An Interview With Welsh Writer Lloyd Jones - Electric Sheep And A Small Mouse

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'Moor Music' by Mike Jenkins

In this innovative new book of poetry, Mike Jenkins continues his life-long obsession with the history and fate of Wales, embodied, in this instance by both the glories of the landscape and the depredations suffered in years of decline.

A view from the window of his writing room across the moors inspires reflections on the dereliction and renewal of the old industrial valleys, in poems like ‘Bonfire on the Waun’ and ‘Came the Ram’.

Mike’s career in teaching left him with a sense of optimism about young people, and with an eagerness to embrace changing times, evident in the lively ‘Einstein at the Comp.’ These poems, like his prize-winning short stories, are full of colourful characters, dialogue, and incident. A love of music and a sensitive awareness of the natural world in an urban context, in poems like, ‘Insomniac Jazz’ and ‘December Roses’ also enliven this new book.

Mike Jenkins lives in Merthyr and is a full-time writer and Creative Writing tutor, having spent over 30 years teaching in secondary education. The author of seven previous poetry collections for Seren, he has also published novels and short stories. He has won the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry and Wales Book of the Year, and is former editor of Poetry Wales and founder and co-editor of Red Poets magazine. As well as a blog, he writes regularly for Cardiff City fanzine Watch the Bluebirds Fly and reviews music for the political magazine Celyn.

Buy 'Moor Music' here

For any Mike Jenkins forthcoming readings/events please visit Seren website at www.serenbooks.com/events

The Ninth Wave by Russell Celyn Jones – A Review

"You cannot be a true Mabinogi fan without reading this book" The Ninth Wave is a retelling of ‘Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed’ from the First Branch of the Mabinogion. Jones paints a world in the future where planet earth is out of oil. The horse is the preferred mode of transportation, sailing ships rule the seas and centralized governments have failed. Cars, trucks & vans are all roadside relics many of which are now inhabited. Wales is ruled by cantrefs (like our counties), which are inherited or won by conquest. While this Mad Max setting is intriguing, it seems slightly unpolished or needing more thought and attention to detail to make it work. However, there is enough here to make an interesting tale as long suspend your disbelief and ignore the awkward parts of it. When Pwyll drives, his mint condition saved and stored Bentley convertible on a tour of sacrifice while using its last tank of gas. The climax being to drive into a lake on another Lord’s property as a peace offering, yes that is what I said! (Here my lip trembles) I got out my hanky, well I will spare the details just saying it ended up wet and snotty. I have sat on this review for some time now, hoping to gain a more unbiased view of the work. In rereading the original tale of Pwyll, you find a young Lord who meets the Lord of the Otherworld. He swaps places with him for a year and a day including total shape shift of bodies. Slays (only a human can kill a god) the only competing Lord of that realm. Kills the suitor of the woman he wants to marry, has a son, son is kidnapped, wife is blamed and punished. Son is restored as a teenager and Pwyll rules happily ever after. Briefly an awkward paced fast then slow tale, deserving more space for a retelling. Jones by the nature of the assignment follows the same path but does not take enough space to fully develop the tale, as should be. The old tales involved a ‘Geis’ a magical binding or prohibition laid upon central character of the tale. Geis are behind the mythological tales in folklore, but now writers do not use Geis. A Geis would place a hero into legend, but now we must build a mighty saga to do the same. Considering that, Seren wants only novella length tales this is still a fine story. By explaining the limitations set for the task and then having my wife read the book her experience was thus. Struggled through the first half of the book not being a fantasy or science fiction reader, and then enjoyed the slower paced second half. There are pleasant surprises such as the return of the surfing son with a talent for leadership. The landscape of desolation will give you the shivers. You cannot be a true Mabinogi fan without reading this book. Buy the book HERE Review by Bill Tillman

"My First Colouring Book" - A Review

My First Colouring
Book

Read our interview with Lloyd Jones HERE.

Speaking as a hard-core short story fanatic, I can honestly say that Lloyd Jones' "My First Colouring Book" has been the high point of my literary year so far. It's great to see a Welsh author who has so far mastered this genre as to be worthy of mention alongside Carver, Cheever, Maupassant, Mansfield and, dare one even suggest it, Chekhov himself.

