances<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUydnRssQk5QvS0FQ0P6zFV-fv8n5M9xb9ce_j-T6odz1P9r5n00MOPdrPSyxk8O8cu3crvSZ6RAi18nyqrvnsJ45mHDt_WkpUsuBK060SfZsMudz83MsFlHc09bKYpuKjlUdAQL80Z4u1ETn_9Mtav-9Zj_XBdhP7HBxC9X6laQuS3kOQgNDucXUGm4/s701/337302023_902200337656357_2870662135533367524_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUydnRssQk5QvS0FQ0P6zFV-fv8n5M9xb9ce_j-T6odz1P9r5n00MOPdrPSyxk8O8cu3crvSZ6RAi18nyqrvnsJ45mHDt_WkpUsuBK060SfZsMudz83MsFlHc09bKYpuKjlUdAQL80Z4u1ETn_9Mtav-9Zj_XBdhP7HBxC9X6laQuS3kOQgNDucXUGm4/s320/337302023_902200337656357_2870662135533367524_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYd8L_hFVZG4OfWdt7_AVnAmTG-TyccTVGYGz5-oR2je3DGdk_lwFJpofda7SVVlVNgGCsMXGXRXHMckNr05-NqPnGFsR_-50d4FLN1unmbsAI1wM6HeTgK1qCeT2YE9GAsRQWCMjItiRBcbcA3a6viluTcjndD2lde_ppSh7ro3eUiZrt0BGvCSNikk/s500/61iV+bQbh3L.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYd8L_hFVZG4OfWdt7_AVnAmTG-TyccTVGYGz5-oR2je3DGdk_lwFJpofda7SVVlVNgGCsMXGXRXHMckNr05-NqPnGFsR_-50d4FLN1unmbsAI1wM6HeTgK1qCeT2YE9GAsRQWCMjItiRBcbcA3a6viluTcjndD2lde_ppSh7ro3eUiZrt0BGvCSNikk/s320/61iV+bQbh3L.jpg" width="213" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsyuU6Wh7ZqQSoc-nwkGPL6GT5LLCMDHZ0nxBsu6E8Bqd5lOD9kROag77YgWWrI3joOn9-lLslosZ0IIwiNWtQCGt_rc-IemRvdHDpQOOt-Rw2hEJnLK7AjXFl-jLSiOHG7GfU1TEPgoluXJDc7_r3vsv22-wb51l2rR7ufJIPU1IRmlHHRLfcDn2_nA/s940/https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-560096269-562174596103-1-original.20230722-132138.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="940" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsyuU6Wh7ZqQSoc-nwkGPL6GT5LLCMDHZ0nxBsu6E8Bqd5lOD9kROag77YgWWrI3joOn9-lLslosZ0IIwiNWtQCGt_rc-IemRvdHDpQOOt-Rw2hEJnLK7AjXFl-jLSiOHG7GfU1TEPgoluXJDc7_r3vsv22-wb51l2rR7ufJIPU1IRmlHHRLfcDn2_nA/s320/https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-560096269-562174596103-1-original.20230722-132138.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><p>An event and a radio show in the next month or so.</p><p>I shall be hosting a FREE talk by the wonderful Max Decharne on the evening of 8 September at Westminster Reference Library. He has recently revised and added to his <a href="https://omnibuspress.com/products/kings-road-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-hippest-street-in-the-world-published-on-6th-april-2023">book </a>on the history and culture of the King's Road, which will be the subject of the event.</p><p>See <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kings-road-with-max-decharne-tickets-682645971477?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete">here</a>. SORRY BUT THIS EVENT HAS HAD TO BE POSTPONED DUE TO INDUSTRIAL ACTION. MORE DETAILS SOON.</p><p>Probably best to book in advance through Eventbrite.</p><p>Also a recent interview I did for a radio documentary, together with the always-entertaining <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McGillivray_(screenwriter)">David McGillivray</a> hosted by Radio 4's reporter, writer and Any Answers presenter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Anand_(journalist)">Anita Anand </a>about the 'queering' of the magazine Films and Filming. Fascinating stuff. </p><p>It's for a radio series called History on the Edge produced by Sara Parker on Radio 4. The first programme was on this morning (Monday 24 July) at 11.00am. I think the Films and Filming episode will probably be the third on 7 August, although it hasn't yet been listed on the website. See <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001p77p">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-773500103693579732023-07-20T15:34:00.002+01:002023-11-09T15:13:36.458+00:00In Memoriam<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vUDF5neqnvDi-Vk8FizcIHzlOqE6A5frIjNpnpQ4US-mzYwnsAvtZ3YAPVCW3rsCSOA9ZHsy-yx2dGDTKT39I1eVb7XcshSDnGknnuXkL1Ocmfd4DMahuejzN4UyCVE4ujhL7FQNM78YkxuFSg8N2hOBCJXXRYpZfaFe1WtsHHi8eP83sU44IOWmIJk/s292/9e95446f6895d266374747141774330414f6744_v5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="180" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vUDF5neqnvDi-Vk8FizcIHzlOqE6A5frIjNpnpQ4US-mzYwnsAvtZ3YAPVCW3rsCSOA9ZHsy-yx2dGDTKT39I1eVb7XcshSDnGknnuXkL1Ocmfd4DMahuejzN4UyCVE4ujhL7FQNM78YkxuFSg8N2hOBCJXXRYpZfaFe1WtsHHi8eP83sU44IOWmIJk/s1600/9e95446f6895d266374747141774330414f6744_v5.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_Mqna5F4oXqgeFLy3-rwlUZhK0xerkrO85fWejFpdQkZEPN0QeqCK8A0hGQTdEI8nU9CaQMvvgBe6tXxpsgk_pvTlUf5J-Hhx8TQOUzxSFrpFlNcbH-T68Ee7_C93jLDuXRVbdN8MTXLN1ZjxehCHAKcganl0TUQr1_ejwf8KY4d7JoGgGlQhX2wcic/s740/featured-christopher-fowler.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="740" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_Mqna5F4oXqgeFLy3-rwlUZhK0xerkrO85fWejFpdQkZEPN0QeqCK8A0hGQTdEI8nU9CaQMvvgBe6tXxpsgk_pvTlUf5J-Hhx8TQOUzxSFrpFlNcbH-T68Ee7_C93jLDuXRVbdN8MTXLN1ZjxehCHAKcganl0TUQr1_ejwf8KY4d7JoGgGlQhX2wcic/s320/featured-christopher-fowler.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I just wanted to mention the passing this year of a couple of people I met when I spent more time in London hanging out with writers and publishers in pubs (those days are long gone now it seems). I was very sad to read of their deaths. </p><p>Christopher Fowler was a successful novelist (detectives Bryant & May were his most famous creation) and short story writer who kindly wrote the preface to the second edition of my Subterranean City and reviewed Decadent London favourably in the Independent on Sunday. He was always supportive and a really lovely man who will be much missed. He was especially brave writing about his terminal cancer on his blog, where he was always interacting with his readers. See <a href="https://www.christopherfowler.co.uk">here</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/03/bryant-may-novelist-christopher-fowler-has-died-aged-69">here</a>.