Mike French

More artwork for Dr Snouss Pouss

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:38:00 +0000

This time Mrs Snouss Pouss - she seems a bit annoyed...

Dr Snouss Pouss

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Some artwork for my kid's book Dr Snouss Pouss ...

Novel #2 Publishing Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:00:00 +0000

I signed contracts last week for novel #2.

It's a good feeling: a catherine wheel spinning around in the pit of my stomach - I may spontaneously combust before I get to the end of this post.

I'll be quick.

It's with Elsewhen Press ...

.

a UK based independent publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction.

Look here I am here!

And Elsewhen released a press release today here. Here's a snippet ...

Combining dark humour with a vision of the future that is almost an inverse of
the classic dystopian nightmare of 1984, Mike’s latest novel follows in the tradition of great Speculative Fiction satirists such as Jonathan Swift.

The novel is called Blue Friday and is set in a dystopian society in the future where working hours are strictly controlled by the government: if you're married and work outside the hours of 9 to 5 you're punished: if you're lucky by Enforcment agents if not by the Family Protection Agency (FPA)- who will probably kill you. There is enforced viewing of family television, monitored family meals times and a coming of age where people reaching the age of twenty-five are married by the state computer if they have failed to marry. The novel follows Leviticus, the leader of the Underground Overtime Network who fights for the right for people to choose when they can work.

It's a whole different fish from The Ascent of Isaac Steward - with a clipped more cut down style. O and it has characters with great names like Mr Brittle and Mr Stone - you'll like them - not that you should mess with them mind: they are a little touchy at not being the protagonists. You've been warned.

I'm off to drink a lot of water: still the fire within.

Blue Friday will be published in a digital edition on 1 September 2012 and in paperback on 4 December 2012

Picture above: scene from the book.

KINDLE Impossible

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:16:00 +0000

Had fun last week running KINDLE Impossible on facebook where the challenge was to get The Ascent of Isaac Steward to number one in the UK Kindle charts.

Now that was never going to happen but still it was good to see my novel wiggle its way free from the muddy depths of Amazon's rankings and at least attempt to reach the sunlight.

Hopefully it will be okay now and stop nagging me to take it out - much like the dog. You've had your walk kindle novel now go and lie down next to the fire and settle down. Blimey these books, I never get a moment's peace to write with all the nagging.

O and did I mention I had to work out how to format the Kindle version as the original version was - well a right mess. I worked with my publisher and eventually cracked it. Now I know all about tocs and style indents and gotos and a hundred other useful things. And it looks well shiny now, all brushed and well looked after. Good Kindle book, roll over. Arh look at it.

Photo credit: Vagabond Shutterbug

A must for everyone's bucket-list

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Got back from Easter to find a five star review on Amazon.

"I was totally absorbed in this incredible book a must for everyone's bucket-list if you are looking for a totally unique experience."

which was nice.

See the full review here

I'm Not Here

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:05:00 +0000

I'm not here.

Really.

Really, that's not me.

Picture credit: Peter Smith

A Writers' Centre in Luton?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:31:00 +0000

This is the video for Luton's Portas Pilot bid which includes a proposal I've been working on with The Town Team (which I'm part of) for a Writers' Centre in Luton.

It would also bring back a bookshop to Luton since the closure of Waterstones. We will know in May if Luton has been selected as one of the 12 pilots by the government.

The Writers' centre would have a cafe, bookshop, language school, bookslams, poetry readings, local artwork, music, comedy - and would form a home for writers and poets in the area.

I'm really excited about it and it would be a dream come true to see this happen and to put Luton on the literary map.

This is an Important Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:01:00 +0000

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Lancashire Writing Hub Review of Isaac Steward

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:28:00 +0000

A wonderful review in over the weekend for The Ascent of Isaac Steward by Stef Portersmith from the Lancashire Writing Hub ...

"A richness and abundance of imagination and originality, beauty of imagery, tenderness, vividness and page after page of surprise and variety."

For the full review click here.

"A remarkable piece of surrealist writing."

Interview with Jane Turley

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:59:00 +0000

Gosh it's been busy for a while - forgot to mention that Jane Turley interviewed me earlier in Feb for her blog.

Here's a short extract ...

Unlike a self-service checkout at Tescos, the publishers don’t tend to have a "call if you need assistance" button. My tip would be to find a person within the publishing company that you think may suit your book, ring them and tell them you have an unexpected item in the packing area.

