An introduction via the Writers’ Coffee Club

 Over on Mastodon there is a sizeable, friendly and supportive writers community, and many post daily under the #writerscoffeeclub banner. These are a series of daily prompts suggested by the science fiction writer (I think) John Howe. Some are more relevant to me than others, and can give me quite a bit of food for thought. This is true both of my own contributions and those of others.

The first prompt of this month was to introduce yourself in the third person, as if you were a world-famous author. Here was my contribution…

“Of course, John Hartley needs no introduction, but contractual obligations and the need to fill time while we get the previous award winner well and truly off stage mean we have to give him one anyway.

Perhaps best-known for ‘The Broken Bottle’ trilogy, John grew up in the small town of Westhoughton, Lancashire; a town built on weaving, coal and farming.  There is a local legend about a cow getting its head stick in a gate. John didn’t write that, but he could have.

Attending the independent Bolton School on a financially-assisted place, John began to see the differences and social injustices between the wealthy and those less so. This coloured his politics, his writing, and his life choices.

Before establishing himself as the author we now know, love and respect, John performed in a number of bands. Some might say ‘unsuccessful’ bands - they had no hits, no significant fan base, no recording contract. However, that is only one definition of success, and John rightly recalls their fortune in providing and delivering entertainment, love, a creative outlet, a voice for the underdog and most importantly friendship.

It is these themes that John has endeavoured to portray in his writing. Whether that is in his autobiographical memoirs ‘Capturing the Wry’ and ‘Welcome to the Underachievers’, his biography of British band BOB, or in his fiction, including the forthcoming novel ‘The Old Couple’, John is determined that the honest lives of ordinary people are celebrated.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have have managed to get the winner of the ‘Celebrity Book Deal Of The Year’ category reunited with their ego in the Green Room.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I ask you to stand and show your appreciation for…”

Well, we can all dream…

It's Easy To Be Wise About Other People's Lives

At secondary school I was never really comfortable in my own skin. That probably goes for most teenagers, but it wasn't helped by the fact that the school I attended was, by and large, fee-paying. I was on an assisted place, which meant that because my parents didn't earn enough money my place was part-funded. We didn't have a car, didn't have a telephone, and had a black and white television. My friends had televisions in their bedrooms.

It took me quite a while to feel proud of my background. The first few years at school I felt envy towards the ease of the lifestyles my friends had. Meanwhile, I was also painfully aware of the mocking I got from others in the year.

A few people took me for who I was, including some people for whom it would have been easier to stay with the crowd and take the mickey. These days I wish I had been able to tell them how much I appreciated that.

The theme of envy and financial disparity is one that crops up in 'How Green Are Your Eyes', the second of the three parts in the coming-of-age trilogy that began with 'The Broken Bottle'. It's not the only reason the eyes are green though ...

www.brokendownrecords.bandcamp.com/merch for your paperback copies

https://books2read.com/u/bPGOPl for your ebooks

How Green Are Your Eyes

 

Growing into my teens I worried I might never not feel homesick. That was despite evidence to the contrary. Some evidence, anyway. The first time I was away from home was a couple of nights in Ambleside with my primary school. I survived, but missed home. A year later the lure of a week in the Isle of Man proved greater than the fear of missing my parents and sister. I had a whale of a time. I managed a couple of secondary school trips away which by and large passed without incident (though listening to Live Aid in a tent as lightning danced around the trees surrounding the school campsite in Saundersfoot is quite a memory). I even managed a French Exchange fortnight, but the yearning for home was much stronger that time. However, I baulked at cub and scout camps and could find any raft of excuses not to join them.

In the summer of 1990 I decided that, with the prospect of three years away at University looming increasingly large, I had better prove to myself that I could be away from home for a sustained time. I'd tried the year before, but tearing a ligament in my ankle half way down a mountain overlooking Grasmere sort of put paid to that particular plan.

So anyway, in summer 1990 I went to Ireland; County Cork to be relatively precise. I didn't know the family I was staying with, although I had been writing to one of the sisters for a couple of years. The plan was to work in the family pub/hotel/bed-and-breakfast/take-away/restaurant and enjoy a part of the world I had never previously visited. The alcoholic father nearly put paid to that, but when he went awol the family instated me in employment where I could be found working in the fish and chip servery at the height of a blistering heatwave.