</p><p>Alastair Brotchie I met on a few occasions and spoke to on the phone when he had a query about a location in 1890s London. The founder of Atlas Press, he was an indefatigable writer and publisher, expert on pataphysics and Surrealism and biographer of Alfred <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alastair-Brotchie-Alfred-Jarry-Pataphysical/dp/B00IH1GR2O">Jarry</a>. One of those rare people who make things happen. Obituary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/24/alastair-brotchie-obituary">here </a>by Peter Blegvad.</p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-3700015635300655182023-07-20T15:03:00.004+01:002023-07-20T15:11:35.518+01:00Recent Concerts <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia3RU0hpbfERCCes7s6gr79ilZS5pRuqI1WSoiCXMQ2n4wpiPHx3EugJP7Fpd8mUyx-Fc8nYJ6MfrvEyis1DqdfP3FBFtIHJOF_am-OS2Hb7xZ1UZLpclEPj00eS8xRdHfQW1qHCka0zWEyQh-HNRZ0nnNtlRIB-BITGTpXYsmIehDUdrF8BelIqBq4tg/s739/BC-Camplight-Bexhill-Brighton-Source-Time-for-Heroes-Photography-Ashley-Laurence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="739" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia3RU0hpbfERCCes7s6gr79ilZS5pRuqI1WSoiCXMQ2n4wpiPHx3EugJP7Fpd8mUyx-Fc8nYJ6MfrvEyis1DqdfP3FBFtIHJOF_am-OS2Hb7xZ1UZLpclEPj00eS8xRdHfQW1qHCka0zWEyQh-HNRZ0nnNtlRIB-BITGTpXYsmIehDUdrF8BelIqBq4tg/s320/BC-Camplight-Bexhill-Brighton-Source-Time-for-Heroes-Photography-Ashley-Laurence.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimsjw_LGE5t7KLFJW0B5wJICLyhZsLh5824Fi5TrxWMoDekACj1cgzKWvTpZ3O6My7nkuxtPv4WfdgWQ-K3R2dLAHH4BP1n-9uk_0ezUg6dDxGOYEvfJFpt65_y5UmWyQb5Lz_8cM-6Ket4uhmwnKGskmK6DKCpV8W_kRdj0rjFQGublaU9nyvPUcCXcQ/s660/Untitled.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="660" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimsjw_LGE5t7KLFJW0B5wJICLyhZsLh5824Fi5TrxWMoDekACj1cgzKWvTpZ3O6My7nkuxtPv4WfdgWQ-K3R2dLAHH4BP1n-9uk_0ezUg6dDxGOYEvfJFpt65_y5UmWyQb5Lz_8cM-6Ket4uhmwnKGskmK6DKCpV8W_kRdj0rjFQGublaU9nyvPUcCXcQ/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The talk at the Horse Hospital went well I thought and I hope to organise one or two more events before the end of the year.</p><p>I have been devoting so much of my free time to writing my next book that blogging and other activities have had to take a back seat.</p><p>The Yes gig in a previous post never happened, so I probably won't bother again in future. Some interesting concerts in the space of one week recently:</p><p>Hatfield and the Health Wednesday 5 July The Piper St Leonards. A group of great musicians playing a selection of the Canterbury Scene repertoire by Hatfield and the North, Caravan, National Health and Matching Mole. While reading the transcriptions there was room for improvisation and it was lovely to hear Tenemos Roads, Oh Caroline, Nine Feet Underground, Binoculars, Share It and others. More <a href="https://www.hatfieldandthehealth.co.uk">here</a>.</p><p>On Saturday 8 July I caught the second half of the Seaview Festival outside the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. Fortunately the rain held off and I really enjoyed this well-organised event. Local supergroup Aircooled's mix of krautrock and disco is a surefire hit and I hope they do well. I knew nothing about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.C._Camplight">BC Camplight </a>but was very impressed by the unusual structure of the songs and the fact that he was playing for the first time with a very young band who performed brilliantly. Topping off the evening <a href="https://www.warmduscher.co.uk">Warmduscher</a> were very entertaining, echoes of The Fall and The Birthday Party at times, relentless for over an hour. You can find other reviews <a href="file:///Users/antonyclayton/Desktop/Seaview%20Festival%202023%20–%20Breaking%20Glass%20Magazine.webarchive">here</a> and <a href="https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/07/11/new-seaview-festival-proves-a-big-hit/">here</a>. </p><p>Sunday 9 July Off to London to the Hammersmith Apollo to see Daryl Hall, only because his special guest was Todd Rundgren. I arrived at 7.30 and Todd had already started, so I missed 'Real Man.' It was very much a crowd-pleasing set - not something he always does - heavy on the blue-eyed Philly soul side of his oeuvre - understandable in the circumstances. Three out of thirteen songs were covers, set list <a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/todd-rundgren/2023/eventim-apollo-london-england-53a72f51.html">here</a>. I hung around for Daryl Hall although I've never really been a fan of Hall & Oates. I'm old enough to respect his music these days - I didn't realise he had written Every Time You Go Away. I thought his voice was reedier and not as strong as Rundgren's which still sounds remarkable for a man in his seventies. </p><p>Tonight I hope to get to Anthony Moore (from Slapp Happy and Henry Cow amongst others) playing at The Beacon in Hastings. See <a href="https://beaconhastings.com/events/">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-29569174046735441782023-06-08T10:15:00.008+01:002023-07-24T17:24:42.784+01:00The Next Talk<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EvqWk-DdZzVuFkuxzUcPwsgFqkxtT9aONRzrCnOP1SKO6DrqDuaF72TySMWWNkbNtlAlNKg5o_KyDtP-UuHouwsW61A7NODxEbDmX72fluIM-MyCAwsqGkVB1npTURAxtqs_K7li66C254YytJ7wHySiBhPzzcofK9ogpOdIOkzntYlMgUlffT2I/s499/61Zzv8RA0LL._SX369_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="371" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EvqWk-DdZzVuFkuxzUcPwsgFqkxtT9aONRzrCnOP1SKO6DrqDuaF72TySMWWNkbNtlAlNKg5o_KyDtP-UuHouwsW61A7NODxEbDmX72fluIM-MyCAwsqGkVB1npTURAxtqs_K7li66C254YytJ7wHySiBhPzzcofK9ogpOdIOkzntYlMgUlffT2I/s320/61Zzv8RA0LL._SX369_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNPAPNHD7Ns1yoVZVdTBVGn7WUNGW9yWwesKP2NPBG3QS7_AlryQ00vOUeYwc9zQltbhZhLD-la85KSXjVMqA4-1764Km_Mf859YqPdg389QiLc-Jvj_pzFzP1uvk7dpR02utX1WJHOeSYU5LHZsAseCG2DE8uIaU-KHBJRjg6ZRWqXEq5BRFRzEb/s839/cover289908-large.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNPAPNHD7Ns1yoVZVdTBVGn7WUNGW9yWwesKP2NPBG3QS7_AlryQ00vOUeYwc9zQltbhZhLD-la85KSXjVMqA4-1764Km_Mf859YqPdg389QiLc-Jvj_pzFzP1uvk7dpR02utX1WJHOeSYU5LHZsAseCG2DE8uIaU-KHBJRjg6ZRWqXEq5BRFRzEb/s320/cover289908-large.png" width="204" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Sorry for the very long delay in blogging this year. Not health-related, but most of my spare time is being devoted to finishing my next book which I'm hoping to have out late this year or early 2024.