Review of Scars Beneath the Skin - by A.J. Duggan

Scars Beneath the Skin, the debut novel from Cheshire-based writer A.J. Duggan, captures the uncertainty and moral emptiness of a post 9/11 world prone to random violence through the eyes of East Berliner, Karl Dresner. Caught up in a bomb blast in London in 1996, he struggles to cope with the traumatic psychological injuries, which are intensified by the September 11th attacks some years later.

Gradually detaching himself from society, Dresner descends into an emotionally barren life of lap dancers, drink and disturbingly vivid flashbacks, until by chance he saves the life of Lucia Cavallieri, who tries, in turn, to save his. Billed as a ‘dark modern love story’, the novel charts Dresner’s road to deliverance and his desire to know himself once again.

Duggan cites Graham Greene as one of his influences and certainly the prologue – with its striking opening line: “There is only so much loneliness a human being can stand” - is reminiscent of the kind of dark, desperate underworld Greene often portrays. It also draws heavily on noir, with Dresner on the point of suicide - the pills, the drink, the pistol all on the same table, a coin turning ominously through his fingers. The first few chapters are full of tension as we draw nearer to the moment of explosion – and Duggan writes from first hand experience here, having been in Manchester the day much of the city centre was ripped apart by an act of terrorism.

Coming in at over forty chapters, the narrative ploughs along at a blistering pace and there is an urgency and immediacy which is infectious, but I felt at times I wanted just a little more - some unpredictable twist or unforeseen difficulty, some larger truth under the surface tantalisingly withheld. The episodic structure and disturbance of linear time works very well in places, mirroring Dresner’s (literally) fractured world, but there were parts when events and conversations didn’t seem to feed into or suggest a bigger plot when I really wanted them to. But perhaps I was looking for something that intentionally wasn't there. Perhaps the point is that Dresner’s world is made of nothing more than these inconsequential meetings.

Traumatised and lonely as he is, some readers might find it hard to sympathise with Dresner, given the fact that women from all social strata seem to like him instantly and a perfectly formed, successful Italian woman with an Alfa Romeo gives him everything he could ever wish for. But there is more to their love affair than this. There is comedy, for sure, in pitching her Latin exuberance and brutal honesty against his morbid self destruction - but perhaps the most important thing is what Lucia's willingness to mend Dresner's mind says about the capacity for human goodness. On the surface they bicker flirtatiously, but there is a mutual need beyond all the wisecracking which is much more complex and fragile.

For my money, Duggan is at his best during the action sequences – namely the explosion itself in London and where Dresner and Lucia find themselves trapped in a riot sparked by George Bush’s visit to Berlin. The strength here is in the subtlety; Duggan resists the urge to overdo the violence and mayhem, enabling the horrific events to speak for themselves. 9/11, Afghanistan, the build up to the Iraq invasion and paranoia reminiscent of The Cold War, rather than taking centre stage, linger ominously in the background. Dresner’s world is one which can change in an instant, but not always for the worse. Amongst all this terror, there is still hope.

Scars Beneath the Skin is available now from Flambard Press and A.J. Duggan will be reading from the novel at Word Soup #5 on 22nd September.

Word Soup # 5: The Theme

At each of our Word Soups we’ve had a theme to pull the night together and to inspire our writers.

Word Soup # 5 falls on the 22^nd September along with the autumn equinox, when the days and nights are exactly equal. The night inspired our theme: revolve. Spinning. Turning. Changing. Or staying the same?

What do you think about when we say ‘revolve’? Are we talking about a revolution, a washing machine, spring into summer into winter, or something else?

Those revolving doors that used to be in the front of St Georges – you know, the ones you’d get your coat stuck in, or be trapped inside with someone who hasn’t washed for a week?.

Wheels. Clocks. Birthdays, anniversaries, the start of the school year. Wheels. Tyres. Engines. Records and RPM. What’s on your Ipod?

