Autism Awareness Month 2013

To mark World Autism Awareness Month 2013, Jessica Kingsley Publishers invited readers of their range to put questions to authors. Writers approached include internationally renowned expert Dr Tony Attwood.

As my autobiography The Feeling's Unmutual was published by JKP and has been acclaimed by professionals in the autism/Asperger/psychology worlds and by readers alike, I was invited to record a video interview. Typically, my answers were personalised and indepth, and so the piece had to be edited into two halves.

The first part was featured in the latest JKP newsletter and blog. Part two will be available from the end of May.

OUT NOW! Anne Droyd and the Ghosts of Winter Hill

Available to order from Amazon and bookshops (and soon to be added to Kindle).

BUY DIRECT FROM US VIA PAYPAL - GET IT SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR!

"Gezz, Luke and Malcolm are enjoying a trip up Winter Hill on the West Pennine moors when they are joined by a fourth person, a boy wearing old-fashioned clothes and a grey flat cap. But, when Luke introduces himself, the boy fades into nothing!

Is he a ghost?

Soon, the wilderness is full of apparitions, and all the clues point to the television transmitter at the hill’s summit.

Where are the spectres coming from? Why are they appearing? And what are their intentions?

As the ghosts start to haunt the children’s housing estate, Gezz, Luke and Malcolm take their robot friend Anne Droyd up Winter Hill, hoping her superhuman powers will help them solve the mystery.

 

For one of them, life will never be quite the same again."

Anne Droyd III

In the run up to the release of Anne Droyd and the Ghosts of Winter Hill, here is an interview I did considering how the characters have developed and the way I use real life settings as the backdrop to my stories.

The book is officially published on Thursday 11 April 2013. If you pre-order using the Paypal system on this site, you will receive a signed copy of the book as well as a copy of the artwork signed by Owen Claxton, and a number of other freebies.

Pre order Anne Droyd and the Ghosts of Winter Hill.

I was a Guest of Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4

Above from left to right: Guests Richard and Alison Warden, presenter Sian Williams and myself.
In the foreground presenter Richard Coles and author Mark Haddon.

Photo copyright Theresa Cutts

On Saturday 23 March, I was the guest of Sian Williams and Richard Coles on the BBC Radio Four programme Saturday Live.

The main guest was author Mark Haddon, author of the international bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He has had his book transformed into a stunning new stage play at London's West End.

Alison and Richard Warden were also guests. They told the heart warming story of how they met when they were children, married as adults, ran highly successful businesses, grew apart, divorced, married other people, before finally finding one another again in later life and falling in love and marrying one another a second time.

The character Christopher in Mark Haddon's Curious Incident is similar to a textbook case of a youngster grappling with Asperger's syndrome, and in one edition of the book was publicised as such. Saturday Live had invited me on to represent a real life person who has the condition, so I imagined that I would follow him, be interviewed for about ten minutes, and then be booted off. But, in the end, I remained for the whole 90 minutes and was allowed to contribute to the rest of the show.

Sian and Richard were lovely, and told me that they'd had a tremendous response via email and text, but because we'd all got so engrossed in our discussion on the programme, there was no time to read any of them out or take a phone call or two.

Before I arrived at Broadcasting House, I thought I would find Mr Haddon in particular intimidating, but he turned out to be completely charming, even saying that he intended to read John Christopher's Tripods trilogy, buy the BBC TV series adaptation on DVD, and download Leonard Cohen's First We Take Manhattan because of my enthusiasm for them!

This time round, I thank producer Debbie Sheringham for inviting me on, and my PR Theresa Cutts for representing me.

The entire programme is available on the BBC's Listen Again service. Please click on this link and then click on Listen Now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rft3s

Discussing my novel "The Blueprint"

"Change the blueprint and you change the world."

I'd always wanted to write a teen novel set in a nightmare parody of school life that also passed comment on the whole world system, its origins, what's wrong with it, and how it needs to be changed before humanity cascades into the impending avalanche of self-destruction.

I was keen, too, to do something like the allegorical 1960s TV series The Prisoner.

The concept for The Blueprint was devised by me in 1996, but I didn't publish it as a novel until February 2012.

In the above video, I discuss with Theresa Cutts the themes of the novel and the impact it has had on some of its readers.

I'm Obsessed (Apparently)

My short video on what it's like to struggle with obsessive thinking and behaviour, and what it can be like for those living with such a person - and what you can do if your Aspergic child exhibits these traits.

MY VIDEO on Social Cues

My latest little video is about the problems people with Asperger's syndrome can have with misunderstanding facial expressions and body language and the trouble it can cause.