</span></div><p>In the meantime I should advertise two events:</p><p>Mr Stoker and the Vampires of the Lyceum A talk by Gothic scholar Matthew Gibson about his new novel. At Westminster Reference Library 9 June 6pm. See <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mr-stoker-and-the-vampires-of-the-lyceum-tickets-616364000317">here</a>.</p><p>My first in-person talk for a very long time in which I'll be talking about London folklore.</p><p>Salon for the City Pagan London at the Horse Hospital 29 June 7pm. See <a href="http://salonforthecity.blogspot.com">here</a></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-65173551539750343642023-01-03T14:00:00.005+00:002023-01-06T15:22:13.914+00:002023<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHKlq9Lb6xfXGCYwGLAY8boU8eOxRRboXnNik4XxtITzaOttJZz6y35HplwhaCjpe_e6pG3rSgf9MZQQewVc1iut43wGX7OSuCf-BtZpBrX6Obh8JaiY-kQ2uTF9VbkeN535ysR4Oahfifujm7E8yU8kGF9f3qSOmkJ-j9_-tW4DLBLA5lbHcTpUY/s525/9781032099361.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHKlq9Lb6xfXGCYwGLAY8boU8eOxRRboXnNik4XxtITzaOttJZz6y35HplwhaCjpe_e6pG3rSgf9MZQQewVc1iut43wGX7OSuCf-BtZpBrX6Obh8JaiY-kQ2uTF9VbkeN535ysR4Oahfifujm7E8yU8kGF9f3qSOmkJ-j9_-tW4DLBLA5lbHcTpUY/s320/9781032099361.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Happy New Year. </p><p>My year got off to a good start yesterday when I noticed on Facebook a blog review of favourite books of the year that included my own Decadent London. My sincere thanks to the blogger - these things make you feel that you're not wasting your time. You can find it <a href="https://coffeeandflapjacks.wordpress.com">here</a>.</p><p>Work on my next book continues slowly but surely. I would like to be more productive as a publisher this year but we'll have to wait and see. I have to admire the workload of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/06/craig-atkinson-interview-cafe-royal-photography-books?fbclid=IwAR1cGe7FEIvl0c_zLYC8luuut2k2rnLbeR0f0trh6a6F-7PVhOnLJvQRBBw">this</a> publisher.</p><p>Reading some academic articles online I became interested in the work of the religious studies scholar <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Invented-Religions-Imagination-Fiction-and-Faith/Cusack/p/book/9781032099361">Carole Cusack</a>, who has written about invented religions. I listened to a couple of podcasts she's been involved with:</p><p>The Religious Studies Project <a href="https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/persons/carole-cusack/">here.</a> Also an interesting discussion on Gurdjieff.</p><p>Invented Religions <a href="https://anchor.fm/open-div/episodes/Invented-Religions-with-Carole-Cusack-er1u48">here</a>.</p><p>Also an article on occultural bricolage and popular culture <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1962078/Occultural_bricolage_and_popular_culture_remix_and_art_in_discordianism_the_church_of_the_subgenius_the_temple_of_psychick_youth">here</a>.</p><p>Jeremy Harte is an excellent speaker and has written about many aspects of folklore. His latest book on devilish folklore will be on my reading list this year. Guardian review <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/23/cloven-country-by-jeremy-harte-review-in-search-of-englands-devil">here</a>. Magonia review <a href="https://pelicanist.blogspot.com/2023/01/meeting-devil-in-lane.html">here</a>.</p><p>Three gigs for this year: </p><p>April 2 Steve Hillage Band <a href="https://concorde2.seetickets.com/event/steve-hillage-band/concorde-2/2435362">Brighton Concorde 2</a></p><p>April 4 Matt Ridley <a href="http://jazzhastings.co.uk/upcoming-gigs/">Hastings Jazz Club</a></p><p>June 20 Yes <a href="https://www.eventimapollo.com/events/detail/yes">Hammersmith Apollo</a> Definitely my last time seeing the much-depleted Yes, but have to go as they are playing my favourite of their albums: Relayer.</p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-86869193836219052432022-10-20T17:09:00.002+01:002022-10-20T17:09:43.857+01:00A Time of Gifts<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckPFjZHLpkNtg90Be1DR1Pg6V1o4E0uQcY42AhHY2BlHnXtHiE8e3x6ZGdMRVrzsxUMXNMsxmQOlCl4UwOjIgHNPb1h06VY9W1qgUKpEZprqjDOqknA0f4JRLlaRwCjRzRfvIBxB68mSPySyIJ23shHXO_3PMKerTMYF_rUdR1UbE7QzZeRnUIWJL/s500/0719566959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckPFjZHLpkNtg90Be1DR1Pg6V1o4E0uQcY42AhHY2BlHnXtHiE8e3x6ZGdMRVrzsxUMXNMsxmQOlCl4UwOjIgHNPb1h06VY9W1qgUKpEZprqjDOqknA0f4JRLlaRwCjRzRfvIBxB68mSPySyIJ23shHXO_3PMKerTMYF_rUdR1UbE7QzZeRnUIWJL/s320/0719566959.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><p>Reading the travel classic A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor, in which he sets out to walk from Rotterdam to Constantinople in 1933. The passage below struck me, as he reminisced about the values of his public school - King's School Canterbury. Maybe the question needs to be asked in this troubled England, what, if anything, has changed since his musings?</p><p>"'It goes without saying that in a small, tradition-haunted public school of such improbable antiquity - founded a few decades after Justinian closed the pagan academy at Athens - the atmosphere was likely to be conservative, and it was; but it was conservatism of an inexplicit kind, unaggressive because it was unchallenged - at least, at the age of sixteen and a half it was, which is when I vanished for the scene; but deep in the bloodstream nevertheless . . . </p><p>Socialism sounded grey and without charm and Labour MPs conjured up visions of steel-rimmed spectacles, homespun cloth, cocoa and seed-cake and long killjoy faces bent on dismantling - what? Here an odd medley of targets would be bandied across fifth-form studies: What indeed? Why, the Empire for a start! The Fleet! The Army! Established religion - 'except Methodist chapels;' Gibraltar, the Lords, judges' wigs, kilts, bearskins, public schools ('No, steady on!'), Latin and Greek, Oxford