Free From Fear: The Highlights

Some of the highlights of the Free From Fear gig, which everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed.

I have absolutely no idea how much money was raised, nor how many people turned out on an August Friday night, but there was a great atmosphere, a fun vibe and the message of hope and support came across loud and clear from the lamp-lit stage.

The gig was in aid of Nottingham Central Womens Aid and if you would like to contribute, all the details are in here - they receive very little, if any, government support.

http://centralwomensaid.btck.co.uk/

Highlights

The Lord Mayor of Nottingham opened proceedings and then I interviewed Aimi McCaffrey and he about the origins of the gig. Apologies for the sneaky finger intrusion on the bottom right hand corner.

Two sets from Mansfield/Nottingham avant garde Indie act, New Apostles, followed. Comprising of Phil Pidluznyj (vocals and keyboards), Andy Whitehurst (lead guitar and support vocals) and Andy Pidluzny (bass), they've been tirelessly gigging their way around the City and beyond in the last two years. 

Big supporters of charity and causes like this, I've seen them many times and tonight, they were at their best.

Here's their Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-whitehurst-384266683

A set from Alice Short followed, a local rapper, who writes about Nottingham, growing up in the small towns around it, with shades of Bukowski and Alan Sillitoe in her lyrics. She's been featured on Radio 1 and had played many venues. She played the Maze first, though. 

Firstly, I interviewed her...then she rapped!

I'm a big fan of Alice and I am sure we shall more of her in the future.

Alice Short Soundcloud which contains the brilliant, "Patti Smith"

Before a final set from the New Apostles, we heard some spoken word from two local authors. 

Here, Nick McCaffrey reads a short story especially written for the event.

Writing in a variety of genres, and a prolific blogger, he's about to release an anthology of short stories so be sure to support that - I shall feature it here on the blog.

Here's his blog - a weekly short story and well worth a read.

http://www.themannwrites.co.uk/blog/holiday-celebration/


The gig was in aid of Nottingham Central Womens Aid and if you would like to contribute, it's all in here - they receive very little, if any, government support.

http://centralwomensaid.btck.co.uk/


I'd like to thank everyone for inviting me and I would be happy to help again. The best of luck everyone.

Mark "Wiz" Barry
_________________________________________

An old school bus

The New Apostles Fan Club: Leicestershire Branch

Mark Barry Retires

Oh, and I read from my best selling novel, "Ultra-Violence" - a dissection of a night out in Nottingham from 1988 entitled "The Fountain"  And believe me, I've tried and tried, and tried and tried, and I've even had lessons, but I simply hate reading aloud, so it's a good job that it never recorded ha ha.

http://greenwizardpublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/archives-fountain-chapter-8-from-ultra.html

Free From Fear Night: Maze - August 18th

On Friday night, at the Maze on Mansfield Road, Nottingham, there's a gig in aid of Nottingham's Women's Aid. I've been invited and I'm going. Tickets are a fiver and all the money goes to charity.

And what a charity. Let me tell you a story.

Just recently, I've been working with a young Muslim woman I met on a college course. 

She's one of the nicest women I have ever met, but more importantly, for the work I do, also one of the most determined. 

She wants to be a trainer, or work in the (currently becalmed) employability market. She wants to help others, as others have helped her.

I'm happy to help, even though all she really has is her determination to succeed, her enthusiasm and natural effervescence. 

Ten years ago, she left her native Yorkshire, at midnight, under the cover of darkness, with Police protection, after her husband attacked her and her two young kids with a claw hammer.

This was just one day of it, one tiny incident in a campaign of catastrophic terror which began on the fourth day of her honeymoon and lasted a decade. 

She had been hospitalised on many occasions and abused daily. She couldn't even go to the shops to buy a packet of fags and a pint of gold top without being followed by a friend of his, who reported back her less-than-nefarious movements.

In the days following his beatings, his belts and punches, his cigarette burns and barking dogs, he didn't even offer bitter tears, dog-eared flowers, heartfelt apologies and steadfast promises, in the time-honoured fashion of the repentant domestic abuser - it was just the way he was. 

