I REVIEW MUSIC. HERE'S HALF A DOZEN!

In recent times, I have devoted much of this blog to book and music reviews.  Here is a selection of the music pieces.

FEELIN’ GOOD by KAZ HAWKINS BAND

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/album-review-kaz-hawking-band-feelin.html

TROUBLE IN MIND by STEPHEN DUNWOODY

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/music-review-trouble-in-mind-by-stephen.html

VOL 1 by MANDY BINGHAM

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/mandy-bingham-singersongwriter.html

LET IT BE by SIMON MURPHY

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/new-music-cd-let-it-be-simon-murphy.html

DON’T MAKE ME GO TO TOWN by BRIGID O’NEILL

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Brigid

THE DANGEROUS HARPIST by URSULA BURNS

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/new-music-ursula-burns-dangerous-harpist.html

If any editor would like me to review books, music or write features, please get in touch via joecushnan@aol.com


JOE CUSHNAN'S PUBLISHED FEATURES, REVIEWS & POETRY, AND OTHER SCRIBBLINGS:

Books: Shops, Shoppers, Shopping & Shafted; Before Amnesia: Seeds Of A Memoir; Shaking Hands; Retail Confidential; Much Calamity & The Redundance Kid; Stephen Boyd: From Belfast To Hollywood; Hamish Sheaney: The Nearly-Man Of Irish Literature; Juggling Jelly; Geek!; A Belfast Kid; Jack Elam, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life; The Chuckle Files; The Poems Of Hamish Sheaney: Remastered & Expanded; Only Yules & Verses; Only Drools & Corsets; Fun With Words, Fun With Rhyme; Fun With Words, Fun With Noise

Creative portfolio includes The Galway Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, Derwent Poetry Festival 2015, 2015 Templar Poetry Anthology “Mill”, Octavius Magazine, Ireland’s Big Issue, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Belfast Telegraph, 2013 Belfast Book Festival, Irish News, BBC TV NI “Stephen Boyd: The Man Who Never Was”, BBC Radio Sheffield “Rony Robinson”, BBC Radio Ulster “Saturday Magazine”, BBC Radio 4 “You & Yours”, The Guardian, Tribune, NZ Management, The Grocer, Retail Week, Edge, Open Eye, Yorkshire Post, The Catholic Herald, Cambridge Evening News, The London Paper, Southern Cross, NZ Freelance, Writer’s News, Belfast News Letter, Irelands Own, Fortnight, The Dalhousie Review; Blithe Spirit; The Cannon’s Mouth, Poetry Monthly, Poetic Comment, Bard, Current Accounts, Candelabrum, Decanto, Inclement, Haiku Scotland, Time Haiku, etc. 

I REVIEW BOOKS - HERE'S A DOZEN!

In recent times, I have devoted much of this blog to book and music reviews.  Here is a selection of the books.

UNFINISHED PEACE by BRIAN ROWAN

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/book-review-unfinished-peace-by-brian.html

TRACING YOUR NORTHERN IRISH ANCESTORS by IAN MAXWELL

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/book-review-tracing-your-northern-irish.html

BEHIND THE HEADLINES by ALF McCREARY

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/book-review-alf-mccreary-behind.html

CONSUMER KIDS by ED MAYO & AGNES NAIRN

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/book-review-consumer-kids-by-ed-mayo.html

TEENAGE KICKS: MY LIFE AS AN UNDERTONE by MICHAEL BRADLEY

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/book-review-teenage-kicks-my-life-as.html

eYE MARTY by MARTY FELDMAN

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/book-review-eye-marty-by-marty-feldman.html

THEY KILLED THE ICE CREAM MAN by GEORGE LARMOUR

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/book-review-they-killed-ice-cream-man.html

THE SEVEN by RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/book-review-seven-by-ruth-dudley-edwards.html

SPIRIT OF ’58 by EVAN MARSHALL

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/book-review-spirit-of-58-by-evan.html

UP THE MICKS: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE IRISH GUARDS

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/book-review-up-micks.html

FULL THROTTLE: ROBERT DUNLOP, ROAD RACING AND ME by LIAM BECKETT

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/book-review-full-throttle-robert-dunlop.html

THE GOOD SON by PAUL McVEIGH

http://droppedthemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/book-review-good-son-by-paul-mcveigh.html

