Aug 05

Empty Nights front cover reveal

Hello everyone,

I’ve been sitting on this news for a while and I’m so glad I can finally share it.

I can now reveal the front cover for my upcoming novel Empty Nights.

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This beautiful front cover was created by the talent Hedvig R.Z Sjöström. The links to their social media accounts are below.

I can also announce that Empty Nights will be available for purchase in paperback, hardback and as an ebook from 1st September. I’m spending the month of August promoting and marketing for my novel so please keep an eye on my social media for a whole flurry of updates. On publication day I’ll be launching a live video on Facebook in which the links to Empty Nights will be made available.

If you would like to post a review of Empty Nights (or an interview, maybe?) on your own website, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you. It doesn’t matter if it’s before or after the publication.

I hope you’re as excited as I am and thank you for your support

Jack

 

 

Hedvig’s links

Website: hedvigsjostrom.com
Linkined: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedvig-sj%C3%B6str%C3%B6m-a388b7165/
Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/hrzsjostrom.art
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RZsjostrom/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6jgU_kEwfuEqiAS3sWbHkg
Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/hrzsjostrom
Prints: https://www.redbubble.com/people/hzsjostrom?asc=u

Jul 08

Preparations for novel launch

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well.

If you’ve been following me on social media or if you’re a loyal reader of this website you’ll know that I’m nearing completion on my novel, Empty Nights. As such, I’m now making preparations for the marketing and launch, arranging interviews, organising reviews, etc. The plan is to have a countdown to a live Facebook video in which I can publicly release my novel. I’ve decided to pause my contributions to the Write Up Our Alley YouTube Channel I work on and now I’m pausing content on this website for the time being. This is so I can dedicate all of my effort and focus onto the launch. I’ll still be online, I’ll be posting to my personal Facebook account and to my author Facebook page and I’m going to continue uploading to the Starting as Strangers Vlogs but the next post you see should be on here will be novel related. Once my novel is published and I’ve had time to recharge I’ll return to publishing my usual content.

It’s exciting times and I’m glad you’re all here to share it with me.

Many thanks,

Jack.

 

Jun 24

Twin films

You may have noticed that occasionally two films are released in close proximity of each other that share the same premise. Its almost as if two separate production teams were given the same idea to work from. This is called the Twin film phenomenon are there are several reasons it occurs.

  • Stolen ideas – Although ideas are stolen and copied it isn’t the most common reason behind the creation of twin films as many people assume.
  • Fast tracking – A studio may have a film on standby, ready to begin production and learns that a separate studio has started work on a similar film. The first studio fast tracks the production on their film so it matches the release date of it’s rival and steals viewers.
  • Multiple discoveries or “an idea that’s time has come” – This is when an idea has so much potential energy it crosses into the social consciousness of the general public and multiple people discover the idea at the same time. For example think of Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla and the light bulb.

Whatever the reasons, twin films are a very interesting topic and today I’m looking at five twinned films and their production history.

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Jun 10

Spitfire Review: Living Literature Frankenstein

Today I’m reviewing something a little different. Instead of reviewing a novel or a film I’m reviewing a party I went to… a literacy party. Every year the School Of Advanced Studies at the University Of London throw a Living Literature party in which a famous novel is brought to life.

In 2016 Senate House was transformed into the prohibition era as we re-created The Great Gatsby. We learnt about illegal alcohol brewed at the time and more about the author of The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald.

In 2017 we learnt about Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and discovered that your body doesn’t have five senses it actually has twenty two.

Two weeks ago I attended the Frankenstein party where we discussed Victorian ghost stories and the first Science Fiction novel.

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May 28

Spitfire Review: Hamlet performed at Shakespeare’s Globe

On Saturday 12th May, the day after I published my previous website post about Shakespeare’s influence on the English language, I had a day of culture trekking around London. I went to The Globe Theatre in the morning for a tour, I visited the Sir John Sloan museum in Holborn to admire his artefacts, I went to the British Museum for the Rodin exhibition on statues and sculptures and in the evening I returned to the Globe Theatre for a performance of Hamlet.

 

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All in all I walked twelve and a half miles and god did I feel every step of it.

I was devastated that I missed Eurovision (please note my sarcasm) but from what I heard the British singer was miming anyway? I can assure you that the lead actor playing Hamlet wasn’t miming although there was miming the performance…

Here is my Hamlet review.

 

I suppose I should put a spoiler warning for Hamlet here… but it’s been out for around four hundred years.

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May 14

Top Five Shakespearean Words

The English language is beautiful, complicated and it is constantly evolving. Lexicographers have the task of updating the dictionary with new words and removing outdated jargon. They also have the difficult task of judging the most popular word of the year. Here are the past five words of the year:

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Apr 29

London oddities 2

Last year I published London Oddities (which you can read by clicking here) in which I explained some rather unusual facts about London. It was fun to research, fun to write and it received a positive feedback. Because it did so well I’d thought I’d write a part two. I hope you enjoy.

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Apr 15

Spitfire Review: Tomb Raider

Today I’m reviewing Tomb Raider the 2018 film, looking at the history of Lara Croft and examining why most films based on video games fail at the box office.

I’m going to be honest, I did not have high hopes for Tomb Raider. It’s a film based of a video game and the previous actress who portrayed Lara Croft was Angelina Jolie who left big shoes (or perhaps, boots) to fill. So you can imagine my surprise when I not only enjoyed the film but thought it was among the best I’ve watched this year. Here are my thoughts.

Warning: This review contains minor spoilers.

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Apr 01

April 1st: 100th post.

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a good day.

This post is something of a landmark occasion for my website. It is the 100th post.

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Mar 22

Spitfire Review: Starstuck by S E Anderson

Hello everyone, welcome to another Spitfire review. Today I’ll be talking about the novel  Starstruck by S.E. Anderson.

As long time readers of my website will know I’m a fan of John Green, author of Turtles All The Way Down, The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. With his brother Hank (whose novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing I’ll be featuring in another Spitfire Review) they formed a fan base called Nerdfighteria members of which are called Nerdfighters. I’m part of a Facebook group called Adult Nerdfighters where like minded people who are fans of John and Hank’s work can discuss the brothers, debate recent news items and talk about their lives. There are quite a few writers on this group which is how I met Sarah Anderson.

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