Shaun’s doubt

Shaun Levin emails a link to where Hisham Matar can find ‘Cezanne’s Doubt’ online (a reference to the Hisham Matar Top 10 page on Pulp Net) and I realise Shaun may be gently nudging me about his story, 'Phone Love'. I asked if he had a Down the Angel story a while back, but somehow in the heat-induced untogetherness this summer, I forgot all about it and Shaun’s story is not typeset! Ouch. Will get onto it today…

Down the Angel .... and up Holloway

We’ve come up with a title change to reflect the Islington North writers, adding ‘and up Holloway’ to the main title. When I tell him this M says, ‘Don’t suppose it’ll affect sales if you keep it small.’ Maybe he has a point because this week while trying to arrange a reading it goes fine as long as I’m saying the Angel but when I mention Holloway the woman gives me this look, so I say ‘What?’ and she says, ‘I used to live there, it’s RUFF.’ What can I say? Is she worried her venue will get trashed?

Holloway: I guess at any given moment half of us are suffering from road rage — once I when was parking my old Fiat Panda near Seven Sisters Road, a guy behind yelled that I’d cut him up. I thought we agreed to disagree on that, but when I returned to the car half an hour later all the tyres were slashed. I’m back on a travelcard now. Less stress.

The neverending story

Proofs for the Down The Angel book are coming along. This past week the RedZone writers have been coming back with text files or comments and changes to their proofs, and it really is beginning to look and feel more like a book. For the most part it goes smoothly, although one story growsfrom 2,000 to 10,000 words between seeing it on paper and the hard copy coming through. Good story, but sadly it might not all fit in the book… Peggy, who doesn’t have email, has been hard to reach. She has a lovely story based on her experiences during World War 2 (about the only time she left London, when she was bombed out), but she has not been able to get out much lately. Will have to pop round to her house and pick it up.

Hot Holloway

It’s been tough trying to work and stay sane in London these past few weeks. Working in a south facing roof space seemed like a good idea in the middle of winter, but now it’s torture. Views of the railway track and the new Arsenal football stadium just don’t quite make up. The office next to Pulp Net has air con, and I keep finding reasons to talk to Arlene in Streetscene just for an excuse to stand in the fridge-like calm of their office.

On the plus side, I haven’t seen many of those yellow police signs asking for murder witnesses in the area just recently. A side effect of extreme weather, a professional tells me: when it’s really hot, or really cold, you see a drop in crime stats.’