'How Green Are Your Eyes' draws inspiration from some of the experiences I had and the people I met. It is, however, very much a work of fiction. Indeed, very much the lived experience I imagine Wilf might have had once he had left school in Croalworth, and is the follow-up to his adventures in 'The Broken Bottle'.

The novel can be ordered in ebook here: https://books2read.com/u/bPGOPl

It can also be ordered in paperback, signed by me, here: https://brokendownrecords.bandcamp.com/merch

How Green Are Your Eyes

 

And there, as if by magic, the cover for 'How Green Are Your Eyes' was revealed to the world, one click at a time.

'How Green Are Your Eyes' is the sequel to 2023's 'The Broken Bottle' which, as I am sure you will remember, featured young Wilf from Croalworth as he joined his school friends in forming a band called the Sally Cinnamons. At the end of the story Wilf was ... well, I'm not going to tell you here am I? No spoilers; you might be reading about 'The Broken Bottle' for the first time. 

The cover was designed, once more, by the very talented RubyGoesBananas who can be found under that title on Instagram and TikTok. You can also see and buy her artwork at her Etsy shop   and on RedBubble. 

'How Green Are Your Eyes' will be published worldwide in early October in both paperback and ebook formats. You will be able to order it from any bookshop, online or bricks and mortar. Signed paperback copies will be exclusively available from the Broken Down Records online shop, where you can also get signed copies of 'The Broken Bottle' as well as other books and music. 

Details of how to order and pricing will come soon, very soon; there will probably be a bundle offer for copies of both books at a slightly discounted price too.

Until then, here's some Lego Minifigure images of the Sally Cinnamons, as featured on social media.

The Author’s Dulcet Tones

 I thought it might be interesting to play about with narrating a bit of The Broken Bottle. You never know, someone might listen to the flat northern vowels of the writer and think “That’s the book for me!”

It IS the book for them, just as it the book for you, by the way.

I know there’s professional ways of doing these things, but why change the habit of a lifetime? I chose instead to use some clips from Google Earth of the locations in my mind whilst I was writing the novel, and stuck them together using Microsoft’s photo editor, with added voice recordings for good measure.

And here we have it: click, listen, then buy my book.

Pauline, Neville, Maureen and Kevin

 

‘Welcome to the Underachievers’ is officially published on Friday. Hooray! This means you can now get it from your favourite ebook store, from your local bookshop, and also A*@%on should that be your preferred location.

You may also choose, like the wonderful folk who pre-ordered print copies that came with a free CD, to order direct from the author - ie me - at the Bandcamp store. You won’t now get the CD, but you should get a digital download of the songs soundtracking the book, along with a print version or ebook version depending on your choice.

Hard sell over, let’s move onto the video. It’s another home-made affair, again using analogue technology with essentially no training, and is for the song ‘Pauline and Neville’. The song began life as ‘Maureen and Kevin’ after I saw some graffiti in Harrow, NW London. When I discovered that this was the name of a band, I renamed the track. Susie Woo Marsh sang ‘Maureen and Kevin’, whilst Ria Foxette sang ‘Pauline and Neville’. We did a full studio version of the latter version, but I think the video version is possibly our lo-fi version.

I hope you enjoy it, whatever.

Derek Harnwell’s Locker

The intention with Echolalia was never to make the big time. I suspect that might be obvious when you read ‘Welcome to the Underachievers’…

During the course of the band’s, erm, career I filmed quite a bit of what we did on my sister-in-common-law’s trusty analogue camcorder. I made a documentary charting the time from our first gig tours recording what we hoped was going to be our debut single on a proper label. The film was called, in a combined nod to both the Smiths and an unbelievable deal on Stella Artois in the local supermarket, ‘Safeway Here We Come’.

Within that documentary were a few home-made videos to accompany our songs. This one shows some of the footage from just before our very first live performance, at a festival in Harrow, NWLondon. 

Here is ‘Derek Harnwell’s Locker’: