Pale · Cast

Like wishus I was contacted by Radio 4 Feedback today, regarding my email of concern about the Sunday programme's article on grave desecration in France - and the suggestion that 'the gothic culture' was to blame. The programme implied that the goth culture and Satanism were synonymous - and linked this in with Nazism just to stick another nail in the, ahem, coffin. The killers of Sophie Lancaster were recently sentenced for murder, having kicked her to death for being a goth - so I would have hoped Radio 4 (my favourite radio station) would have taken a more considered, informed and mature approach. Anyway, they recorded me bimbling on in a rather random way and this, along with wishus's contribution, should be broadcast on Feedback on Sunday at 8pm. Golly!
BTW while undertaking a quick web scan on goths before this discussion I found on a Goth FAQ list: Why do so many goths listen to Radio 4? The answer - its in-depth news coverage, science, drama and comedy... Maybe Radio 4 should remember who its listeners are... :o)

There is an excellent article on the Guardian website by Erica Jong voicing her regret at the faltering progress - and in some cases regression - in the journey towards equality between men and women around the world. I have been observing with horror the rising tide of misogyny in the tabloid press - the endless spiteful obsession with women's physical appearance, fatness or otherwise, and how they are age-ing. And then more recently, the absolute crucifixion of Fiona MacKeown, mother of poor Scarlett Keeling - and this in the so-called developed world where equality is a done deal? Jong observes that many women are themselves at the forefront of the backlash against the F-word - as a woman, as a mother of teenage daughters, I find it utterly depressing.

"Sarah Singleton is becoming a major novelist in the teenage fiction scene, with the Amethyst Child (Simon & Schuster £6.99) her best achievement yet. It describes how intelligent 15-year-old Amber meets Dowdie, her first ever close friend living close by in an experimental community. Delighted by the new sense of freedom she finds there, Amber becomes impatient with her well-meaning but earthbound parents... Sometimes demanding but in the bext possible way, this excellent novel is thoughtful and gripping."
Nicholas Tucker.

Me very, very happy. :o)

I've just returned from an enchanted four days in Switzerland, visiting my old school friend Rachel, who lives in Geneva. We travelled by train into the Swiss Italian Alps and spent two extraordinary days walking in the mountains and valleys. The forests were still leafless, though the sense of the imminent blossoming was tangible. Silent, eerie birchwoods, boulders covered in emerald moss, wild rivers, perfect villages of tiny flint cottages - winding paths taking us up and down stone stairways, past shrines and miniature churches. It was a magical time - full of curious encounters and fortuitous meetings. The landscape was astonishingly beautiful - so many wild, romantic chasms, unexpected pools of turquoise water, snow-helmed mountains, tiny spring flowers. This church, up a mountain, is dedicated to the Snow Madonna. It was marvellous beyond words.

Each year the language specialists at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, select newly published books from around the world that they consider to be especially noteworthy. This list of books is compiled into the annual White Ravens catalogue which is introduced each year at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
"The White Raven label is given to books that deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and / or their exceptional and often innovative artistic and literary style and design..."
Following this little preamble may I modestly add that Simon & Schuster have received notification that my third YA novel Sacrifice has been selected for the White Raven label, and will be in the White Ravens 2008 catalogue.
:o)

The peerless Jonathan Meades presents Magnetic North - a consideration of northerness and northern European art.
An hour of unadulterated aesthetic, intellectual and emotional bliss - available free for just three more days... don't miss it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b0090bzs.shtml

The Amethyst Child, to be released by Simon & Schuster in May, has received its first review at BookBag. I am very excited about this new book, which is rather different to the others though psychologically still in the same territory I think. It is also rather more personal in many ways. I am, therefore, thrilled its first review is so positive and that reviewer Jill Murphy has so clearly GOT what I was trying to do. Big smile.
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php/The_Amethyst_Child_by_Sarah_Singleton

The curious incident of the homeless woman has finally come to an end. Readers may well remember that I invited Julie, who sleeps rough, to stay in our sun room for a night. It isn't ideal but has a mattress and more safety than the cold concrete tunnel in which she used to sleep. Well Julie ended up staying every night for four months. She kept herself to herself on the whole and always refused invitations to come into the house. I made her teas and food sometimes and gave her some clothes and a box of edible goodies over Christmas. She would turn up at about 9pm, sleep or lie in bed till about 11am, smoke a lot, occasionally swig some vodka. My children found the entire experience something of an embarassment though seemed to enjoy recounting the tale to their friends. Anyway it all came to an end this week when my neighbours complained they had seen her using my garden as a toilet. I can see why they would not be happy about this. I contacted the Salvation Army, which runs a project for the homeless, and spoke to an old newspaper contact there about what could be done to find Julie somewhere better to live. She was optimistic something could be worked out for her. So I told Julie she couldn't use the sunroom anymore and passed on the details about the homeless project, who she needed to see, and when. Julie thanked me for our hospitality and apologised the upsetting my neighbours. Then she was gone. I was hoping she would have followed up the homeless project lead but last night when out running I found her curled up once more in the cold, dangerous tunnel. Right back to square one - where we started. I am not very happy about this. I did something and nothing.