She had to escape.

That winter night, her choices were limited. She couldn't stay. She couldn't escape to her family because, in Muslim culture, there are matters of honour to consider and a stigma that the word divorce rides all over, so she would have been asked to go back and conciliate. That wasn't going to happen.

Nor could she go to the local women's refuge, as all the rooms were full. 

As were the rooms in every women's refuge in Yorkshire at the time. 

So through a worker at her local Housing Aid, and a friendly Police liaison officer, she found a place with a Nottingham refuge. 

Part funded by Nottingham Central Women's Aid. 

She had never driven on a motorway before, nor did she know where Nottingham was. So the Police escorted her on the left hand lane of the M1, one car in front, one car behind. 

From their seats in the back, her kids watched every move their mum made, her gear changes and manipulations of the steering wheel every inch as interesting as children's TV. 

They knew what it meant - none of them were ever going back.

Suffice to say, ten years later, she's on her way. Working hard and trying her best. Step by step she's fought her way forward. I'm proud to help her out.

But without having that inner-city refuge open to her, and also willing to help, funded by Women's Aid (and organisations like Children In Need and the National Lottery), she would probably have had to stay where she was.

And she would be dead by now, she knows it. I know it. You know it.

That's just one example. 

I once worked with a man whose speciality was protecting sex workers from their psychopathic pimps. He has saved at least two young women from having their throats cut. 

Once, in scenes reminiscent of "Assault on Precinct 13", he single-handedly defended a sex worker in a Radford refuge from a pair of angry pimps and their henchmen who were desperately trying to break in. He succeeded and probably saved her life.

He was one of the few men allowed inside one particular Nottingham refuge, for sex workers and other seriously abused young women, which shall remain anonymous here. 

I worked with a woman recently whose jaw was broken in three places by her boyfreind for the crime of being late home from sixth form. She spent six weeks in hospital. 

Again, that assault was the tip of the iceberg, so she escaped her mining village at twenty one with the help of a family friend and thanks to that refuge in Hyson Green, she's never looked back. Nor has she returned.

You all know stories like this. 

What you don't know, is that many of these refuges are not publicly funded, or if they are, they cannot survive on that alone. 

They are absolutely essential asyla for women escaping shameful violence and serious, repetitive abuse that even a writer like myself couldn't conceive on a dark night. 

These refuges need funds and donations and ongoing cost to survive.

On Friday night, there's the afore-mentioned charity gig at the Maze. 

My great friend and colleague, Phil Pidluznyj and the New Apostles are playing, along with BBC1 playlisted Nottingham rapper, Alice Short, who I also know and like. 

I'll be reading something from the stage, as will my friends Nick Mann and possibly up and coming YA author, Carla Eatherington, if we can persuade her. 

There's an open mic so come along and join us. Poets welcome. Most of all though, pop in, give us a fiver, or give me a fiver and I'll pass it along. 

If you cannot be arsed to come out on a Friday night, let me have a fiver and I'll go out for you. 

It's needed: The whole country's women's refuge network is on its knees because of Tory cuts. 

The network needs your fiver.

Incidentally, on average, 85% of donations benefit the abused clientele. I know one famous, lavishly patronised and nationally advertised charity where the figure is more like 20%, so your money on Friday night will make a huge difference.

Come and see me on Friday and I'll give you more info or buy you a half. But, please - try and make it. These refuges make a huge difference to people's lives. 

The life of my Muslim friend is owed to that Nottingham refuge, and those who tirelessly keep them going.

Thanks, Wiz

xx

Brilliant Books Benefit Night - Can You Help?

Hi gang, Wiz here.

On Friday November 13th, this winter, Brilliant Books stages a benefit in Nottingham at the Chameleon Arts Theatre.

I think we're charging a fiver. 