Roundabouts. Your childhood memories at the play park that isn’t there any more. The first day of school. The last day of school.

Revolve. Revolver. Someone got a gun? Stay still, no-one gets hurt? Hmmm.

There are open mike spots available – you’ve got a three minute ‘turn’ on the stage along side the best of new, North West writing. We can’t wait to see what you come up with. What will you be doing when the seasons turn at 21.18?

We’ll be at Word Soup. September 22nd, 8pm at the New Continental. £3 on the door.

Interview With Michael Molyneux

Next in our series of interviews, Richard Hirst talks to Michael Molyneux about his collection of poetry: Selected Poems. Michael lives in Preston and will be performing at Word Soup on the 22nd September - so if this whets your appetite, you know where to come. Michael blogs here.


First of all: congratulations - I imagine you must be very proud to have a book of your selected poems published. How did you get into writing? How long have you been writing poems?

I have been writing poems since my formative years, when, on a train, I wrote a very self-indulgent rhyming poem about feeling responsible for society's improvement and the contrasting pull of the personal freedom I was experiencing at the time. I think this was quite a naive way of looking at the world but, at the same time, I think it's a relevant principle at some level for every person, (and one that Andre Gide writes about in his book The Immoralist).

That was my first memory of poetry and, although the dilemma remains, was that of a different person. I now rarely write poems, being more concerned with experiencing 'poetry' in the everyday than reading or writing 'poetry' as an art form.

I think it is important to discover the poetic in its many forms. Often, trying to render or capture 'the poetic' in a 'poem' can actually do more harm than good. I find that many poets, and I certainly don't exclude myself here, write as an excuse for living or to try and pass off emotions, ones they can't fully understand or accept, for art.

Poetry is commonly both a cathartic process, or a kind of mental masturbation, and a kind of collector's search. But in the words of Thoreau 'how vain is it to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live'.

Between this more stoical approach today and the early musings, there have been innumerable postcards, beers mats and napkins filled with mystic ramblings, love letters and descriptions of trees in the night-wind (etc!).

The poems themselves seem to follow more of a European tradition than a British/English one. Would that be a fair assumption? Who are the writers who you admire and feel have influenced your work the most?

I think the British tradition is generally one that lacks passion, insight and mysticism. This is clearly a general statement and I could cite many exceptions. But, as a rule, I favour Japanese poetry (short, mystical and allusive - and therefore a better reflection of what life is really like), Spanish poetry for the deep passion and congruence, and also some American poetry.

The two greatest poets on the last century were, in my eyes, Wallace Stevens and Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda writes about love and the sea better than anyone I have ever known and Wallace Stevens fuses the imagination and reality in a subtle and profound way - 'the poem of the mind in the act of finding what will suffice'. I find it amazing and disheartening that so many people are yet to look outside the bounds of one or two familiar poetic traditions.

I believe you were born and raised in Preston. Do you feel the city itself has had any influence on your writing? Has your background as a philosophy student at UCLAN had any bearing on your poetry?

The only influence Preston has had on my poetry is thanks to the poetry society at the university - I don't know if this still exists. Preston has only featured in my poems as 'an urban area' and in a negative light.

As for philosophy, I think that poetry and philosophy are intrinsically linked, as they both are rooted in a primordial sense of wonder at the world and address many of the same questions, albeit in different ways. I again refer to Stevens. Merleau-Ponty is one philosopher who writes so eloquently as to warrant the title of poet and who writes about the link between language and being.

Selected Poems is published by the Clan-U Press which, as the name would suggest, is a UCLAN publisher, and is run by Ceth, a national Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Can you tell us anything about this and how it came to publish your work?

Ceth is the University of Central Lancashire's publishing house. The university runs a module in which students must publish a book from beginning to end (editing, marketing, printing, proof reading - the lot). My selected poems were published by a group of several students who were studying such a module.

