On the 15th October 2022, Candescent Blooms, my tenth short story collection, will be published by Salt. If you enter your email address in the space provided to the right of this web page then you'll receive notification when the book is available. Personally, I feel Candescent Blooms is my best collection. I'm normally a writer of ideas, with characters taking a back seat to odd scenarios, but in this collection characters are right in the foreground. And some of these characters you will already know, as the inspiration for these stories comes from the lives of Hollywood actors who left us far too soon.
As it says in the blurb, Candescent Blooms is a collection of twelve short stories which form fictionalised biographies of mostly Golden Era Hollywood actors who suffered untimely deaths. From Olive Thomas in 1920 through to Grace Kelly in 1982, these pieces utilise facts, fiction, gossip, movies and unreliable memories to examine the life of each individual character set against a Hollywood background of hope and corruption, opportunity and reality.
The inspiration for the book came after reading "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates, which is a fictionalised biography of Marilyn Monroe (and - coincidentally - is shortly to be released as a Netflix film). I'd only had a passing interest in Monroe - I'd seen a few movies - but generally those who are idealised have limited appeal for me. I tend to be skeptical of success. Having been recommended "Blonde", however, I wasn't prepared for what an absolutely brilliant read it was: compelling, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking. It also elevated Monroe above the cliche and rounded her as a real person (ironically, perhaps, considering it isn't all true, but I always identify greater with fictional constructs than I do with reality). Immediately after reading it I wanted to write my own Monroe story, and eventually I did. That piece "The Girl With The Horizontal Walk", was originally published as a chapbook through Salò Press, was reprinted in Best British Short Stories 2020 edited by Nicholas Royle, also for Salt, and of course is also included in Candescent Blooms. Before it was published, however, I had already embarked on several stories in the same vein, until ultimately I had enough for a collection.
My intention as we roll to publication and beyond is to write a series of posts that will feature each of these characters. Each post will follow the same format: 1: the reason for the title of the story; 2: why I chose that actor; 3: one 'gift' that enhanced the story; 4: one thing I never knew about them; 5: an extract from the story; and 6: what music I listened to whilst I wrote it. Hopefully some of these posts will intrigue the reader sufficiently for them to then buy the book. It would be nice. I sincerely believe it's my best work, but - more importantly - I also believe I've done justice to my subject matter. These aren't exploitative stories, but wholly respectful. Often when writing the final sentence to each story, I felt a sensation of someone looking over my shoulder. Whilst I don't believe in an afterlife, I feel the cumulative effect of the writing process for these stories did connect me with - at the very least - the sensation that I was being guided - whether by my 'muse' (the method of writing) or the characters themselves. There's life here in their deaths. Have a read.
Here's another reminder of the purchase page.