If any editor would like me to review books or write features, please get in touch via joecushnan@aol.com


JOE CUSHNAN'S PUBLISHED FEATURES, REVIEWS & POETRY, AND OTHER SCRIBBLINGS:

Books: Shops, Shoppers, Shopping & Shafted; Before Amnesia: Seeds Of A Memoir; Shaking Hands; Retail Confidential; Much Calamity & The Redundance Kid; Stephen Boyd: From Belfast To Hollywood; Hamish Sheaney: The Nearly-Man Of Irish Literature; Juggling Jelly; Geek!; A Belfast Kid; Jack Elam, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life; The Chuckle Files; The Poems Of Hamish Sheaney: Remastered & Expanded; Only Yules & Verses; Only Drools & Corsets; Fun With Words, Fun With Rhyme; Fun With Words, Fun With Noise

Creative portfolio includes The Galway Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, Derwent Poetry Festival 2015, 2015 Templar Poetry Anthology “Mill”, Octavius Magazine, Ireland’s Big Issue, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Belfast Telegraph, 2013 Belfast Book Festival, Irish News, BBC TV NI “Stephen Boyd: The Man Who Never Was”, BBC Radio Sheffield “Rony Robinson”, BBC Radio Ulster “Saturday Magazine”, BBC Radio 4 “You & Yours”, The Guardian, Tribune, NZ Management, The Grocer, Retail Week, Edge, Open Eye, Yorkshire Post, The Catholic Herald, Cambridge Evening News, The London Paper, Southern Cross, NZ Freelance, Writer’s News, Belfast News Letter, Irelands Own, Fortnight, The Dalhousie Review; Blithe Spirit; The Cannon’s Mouth, Poetry Monthly, Poetic Comment, Bard, Current Accounts, Candelabrum, Decanto, Inclement, Haiku Scotland, Time Haiku, etc. 

RAYMOND CHANDLER ON WRITING CRIME FICTION

Raymond Chandler had some very strong opinions about writing crime fiction.  Here are his rules, as published online at open culture.com. (If I've upset anyone's copyright here, I will remove the information on request)

Crime stories - 

1) It must be credibly motivated, both as to the original situation and the dénouement.

2) It must be technically sound as to the methods of murder and detection.

3) It must be realistic in character, setting and atmosphere. It must be about real people in a real world.

4) It must have a sound story value apart from the mystery element: i.e., the investigation itself must be an adventure worth reading.

5) It must have enough essential simplicity to be explained easily when the time comes.

6) It must baffle a reasonably intelligent reader.

7) The solution must seem inevitable once revealed.

8) It must not try to do everything at once. If it is a puzzle story operating in a rather cool, reasonable atmosphere, it cannot also be a violent adventure or a passionate romance.

9) It must punish the criminal in one way or another, not necessarily by operation of the law…. If the detective fails to resolve the consequences of the crime, the story is an unresolved chord and leaves irritation behind it.

10) It must be honest with the reader.

WRITERS' & ARTISTS YEARBOOK

Every two years, I buy the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook because I carry this ambition to be a writer when I grow up. It is a waste of money, in my view, to fork out for it every year.  It is not a perfect reference book and is not always up-to-date but it contains an enormous amount of guidance, ideas and contacts and has helped me gain several commissions over the years. It has taught me a lot, like an old campaigner pointing a rookie in the right direction.

It is a book for browsing and checking, mainly, but it also contains authoritative articles from experienced writers, editors, agents, et al.

I was impressed particularly with and encouraged by "Writing Features for Newspapers and Magazines" by Merope Mills, formerly editor of the Saturday Guardian and its Weekend magazine. She is now the San Francisco-based West Coast Editor of Guardian US.

She gives the beginner/learner sound advice on starting out, ideas, contacting publications, style, money, deadlines and editing.

"No one could accurately predict what shape the industry will take a few years from now, but one thing is for sure: every title needs great writers, ideas and well-written content. But be it for print or online arm of its operation, making the right approach, especially if you are unknown to an editor, is more essential than ever."

Somewhere in the book - I can't find the page right now - I found a site called clippings.me, an online showcase for writers to add links to published work.  This is what it looks like: https://www.clippings.me/users/45142

It's another way to self-promote and costs nothing for up to 10 links.

Anyway, enough of this blether, I'm off to write a poetry pamphlet.