Always Forever

Ambient thoughts of Mark Chadbourn - writer of stuff. Blog: www.jackofravens.com

New Worlds, No Maps

Stepping into that strange liminal space of thinking about a new book.  Exciting, certainly.  Scary too.  Strange connections are made as the universe, or the unconscious, recognises what you’re doing, pulling things out of the aether and thrusting them under your nose.  Images, music, places, people, dreams, serendipitous discoveries, all have a part to play.

I might document a few here, without comment.  Will it be possible to see where I’m heading from outside my head?  That would be interesting to know.  Perhaps there really is more clarity from that objective viewpoint.

I have an idea of the *kind* of book I want to write, but that’s about all the restrictions I’m placing on myself.  The general direction.  North by northwest.  But no destination is in mind.  I like the thrill of setting out for the horizon and seeing where I finally roll up.  It has to be new.  I’m not interested in repeating what I’ve done before.  I want to discover things, for myself as well as for the people who read my books.

Reports from the journey may pop up on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest, on Jack of Ravens and Posterous.  Interested parties should look for the tag #oneiroi

Big in Japan, from May 25.

Big in Japan, from May 25.

I will not make any deals with you… I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

—The Prisoner - now more relevant than ever.

Happy Beltane.

Happy Beltane.

My experience of life is that it is not divided up into genres. My experience of life is that it is a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel, you know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky.

—Alan Moore

I’m not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I’ve always been a freak. So I’ve been a freak all my life, and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.

—John Lennon

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

—Thomas Jefferson

Destroyer of Worlds, new US cover.  Art by John Picacio. This is the final book in the nine-volume sequence and should be in stores in May.

Destroyer of Worlds, new US cover.  Art by John Picacio. This is the final book in the nine-volume sequence and should be in stores in May.

New record company to raise money for Occupy London.  First album to include work from Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Billy Bragg, Ani Di Franco, Tom Morello, Sex Pistols designer Jamie Reid and more. Chip in £175 for funding and you get a V For Vendetta mask signed by Alan Moore, the album on CD, vinyl and digital, a t-shirt and a website thank you. Money well-spent.