Lloyd Jones is fond of referring to his writing as "scribblings". In this collection he has elected to "scribble" in a dazzling variety of colors, all of which are intensely evocative.

There are many fine things in this anthology. There is "Blood," which warns of the potentially cataclysmic dangers of "exotic blood transfusions". There is "Post Office Red," which asserts the critical importance of preserving a sense of mystery and wonder. The closing sentence of this story reveals the "moral" of the tale with the same blinding clarity achieved by Mansfield in "The Doll's House". In "Black," an intellectual atheist meets a lady friend at a lake near the oldest church in Wales. It is close to the festive season and they are invited to join the Christmas service. The protagonist spends his time in the church indulging sexual fantasies about old girlfriends and the female occupant of the burial plot in the pew beneath his feet. On the drive back home they pass a dark and sinister stranger on the road and he has perhaps the closest thing to a religious experience that he will ever know. "Wine" is a heart-warming "feelgood" tale about a devout christian who performs a charitable act in order to fill a gap in the "O" section of his address book. It contains elements of high farce and compares favorably with the best of O Henry.

Also not to be missed are the four short essays at the end of the book which describe walks in North, South, East and West Wales. As a South-Walian and a keen hill-walker back in the day, I deeply appreciated his account of a sojourn in the Black Mountains and his visits to Cwmyoy and Partrishow churches. Both are magical places and evoked masterfully.

Lest anything I have so far said gives the impression that this is a light-hearted collection, please allow me to observe that these stories contain some of the most profound and poignant meditations on life, love and death in 21st century literature. In a recent interview with Americymru, Lloyd Jones was asked about his future literary plans. He replied, "Maybe some more short stories?". We sincerely hope so.

In short, this book is a treat for short-story fans, lovers of literature and lovers of Wales. If you fall into all three categories, then it is simply a "must read". If you are buying a gift for Christmas, either as a gift to yourself or for someone else, you couldn't do better than "My First Colouring Book."

CS

Americymru Welsh Books Club - November Selections

My First Colouring Book - Lloyd Jones	Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? - David Thomas .	The Mourning Vessels - Peter Luther

This month the Americymru Welsh Books of the Month Club has three selections. Further details can be found in the blogposts listed below. Full reviews will hopefully follow soon.


“Welsh Dan Brown” sets thriller in West Wales

Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?

"My First Colouring Book" - Lloyd Jones

Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?

Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? is published by Seren on November 9 2008, the 55th anniversary of the death. £9.99, ISBN 978-1-85411-480-8. It is now available from local bookstores, internet book suppliers or direct from www.seren-books.com. It will be many months before it appears in the US and other countries, so the internet and the Seren website are your best bets.

From the Back Cover:-

Dylan Thomas went to New York in October 1953 to perform in Under Milk Wood. Three weeks later, he was dead. This fascinating book confronts painful facts about why he died.

Neglect was central to the death. John Brinnin, Dylan’s agent, had a playboy lifestyle to fund. Desperate for his fees, he turned a blind eye to the poet’s failing health.

Liz Reitell, Brinnin’s zealous deputy, also knew Dylan was ill but she worked him to collapse. Did she put her own career before his well-being? Brinnin’s intimate papers show how greed, ambition and sexual intrigue fed into a chain of events that sent Dylan to an early grave.

Dylan suffered from a treatable illness but his fashionable New York doctor ignored the warning signs. David Thomas examines hospital data and the post-mortem report – included in the book – and shows that medical negligence was a factor.

Fatal Neglect also investigates the conspiracy to protect those responsible. Friends and doctors took part in a cover-up, as did two of Dylan’s American biographers.

David Thomas’ previous books on Dylan Thomas have required us to rethink the poet’s life. Fatal Neglect is a fundamental reappraisal of his death.

David Thomas was brought up in Pontarddulais and Port Talbot. After Oxford and the LSE, he worked in London as a senior lecturer and chief executive. Since returning to Wales, he has written widely about Dylan Thomas, including The Dylan Thomas Murders, The Dylan Thomas Trail, Dylan Remembered and A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, now a major film, The Edge of Love, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Rhys.