Do you have kind of 'routine' for your writing? Have you got any advice for any would-be poets who may be reading?

I personally don't have a routine for writing but I think there are many commonalities in other writers' routines that might serve as advice for other would-be writers. Regular walks, reading constantly, getting drunk occasionally, sleeping well, travelling, exercising, falling in love, looking had at everyday objects until they shed their veneer. I suppose there are too many to list.

The important thing, though, is developing self awareness and then forming a routine (or otherwise) around what you discover about how you operate. The best advice, though, is rather than succumb to ordinary weakness, don't write at all!


Don't forget to put PrestonWN into your feed reader, or follow us by clicking the link in the sidebar. Our next post is a guest piece by Claire Sharples, who was part of the team who worked to publish Michael's collection.

Spring Clean

Those wise souls among you who read PrestonWN through a reader might want to click through this time, because the PrestonWN team have done a bit of spring cleaning in the side-bar.

We've been up and running since March and a big part of what we've done since then is to find all you writers, bloggers and readers and try and get you talking to each other. At last count (and it will be more, I'm sure, by the time this blog post has been slotted into September's Schedule) we'd found over 120 Preston based bloggers... 120. One hundred and twenty. If we were all in a room at the same time, that would have to be quite a big room. I'm having ideas about a Blogging Word Soup special as we speak...

To make it easier to navigate through all those lovely links we've gone and broken them down into categories for you. At least one of us is a librarian, and found the task strangely soothing.

We've got Creativity - blogs about art, design, crafting, cooking, books, television, music, theatre, bands and photography. Fictional blogs, blogs for web and graphic designers, blogs for fashionistas and lifestyle gurus.

We've got The Great Outdoors - a fairly wide-ranging category (as big as outside is, in fact) that encompasses travel, gardening, environmentalism, conservation, sport, animals and games. We never knew how many of you felt as strongly as you do about our Ribble, and now we do.

We've got Community Blogs, for those of you commenting on the world, politics and society, creating your own digital newsrooms, blogging about your street, neighbourhood or suburb, for activists and commentators of all ilks, and for those of you blogging collectively about your group, church or society.

And finally, we have the Personal Blogs - mums and dads, relationships, your jobs, daily lives, darkest secrets, pets, houses, the world of work and anything else weird and wonderful you see fit to put hand to keyboard about and share with the world.

Now we want to ask you a little favour...

Go off and spread the word. Tell us about blogs we've missed so we can link to them from here. Go and tell other Preston bloggers about us. Have a click through the links, find a new blog to read and tell them where you found them. And, if you must, tell us when we've put you in the wrong category or spelled your name wrong (we are only human...)

That's all. Once you've done that, you can get back to your lurking.

Word Soup - pictures

Just a little link to photographer James Brunton, who's put up the pictures of our very first Word Soup on his new sparkly website.

We've come a long way since then, haven't we? Keep checking back, because James tells me the site will be updated with fresh pictures, links and commentary soon.

Linky Linky

If you must go and read elsewhere, here's where to go...

The View From Here - an on-line and print based literature review magazine, interviews Stephen Clayton. Originally from Rochdale, Lancashire, Stephen now lives in Hebden Bridge and has just published his first novel: The Art of Being Dead.

One small click here will take to you the Poetry Archive, where not only can you read, but you can also listen to the poet George Szirtes read his own work, a poem about Preston North End. Szirtes came to the UK from Hungary when he was a child. Of this poem, he says: 'it's a poem about belonging, about belonging in a crowd, about belonging to a nation'.

If poetry is your thing, click here for The Poetry Kit - a detailed and growing listing of broadcast and podcast poetry and poetry themed audio files, including the arts programming schedule of our very own Preston FM.

Script writing opportunity

Here's a great opportunity for all of you scriptwriters out there. The Organised Chaos Theatre Company are inviting writers living and/or working in the North West of England (that is, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria) to submit new scripts for entry into a new initiative they are running.