and Cambridge - 'the Boat race too, most likely'; 'county cricket for a cert' - steeplechasing, shooting, fox-hunting, flat-racing, the Derby, betting, country-life, farming - ('I'd bet they'd plough up everything for swedes and beetroots if they got the chance!') What about London? Why, the Palladium and the Aldwych would be turned into lecture halls or bloody temperance canteens . . . Talk would languish and a pensive gloom descend. Then someone might say: 'It's a pity something can't be done about those poor chaps on the dole'; and the gloom would deepen; then: 'It's rotten luck on all those miners.' Awkward silence would prolong itself while these liberal thoughts fluttered overhead. Then somebody might tactfully put Rhapsody in Blue or Ain't Misbehavin' on the gramophone steer the talk into happier channels . . . "</p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-55008359250203639602022-09-28T15:00:00.003+01:002023-07-20T15:46:08.366+01:00Accumulator Press Update and More Books<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdrf1glDMr9kNPgutptvBJ8xHJuFR7gOIH9ZWOhs3Z6reSC-N3YYoL8qspH_9Q0KMpmoZW3EzBJMB6yfLb8_y9A4Mnh1OGUCqICZRvoPrM3Bhdal0MX18ToDpSDf3n-FeWCCf2_CysSqnBkrnK7moHjR9zWBiW9rvRAeTxj1KsdPnnfC8RXEyVprk/s500/9780571311576-uk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdrf1glDMr9kNPgutptvBJ8xHJuFR7gOIH9ZWOhs3Z6reSC-N3YYoL8qspH_9Q0KMpmoZW3EzBJMB6yfLb8_y9A4Mnh1OGUCqICZRvoPrM3Bhdal0MX18ToDpSDf3n-FeWCCf2_CysSqnBkrnK7moHjR9zWBiW9rvRAeTxj1KsdPnnfC8RXEyVprk/s320/9780571311576-uk.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg46YcK5YNqU6cRO8umHA0jhVRSMe24XNryo2CBwgFce79iFJwaJcIuDksrR8mPAXN_V78QSCniPE96vl5lFJ7Mi8lvspg6CG0AY77lMoQatwcYIDTb1muvDiXteaQk1_bR_06mRm4nHkZSHbhxA8uaaGh-XlvxZC8VjbL5rihA5nQOoRHreiViAEb/s500/9781101873786-uk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg46YcK5YNqU6cRO8umHA0jhVRSMe24XNryo2CBwgFce79iFJwaJcIuDksrR8mPAXN_V78QSCniPE96vl5lFJ7Mi8lvspg6CG0AY77lMoQatwcYIDTb1muvDiXteaQk1_bR_06mRm4nHkZSHbhxA8uaaGh-XlvxZC8VjbL5rihA5nQOoRHreiViAEb/s320/9781101873786-uk.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9cCOO14dcq1aawzuGOhwmeVYYjk7YNX42Z0kdOMv7XcpSlQxazA7CkAxPtyWzuxfV9Ir-JjOU0YpZx_nGIkANpAWI3xuFlt1rVioXvVsnsi54VKBgUfDyvAeqEM8vL8tP7cXFB14vFi4nGwR-fH8Mk2NuykAUaqtXXLgAcAZZZq4nFWP7hQfIjzV/s251/Unknown.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9cCOO14dcq1aawzuGOhwmeVYYjk7YNX42Z0kdOMv7XcpSlQxazA7CkAxPtyWzuxfV9Ir-JjOU0YpZx_nGIkANpAWI3xuFlt1rVioXvVsnsi54VKBgUfDyvAeqEM8vL8tP7cXFB14vFi4nGwR-fH8Mk2NuykAUaqtXXLgAcAZZZq4nFWP7hQfIjzV/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" width="201" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxPFOPff46Ek2k3L-f_BnpUn0GfAVq10trOVvJo3pu6CVcMdsTPD-ubLFkw7Z9PqImzzYp-uPFY7k6tTrqlVoWTMzR3CLt_3oTCqU61Z5YddJo9a-oGyGscA6zYnL1D7V0-Hfu7G0dZRQoIRqmZJEP4RmqWHvPW8pUWMORN9Usgne2TlB--kpfCkZ/s491/md30749513063.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxPFOPff46Ek2k3L-f_BnpUn0GfAVq10trOVvJo3pu6CVcMdsTPD-ubLFkw7Z9PqImzzYp-uPFY7k6tTrqlVoWTMzR3CLt_3oTCqU61Z5YddJo9a-oGyGscA6zYnL1D7V0-Hfu7G0dZRQoIRqmZJEP4RmqWHvPW8pUWMORN9Usgne2TlB--kpfCkZ/s320/md30749513063.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>As the economy collapses around us and costs spiral it might not be a good idea for me to embark on a publishing programme. I decided a few months ago that I won't be writing and publishing an updated edition of my best-selling Subterranean City to which I have the rights. I began to work on the project before COVID and my illness intervened. I now think it would be too expensive to print with its extensive colour pictorial content and there is a huge amount of competition that didn't exist when it first appeared in 2000. Time to move on. I am working on a new book but it is difficult to remain motivated these days - however, each week more words are added. </p><p>Last year I read a lot while ill - part of which was another periodic binge on classic Science Fiction of which my favourites were:</p><p>Joe Haldeman The Forever War - far better than I was expecting and still relevant of course. See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War">here </a></p><p>Philip K Dick The Simulacra. See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simulacra">here</a></p><p>Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens of Titan see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirens_of_Titan">here</a> I enjoyed the recent<a href="https://www.altitude.film/kurt-vonnegut-unstuck-in-time"> documentary</a> on Vonnegut reminding me why I loved him in my late teens.</p><p>The one I enjoyed most was Solaris by Stanislav Lem, rightly deemed a classic. See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(novel)">here</a>. I also watched Tarkovsky's brilliant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(1972_film)">film </a>adaptation for the first time.</p><p>Talking of Tarkovsky I was listening to a fascinating podcast Trickster on Carlos Castaneda last night and learned that the great Russian director wanted to bring Don Juan to the screen, as did Federico Fellini who was also a massive fan. The podcast can be heard <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/trickster-the-many-lives-of-carlos-castaneda/id1543278419">here</a>. I found it through the <a href="https://www.philosophyforlife.org">website</a> of Jules Evans whose book Philosophy For Life I am currently rereading. In these turbulent times some other readers may discover strategies for stoically coping in its pages. You can also find on that site an essay about Esalen which I mention in an earlier post. </p><p>In my reading binge I also devoured all of Brian Catling's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/20/the-vorrh-b-catling-review-michael-moorcock">Vorrh</a> trilogy, an unsettling but incredible feat of imagination. I was particularly impressed by how he could write about non-human 'life'. The books manage to include a number of real people including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge">Eadweard Muybridge</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-raymond-roussel-put-the-impossible-on-the-page">Raymond Roussel</a> and Nicholas Parsons! I was thinking about asking him to contribute something to my new book, when I read this week that he had died. He only attained some form of fame, thanks to his books in his sixties. Prior to that he had been known for his art and performance pieces. See <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/07/brian-catling-the-vorrh-interview">here</a> and <a href="https://threecrowsmagazine.com/interview-brian-catling/">here</a>. I had seen him a couple of times when he accompanied Iain Sinclair at events in the 1990s and found him pretty scary and intimidating as a performer, which is what he intended no doubt. RIP. