I just saw this: I am Number 14 on Amazon UK's list of Bestselling Short Story Collections, between Annie Proulx and Roald Dahl. Ok. Hmm. Gosh.

It changes every hour. So this might be my one hour of Amazon Bestsellerness!

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I've had more exciting news: Changeling is going to be published in the US. The publishers, Feiwel and Friends have bought the book, and will be publishing it on the other side of the pond in 2010.


I'm utterly bowled over by this news. I've read a number of articles about the American publishing industry's approach to children's literature, and love the fact that they have such a strong YA market in their country.

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Call me insane (since I clearly am) but I've just signed up to Twitter. I'm not at all sure why I've done this, since I've yet to decipher the basic functions on Facebook and regular blogging has not become the ingrained habit that I hoped it would, but, who knows, perhaps Twitter will be different. At 140 characters per update, how taxing could it be? ;-)

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Over the last couple of months it has become all too clear that 12 Step Programmes are of no use to me - abstinence only makes the heart grow fonder, I'm afraid. My name is Emma King-Farlow and I'm more of a bookaholic than ever!

After a relatively short but painful period of Book-Buying Deprivation, the last six weeks' vital statistics are as follows:

Books In: Far, far too many! (Let me detail the ones I can remember - Books from a second hand stall at a local Christmas Market: 7, Books on my own and other people's library cards: 31, Books from The Book People: 2 large orders, Books on order from Amazon: 16, Books from assorted other places: 17.)

Books Out: 3 (Erm, in the sense that I took three books back to the library, that is. The fact that I brought 5 more home to replace them negated my triumph somewhat, but what can I say - it's a start, no?)



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Love that line. It rings true with me. You can see more like this over at Kelly Spitzer's blog, as she plays word association with Tania Hershman.

And while I'm talking of Tania, the new issue of The Short Review's out.

I noticed WomenRuleWriter picked up on the same quote as I did. It's this:

"I think that a "story" has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There has to be a situation, and characters, and the characters have to DO things -- things that have an effect on the situation and the other characters -- and the characters must be changed by the effects of those things. A lot of modern fiction is just vignettes, not stories -- the difference is that the characters don't take any action, or there isn't an end" - David D Levine

And I'm not sure that not having an 'end' is a bad thing. I like it when I know the characters carry on after the story's finished, and I like vignettes; being shown a situation can be every bit as affecting and big as being taken on the journey of a story. I'm not disagreeing with him totally, he has a point. I quite like the sound of his collection too...

What do you think?

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After waking up from a sweaty mid-afternoon dream involving Pauline, Mavis and napalm, I leave the flat while still half-asleep and take the tube to Hammersmith where I sit across the street from Harper Collins, getting up from the concrete wall every ten minutes or so to walk off some of the cold.

Mavis leaves the building around four o’clock, throwing a large scarf around herself like a cape, but I ignore her.

At five, a man who I think is Jason - one of the executives or at least someone high up – emerges and I run across the street and accost him before he can get to the staff car park...

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At Goldsmiths last week, Ian McEwan was reading from his work in progress, which is so much in progress that it has yet to acquire a title. (Mind you, in my case that can be any time before the proofs go out...) We all felt a little thrilled, and settled back to listen, and it didn't disappoint. During the questions he was asked if reading unpublished work was different from the more usual business of reading from newly-published novels, and he said it was.

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We got into the car and went in search of a Real Christmas Tree. It had been raining for three days solid. We didn't know what to expect. The Australian had warned me not to get my hopes up. The Boy was articulating his extreme displeasure at being in the car by screaming. The Girl was shouting over him that she wanted THE BIGGEST TREE EVER IN THE WORLD. I just wanted to feel Christmassy, that's all...

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I have been trying for a long time to get a story accepted by Smokelong Quarterly, a flash fiction magazine I admire greatly. Finally, it has come to pass! Read my story, Coat and Shoes, beautifully illustrated by Robinson Accola, and the accompanying interview. I am alongside some fabulous writers: Stefanie Freele, Barry Graham, Kuzhali Manickavel, and names that aren't familiar to me but whose work I look forward to reading. Every issue of SQ is a treat.

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I'm surprised and pleased that, after well over a month, people are still downloading the short, short story I wrote for Halloween. To be honest, I was surprised when it was being downloaded a week after. Just shows, you never can tell. (I just hope those who are listening to it like it!)

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