GUY MANKOWSKI

After weeks of nipping and tucking, assisted by my tireless editor and late night cups of coffee The Intimates  is ready for release. Its publisher Legend Press today released the following blurb for it on their website- 'The Intimates believe that they are the epitome of glamour. For this group of eclectic friends life is a playground as they sing, act and write their way to their dream lifestyles. But all is not as it seems. Invited to celebrate one evening together, there is a sinister undertone that threatens to expose each of these brilliantly talented failures. Dark secrets unravel, and ugly truths are revealed as each person desperately tries to hide what’s buried beneath the shimmering surface. Each trapped in a pristine image their masks begin to slip and, for some, start to disintegrate in a way that will alter their lives forever.' It can be pre-ordered from here- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intimates-Guy-Mankowski/dp/1907756469  

Daniel Kitson is a shambolic, hysterical and thrillingly creative comedian. I’ve been lucky enough to see him twice this year and both times his work has had a huge impact. He eschews large commercial shows in favour of gigs often held in small and intimate venues. I’ve never seen a comedian so able to draw waves of relentless laughter from an audience while simultaneously offering so many insights into the human condition. He's so deft at sharing his own memories, in a manner that makes them seem universal, that he even makes you laugh at your own memories. The first show I saw of his was entitled ‘66a Church Road’, which he described as ‘a break up show for my flat’. In it he used images of poignant scenes from his past, projected onto suitcases, in order to recount the love affair he had with his first home. In so doing he almost literally invited the audience into his world. He recounted key moments of romance and heartbreak he had there, time...

I’ve long been fascinated by Richey Edwards- the fiercely intelligent, glitter drenched guitarist from The Manic Street Preachers who disappeared at the age of 27 on the brink of an American tour. I was therefore intrigued to find out this week that a novel has been written describing Richey’s life from his own perspective. ‘Richard: A Novel’ is being released in October, and is already courting some controversy. Nicky Wire, the bass player from The Manic Street Preacher’s this week wrote in the NME that he found the book ‘too upsetting to finish’ and that ‘when you make fiction out of someone you forget that they’re a real human being’. My gut instinct is to agree. Though I applaud Myer’s attempt to present Richey as not just a rock star, but as an academic and young man, will this novel not just contribute to the myths that already surround him, and therefore make it harder to have a clear idea of what Richey was really like? Paradoxically, it seems that the more that is written a...

I'm very excited that today Legend Press have announced the release of my first novel 'The Intimates'- which is due for publication in early 2011. They describe the novel as 'depicting an evening with a group of eclectic friends, gradually uncovering the ugly and brutally honest truths that can go unmentioned for so long. With Guy's unique writing style, the characters unravel before the reader with a sense of almost unsettling realism.' Having worked with Lauren, Tom and Lucy on the collections 'Eight Rooms' and 'Ten Journeys' I'm very excited to be able to continue doing so in the future. They're a very dedicated, exciting and groundbreaking publishing house, and it's great to be on their books alongside such fantastic authors as Zoe Jenny, Bonnie Greer and Gary Murning. For more information check out Legend Press at- http://forward.legendpress.co.uk/mainsite/2010/09/announcing-the-intimates-by-guy-mankow...

Last Saturday I joined the laconic and charming Dave Foxall at Waterstones in Darlington to promote Ten Journeys, the new Legend Press collection which we both feature in. Whether we simply had no shame pimping ourselves or whether the people of the North East were in a good mood I don't know, but we managed to sell out of copies during the signing. The Northern Echo came down to photograph the occassion - here you can see me standing up while Dave sits down. On the 11th September I'll be returning for another signing with Andy Kirby, ebullient and provocative author of the excellent novels 'Bully' and 'The Magpie Trap'. And while we're on the subject on 7th August I'll be promoting Ten Journeys at Waterstones Newcastle with Matthew Crow, author of the novel 'Ashes'. 'This one's here, this one's here, this one's here and this one's here. And everything's for sale' from Yes by the Manic Street Preachers.  

On the rare occasions that I am inspired by a new band, it is often the atmosphere surrounding them that draws me in. I often use music as a three minute portal to the type of life I hanker for, or even as another stepping stone towards that life. The most generous music offers you that opportunity, and gives you space in which to invest in your own imagination. But when the world a piece of music offers is ill-defined, or overly stylized, the romance with it is inevitably short-lived. But if music stands up to scrutiny, after a period of digestion it soon becomes part of the furniture of your life. Lonelady is the first artist for a long time to pass that test for me. In a recent interview she talked about how you when you finish a piece of work you ‘expect explosions of glitter and celebration’ but how ‘that doesn’t happen at all’. I’m starting to learn about that feeling of anti climax, when you put out a piece of work you have agonized over, only to see it inevitably caught up in t...