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-2720676250420959962022-09-28T14:19:00.007+01:002022-09-28T14:22:43.980+01:00Borges and Me<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZVpOU1RBuBe7B95nXuswyAMqZiN8ngOHOvOAlEhUHOImaawFnYHLfi4DP1kKnlhcmLYfkw8dMOOyaYtNsut-FwFmnrRWjwimpseO8eNTtT0o2wHoekD5MS6-g59pOwg2RMMYljnH8zN6Z07B0-L9dUngSSSQAWcx0ku617nuQiOL_2ON7L3FZrEJ/s613/9781838850234.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZVpOU1RBuBe7B95nXuswyAMqZiN8ngOHOvOAlEhUHOImaawFnYHLfi4DP1kKnlhcmLYfkw8dMOOyaYtNsut-FwFmnrRWjwimpseO8eNTtT0o2wHoekD5MS6-g59pOwg2RMMYljnH8zN6Z07B0-L9dUngSSSQAWcx0ku617nuQiOL_2ON7L3FZrEJ/s320/9781838850234.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQhH9b1jhtTc1MCQNC8AxiDqXRNMi0rNT3Jf91D34qm9EnZIr_feNrtSeGFPSX3Yp1WATuHoO5Ti4z5z5Ha8KPZmZbwXI44DY9jz8DgiOMKreeUZT-d8vtjdxzbJIK3yfpwiLGLTYG02w3rscqpw2CTzjgLey87bh0OGQsBJTZRl9x7f8PtIt4NO5/s475/51ZJJ675E5L.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQhH9b1jhtTc1MCQNC8AxiDqXRNMi0rNT3Jf91D34qm9EnZIr_feNrtSeGFPSX3Yp1WATuHoO5Ti4z5z5Ha8KPZmZbwXI44DY9jz8DgiOMKreeUZT-d8vtjdxzbJIK3yfpwiLGLTYG02w3rscqpw2CTzjgLey87bh0OGQsBJTZRl9x7f8PtIt4NO5/s320/51ZJJ675E5L.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Another book I've enjoyed this month is Borges and Me by Jay Parini (Canongate 2020) recounting the author's experience, when studying in Scotland in the early 1970s, of driving the protean Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges around that country and the Northern Isles. He had never read any of the author's work at the time and did not appreciate his international fame. Borges was blind and needed Parini to describe in detail the towns and landscapes they were passing through. </p><p>The book is funny, moving and very well written. Parini confesses in the final chapter what the reader has suspected all along - that this could not possibly be a fully accurate account of the encounter as there are long passages of apparently perfectly remembered conversations and monologues from Borges (some of which I think are adapted from his stories). Instead: 'It's a bit of a palimpsest, a text written over another text, with many erasures; the underlying text is barely legible but nonetheless important, its bones poking through the skin. This story was shaped as fiction, or auto fiction, and the residue of that shaping in its transformation into this text, "An Encounter."' There are just too many perfect coincidences - the three 'Weird Sister' 'witches' at a foggy Scone Castle stop for example - enabling Borges to wax lyrical from his formidable literary knowledge. I also dipped into Borges Collected Fictions to reminder me of his unique style. I think I first became aware of Borges when reading Umberto Eco's bestselling The Name of the Rose in the 1980s in which an important character is based on him. I also found the first few chapters about Parini's student life before the arrival of Borges equally absorbing.</p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-14684629419462460672022-09-11T13:12:00.008+01:002024-02-12T14:01:32.550+00:00Haunts of the Black Masseur<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3RwEx0hRBMZewtWSeAqquXZCoyXG0bJVZASCnEqVLZsdXIbaYVgZTFaWh1a-AcacDG-RrG4E9Vtx3XphGrM9Ke3a7A2Usg4ZzM35LVpoRhKg0I_LJ2VQT3GzFnIUG_lH7Nc18LTLpCVYCOOYMUoGF1JsOia6nqFGY1gJxD1lc4ODpHNxmZ4yMDUF/s500/51ZHW7kOvOL._AC_SY580_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="301" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3RwEx0hRBMZewtWSeAqquXZCoyXG0bJVZASCnEqVLZsdXIbaYVgZTFaWh1a-AcacDG-RrG4E9Vtx3XphGrM9Ke3a7A2Usg4ZzM35LVpoRhKg0I_LJ2VQT3GzFnIUG_lH7Nc18LTLpCVYCOOYMUoGF1JsOia6nqFGY1gJxD1lc4ODpHNxmZ4yMDUF/s320/51ZHW7kOvOL._AC_SY580_.jpg" width="193" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoGcDHlaa0F_xo3DnfaRxG4Mota1EHFrA06U0hlYkcTD8d0fztsRAVt2LfBO4tp149UlHg29RpLZmksq_22Xdc1tzl5pLEXrAvWsVZeqNao5naQPamyzhgm0-eOzSbGXDuY4jcRj_zlSJATDSsLgphDpx42n2uDb0RzLwQ8MfXSiJoUp9Q_5U1bZ8/s500/9780099577249-jacket-large.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoGcDHlaa0F_xo3DnfaRxG4Mota1EHFrA06U0hlYkcTD8d0fztsRAVt2LfBO4tp149UlHg29RpLZmksq_22Xdc1tzl5pLEXrAvWsVZeqNao5naQPamyzhgm0-eOzSbGXDuY4jcRj_zlSJATDSsLgphDpx42n2uDb0RzLwQ8MfXSiJoUp9Q_5U1bZ8/s320/9780099577249-jacket-large.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE69vaIBBbrYJhvj_8cUFs_5erl8RQCdcHIybmO8Qc_umoi9kNw5MLNd7HOZj5mJ1bemtjJ4UyHiSz8wl9JWSOOZgBNYDP1F00dJ5BB3tVrEYBQ9UiFwY_Q5l4-4f8S7FnrGQ8uj92_kpkMnNWW752SGaGcrOLKW_pK_iYNt0qdNCzH_S32I-LzKag/s500/0099282550.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE69vaIBBbrYJhvj_8cUFs_5erl8RQCdcHIybmO8Qc_umoi9kNw5MLNd7HOZj5mJ1bemtjJ4UyHiSz8wl9JWSOOZgBNYDP1F00dJ5BB3tVrEYBQ9UiFwY_Q5l4-4f8S7FnrGQ8uj92_kpkMnNWW752SGaGcrOLKW_pK_iYNt0qdNCzH_S32I-LzKag/s320/0099282550.