"A new queen of gothic romance, Sarah Singleton writes with an immense passion. Whilst being rich in imagery ‘Century’ directly speaks with a captivating allure. Sarah Singleton’s ‘Century’ is a powerful debut which would make Mary Shelley unflinchingly admire." John Lloyd: Waterstones.

A new queen of gothic romance.... oh how I like that! I like that very much indeed. Thanks John.

I am finding my current novel very hard going, I confess. It is creeping forward sentence by sentence. I have written about 45k so far and another 30-40k to go, depending on how it all pans out. So it was very cheering (and timely) to receive some review cuttings from Simon & Schuster with comments about Sacrifice. Young reviewers writing in the magazine Teen Titles said variously: "If a famous person had personally come to see me, I would have told them to go away until I had finished!" and "From the moment I picked up this book, Sarah Singleton's words carried me off on a thrilling journey..." and "I really can't think of a single negative thing about this book and I am definitely going to try the next in the series!"

Reviewer Natasha Narayan in The Book Magazine says: "At first bite this yarn... is a bit Da Vinci Code. Thankfully Sarah Singleton's imagination starts where Dan Brown's leaves off, plus she can tell a more satisfying story... set in the 1890's it has the panache of a gothic Victorian romance."
Oh I like that - just wish I had a fraction of Dan Brown's sales? And his film deal? Ah well. Nonetheless I am very thankful for these cheering reviews. I shall return to writing the new one with a little more enthusiam perhaps.

I visited the WHSmith store in Chippenham yesterday. In their books department I noticed a new section - along with Biography, Cookery, Fiction A-Z etc. The section was called Tragic Life Stories. Who goes into a bookshop thinking: "I must just find myself a tragic life story to read" ??

On Christmas Eve we went to the Red Lion in Lacock to see the Ragged Heroes Mummers. They are an impressive troupe, Old Father Christmas heralding their arrival, green-faced, suitably accoutred in obscuring fronds of ivy. Wonderful costumes for the mummery - coloured strips of cloth, a clacking horse skull in a leather bridle, a young boy with his children on his back, the sword-brandishing Saracen. Brave St George slew both the Saracen and Napoleon - and then called out to the audience for a 'maiden' to kiss them both and restore them to life. Now, I saw the Ragged Heroes at Yatton Keynell many years ago, an outdoor performance in a muddy yard and I was then plucked from the audience to perform the honours so I thought I would be safe this time. But no! Lo and behold, blushing furiously, I was, once again, called on to be maiden and ordered to kiss ('on the lips!!') the fallen - thereby restoring them to life.
Christmas was lovely - the girls woke us at a very civilised 8am for round-the-tree present opening. I took the dog for a long, quiet walk and then we headed for my parents' home in rural Northamptonshire where we spent the day and night with my parents, brother and sister, their respective spouses and children and dogs.
Some lovely presents came my way too - including some rose perfume, the enchanting album White Chalk by PJ Harvey (try it! ghostly, gothy, English folky, quirky...) The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, and a couple of books, including Alan Bennett's Talking Heads.
Today I was back to work - picking up on my magic gardens / funeral violin gothic fantasy, which I haven't touched for months and needs to be finished by the end of March.

We celebrated the solstice with a trip to Avebury last night, travelling over the Wiltshire downs through thick fog to the Red Lion, in the heart of the stone circle, where we met friends and dined sumptuously. Today, the shortest day, my much-loved walk along the By Brook Valley. It was the most perfect midwinter walk - so many seasonal mythagos appropriately manifesting - a wren darting over the dry reeds by the river, a running deer, the purple-brown woods filled with an eerie mist which thickened down in the valleys, holly and ivy glittering green in the otherwise sombre hazel groves.

I saw New Model Army play at the Thecla in Bristol last night. The Thecla is a boat moored on the River Avon and the venue is down in its dank iron hull, the place very rusting-black and industrial. A lively, tribal, friendly crowd of varying ages - the music an absolute wild treat. Justin Sullivan has lost none of his passion and fire over the years and delivered a mix of old favourites along with songs from the new album High. They are the only band I have ever been truly passionate about though I wonder if, twenty years ago, I could ever have anticipated I would still be feeling just the same about their music so far down the line. Roll on another twenty years of music and concerts I say. Keep going Justin!

As the darkness extends its hold and the days dwindle away, it is a particular treat to get some friends together for the Patterdown Film Club - which met on Friday to watch Howl's Moving Castle. We dined on roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables - swede, sprouts, parsnips - before settling down with glasses of port to enjoy the film, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a gloriously beautiful film, endlessly inventive, so much to see and enjoy, particularly in the castle itself and its various rooms.
Out walking today the landscape is wintery, wolf-brown. The woods and spinneys are suddenly skeletal, so many bare branches and twigs, all bright colour gone except for one tree covered in red berries. I'm not sure what it was - not hawthorn - but from a distance it was the colour of blood.
Workwise I am very busy on a research project for Bath Spa University and the National Association of Writers in Education, into the work creative writers do in educational settings. Bookwise, I received a Malaysian translation of Heretic - and a beautiful sampler for The Amethyst Child - a booklet containing the first two chapters which Simon & Schuster have created to whet the appetite for the novel itself. I am so thrilled with this - the booklet looks gorgeous and I am actually still very pleased with the story. But the publication date of May 08 still seems a very long way off. I shall have to be patient...