Read the full (somewhat strange!) interview here where we talk of Julian Barnes, washing your hair, Life of Pi, homework, crying, rejection, whips & clotted cream.

Photo credit: placbo ( This is a scan of my brain as I answered Jane's questions.)

Book Addicts: Wigmore Book Group

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000

'We're investigating things - have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"

Had a fun evening last Thursday at Book Addicts: a book group at Wigmore library in Luton. The Ascent of Isaac Steward was on the menu together with tea, coffee and biscuits - writing is so rock 'n' roll !

It was the first time I've been invited to a book group and enjoyed answering questions like, Did I hate Punch & Judy? How can a lawnmower made out of cakes work? Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?

Was surprised that it is the only evening bookgroup in Luton - on the radar anyway. With a population of around 240 thousand in the area you'd think they'd be quite a few. Perhaps they're all meeting in secret in the woods reading Lewis Carroll books.

Picture credit: Caroline

Get Writing 2012: there's no longer time to get a Coke

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:21:00 +0000

Had a wonderful day at the Verulam Writers' Circle's Get Writing 2012 conference on Saturday based in the setting of The University of Hertfordshire's impressive de Havilland Campus. Arrived just in time to be on a panel on Non-Fiction which was the first time I'd ever done that sort of thing and great fun. I was sat next to author Adrian Magson and we exchanged a few, what do we do now glances but it seemed to go okay!

I also ran a workshop on A Writer's Guide to Blogging which was packed out - enjoyed kicking it off with some adverts letting people know there was still time to grab a coke - see video above - and to turn off their mobiles - anyway as Ian Cundell (the chair of the Verulam Writers' Circle) twittered, it was downright trippy!

Best of all was meeting people and putting faces to virtual friends like Jonathan Pinnock who's on my The View From Here team: he kindly signed his book Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens with a rather wonderful signature with a huge tentacle squirming out of it.

Also enjoyed listening to the keynote session by Barry Cunningham (who first signed J.K. Rowling to Bloomsbury and worked with Roald Dahl and Spike Milligan) Many interesting insights into Roald Dahl (grumpy) and JK who Bloomsbury advised to get a job as her Harry Potter was never going to earn her a living.

Finally a couple of shoutouts: Karen Roy for navigation to the event via Poland, John Cowton and the comedy mic on the panel - up a bit, no down, down, that's it, is this thing on?

Shh There be Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:47:00 +0000

Last Friday night was the first meeting of The Luton Writers at the cafe in The Hat Factory in Luton. And a real eye opener.

I'd prepared by scattering muffin and biscuit crumbs to make a trail into the Hat Factory to try and lure some writers from their habitat out into the open and it paid off - we weren't sure if there were many writers in the area at all but one by one they filled in and packed out the cafe ( aka The Kitchen ) with 20 people flitting between the tables and moving the chairs into a nesting area.

Over plenty of coffee (which should be compulsory for any writers group ) we kicked off the group and everyone introduced themselves whilst glancing around for predators.

I found the whole evening fascinating and there was a real buzz about it, which may have been because I was high on coffee but as writing can be such a lonely profession a real treat.

Now the trick is to not scare people off - writer types can be nervous and often retreat to their nests if spooked or at sudden noises.

We'll be meeting on the first Friday of each month ( apart from April ) and start at 8 PM - tickets can be bought from the box office at the Library.

Photo credit: John Wesley Barker

Ford, I think I'm a Sofa

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:28:00 +0000

Why this post?

Find out here

Luton: A Literary Desert?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Next month I'm really excited to be running The Luton Group of Writers an initiative by Luton Central Library to pool writers in the Luton area together.

The first meeting is on Friday February 3
Time is 8pm
Place is “The Kitchen” cafe space in The Hat Factory

To reserve your place:
Call Neil Rowland, Community Librarian (01582 547426) neil.rowland@lutonculture.com

More details on facebook : click here.

Be great to see you there and it will be really interesting to see if the title of this post and picture are true or if there are lots of writers in the Luton area hiding just over the horizon.

Photo credit: Moyan Brenn

Isaac in best of 2011 list

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Yippee ... The Ascent of Isaac Steward is in Juxtabook's Best Books of 2011 ...

