Armistice Day In Asda

My local Asda was a quieter, gentler place for 2 minutes at 11AM today, Armistice Day. The clatter of trolleys fell silent. I was thinking about one of my grandfathers, who was gassed in World War 1. He worked on the Liverpool docks, but the combat injuries limited the work he could do and how much he could earn. He would've been working there during the Liverpool Blitz, when the family was bombed out of their house three times.

New review of 'Scars Beneath The Skin' by writer Clare Wallace

Clare Wallace, herself a writer shortlisted for the 2010 Bristol Short Story Prize, has taken the trouble to post a review of 'Scars Beneath The Skin' at the links below. Thanks a lot Clare, particularly for the thoughts on Lucia, the lead female character - I am aiming to create a more realistic, complex female lead for the next novel! Why not give the book a try and see if you agree with Clare?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6670498-scars-beneath-the-skin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1906601062/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

15 Albums that will always stick with you

I've got Plastic Mancunian (http://plasmanc.blogspot.com/) to blame for tagging me in a Facebook note on this subject. First time I've looked through my records and CDs in a long time.

The rules: Don't take too long to think about this. List 15 albums you've heard that will always stick with you.


In no particular order:


(1) Miles Davis - A Kind Of Blue.

I know very little about jazz, but this simply reeks of atmosphere and intimacy.

(2) Jan Garbarek - Officium

Heard this in a record shop and it stopped me in my tracks. Saxophone swirling in and around a choir singing medieval chants.

(3) Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

I can still remember the first time I heard this, on a tinny transistor radio producing more static than music. Unearthly.

(4) The Who - Live At Leeds

Energy, pure and simple. Feels a bit like being plugged in to an overhead power line.

(5) The Who - Who's Next?

Hesitated at putting 2 Who albums in the list, by then I only had to think about the opening of track #1, Teenage Wasteland, to realise it had to be in.

(6) U2 - The Joshua Tree

Not a die-hard U2 fan, but this record has a BIG BIG sound.

(7) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

OK, OK, so everyone bought this when it came out, but it's still a fantastic record. Songbird shows what a lovely sound the female voice can be, with Christine McVie doing the complete opposite of the sort of warbling and trilling that some singers assail us with.

(8) Genesis - Seconds Out

Because I played this record 1 million times when I was a teenager.

(9) AC/DC - Highway To Hell

They could have called this record K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid

(10) Jefferson Airplane - Crown Of Creation

Another great female vocalist, Grace Slick.

(11) Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill

Had to pick one Steely Dan album, this one has (to my ears) a warmth that was missing from their follow-up work.

(12) The Verve - Urban Hymns

Had to get one band in from the North West of England.

(13) ZZ Top - Eliminator

Always filled the dance floor when any track from this was played at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester.

(14) Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen

Second band from the North West, can remember a schoolfriend taping this for me. I know the rule is that you can't like both prog rock and punk rock, but most of us did as teenagers where I lived. Very (musically confused) teenagers, obviously.

(15) Stranglers - Black And White

My favourite punk rock group, though with keyboards and some 10-minute epics they sounded like some monstrous prog-punk hybrid.

And now I've just remembered The Fat Of The Land by The Prodigy, but I've run out of space. Can remember buying this (on vinyl) at the Virgin Megastore in Warrington and the sales bod-ette glared at me as if to say 'You're too old.' A great heavy rock album, forget about the fact it wasn't done by a heavy rock group. Only makes sense at ASBOesque volume levels.

Interview on author Nik Perring's blog

Want to know how a bomb explosion in Manchester and a riot in Berlin fed the fires of creativity and resulted in a novel? Follow the link to Nik Perring's blog for more, plus how the seedy worlds of Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler spur me into writing, and the chance to win a FREE SIGNED copy of 'Scars Beneath The Skin.' While you're there, why not check out Nik's latest collection of short stories, 'Not So Perfect.'

http://nikperring.blogspot.com/2010/07/interviewing-andy-duggan.html

BBC Radio Manchester interview on 15th June 2010

I've become involved with the Survivors For Peace charity as a result of my novel 'Scars Beneath The Skin' being published.

The charity's in a close-run race for this year's National Lottery Awards - please vote for them here:

http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/shortlistitem.cfm?id_category=2&id_entry=108

It's free, no strings attached!
The above web page describes the work the charity does.

Also, here's a BBC Radio Manchester interview I did a couple of days ago, about how the Survivors For Peace has helped me. The interview's in an mp3 jukebox, along with another Radio Manchester interview I did back in 2008.

http://www.ajduggan.co.uk/page5.htm

Thanks for your vote!

Survivors For Peace - National Lottery Awards

Please take a look at the work done by the Survivors For Peace programme on the attached link. They're in the running for the National Lottery Awards and your vote could help. It's completely free, so please have a look.

http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/shortlistitem.cfm?id_category=2&id_entry=108

Robin Hood, the movie

Went to see the new Russell Crowe film, Robin Hood, the other day.
Very educational. I learned that:

• Robin and most of his Merry Men were Irish (although Russell Crowe's accent changed as the film went on)
• Robin's Dad, an 'umble stonemason, wrote the Magna Carta (clever of him).
• Those crafty French invented the 'Saving Private Ryan'-style landing craft as a means of quickly landing troops on a beach. I half expected them to unveil a Sherman tank in that part of the film.
  

On the plus side, the medieval settings are all well done. And Russell Crowe would've made a perfectly decent Robin Hood if they'd kept to the original story. Unfortunately, it's all about a French invasion rather than robbing the rich to feed the poor. The two great bad guys of the original story, King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham, don't get much of a look-in.

My viewing companion's opinion was a bit harsher. 'Waste of £7,' she said. Sorry, Russell.