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I recently read an autobiography by Jeremy Lewis called Kindred Spirits: Adrift in Literary London (Harper Collins, 1995), chronicling his adventures in London's publishing world of the 1970s and 1980s, a landscape that has since been transformed by mergers and takeovers, so that most if not all the small publishers he worked for are now defunct or part of huge corporate conglomerates. </p><p>It's very readable and offers an insight into a closed world, dominated by an Oxbridge and public school intake - there are many comparisons to various publishers' offices resembling prep schools. It's also quite amusing, although the self-deprecation gets a bit wearying after a while. It introduced me to some new names and books, the most interesting sounding being Haunts of the Black Masseur (1992) which I am currently reading. It was written by a good friend of Lewis, Charles Sprawson, who he accompanies on some of his swimming expeditions around Europe, attempting to discover the sites of ancient springs mentioned in classical literature, often to find polluted horrors or tourist travesties. </p><p>Sprawson's book is recommended: a chronicle of swimmers through literature and history, again revealing the dominance of the public-school educated writers who wished to relive the epic feats of Leander and other classical natators; Byron naturally features heavily. From my present perspective it's a model for how to write about a single subject without becoming too repetitive and boring - Sprawson must have had a large file of quotations gleaned from prodigious reading, before the days of Google. A number of figures familiar from this blog put in appearances - there is a substantial section on Fr Rolfe/Baron Corvo for example - as well as Percy Shelley, Rupert Brooke, Goethe, George Borrow and many others. Swimming also provides a plethora of useful metaphors and analogies for writers, which Sprawson beautifully illuminates. </p><p>Much of the swimming described takes place in lakes, rivers and the sea, what would be called <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/05/roger-deakin-waterlog-why-wild-swimming/618974/">'wild swimming'</a> today and a lot of it during the winter months, which has recently regained popularity. A few years ago I read Roger Deakin's wonderful <a href="https://katemacdonald.net/2016/08/15/wild-swimming-for-pleasure-roger-deakins-waterlog/">Waterlog</a>, which I believe encouraged many people to swim in less frequented places. After years of never swimming, and persuaded by my wife, I started to swim in lakes when we were on holiday in Switzerland and France, the reedy and fast-flowing Rhein at Stein-am Rhein and other less frequented spots. I still find swimming is helpful for the various aches and pains of middle age and we try to swim in the nearby sea, although recent discharges of sewage into the English Channel by Southern Water are discouraging. I think it unlikely that I'll ever swim in the Hastings sea in the winter. </p><p>A review <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-most-exhilarating-moments-of-his-life-on-charles-sprawsons-haunts-of-the-black-masseur-the-swimmer-as-hero/">here</a>.</p><p>Sprawson's obituary can be found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/08/haunts-of-the-black-masseur-author-charles-sprawson-dies-aged-78">here</a>.</p><p>Jeremy Lewis is also sadly no longer with us, an obituary <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/grub-street-irregular-jeremy-lewis-dies-532126">here</a>.</p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-38355165313811826302022-08-18T12:59:00.002+01:002022-08-23T11:24:53.538+01:00Strychnine<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0921eKSSBeBX2FasIZAwEDbVh3iGTYLm8l7GIqp6B67pHOfWvrwsrLmWFJ08LMDiOG-30GTNWcZy_X15ZrjQhrPDYGtrb5t4R1ew5txB6x4lBsumOGvbWGIM5G8oLmtcH5vEI7Nahrz8ZuQJMiHHdVuQvjZY_PLgF33VE9L2N73B1WzEXiSmHkWE/s2413/Ernest_Dowson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2413" data-original-width="1737" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0921eKSSBeBX2FasIZAwEDbVh3iGTYLm8l7GIqp6B67pHOfWvrwsrLmWFJ08LMDiOG-30GTNWcZy_X15ZrjQhrPDYGtrb5t4R1ew5txB6x4lBsumOGvbWGIM5G8oLmtcH5vEI7Nahrz8ZuQJMiHHdVuQvjZY_PLgF33VE9L2N73B1WzEXiSmHkWE/s320/Ernest_Dowson.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>One of the books I took along to read in our Devon holiday cottage last week was In Love With Hell by William Palmer, a series of short biographies of modern writers who were very heavy drinkers or alcoholics. The usual suspects are present and correct: Patrick Hamilton, John Cheever, Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis etc. The chapter on Malcolm Lowry (see earlier post) contained some information that shed light on a passage that I often include in my talks on Decadent London.</p><p>In a letter from July 1894 dipsomaniac decadent poet Ernest Dowson wrote about a journey to alcoholic oblivion with his friend the actor Charles Goodhart: </p><p>'Goodie and I met in the evening, he had a charming man with him, a twenty-ton opium eater, who had run away with his cousin and is now to marry her. We met at 7 and consumed 4 absinthes apiece in the Cock till 9 [in Shaftesbury Avenue - demolished]. We then went and ate some kidneys- after which two absinthes apiece at the Crown [now a KFC in Charing Cross Road]. After which, one absinthe apiece at Goodie's club. Total 7 absinthes. These had seriously affected us - but made little impression on the opium eater. He took us back to the Temple in a cab. This morning Goodie and I were twitching visibly. I feel rather indisposed; and in fact we decided that our grief is now sufficiently drowned, and we must spend a few days on nothing stronger than lemonade and strychnine.'</p><p>I had assumed the 'lemonade and strychnine' was a joke, but it turns out that 'suitably diluted, strychnine was in the past given as a stimulant to patients suffering from the palsy from lead poisoning, beriberi, and the shakes induced by alcoholism' [William Palmer, In Love With Hell: Drink in the Lives and Work of Eleven Writers p.82] In Lowry's masterpiece Under The Volcano, based on one day, the Consul's breakfast consists of a bottle half-full of Johnny Walker and a glass of strychnine mixture. Later he mistakenly takes a second draft of the strychnine mixture and passes out. Needless to say, don't try this at home. </p><p>For a scientific overview see <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/strychnine">here</a>.</p><p>Also immortalised in 1965 by The Sonics (and later covered by The Fall) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g68n8EM8I4I">here</a></p><p>'Some folks Like water, Some folks like wine, but I like the taste, of straight strychnine.'