For that:

Two/three bands will play lots of groovy sounds.
A performance poet tests drives some radical poetry
I'm reading "King Rocker" from Brenda Perlin's terrific music anthology "LA Punk Rocker": (it's okay, anti-pirates - I wrote this story)

There will be drinking, books, art, chat, usual Friday stuff and many added extras. Several faces you will be familiar with from Twitter have said they are coming to the night too, staying in one of Nottingham's plentiful hotels.

Any profit made goes towards supporting children's literacy, book buying for schools and enabling Brilliant Books to be even better in the coming years.

What is Brilliant Books?

For those of you who don't know me and the gang, if you want a "brilliant" explanation of what Brilliant Books does, try here. 

http://mybrilliantbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

If, however, in a world of relentless information flow, you cannot be arsed, here's Brilliant Books in a hundred words. 

Essentially, Brilliant Books go into schools with successful people in tow; people who credit their success in careers etc because they read fiction as children and continue to read.

In two hours, they give an inspirational talk, then help us work with up to twenty children, in small groups, mostly reluctant readers, each writing a short story. 

Finally, after eight weeks, the stories are collected in an anthology which is presented to the kids in front of their peers, so they essentially become published authors at between 10 and 14.

The second BB anthology

You will all be aware many children no longer feel the need to read and they say this process begins about ten or eleven, particularly boys. 

Brilliant Books adopts a role modelling approach. There are many in-school literacy programmes, some delivered by writers, but this one is about WHY. That's the difference.

Why read? Why is it important? What are the advantages? 

I think we should be told.

The Great and Secret AbsentTicketBook: Be A Part Of Brilliant Books

If you would like to be part of this, as an official, credited member of the BB Support Team, there's a way you can help.

This next ten days, I am creating an AbsentTicketBook. 

What's that, you ask? Well, I reply: This folio/paperback acts as a ticket for those of you who wish to support what we do (and I know there are many of you out there), but who cannot attend the benefit. 

It will be short (<25k) and it will cost less than a fiver from the usual channels.

I'll pay the cover out of my meagre rations and I'll format and do all the boring stuff. All the surplus goes in the pot.

What I would like from potential supporters is:

Call For Submission

Can you sub,it 1k words or less on, for example:

a) Your favourite book as a child
b) A memorable reading experience as a child (on holiday etc)
c) What reading meant to you then/means to you now

Anything like this. It's really loose. Anything about you and the magic of reading. 

To supplement, I am writing a short story and we have three subs already, but I will include as many subs as I can (with sneaky, cunning, mercurial fontwork :-D)

Add your Author Page and Blog Details and a mug shot. 

I anticipate a ton of people will buy this - in advance and on the night - so it could be decent publicity too.

Format

a) TNR 10
b) 1.5 space
c) 0.5cm first line indent
d) Three line Author profile

Piece of pee. 

Deadline is the 1st October. 

First come, first served, though, being a nice sort of chap, I'll do some juggling and squeeze as many as I can in.

It would be nice to show the kids we work with (and the new BB started last Monday), that we're part of a big community and that reading/writing DOES have a wider point than passing exams. 

So get scribbling. It's for the children. 

Cheers, 

Wiz/Mark

After The Sucker Punch: A Review

After The Sucker Punch (ATSP) is a fantastic novel. 

I'm writing this because I know most of my readers are always on the lookout for a good book - and ATSP is a very, very good book.

Lorraine Devon Wilke

The Context

I met the novel's author, Lorraine Devon Wilke, two weeks ago through a lovely friend of mine, Orange County's Brenda Perlin. 

A resident of LA, Lorraine came around the interview Cauldron to widen her exposure to a UK audience. 

Out of respect, Lorraine made a gift to me of both her novel and short story "She Tumbled Down" and while I loved the short story, the novel is something else entirely.

An Indie novel, it is definitely in the top ten of the books (Trad or Indie), I have read (which is a fair number) since I started Green Wizard. 

After reading twelve chapters on Kindle, I immediately logged on to Amazon and like some literary Victor Kiam, I bought the paperback. 

I am glad I did. It is a magnificent paperback indeed.