Writers are asked to submit an original script with a performance running time of up to two hours; any running time below this will be accepted. Obviously, the script must be all your own work and not previously published or professionally performed.

The company say that they will commit to produce the selected play in Manchester in the early part of next year with the potential for future productions in the North West (and beyond) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Send your entries by email in word format including a cover sheet with the title and writer's name. The deadline for submissions is 27th September 2009.

Writers should email their script to Kirsty or Gayle at organisedchaostheatre@gmail.com.

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'The Importance of Narrative in Games' seminar.

As part of their "Visionary Sessions" series, Northwest Vision and Media present ‘The Importance of Narrative in Games’, a discussion led by Matt Costello.

Matt's best-selling and award-winning work across all media has meshed game play, technology and story. He is the writer and creator of groundbreaking TV, novels, non-fiction books and games in both the U.S. and U.K. and has scripted dozens of best-selling games such as The 7th Guest, Shellshock-Nam ‘67, Bad Boys 2 and Doom 3 (winner of five awards at E3 including the Game Critics Award: Best of E3).

Matt has also been an interactive and creative consultant for clients, including James Cameron’s Titanic, the BBC, PBS and The Disney Channel.

The evening will also launch a course on structuring scriptwriting for videogames run by scriptwriting agency International Hobo. For more information on this course please contact Amalie Roberts.

The session and the course are aimed at bringing scriptwriters interested in writing for videogames together with games developers exploring episodic games.

Date: Wednesday 28th October

Registration: 5.30pm

Where: The BBC Club, BBC Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester

Places are very limited so to avoid disappointment register for your place.

http://narrative-in-games.eventbrite.com

Chocolate and Short Stories

Chocolate and Short Stories is the first in a series of one-day workshops which will show you exactly how to write a short story for Bridge House.

Bridge House is a fully fledged new publishing company based in Manchester and specialising in anthologies showcasing both new and established writing talent. For their current submissions opportunities and policies, click here.

Here's what Bridge House had to say about their latest workshop:

Whether a beginner or an experienced writer, you will leave with a good proportion of a story finished. It is also likely to be a story which will fit the Bridge House ethos. There'll also be a chance as well to meet other members of the Bridge House team.

We've gone a bit upmarket this time and are running the workshop at Slatterly's, Whitefield, Manchester. Slatterly's produce wonderful cakes and chocolates, and there will be a chance during the day to browse their tempting display. Your day also includes a good sample of their other food.

The workshop Leader is Gill James, experienced writer and editor, university lecturer in creative writing with over 30 books in print.

The workshop runs from 10am to 4pm on the 19th September.

For more information on the workshop, to book a place, or to find out more about Manchester based Bridge House publishing and Chocolate Stories, click here.

Literary Events Roundup

The Brewery Arts Centre

Spoken Word comes to Solfest this year. There'll be spoken performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoon from Sarah Miller, James Knight, Emma P, Geraldine Green, Annie Clarkson, Dominic Berry, Rod Tame and comperes Ann the Poet and Phill Gregg.

Ann - who we all remember fondly as the guest host at Word Soup 3 - be running a New Lines script writing workshop with Sarah Miller on the Saturday.

The next Apples and Snakes spoken word open mic is at The Brewery, Kendal on Saturday 26th September with guests Annie Moir and Julian Jordan. The workshop that afternoon (4-6pm) will be on poetic forms. Call the Brewery Box Office 01539 725133 to book a place.

SEDBERGH FESTIVAL OF BOOKS AND DRAMA 2009

Sedbergh, England’s 'Book Town', is holding its fifth Festival of Books and Drama between 18 – 27 September. The theme this year is Travel and Adventure and the wide-ranging programme will feature some great travel writers, adventurers and entrepreneurs in the travel business.

Director Carole Nelson says:

"We're really lucky to have attracted some ‘bonkers people’ - no that’s not the way to describe eminent publishers but it just might be the way to describe someone who walked across Africa!

