I’m publishing DIABOLUS IN MUSICA, A STORY OF NICCOLO PAGANINI, in screenplay format rather than as a novel. Why? There are many answers to this. The first – Why Paganini? – resulted from when, at the age 17, I drove my favourite Uncle Fred to hear Yehudi Menuhin, the finest violinist of the 20th century, give a Sunday evening recital at the International Music Festival at Llangollen, North Wales. Menuhin was brilliant, as always, that night, we were both enthralled, but later, driving back home, when I told Fred how gripped I’d been, he agreed, only to add, “But how I wish I could have heard Paganini play.” Never having heard ...Read more
I’m back at my desk drafting my second blog. Despite the panoramic views from my window – to my left the mountains of Snowdonia, then down the River Conwy past the historic Conwy Castle to the river’s estuary and across the wide bay to Puffin Island and the Isle of Anglesey beyond – I’m not finding it any easier than my first blog, writing to readers I don’t personally know. Speaking of which, I would like it if more of you would write back to me through my email address on this site, for me to know my blogs are still being read, or equally, one or more of my ...Read more
This is my very first “blog”. Before I started writing it, I didn’t even know what “blog” meant, there’s no mention of it in my 10th edition, Concise Oxford Dictionary. Then I guessed it was a computer word. Trouble is, I’m computer stupid. And everything to do with Kindling my books has had to be done for me. The consolation is that all the people involved with it are great. Mark, an old (not in years) friend, who as well as being a writer himself, takes time to check and edit my work. Tim, who first coded my lap-top written books into Kindle format. Dean, who’s recently re-Kindled them because ...Read more