UK readers buy here

US/.com readers buy here

The Paperback

I teach the odd hour of Creative Writing and Self Publishing, and last night, I took the paperback of ATSP to our latest group to demonstrate how to structure dialogue . 

The group I teach are professionals, experienced diarists, bloggers, report writers who wish to learn about e-publishing and between them, they read 100-200 books a year. 

Not one of them could tell that this was a self-published book. 

Printed by Createspace and professionally edited, it is a beautiful piece of work to hold in your hand. ATSP  would not be out of place in Waterstones, (and, without getting political, it makes a total nonsense of the idea that self-published work is somehow inferior. Saying so would be an insult to this novel and its creative team).

The Review

ATSP is a family saga. Tessa, a dreamy, thirty-something, sometime artist/writer/drifter with aspirations to something better than her current humdrum life, attends the funeral of her father, Leo. 

After the Wake, and while staying at her mother's house, she reads one of his many journals. 

What Leo wrote is so shocking, it changes Tessa's life and the lives of everyone in her extended family. 

Four factors mark Lorraine's brilliant debut as something special.  

Firstly, her characters. Each so individual, so distinctive and so well defined, you can tell who is talking without the character being named. That's no mean feat. Secondly, the dialogue is crisp, sassy and real, patter so realistic, you can hear it taking place. Thirdly, the way Lorraine links and merges the historical comments Tessa reads in the journal into the real time narrative is shrewd and repays rereading.  

Then, finally, there is Tessa herself, the novel's protagonist. You may not like her - two days after completing the novel, I am completely ambivalent about her*  - but she is real and you can follow her train of reasoning at all times. 

None of her behaviour is extranormal and you can imagine doing the same things she does (and that's not a necessarily recommendation). 

You watch her progress and change. You understand her one minute, then you can't comprehend what she's up to the next. Then immediately after, you want to reach into the pages of the book and wag your finger at her. You live her deliberations and you can feel her confusion on your fingertips as you turn the page. 

At no time does Tessa lapse into stereotype. She constantly surprises you and - whether you like her or not, you cannot stop following her trials and tribulations for a second.

The supporting cast is excellent. Her family, particularly the harassed Micheala, and the alcoholic brother, Ronnie, are similarly absorbing. Tessa's long suffering boyfriend, the corporate sportswear schill David, struggles manfully to accommodate Tessa's whys and wherefores before being completely overwhelmed by them in some of the novel's saddest scenes.

Her relationship with best friends Katie and Ruby would satisfy any fan of chicklit, (and I quite fancied the hapless, heartbroken Ruby, in a Sir Lancelot kind of way), but it is Aunt Joanne who steals the show. 

The Catholic Nun-cum-Therapist helps Tessa deal with the aftermath of the revelations unleashed by Leo's journal and becomes by far the strongest foil for her increasingly self-destructive angst. 

You long for her to reappear in the narrative - perhaps because she is the only person strong enough - and brave enough - to confront Tessa, whose self-absorption is relentless.

Contemporary Drama

Like the best contemporary fiction, nothing extraordinary happens. 

People talk on the telephone (which happens a lot in this novel). Conversations take place in cars, in coffee bars, around the water cooler, on sofas, in the still life of the marital bed, the post-coital cigarette smoke still swirling between the blades of the fan rotating overhead. 

There is virtually no action - just like real life. 

The sheer joy of the ATSP is its very ordinariness. These are ordinary people going about their business, all of them affected to one degree or another by the portentous, unhinged rantings of Leo Curzio. 

The richness of the everyday needs no explosions, because the revelations are the explosions. 

A Christmas Conclusion

If you like contemporary work, I strongly recommend After The Sucker Punch. 

Forget the e-book for once:Treat yourself to an early Christmas present and buy the paperback for seven quid or so. It is lustrous, with its cream pages, one and a half line spacing and comforting, airport-shelf heft. 

It is a book which is written for paperback and meant to be read in bed; absorbed, over time, savoured by lamplight. 




