Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "london"

**Today, I'm featuring a guest post from a fellow author, Laxmi Hariharan, about the The Literary Consultancy's upcoming conference: 'Writing in a Digital Age', which takes place next weekend in London.**


When Indie met the establishment!

Cut to twelve months ago—as a just born Indie, I listened to Kate Mosse (author Labyrinth) talk about how she was not on Facebook, Twitter or any of those necessary evils, which help Indie authors like myself build a platform. On a panel discussion she made it very clear that she preferred not to have her peace of mind destroyed by social media chatter, in order to really focus inwards and write. A fellow author confessed how she was beyond the point of being a social media junkie—she stayed connected even when she took her dog for a walk. It was clear to me that as a writer and a marketer I needed to find the sweet spot somewhere between the two. I needed to become a spider—a black widow?— an arachnid who sat square in the entre of a 720 degree social network web, and controlled everything that went around me, not the other way around.

It was about choice. I absolutely had the right to decide when I wanted to dip in and went I wanted to unplug. Isn’t that being an Indie author was all about.

Exercising your right to be read, to be seen and heard unadulterated by veils. Just one of the many insights I gained from attending the writing in a digital age conference, held by TLC. I will be back at the 2013 instalment of the same, as part of the storytime sessions, talking about where I am twelve months on—wiser, more confident, and in the throes of completing Return to 7 Islands (#2, Bombay Chronicles.) If you are wondering whether to go Indie or if you are Indie and pondering what next, then this is where you want to be. You will get the chance to meet fellow Indies as well as published authors, publishers, and agents too (some of them are really nice too, I promise.)



Writing in a Digital Age, June 7-8, London. Tickets on sale till June 6th.




Laxmi Hariharan is a content branding strategist and award winning author of epic fantasy. Find her at LAXMIwrites

I have just come back from a two-day conference at the Free Word Centre.

The conference was organised by The Literary Consultancy, in partnership with The Times Literary Supplement.

I am very grateful to my fellow indie author, Laxmi Hariharan, for telling me about the conference and arranging a press pass for me so that I could attend the event.

I enjoyed the conference and learned a few things that I am sure will help in my ongoing publishing adventure. Highlights for me were:

1. The keynote speech by Audrey Niffenegger (author of The Time Traveler's Wife). I picked up a signed copy of her novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, which I am very much looking forward to reading.

2. Steve Bohme's statistics about book sales (Bowker Market Research).

3. The speech by Robert McCrum, an associate editor of The Observer, about his perspective on the change in the contemporary book world.

4. Audience Storytime, where we heard from some independently published authors about their experiences with self-publishing.

5. Canon Tales: Stories Behind the Book, where we heard from various industry professionals about their love of literature and their hopes for the future of literature.

I'm going to be reporting back on what I learned at the conference in a short series on my blog in the coming weeks. There was a lot of information about how the book world has changed with the digital revolution. There were discussions about self-publishing, editing, what works best for marketing both traditionally published and self-published books.

It was well worth attending the conference. I met a few fellow writers who I will be keeping in touch with too. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, and an informative and entertaining couple of days.

I have taken some comprehensive notes of all the speeches and discussions and will be writing about those soon.

Under by David Wailing

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read the prequel to "Under" a while ago (Signal Failure) and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reading this book. "Under" is a brilliant book. I don't know whether it's because I'm a Londoner but I was completely hooked by the mysterious stories running through this novel about the 'ghost stations' on the Underground. The London Underground is the perfect setting for a horror story and the author has done a fantastic job in creating a suspenseful and intriguing tale using the dark and sinister tunnels of the Tube network as the framework for the story.

The book is well-constructed with two separate stories, years apart, that both link to the tales of disused or abandoned Underground stations. There is the story of Mike Thames, who is desperately writing down his memories of the letters and stories his father had told him about working on the London Underground as a train driver; tales of abandoned stations and ghost stories - and then there's the story of Jake and his group of expert explorers who are trying to get into these abandoned stations.

I found the structure of the book engrossing. The way some of the narrative was set out in letter form made the story that much more interesting to read, like reading someone's diary.

The way the two stories come together at the end is cleverly done.

This book is interesting not only because it has a very imaginative and well-constructed story about one family's history and their connection to the London Underground, but also because it contains so many eye-opening facts interwoven with the fiction, and then there are those parts of the book that make you wonder whether they are fact or fiction. The characters are all believable and seem like real people. There are highs and lows and twists and turns that kept me hooked.

The horror element is nicely woven with social commentary about the state of the world and human nature. I loved the ending; the choice the character has to make is thought-provoking. A masterful twist.

This novel is full of interesting facts, fiction borne from the mysteries of the Tube network, and it will make you think about the fine line between what we believe is true and what is actually true.



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24 Stories: of Hope for Survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire by Kathy Burke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a wonderful collection of 24 short stories (including a poem and a story written in the form of a comic strip) written on themes of community and hope. It was released to support the charity efforts to raise funds for survivors and the families of victims of the Grenfell fire.

I enjoyed all of the stories although some resonated with me more than others. There were four stand-out stories for me: The touching tale, "Shifa'", by Yasmina Floyer; "The Dish With The Dancing Cows", by Meera Syal, a poignant story which deals with the topics of bereavement and friendship; "The Dreamers", by John Niven, which is a fictional story based around the tragic Grenfell fire; and "Cannonball Ashtrays", by S.J. Thompson, which explores the subjects of homelessness and community/friendship.

Other stories I particularly liked were: "A Bridge", by Dan Rebellato, which is based on a true story; "Bad At Bay", by John Fidler, a humorous and thought-provoking story; "The Good Sandyman", an entertaining, insightful story by Mike Gayle; the reflective "33 RPM", by Mark McLaughlin; and "Oh, My Hopeless Wanderer", by Zoe Venditozzi, a touching story about an unlikely friendship.

The book starts with a foreword from Dr Dean Burnett explaining PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The book contains a real mix of stories that all touch upon how people interact with each other in difficult times. Some of the stories do mention the Grenfell fire. There are insightful observations throughout, and on the whole it's an uplifting collection.

Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of short stories.







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