"(it) blew my socks off. Original. Amazing. Do give it a go."

http://juxtabook.typepad.com/books/2011/12/juxtabooks-books-of-2011.html

Picture credit: Formula1wolf

Juxtabook Review of Isaac Steward

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:29:00 +0000

A wonderful review in over Christmas ....

"A real neo-modernist triumph and in a nihilistic world is definitely worth your time and patience."

"The dense richness of this Michelin starred linguistic meal is such that I struggled to deal with it over the first chapters. Once I stopped trying to consume it greedily and treated it as a tasting menu, small courses, one at a time, then I enjoyed it immensely."

Read the full review here.

Xmas Fun: Quess the Theme Tunes

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:48:00 +0000

What Xmas is complete without the Doctor Who Xmas Special! I've swapped the audio on the trailers below - anybody guess from what TV shows they comes from?

Radiolab Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:02:00 +0000

Had a great time in the studios of Luton's radio station radiolab this morning. Here's the interview that went out live through the snow ...

A big thanks to Luke Middleton for inviting me in and interviewing me.

Shanta Everington Interviews Me

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000

The wonderful Shanta Everington has an interview with me up on her blog at the moment ...

Mike: The rubber cover is so you can read the novel in the shower – have you tried that yet?

Shanta: Er no! Moving swiftly on... so what's next for Mike French?

To read the full interview click here.

Bubble overlay: AR Nature Gal

First UK Amazon Review In

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:10:00 +0000

A wonderful first review up on the UK Amazon site for The Ascent of Isaac Steward from Shanta Everington author of Marilyn and Me.

"Poignant and painful, there are many beautifully written, tender scenes in this tragic tale. Accompanying Isaac on his emotional journey which 'ends' with as many unanswered questions as it 'begins', left me exhausted and wrung out, as I had come to care deeply about what happened to him."

Read the full review here.

A Writer's Guide to Blogging Guest Post

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:16:00 +0000

I have a guest post up at the virtual advent calendar for the Get Writing 2012 Conference. Here's a teaser ...

Publishing has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most writers are unhappy for pretty much all of the time. This is largely because they don’t get invited to parties and nobody reads their books.

Secondly: many writers have been increasingly of the opinion that they’ve all made a big mistake in writing novels in the first place. And some say that even writing short stories and writing their names on the back of their shirts was a bad move and they should never have picked up a pen and so on and so forth.

Read the full article here.

I'll be running said workshop on the day as well as being on a panel in the morning called Changing faces – Non-fiction in the Modern Marketplace where I'll be joining Adrian Magson, David Lindo and Marc Aplin. The whole day promises to be a bit special and I'm really looking forward to it.

Get Writing 2012 is brought to you by Verulam Writers’ Circle in association with University of Hertfordshire. The event will be held on Saturday 11 February 2012 at the De Havilland Campus in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. For full details, visit the website.

Get The Ascent of Isaac Steward for just over a Quid!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Over 60% off now on the Kindle price of The Ascent of Isaac Steward!

UK Price : £1.14
USA Price : $1.76

For the UK click here.
For the USA click here.

"Moving and lyrical, original and hypnotic—Mike French’s The Ascent of Isaac Steward is a remarkable debut novel”
MICHAEL KIMBALL, Dear Everybody

Just in time for Christmas !

And if you want a bit of fun see The View From Here's take on Kindle books here.

Dr Snouss Pouss : Sneak Peak at my children's Book

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:44:00 +0000

The bear smiled, took out a ball of wool, two knitting needles and started knitting.

“What you making?” said Dr Snouss Pouss.

“A space suit,” said the bear.

“How wonderful,” said Dr Snouss Pouss, “I’ve always wanted a space suit.”

“It’s for me,” said the bear. “My other one’s in the wash.”

So there you go a little glimpse at novel 3 which is a children's book and some of the artwork I'm working on at the moment to go with it. A complete gear change from novel 1 & 2 but great fun! Called as you've guessed Dr Snouss Pouss it's about a "world famous" scientist who makes inventions out of cream cakes.

Pictures shown top: Bear in wool spacesuit & second: a mole - there are rather a lot of moles.

Signed Copies of The Ascent of Isaac Steward available

noreply@blogger.com (Mike French) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:52:00 +0000

I have a few signed copies left of The Ascent of Isaac Steward from my signing tour - if you would like one posted out ( UK only I'm afraid ) then you can order one here for £8.99 - postage is free and you can even request an inscription.