Lorraine's Interview Around the Cauldron

UK readers buy ATSP here

US/.com readers buy ATSP here

*Maybe its a man thing :D

Incidentally, if you are short of a blog post, or pushed for time, please feel free to scrape this, as long as you acknowledge the source. This book deserves wider coverage than I can give it. Thanks.

The Night Porter On Kindle Countdown - June 19th

5...

Iconic Sixties Puppet Drama - Thunderbirds...

4...

TV's "Countdown" Word Game

3...

Harmony hairspray and Spandex rock from 

Europe...the Final Countdown

2...

To boldly go...where no person has gone before...

1...

June 19th - 26th 2014

99p/99c

************************************

TNP Image suggested by Lelani Black, author of "Private Dancer" and "Going Greek"

 I especially loved the young YA writer and the way in which Mark Barry wrote her, I have a friend just like that, and around that age and Mark Barry nailed that Gen Y type perfectly. The romance writer cracked me up, she was so vivid and inebriated and how I imagine myself to be in a few years! (What's a little alcohol between friends?)

Aside from the wonderful people, (saying characters diminishes them somewhat - because they actually seem REAL) there is also a very cunning plot full of twists and turns that had me speeding along to find out WHODUNNIT. And it kills me, it really does, that I couldn't work it out! GAH! That's great writing for you! Mr Clever, (Mark Barry) also writes with these really amusing footnotes included in the text, and they really add to the whole uniqueness of the book.
Beautiful, eloquent, and humorous, a great satire which I highly recommend! I SO SO hope there is a sequel to this, because I would buy it in a second.

(Rebecca Raisin, Carina UK author of "The Bookshop on the Corner")

"A unique novel – real writing. Full of punches, kicks and honesty.

Mark Barry writes how he sees it and leaves no stone unturned. His writing is flawless and continues to draw the reader in with his exceptional style. Mr Barry is perhaps the most daring of contemporary fiction writers and THE NIGHT PORTER is, to date, his most ‘avant-garde’ novel.

I won’t tell you what the story is about, buy this book and read it for yourself, but one thing for sure, it will leave you thinking … Who’d I compare his work to … Dickens, Faulks, Amis … this man can write!" 

(Ngaire Elder, author of the Cecilia Spark series)

"The Night Porter. 

Shortlisted for the BEST Indie book I have ever read..."

(Terry Tyler, author of "Kings and Queens" and "The Other Me")

So. What is Countdown and how, as a writer, can I buy into it?

http://ukartsdirectory.com/terry-tylers-literary-blog-7/

I'm a reader. What does Countdown do for me?

Great books. Discount prices. 
The longer you wait, the more expensive they become - so buy early!

An Urgent Message to the Lovely Green Wizard Tweeting Gang!

Retweet this blog post and/or any others to do with TNP Countdown till the 26th, and I will RT anything you request for the next two weeks. Just PM bomb me on Twitter or Me.Com.

This is my last promo for TNP before I start new work so let's give the gal a good send off, shall we!

Love, Mark

Promoting A New Novel - My Experience

In March this year, I published The Night Porter. 

My friend Clive La Court challenged me to write ( :D ) something light and airy (Carla is a heavy heavy book), so I did. 

I was proud of the result. It's a nice looking, professionally presented paperback too - a great gift for someone special *plug plug*.

As I have said in many an interview, for instance, the latest edition of Indie Scribe

http://www.joomag.com/magazine/indie-scribe-magazine-june-2014/0169531001400616718

the key isn't in the writing, it's in the marketing, so on publication, I invested in thirty odd paperback books from Cspace with the intention of behaving like a proper publisher. 

Beanz Meanz Heinz

I advertised for readers here. 

http://greenwizardpublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/25-new-paperbacks-to-be-given-away-free.html

Eventually, I sent out 24 copies of the paperback. It cost me, in total, about £200. Not a lot if those readers actually reviewed the book on Amazon/their blog, but it's still a fair lick to shell out for a freebie. 