"So we have a helping of mad but determined adventurers, Mark Ellingham who started Rough Guides, and other travellers of note. We are also very please to have Michael Gray, the authority on Bob Dylan who will be talking about Dylan and the Poetry of the Blues. After all much of the poetry that is part of everyone’s life is written in the form of lyrics and if that’s the case Dylan is a Poet Laureate!"

Local writers are well represented with Chris Wadsworth's new book, Hercules and The Farmer’s Wife, based around Castlegate House Gallery in Cockermouth, and John Rice’s The Atlantic Arc, a creative travelogue resulting from his recent trip to the North Atlantic Islands.

The Literary Trust which develops all of the Festivals and educational activity for the Book Town has just been awarded funding by the Arts Council which will enable the Trust to create more projects in 2010. The Trust will be reaching beyond Sedbergh to the whole of Cumbria with an exciting programme of workshops, events and writing courses.
Information Line and Bookings: 015396 20125
On Line Bookings and Information: www.sedbergh.org.uk

Guest Post: Carol Grant

Today we're publishing a guest post from Carol, who shortly after joining one of Preston's writing groups, Writers' Inc, approached Galloway's to work on a project that involves amateur writers taking their creative work to the community. Here she tells us about her journey from interested amateur to the author of a serial drama that will shortly be recorded by volunteers and broadcast .

I'm a beginner to all this really and a late starter, being 55 years old! I've been writing poetry for a few years now. My poems are on any and every subject and I try to choose themes that reflect every day situations and experiences,using my imagination where need be. Most of them take a few minutes to write.They just pop into my head.

I joined Preston Poets' Society last September and whilst I enjoy the meetings tremendously, it has made me aware that my poems seem so simple compared to the other poets there. Mine are just poems that you can easily understand. You do not have to struggle to discover the message they convey. I am learning though, that we all have our different styles. I write, I like to think, for the 'ordinary' person, like myself.

In October last year I joined Writers' Inc. This is at present a smaller group than Preston Poets. Very friendly and very encouraging. I went along feeling a bit of a fraud at first, because I wasn't even a writer and I was afraid that it would all be above me. I hoped that my seventeen and a half years working in a bookshop down in Hertfordshire, would stand me in good stead should there be some discussion about books and authors.

The first time that I started to write short stories was in January of this year, prompted by the fact we were set homework by the chairman of Writers' Inc. Since then I have continued writing and have even dared to read out my efforts at the meetings! Last December I contacted Galloway's Blind Society and offered my services.That is twice a month I go over to their recording studio and with other team members read/record articles for them.

At present I am on the team that reads Farmers Guardian. Despite the title it is not at all boring. Every time we go in we learn something new about the farming world. Whether it's a brilliant new way to muck spread or how much a two year old rampant bull would set you back. ( quite a bit I have learnt!) One of the ladies from Writers' Inc, not knowing that I went there, suggested very kindly that it would be nice if we could go over to Galloway's with the idea to perhaps start a creative writing group with some of the people that use the facilities there. Also that we offered them some of the short stories and/or articles that we have written.

James,the producer of Lancashire Eye was very pleased to accept this offer and during a meeting with him, he asked if it would be possible to write a soap opera? (I much prefer the term, serial drama. It sounds more up market!) This was very exciting news to my ears.What a brilliant idea! What a fantastic challenge!

Any one that knows me,will know that if an idea is put into my head,then I just have to get on and do it straight away. I'm one of those people who wants things fast. Like yesterday. So I've already written three episodes and had them read by James at Galloway's and by Linda at Writers' Inc. Both of whom have given their seal of approval. Linda reads them straight after I've written each episode and always gives me sound advice and helpful comments, which are very much appreciated.

We expect to start recording the first few episodes very soon. I also am about to start going over to Galloway's to record some articles written by other members of our group. I would love one day to get a collection of my short stories or even a novel published, but that may never happen. I can only imagine and dream.

