UK newspaper mentions 'Lennon Bermuda'

Review: mentioned in The Mail on Sunday (UK)

This is an image from the April 28 edition of the 'Mail on Sunday' newspaper in the UK, giving a promotional mention of the Lennon Bermuda box set. Tomorrow was due to be the UK launch, however this has been pushed back a little to May 20.

However, there has been a bit of coverage of the box set and CD on two UK radio stations (Express FM in Portsmouth, courtesy of the Geoff and Andy Show, and also a track played on Bob Harris' BBC Radio Two show), and there was a passing mention of the book in the United Arab Emirates-based English newspaper 'The National', which all helps to spread the word. Tony Brannon has been doing a sterling job working to promote the book, CD and the next Peace Day Concert in Bermuda - which as last year is on September 21.

In the meantime, I have embarked upon a new writing project, which is still being formulated with the help of a piece of electronic software which I have been intrigued by. Whether it helps or not remains to be seen. But I shall write more on this new project in the coming months. It is my intention to make this a much speedier writing endeavour once all the groundwork is laid. Having said that, I got a taste of speedy writing doing Lennon Bermuda book in around three weeks. Which is proof, if ever I needed it, that a task with a pointblank deadline focuses the writer's mind like nothing else.

'Inspired' the book - 26 years on

Back in 1987, as a 21-year-old, I made my first foray into the world of book writing with Inspired. It was a paperback collection of short stories and poems by five young writers. I initiated the independent venture and brought together the writers, who submitted their work. My brother Gordon illustrated the front cover, and 100 copies of the book were printed and distributed (a few made it into the local public library).

More than a quarter of a century later it was but a distant memory and then I caught sight of a photograph of the front and back cover, reproduced here, and it reminded me of life's journey from way back then to where I am today.

Inspired was an outlet for my creative writing, as it was for the other contributers. Within its pages I was able to pour out a lot of the ideas and imagination that filled my late teenage years. Included in the collection was the short poem 'Faeries of Green Lochan', which went on to become firstly a song that I played regularly at open mic nights, and then a stage play performed by myself and a fellow drama student, Yvonne, at the Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts, in England, in 2003. That stage play, together with the song (the poem, put to guitar music and sung) evolved into the short live-action/animation film 'Faeries of Green Lochan', featuring myself and Heather, that was created between 2010 and 2011 and premiered at the First Bermuda Bakatown Film Festival in January 2012 - some 25 years after the original poem had first appeared within the pages of Inspired. The film can be viewed on YouTube.

Inspired was never likely to make money, but it did provide a creative outlet for a group of young writers. For me it is now also a historical record of where I was as a young writer and something I can compare to my later collection Eating Clouds (2008).

One message that early book represents is that, no matter if no one else is going to give you a break in the world of literature, you can always find a way to share your work with others - even if only to 100 potential book buyers. It also acts as a measure of your belief in yourself as a writer and your desire to work towards your writing dreams.

I'm particularly pleased that I was able to take one of my early works, 'Faeries of Green Lochan', which was actually written in early 1985, and develop it in a number of artistic forms. And there is another strange coincidence. As my most recent work Lennon Bermuda prepares to be given a worldwide launch in the UK later this month, I note that Inspired opened with a quotation from John Lennon's Aunt Mimi, her words to a 17-year-old Lennon that "Playing the guitar is all right as a hobby John, but you'll never make a living at it". I wrote to Mimi Smith for permission to use her quote, which she granted in her letter of reply. A loop that stretches 26 years can therefore be traced between Inspired and Lennon Bermuda.