My objective was to get at least 15 reviews on UK and 10 on US. That would make the financial investment worthwhile.

I've no idea whether this has worked or not. Nearly three months have passed. I have 6 on UK and 5 on US.

Scores on the doors

So far, five people responded. 

Three 5*, one 4* and one 3* from someone who liked the writing, but didn't enjoy the story, which suits me, rather than the other way round. He even contacted me privately to tell me his thought processes, something he didn't have to do.

Three others have really enjoyed the book but have not reviewed it on Amazon for whatever reason, but at least I know what they think...e.g.

just finished The Night Porter by Mark Barry Wiz Green @GreenWizard62 Brilliant book great read was a night porter myself for a year so kind of connect with it getting all my family to buy it bring on the the next one

(Graham Ashford)

That leaves sixteen other paperback books, twelve of which I sent to people I don't know. Book reviewers, readers, and a lady who runs a chain of bookshops. Nothing has happened on this front.

What's happened? Using my literary Cracker head, I can speculate.

a) They love the book but a busy life means they haven't got round to writing the review yet.

b) They haven't read it because they are too busy. I can think of three of those, perusing their timelines. In the end, though, this tells its own tale. I didn't create enough of a buzz.

c) They have a TBR list and its way down. In the end, though, this tells its own tale, sadly. I didn't create enough of a buzz to propel my book up their personal charts.

d) They don't like the book but won't give me a review out of a sense of politeness. 

That is no good to me whatsover: I'd rather have 1* on Amazon than no review, something I have made clear. 

Don't believe me?

Read the opening page on the Amazon preview of this book. Actually, you will get everything you need at the end of the first paragraph. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overly-Medicated-Shaun-Lewisham-ebook/dp/B006KPSY02

Now check the number of 5* reviews this book has received.

See? It means nothing. 

The two concepts - the array of words this author has thrown together to make a form of prose, and the reader's response to that array - don't match.

A phalanx of 5* reviews like this is no good to a reader unless the author has brand awareness. For an author with limited exposure, a battery of top ratings is suicide as far as I am concerned.

Honesty Blaze

At least a 1* review is - trolls excepted - an honest review. A brilliant author like Scarlett Thomas gets 1* reviews. I hated Glen Duncan's Last Werewolf Trilogy and he writes in a way I can only dream of replicating. 

Hell, Seb Faulks, who is a magnificent writer, gets 1* reviews.

If a reviewer says The Night Porter is badly written I'll laugh in their face, but I can appreciate someone not enjoying the story, and the footnotes, I knew in advance, will piss a few readers off.

That's writing from the heart. That's writing for your biggest critic - you.

Vincent

I thought the novel would sell more in the early stages than it has done, but I have become resigned to being one of those authors whose work is praised, generally liked and talked about, but doesn't sell in numbers. 

Sad in one way, positive in another.

I suppose I could write a vampzombromanceroticthriller novel starring a dashing ex-CIA agent saving the world, but that would compromise everything I believe in as a writer and the best advice I have ever received is write from the heart, not the head.

Badly written, massive selling
pulp fiction and a great cover

My bank manager doesn't believe that's the best advice, I might add. 

The most financial successful writers are those ghosters who follow the trends: for example, the women who ghost Jordan's fiction make more than any ten original fiction writers combined, and those wretched potboilers are train wrecks that make Harry Potter look like Dosteovesky's Crime and Punishment. 

Still, a Jordan fiction writer is probably sitting under a parasol in Cote D'Azur sipping a Pimms having her shoulders lashed with suntan oil, while I'm digging around at the bottom of my teapot for a teabag with some remaining juice.

That's life**

Cheers, Wiz

*Actually, I applaud all those writers who look at the sales charts to see what's trending - its happened since Dr.Johnson - before they pick up the feather quill and India ink, but I just can't do it. It's not in me.

** If anyone has a spare box of peppermint tea to donate to a starving writer, I shall swap it for twenty primetime Retweets and a Facebook plug #cooldeal.