If you'd like more information about Writers' Inc, please contact Carol direct at carolelizabethgrant@hotmail.co.uk - PrestonWN wrote a little bit about their activities in this previous post.

PrestonWN is always interested in hearing from her (his? its?) readers: if you have a story, group or event you'd like us to feature, or you'd like to write something for us yourself, please get in touch.

Succour Magazine submissions

From Max Dunbar, Regional Editor at Succour Magazine:

For this issue, we’re interested in work that takes the everyday or the commonplace as its subject, considers the nature of boredom, or indeed that questions what we think of as banal. You may also like to consider The Banal as a counterpart to Fantasies (the S/S 2009 issue), in that the fantastical tends to emerge from, or be contained within, the banal.

But as ever, feel free to interpret the theme in any way you like.

The deadline for submissions to The Banal is Friday 21 August.

Please send your work in Word or Rich Text format documents, with a limit of 5000 words (fiction) or 250 lines (poetry). We do not accept submissions by post. We do not offer payment for contributions that come through open submissions, but all contributors will receive two complimentary copies of the journal in which their work is printed, and an invitation to read at one of the Succour Salons which accompany the launch of each issue.

The editors will do their best to acknowledge any submissions within two weeks, and to give a final decision within five weeks of the submission deadline.

Please do not submit work that has been published elsewhere (including online) or that is under consideration by other journals.

And finally… please put the word ‘submission’ and the title of the issue to which you are submitting (ie ‘The Banal’) somewhere in the subject field of your submission email.

The editors welcome comment and questions on any subject.

Send all work to: submissions@succour.org.

Performance Wordshops

Ron Baker from Lancaster Spotlight has just got in touch with an opportunity that would be ideal for all you Word Soup open-mikers to-be (and there's a mouthful...)

On September 18th at The Storey Creative Industries Centre, Ruth Quinn will be holding a Performance Skills Workshop.

Ruth is an experienced drama, theatre and acting teacher and has been assisting people to get the best out of their performances for over eighteen years. She's also a poet in her own right, and has a particular interest in helping people perform their poetry.

The workshop runs from 2.30pm - 4.30pm and costs £5. If you want to book, email spotlightclub@btinternet.com and tell them we sent you...

WANTED: Poets/Writers With Podcasts on You Tube

Over the next few months IncWriters is looking for poets and writers who have recorded their poems and fiction for You Tube. The best of these will be selected for Incwriters Poem/Fiction of the week. To enter, send the links to your work to incwriters@yahoo.co.uk

the link for IncWriters blog and forum is www.incwriters.co.uk

NEWS: Groups on Facebook

If you're a Facebook user you can now join the new look BRITISH POETRY NETWORK:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=6624598788&ref=ts

and BRITISH FICTION NETWORK:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=6154924237&ref=ts

Philippa Gregory to vist Preston

Philippa Gregory will be visiting Preston as part of a national book tour arranged to launch her new novel: The White Queen.

She'll be appearing at the County Hall Council Chambers Preston on the evening of 20th August to talk about her latest novel and answer questions from the audience.

Philippa’s ability to evoke a sense of period and her strong characterisation have meant her books have been adapted for the small and large screen. The White Queen marks the start of a trilogy set during the War of the Roses and so has special resonance for readers in Lancashire. The next event on Philippa's tour will be held in York... is this a modern day War of the Roses?

About The White Queen:

The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this family drama to colourful life through its women, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.

The White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day.

From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores the most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills

Tickets are priced at £5.00 each and are redeemable against the price of the book on the evening which Philippa will be happy to sign.The event starts at 7.30pm. For further details or to book tickets please contact SilverDell Bookshop, who is hosting the event in partnership with Lancashire Library and Information Service.

telephone: 01772 683 444
email: info@silverdellbooks.com

For more about Philippa Gregory, vist her website.