Asperger Paradox: Confidence When Others Would Be Phobic

In my previous video, I spoke about how Asperger's syndrome causes phobia and panic which leads to dark depression when I'm put in a situation where I must socialise.

This time I talk about the paradox - what happens when someone hands me a microphone! Most people dread having to talk or perform to audiences. The bigger the audience, the more ill they get. But, for me, it's the other way around. Watch this little film to find out why...

Explaining Social Phobia

Social phobia is an unpleasant aspect of Asperger's syndrome. It can escalate into anxiety, and in turn induce dark mental states and severe depression. In this video I discuss my ongoing struggle.

Videos to come will look at such aspects as Obsessive Behaviour and Misreading Social Cues and Body Language.

Searching For Quality Original Music on the Internet

The internet is a wondrous thing when it comes to self-publishing. Not only can one write and produce a paperback novel and sell it through a print-on-demand system, or upload it to Kindle, but thanks to websites like Bandcamp, anyone who fancies their chances as a musician, singer or composer, may now sell their efforts to those who care to search.

Fed up with the offerings of local commercial radio (the same ten songs on rotation every time the DJs changed over), I began such a search.

DULAHIBCS is an acronym for Dress Up Like A Hooker, I’ll Be Charlie Sheen.

Such is the dark tongue-in-cheek humour of the unnamed composer of A Small Collection of Old Recordings. Made in his bedroom with little more than an acoustic guitar and hints of percussion played into his laptop, this set is enticing in its melancholia.

Of the 14 tracks, these are my favourites.

“Because My Headphones Broke” musically evokes the tone and style of Oasis’ “Half the World Away”. Vocally, DULAHIBCS puts me in mind of Jeff Lynne on ELO’s album Time. It also has something of John Lennon about it. I’m not entirely sure how the lyric relates to the title, though!

The third track “When One Night Stands Go Wrong” features a girl backing vocal. She’s spot on and prevents the soundscape from becoming too bleak.

“Young At Heart, Old In Face (ft Sam and The Love)” is a sleepy track opening with sound effects and again featuring girl backing vocals. His singing on this one puts me in mind of Marc Bolan for some reason. Weighing in at just under three minutes, it’s a pleasant listen.

More audio samples trigger the start of “European Soul”, a haunting, almost whispering ballad.

Just before DULAHIBCS succeeds in lullabying you to sleep, the jaunty “Lovely Day” wakes you up. Two minutes and forty-five seconds of plucky guitar, lilting voices (I counted three this time, might be wrong), it claims to feature someone called Pieter the Rooster.

“Farm House” opens with the tempting line, “Our farm house burned to the ground, burned to the ground, but our love never got out.” Or, at least that’s what I think it is, as the writer hasn’t included printed lyrics to any of the songs. I hope he does add them soon, as one’s listening pleasure would definitely be enhanced by reading along.

Production quality goes up a notch with “Circles”. Everything about this has class. The guitar is clear, there’s a bit of piano in there, and his voice has just the right amount of echo. A nice turn of phrase makes this a haunting track – “Honey, don’t you waste your time on him, he’s gonna turn you inside out. He’s gonna turn you back to what you was before you became what you is.” Love it. If I were to release a single to promote the album, this would be it.

I really like the female vocal on the sleepy “Since You Come Around”.

Should you drive down the motorway and you’re in one of those moods where you just don’t want to concentrate on layers and layers of sound, this album would be the perfect background score. I would recommend downloading in its entirety for that purpose – though you might want to stop for a coffee if you find yourself falling asleep before you reach “Lovely Day”!

Out of the 14 tracks on this Small Collection of Old Songs, I would recommend the seven above. If the artiste ever considers remaking the best of them for a short EP, I would say do these.

If you only buy one of these songs, buy “Circles”. It is brilliant.

You can find the album here.

Docking at the Tea Harbour

There's a lovely restaurant in Bolton called the Tea Harbour. My wife and I went in one Thursday afternoon imagining that it would just serve speciality teas and that the dumplings I'd ordered would be the standard British variety. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food (not to mention the tea!) and we've been back every Thursday since that initial visit.

The homemade vegetable soup is lovely, while the dumplings are a Polish dish called Pierogi. All the recipes are from Poland.

The above video is my review of the Tea Harbour and was made with the kind permission of the restaurant's proprietors.

Thanks to legendary composer Ken Freeman for allowing me to use some of his music in the presentation, and thanks, as ever, to Theresa Cutts who filmed and edited the piece.

An Excellent Fanzine

My first piece of published writing to be seen by more than two people appeared in the late 1990s in a science fiction fanzine called RQC (Really Quite Cosmic), edited by Gavin Wilson. It was an article looking at the BBC’s then much maligned adaptation of John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy. I entitled it “Has It All Been For Nothing?” after the last line spoken in the series.

