Our Christmas collection "Gifts: Bittersweet Christmas Stories"from all Betimes Books authors is now available as e-book for only 0,77£/0,99$ here Read it in PDF format here or contact us to receive a free PDF or Mobi copy of GIFTS! For a print collector edition, click here!
“Outside your Bedroom Window in the Rain” by Colin O’Sullivan
“Why do I write” by Jackie Mallon
This is the question posed by my blogmate, Kate at Maison Bentley Style. It’s part of a blog hop. I could never say no to Kate. She is the big hearted, ever-so-stylish epicenter of my blogging society; our intrepid heroine and our gracious hostess. She is the pre-scandal Lily Bart; the always charismatic Daisy Buchanan; the nobly independent Jo Marsh of my circle.
Why do I write, you ask, Kate? Well, that’s like asking why one would want to disappear through this little gate…
What am I working on now?
Despite weeks lost to my well-documented home search and the attendant broker, mortgage, co-op application misery, I am about two thirds of the way through my second novel. First draft, mind you. And, full disclosure, it doesn’t have a beginning yet, nor have I any idea of the route to take to arrive at the ending. But it’s still an easier…
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“The Practices of Compassion and Cruelty” by David Hogan
“I don’t understand these people trying to help animals when there’s so much human suffering in the world. Shouldn’t they be helping humans instead?”
I was asked this question at dinner the other day. One of the characters in my novel, The Last Island, is an animal rights activist. The questioner thought that her passion, like that of many other animal activists, was misplaced. I answered the question as best I could at the time, but after some thought I realized that my response was inadequate. I’ve since come to a new conclusion.
Simply put, the advocacy of animal rights is a matter of compassion. Compassion is a practice, not a resource. It’s not limited and can’t be depleted. Like any other practice — meditation, prayer, kindness, love – it’s something within which one can grow and improve. Given that, compassion for animals does not displace or re-direct compassion…
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A poem by Colin O’Sullivan – From A Bunch
I wrote two poems about budgies yesterday but somehow managed to accidentally delete them both. The poems were about how I’m not, repeat not, having a nervous breakdown. Although after losing both files I may rethink the whole not having a nervous breakdown thing…
There was a time when I wrote happy romantic little ditties. Like the one below, called From a Bunch.
In the meantime I’ll try and retrieve the poems (about the angry and obsessed budgies) from the bowels of the computer (both birds were called Franz) and also locate a poem I wrote on a napkin last week called Dead Flies. Psychiatrist’s couch here I come!
(Too much time listening to Swans, methinks)
Every little flower
and every myth
amaranthus
lotus
magnolia
daisy daisy
soon I will
tread among the weeds
and pick someone like you.
For a riveting novel about music and people’s secrets and relationships and drama…
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“Ekphrasis” by Jackie Mallon
I’ve been up on the roof. no, not to throw myself off. There’s no WiFi up there. The lengths––or heights––I will go to in order to dodge the clutches of procrastination. I have a new writing project deadline which I’ll tell you about later.
You would have loved it up there this week. You hear the city below, the symphony of sirens, a school bell faintly, voices from other rooftops that sound like seagulls’ cries, a door slamming in the belly of the building, a car horn, but the noises are all so gentle and far far away. Even though I had work to do I felt like I was on holiday. On a beach even. I felt like one of those writers with the means to retreat to an exclusive island hideaway every time they have a deadline (I’m sure these blessed individuals still exist–I don’t know any but…
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Literature and Art: Jackie Mallon about “Painted Women”
My current reading: Augustus John by Michael Holroyd published 1974
Immersed in research for my second novel, I stumbled upon the painter, Augustus John. He was an interesting type and no mistake but it is his women who truly fascinate. Upon reading descriptions of them, how they spoke and looked and thought, I sought out their portraits. Style mavens with names like Dorelia, Ida (surname Nettleship, no less), Alick, Euphemia, Estella, Arabella, Guilhermina, Ottoline, Clarissa, Caitlin, Amaryllis, Iris, formed a pageant of poetically monikered muses that fuelled his art. They would fuel my sketches too if I had a collection to design. Instead they will fuel my fiction.
Marchesa Casati by Augustus John
Known for “a compelling stare when he looked at a woman,” Augustus John’s quest for the next enigmatic face was a compulsion he made no apologies for. It was a congenital weakness. A coquettish voice emanating from…
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“Hogan’s adept storytelling makes us ponder our spiritual essence.”
About THE LAST ISLAND in a Greek American newspaper The Greek Star: http://www.thegreekstar.com/index.php/art-literature/item/2455-book-review-the-last-island Novel Explores Themes of Redemption, Escape, Love, Our Flawed Nature Playwright David Hogan offers an intriguing novel, “The Last Island,” based on a fictional Greek island in the Sporades. The Bostonian who lived in Athens for many years and has spent much … Continue reading “Hogan’s adept storytelling makes us ponder our spiritual essence.”
“Sharp”, “hilarious”, “observant”, “entertaining”: SILK, of course!
"The writing is sharp and humorous. Mallon is a very observant author and her heroine Kat negotiates her way through a world it's clear her creator knows a lot about. In particular the passages in Italy made me feel as if I were there myself, without having to get on the plane to go there." … Continue reading “Sharp”, “hilarious”, “observant”, “entertaining”: SILK, of course!
The Last Island: “an unforgettable experience”…
A new review of David Hogan's beautiful novel:" The Last Island delivers smoothly an unforgettable experience you won't get anywhere else." Full review here: http://thereaderandthechef.blogspot.ie/2014/08/book-review-last-island-by-david-hogan.html?m=1
The Last Island reaches #1 in Australia
David Hogan's novel THE LAST ISLAND is #1 in Literary Fiction and in Contemporary Fiction on http://www.amazon.com.au!
“The Last Island” is a Finalist in the San Diego Book Awards
Congratulations to David Hogan whose novel "'The Last Island" is a Finalist in the San Diego Book Awards (Category: Published – Contemporary Fiction). The winners will be annouced on the 21st of June. Fingers crossed for David!
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