</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-54563815806550724012022-08-17T20:45:00.011+01:002022-08-17T20:59:50.820+01:00To Keep the Ball Rolling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSxHGT8IXQMcPkEsteV49f86XUwtp074Q1qgUhW_Xrc6FU-_oqsFYkEI7jdNDbIpL6UviuYcHja9WpzYC181y2MOY3pnjfVyYLN0tUrYKqrTGZdzPFEB4onF5jHA7SXyCahqcRrjCnjvXGjBl5eCGsGfVDS8kw-P9A-GDyyHEoRpQQnQRbb3ljNkp/s744/an00033989_001_l_0.width-340.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSxHGT8IXQMcPkEsteV49f86XUwtp074Q1qgUhW_Xrc6FU-_oqsFYkEI7jdNDbIpL6UviuYcHja9WpzYC181y2MOY3pnjfVyYLN0tUrYKqrTGZdzPFEB4onF5jHA7SXyCahqcRrjCnjvXGjBl5eCGsGfVDS8kw-P9A-GDyyHEoRpQQnQRbb3ljNkp/s320/an00033989_001_l_0.width-340.jpg" width="146" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVEUYD2vuh02_wIyvPjhGAelGiA8bHm943Q3-63nSPh6R_VeJFWFDta_eJ_EaaczlRNn8J313pgEB6Jk4kfEdbY08iVvw-3MiOCVsTnX4iSX9FRQIUkY2Fn8ROVKbSdClRzDLt3GrvFT8UWLXKArMd9kYioGTfCBYq5yKsmVDGo62YtieUrymonCJe/s1440/banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1440" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVEUYD2vuh02_wIyvPjhGAelGiA8bHm943Q3-63nSPh6R_VeJFWFDta_eJ_EaaczlRNn8J313pgEB6Jk4kfEdbY08iVvw-3MiOCVsTnX4iSX9FRQIUkY2Fn8ROVKbSdClRzDLt3GrvFT8UWLXKArMd9kYioGTfCBYq5yKsmVDGo62YtieUrymonCJe/s320/banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiemntFKxnWSAY4hw1gNMmKhmzcGKdHaxvO79lz8fCUSadLUnbo6SYDqVoOAIH2vV1t7m2Oat8Qp_XxnWrdusLYgE643BJMXgvTJ93ZpK8mlmL8OkozmUURl_FVnoyiVuGG9F9Hz1ESsJMK0eSisZt_qgamo-WyO4Wft-b5vlvZEtMBBM1__gVQ69/s1000/fox.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="1000" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiemntFKxnWSAY4hw1gNMmKhmzcGKdHaxvO79lz8fCUSadLUnbo6SYDqVoOAIH2vV1t7m2Oat8Qp_XxnWrdusLYgE643BJMXgvTJ93ZpK8mlmL8OkozmUURl_FVnoyiVuGG9F9Hz1ESsJMK0eSisZt_qgamo-WyO4Wft-b5vlvZEtMBBM1__gVQ69/s320/fox.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Almost all copies of Netherwood, Secret Tunnels of England and Decadent London have now sold and decisions will have to made about any future Accumulator Press projects or reprints in the light of our 'cost of living crisis' - what a damning phrase that is.</p><p>I'm much more aware of my general health these days and don't want to take on a great deal of work. Having said that I'm still working on what I hope will be another non-fiction book, Gothic in nature, that will be published next year and I may do various talks and walks, but probably not till 2023. To promote the book I am planning an event that will feature a talk from me, films and live music, I hope an improvised soundtrack to a silent film (I've been checking out some musicians for this) to be held in quite a large venue in St Leonards. </p><p>On the music front the following are lined up:</p><p><a href="https://www.hatisnoit.com">Hatis Noit</a> Church of St John Bethnal Green, London 25 August</p><p><a href="https://alabasterdeplume.bandcamp.com">Alabaster DePlume</a> Marina Fountain, St Leonards 15 September (not sure about this one)</p><p><a href="https://www.dlwp.com/event/steve-hackett-foxtrot-fifty/">Steve Hackett</a> De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill 17 September - 50 years since Foxtrot was released</p><p><a href="https://www.seetickets.com/event/the-bug-club-support-the-piper-hastings/the-piper/2316483">The Bug Club</a> The Piper St Leonards 29 October </p><p><a href="https://www.emmarawicz.com">Emma Rawicz Quintet</a> Hastings Jazz Club 6 December. A star-studded band assembled.</p><p>In Brighton on Sunday 21 August there will be various celebrations marking the 150th birthday of the great Aubrey Beardsley. I hope to be there in the afternoon and evening and may check out the bar called <a href="http://yellowbookbrighton.com">The Yellow Book</a>.</p><p>See <a href="https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/event/aubrey-beardsley-a-brighton-boy-display/">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-11831094923165004052022-07-06T15:02:00.001+01:002022-07-06T15:02:04.884+01:00The Bloodhound<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSe9cde658fksk52qbuGMm8sA45TSzUGxU7mMU4TfW7RdvBoZMHj7R71w1g6rmCJzPK0Wu91eCC3zZxItleeogKwf1QzPadgGtSV_FC9Sof22096TQlI0r8ggI0GJgQ1gc6Fjp802iH2mW7Y1RJ6SIg_2AuLvL7K2wz4bn_Bj2i_DbpOU8fQEQ7alm/s740/thumb_AA1E0623-40A5-46C9-89C4-B1124FA96612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="740" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSe9cde658fksk52qbuGMm8sA45TSzUGxU7mMU4TfW7RdvBoZMHj7R71w1g6rmCJzPK0Wu91eCC3zZxItleeogKwf1QzPadgGtSV_FC9Sof22096TQlI0r8ggI0GJgQ1gc6Fjp802iH2mW7Y1RJ6SIg_2AuLvL7K2wz4bn_Bj2i_DbpOU8fQEQ7alm/s320/thumb_AA1E0623-40A5-46C9-89C4-B1124FA96612.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30Hq06VcKgPngkOxzxRa5wvgUYj70jAawl9KfR70VYRa3UR8Ub-U_CJsXu3H434EiyjNafL0DTieuStYhcqfq2TRj6XSn1-QLCl8sxxrlp_RMJtICaS6YpldCItTZg8Iye8Gz0i6Bkai3mmVR3rP3Up2w1rhaM8X83MkQMiiMsY3uA8Tlh_nkg_Bk/s681/The-Bloodhound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="681" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30Hq06VcKgPngkOxzxRa5wvgUYj70jAawl9KfR70VYRa3UR8Ub-U_CJsXu3H434EiyjNafL0DTieuStYhcqfq2TRj6XSn1-QLCl8sxxrlp_RMJtICaS6YpldCItTZg8Iye8Gz0i6Bkai3mmVR3rP3Up2w1rhaM8X83MkQMiiMsY3uA8Tlh_nkg_Bk/s320/The-Bloodhound.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>For research purposes I've been watching a lot of films in recent months - mostly horror. Some have been very bad indeed, but one that stood out as original and aesthetically pleasing was The Bloodhound, directed by Patrick Picard. It's apt that a film about loneliness and isolation should have been released in 2020 mid-pandemic. It is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' but updated for the 21st century, even though the story eschews modern technology such as laptops and mobile phones. </p><p>I like the fact that the house is not a creepy Gothic pile but a modernist 1930s home with restricted space that adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere - the film almost never ventures outside. This is the actual house they used, the <a href="https://neutra-vdl.org">Neutra VDL </a>in Los Angeles.