I was thrilled to bits when I saw it in print.

When the internet took hold during the 2000s, the old fashioned paper fanzine all but disappeared. I, for one, lamented its demise.

Today, though, the internet is a place where would-be editors and publishers can float ideas and draw on the talents of writers and artists around the world. One such editor is Scott Burditt, who suggested a collation of articles devoted to various cult television programmes to be published as a glossy full colour, not-for-profit fanzine.

My good friend Ian Wheeler prompted me to write for it.

So much water has passed under the bridge since that first feature in RQC all those years ago, it seems almost poetic that my article for CSO should be about The Tripods. This time I reflected on how the series has been reappraised, how even the BBC themselves appear to have more pride in it, and how fans around the world have joined forces and found one another via the web.

Following the two page piece is my episode guide for all 25 episodes, which, this time round, is accurate!

Scott did an initial print run of the fanzine and sold out. As of January 2013, there will be a reprint. To order a copy, go to Facebook "CSO" and click Like. Then follow the instructions on the page to reserve a copy.

The first issue is also available to buy in black and white (but with a colour cover) from print-on-demand company Lulu.com.

If you love cult TV, you’ll love CSO. And if you fancy trying your hand at writing, the magazine is an excellent place to start.

The old fashioned paper fanzine is alive and well.

Yay!

I'm The Doctor - Get Me Out of Here!

Quite a few people expressed their surprise to me over Colin Baker’s decision to take part in ITV1’s I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here this year, but I can see the sense in it.

Between 1984 and 1986, Colin played the sixth incarnation of The Doctor in the BBC’s iconic science fantasy series Doctor Who. When he took the part, he wanted the character to be more akin to the original portrayal of William Hartnell, who was the Doctor between 1963 and 1966. Baker asked the production team to make his Doctor aloof and detached. He was also keen to dress his time traveller in a black frock coat and make his clothes less like a costume.

Unfortunately, the writing staff explained the sixth Doctor’s more abrupt nature by saying the latest regeneration had produced an instability resulting in temperamental mood swings. They also made him wear a multi-coloured patchwork coat and bright yellow trousers, the idea being that he had lost his taste in clothes.

After playing the Doctor for one full season, the series was cancelled by BBC1 controller Michael Grade, who was looking for ways of saving the Corporation money. Thanks to fans within the BBC leaking the news to the press, and following a lot of tabloid pressure, Grade said he hadn’t cancelled the show but merely suspended it for 18 months. When it returned in 1986, it had been whittled down by a third and was up against stiff competition from ITV.

Viewing figures dropped significantly compared with the previous season. Michael Grade blamed, not his own decision to interrupt the series’ run, but actor Colin Baker. The sixth Doctor is the only one in the show’s history to be replaced at the behest of the Corporation’s hierarchy.

I was 14 when Colin debuted as the Doctor, and to my mind he was returning the character to form. He came across as intelligent and alien. He was detached and aloof, and didn’t suffer fools. At the time, I thought his terrible dress sense was hilarious. And I was deeply upset when he was dropped after just two seasons.

As a boy unknowingly doing battle with a subtle form of Asperger syndrome, I struggled with the more acute aspects of social-interaction and as a result was frequently labelled aloof and abrupt.

So, for me Colin Baker’s Doctor was a hero, and Colin himself, when he appeared on children’s magazine show Saturday Superstore, was my role model. I would listen to him and imagine that I would be something like that when I reached adulthood.

In 2004, Colin endorsed my book The Feeling’s Unmutual. You can read what he had to say to the right of this blog. When it first came through from the publisher, I nearly burst into tears!

All of the Doctors have been successful. Even the seventh and last actor to play the Doctor in the original series of Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy, stars in Peter Jackson’s film of The Hobbit.

Sadly, because he barely got off the ground as the sixth incarnation of the Time Lord, Colin Baker became the forgotten Doctor.

Thanks to his appearance in I’m a Celebrity, should the BBC repeat adventures of the old series Doctors to mark Doctor Who’s fiftieth anniversary in 2013, the viewing public will know the name Colin Baker.

I am deeply touched and proud to have been recognised by him.

Remembering The Push Button Click.

I've made an audio documentary about the pantomime group "The Push Button Click", which appeared at Butlin's between 1982 and 1987. It's me in conversation with Theresa Cutts, with off-stage clips from the actual shows woven in.

To listen, please visit this web site...

www.thepushbuttonclick.bandcamp.com

Trailer for ANNE DROYD III

What will Anne, Gezz, Malcolm and Luke encounter when they visit Winter Hill? Find out soon...