</p><p>The acting is impressive in a stylised artificial way, especially the weird looking Joe Adler as Jean Paul Luret (an allusion to Jean Paul Sartre's Huit Clos?) self-exiled in a timeless present. Essentially the film is a two-hander with JP and his old friend Francis. Lurking in a closet is a creature called the Bloodhound which to the film's advantage is never properly seen or confronted - my theory is that it's a tulpa created by JP.</p><p>A cool modernist aesthetic pervades the cinematography, composition and art direction with nods to David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick.</p><p>It will be interesting to see what Patrick Picard does next - this was his first full length film (only 72 minutes).</p><p>The Bloodhound is available through <a href="https://www.arrowfilms.com">Arrow Films</a> on Blu-ray or streaming.</p><p>An interview with the writer and director <a href="https://www.arrowfilms.com/blog/interviews/interview-with-patrick-picard-director-of-the-bloodhound/">here</a></p><p>I've written quite a long piece about it that will surface eventually, but here are some links to online reviews. </p><p>Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/the-bloodhound-review-1234866453/">here</a></p><p>Austin Chronicle <a href="https://www.austinchronicle.com/events/film/2020-12-18/the-bloodhound/">here</a></p><p>Elements of Madness <a href="https://elementsofmadness.com/2021/04/05/bloodhound/">here</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-38003491721923531252022-05-08T13:56:00.007+01:002024-02-06T11:44:38.441+00:00Aleister Crowley Talk at Electro Studios<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCiTLhIKuz610ztWGGn_DzgpCANiYnU1LA_amJvSuHIF_IGjLGarRNroj5oaHJenn5F3o1Pmc_TsQZjMVDCa-Y5KtyYPbtMMQtDO6OW8Fs18QMFVvq0me43zZdihB4nYbrHkjEuYwXqCZpqWyGj3yeKa69BfT3sMeRHzwGLAT7v0M2rBSIandwFhie/s1600/Netherwood1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCiTLhIKuz610ztWGGn_DzgpCANiYnU1LA_amJvSuHIF_IGjLGarRNroj5oaHJenn5F3o1Pmc_TsQZjMVDCa-Y5KtyYPbtMMQtDO6OW8Fs18QMFVvq0me43zZdihB4nYbrHkjEuYwXqCZpqWyGj3yeKa69BfT3sMeRHzwGLAT7v0M2rBSIandwFhie/s320/Netherwood1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>As part of the Silverhill Press Presents events on 21 May I shall be promoting Accumulator Press and giving a short presentation on the book Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley.</p><p>The few remaining Accumulator Press books that I have will be on sale: Decadent London, Netherwood, Secret Tunnels of England and there will be the opportunity to crowdfund/pre-order my next book Mansion of Gloom.</p><p>Accumulator Press on Big Cartel <a href="https://accumulatorpress.bigcartel.com">here</a></p><p><a href="http://www.electrostudiosprojectspace.co.uk/electrostudiosprojectspace/Exhibitions.html">Electro Studios</a> St Leonards on Sea 11-7.</p><p>The illustrated Crowley at Netherwood talk will begin at 1pm </p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-17667773153926601462022-05-08T13:46:00.003+01:002022-05-08T13:52:37.121+01:00A Talk in St Leonards on Aleister Crowley at Netherwood<p> </p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGNgH2ONJzjHNEGxPAWv2nodjOMuv0yymg928jokKeKjosBHJOubvWYHo_d64XisZm3t6GPkG0YqNnq9ey4WY9O2EdZzpHEaZrcYecY3eXIDyIVw0uIjoaDs6dxU2lJ8a9QE-Ypt9BJoqAxEL07Hf7TvrX2DOMfuRdRzkPIJn_JpVHnKBrVz_EP-b/s851/277972761_323386276576477_8060282407340700185_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="851" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGNgH2ONJzjHNEGxPAWv2nodjOMuv0yymg928jokKeKjosBHJOubvWYHo_d64XisZm3t6GPkG0YqNnq9ey4WY9O2EdZzpHEaZrcYecY3eXIDyIVw0uIjoaDs6dxU2lJ8a9QE-Ypt9BJoqAxEL07Hf7TvrX2DOMfuRdRzkPIJn_JpVHnKBrVz_EP-b/s320/277972761_323386276576477_8060282407340700185_n.png" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlWSOk-v0hZSoAHdKrSSVD_p654bF2jgPkFIbk8R3xO1qa77d3oepdPjHFGWwlmNNVLCLl5Pi6JuFRyqCXl0p3iXXFV3C26nPFpo1fOJqHNBscqPpHI9x3uQQPlY9YD5O9GP-IVWR4J_W5wQ6rP7qHt4xmXTVXQwjirzVia55kLs8J8aHQ31lIkKhf/s4794/Netherwood2.tiff" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4794" data-original-width="3150" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlWSOk-v0hZSoAHdKrSSVD_p654bF2jgPkFIbk8R3xO1qa77d3oepdPjHFGWwlmNNVLCLl5Pi6JuFRyqCXl0p3iXXFV3C26nPFpo1fOJqHNBscqPpHI9x3uQQPlY9YD5O9GP-IVWR4J_W5wQ6rP7qHt4xmXTVXQwjirzVia55kLs8J8aHQ31lIkKhf/s320/Netherwood2.tiff" width="210" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5pwJJ3C3DqJFOFkTiKE0ZzcNNGDXa0_W09Q2v6pyiRw1Poxys8CkBJVXxi9ZJk9bwzNGugFzqq0PFCQy0MoIujdldcLeq32pVXFPcPJiHUsDvqNctE4Jg2PlMoLwVZL78RSGNZ5y84OFHCrNfuaC_poOE6AgS88Qf6rreq_CFy4xfYRWEmb_zy68S/s1753/Netherwood%20ed2%202017%20Cover%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1753" data-original-width="1240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5pwJJ3C3DqJFOFkTiKE0ZzcNNGDXa0_W09Q2v6pyiRw1Poxys8CkBJVXxi9ZJk9bwzNGugFzqq0PFCQy0MoIujdldcLeq32pVXFPcPJiHUsDvqNctE4Jg2PlMoLwVZL78RSGNZ5y84OFHCrNfuaC_poOE6AgS88Qf6rreq_CFy4xfYRWEmb_zy68S/s320/Netherwood%20ed2%202017%20Cover%20copy.jpg" width="226" /></a></div></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2366591241180875514.post-28320298207978464122022-04-12T12:05:00.003+01:002022-04-12T12:06:36.222+01:00Small Press Fair in St Leonards<p> </p><p>I shall be representing Accumulator Press at a small press publishing event in St Leonards on Saturday 21 May 2022, organised by <a href="https://www.silverhillpress.co.uk">Silverhill Press</a>.</p><p>It will take place at <a href="http://www.electrostudiosprojectspace.co.uk/electrostudiosprojectspace/Home.html">Electro Studios.</a></p><p>Arrangements are still being made, but it looks as if I will have a stand/table and will be giving a talk at some point about Netherwood. There will also be talks, music and poetry during the day from other publishers.</p><p>I imagine it will be free - more details when I get them.</p>Antony Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801566014614831267noreply@blogger.com0