• Barnaby Taylor
  • Book Shelf
  • Twitter
  • Amazon
  • Goodreads
  • Facebook

BARNABY TAYLOR

  • The Digital Divide: Barcodes, Royalties and the Perennial Wonders of Deep Space Exploration

    February 21st, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hi Everyone

    It is official.

    I am now a publisher.

    Well, I have been previously (sort of) but this time I own the unique numeric commercial book identifiers that will allow me to plough my own furrow.

    They are mine.

    And all the botheration that comes with them.

    I felt it was the right thing to do.

    The story is a simple one.

    Years ago, in a separate but still parallel life, I published an academic book on a short cycle of British films from the 1950s and 1960s. The book was a re-calibration of my doctoral thesis.

    bft

     

     

     

     

     

    The British New Wave has floated through space ever since like some kind of unmanned craft.

    It occasionally makes contact with sentient lifeforms, crash-landing now and again on a university reading list.

    Or orbiting on the every edges of some form of intellectual discourse.

    But it spends most of its time merrily moving closer and closer towards the extreme outer edges of space.

    On its way somewhere but never getting anywhere significant.

    It never quite resulted in that dream book tour of the US that I imagined.

    Nonetheless it is out there in deep space and will always be.

    A permanent reminder of something.

    Or nothing.

    Until very recently.

    A strange transmission was beamed back from the furthest reaches of the darkness.

    My bank wrote to tell me that a royalty payment had been received from the book’s publishers.

    Naturally, after years of radio silence, I was thrilled to hear such a message.

    However, I was more thrilled by the happenstantial nature of the payment itself.

    The amount I received was very much almost exactly identical to the amount I needed to purchase a swathe of unique numeric commercial book identifiers.

    Within ten pounds sterling.

    It seemed too good a thing not to use the monies received from one book as seed money for my next set of books.

    I like to think that even as I type, The British New Wave has gone back into deep space exploration again.

    On a new course bound for anywhere.

    Set to make contact once again at some random point in the future intersection of space and time.

    But not before I have gotten used to the radio silence.

    Again.

     

     

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Digital Divide: Everything Begins Again (Again)

    February 14th, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hi Everyone

    I’m writing again.

    Just a thousand words.

    It’s very different.

    Far from what I’m used to writing.

    Or have ever written before.

    But it’s fun.

    The thrill of the new.

    I have no idea where it will lead.

    Even if it leads anywhere.

    It doesn’t have to.

    I might not let you see it.

    I might not let anyone.

    At this stage it doesn’t matter.

    All that matters is that everything begins again.

    Again.

     

     

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Digital Distance: That Lovely Place Between Words

    February 7th, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hello Everyone

    I haven’t written a word for five days now.

    Not that I’m counting.

    Much.

    I normally write 200 words per day.

    Or at least try to.

    Sometimes less. Sometimes more.

    I’m fine with not writing anything.

    I learned a long time ago not to be hard on myself when I wasn’t writing.

    But I do prefer to be writing all the same.

    When this happens to me I imagine that I am in that lovely place between words.

    We are all in that place.

    Sometimes not for long.

    The time it takes to finish a sentence.

    Or weld three sentences to form a paragraph.

    Eight paragraphs to become a chapter.

    Other times the time it takes for the words to begin again.

    I have been in that lovely place for five days now.

    I am fine with this.

    I am simply waiting for that next …

    Are you there too?

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Digital Distance: Writing Without Words

    January 31st, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hi Everyone

    In class the other day we were talking about composition and framing in contemporary filmmaking.

    The conversation was animated and interesting and we were thinking of examples from films when the position that someone stands in can be read as something much more than the actor simply hitting their mark.

    For example, an actor standing alone in the frame can suggest isolation.

    A high camera angle and long shot length can heighten this feeling by also emphasizing smallness.

    We have all seen moments in films when characters are overwhelmed by the enormity of the events that they find themselves experiencing and this enormity is doubly emphasised by their actual smallness within the frame.

    No words are needed.

    Single figures in a single frame can also be used to signal dominance.

    Actors fill the frame with their body and this filling of the frame can be read in a variety of ways that all place emphasis on the character’s importance to the film.

    Again, no words are needed.

    When writing I aim to see my story cinematically.

    I imagine what the story would look like as a film.

    Not because I expect this to actually happen – even though it would be marvelous if it ever did.

    I see my writing this way because I find it helps me strip away the language.

    It helps me find the least number of words needed for a sentence.

    The least number of sentences needed for a paragraph.

    You get the idea.

    No words are needed.

    How do you write?

    Speak Soon

    Barnaby

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Calm Before the Digital Storm: The Ordinariness of My Life

    January 24th, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hi Everyone

    How are you today?

    I’m feeling calm this morning.

    Calmer than I have in a while.

    I have a full day’s teaching and preparation.

    This the ordinariness of my life.

    And I’m not complaining.

    One of the greatest pleasures in my life is the opportunity to stand in front of a class and get carried away talking about something I love.

    To do this every day is a real privilege.

    Especially considering that my major topics of classroom conversation are all film-related.

    What’s not to like about being paid to talk about films all day?

    And think about films?

    And collaborate in their making?

    And make them yourself?

    IMG_1058

    But if this wasn’t already enough I then have the chance to go home and keep working on the imminent release of the first two novels in the VIRO series.

    I am at the final editing stage.

    I’m nearly there.

    I’m also playing with cover designs.

    What do you think?

    VIRO TEST COVER

    VIRO test cover 2 JAN 2018

    It just gets better and better.

    I hope your day goes really well.

    Let me know what you are up to.

    I can’t wait to hear from you.

    Barnaby

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Digital Divide: The Fun of Formatting

    January 17th, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Hi Everyone.

    Editing.

    I spent three years writing a doctoral dissertation and used to love the hours I spent fussing over commas and colons. I could while away a whole afternoon formatting a single footnote and then be satisfied that this was all I had done for the day.

    I worked in an enormous university library somewhere in the south east of England – it was the size of a decent shopping centre  – and had a small perch/nest (room) overlooking a large reading room. With the exception of the occasional undergraduate who was happier talking than actually reading, the sense of silence was awe-inspiring.

    I treated my doctorate like a job and wrote between 9 and 12 everyday Monday to Friday. Then I would stop for lunch.

    After lunch I would return to my perch and not write.

    I would do anything else I felt was necessary dissertation-wise, but I avoided writing anything new.

    Once I left the library for the day it was as if my doctorate didn’t exist. I was lucky to be able to forget all about it and not lay awake at night worrying whether I would finish it or not.

    The next morning I would be on the bus at 8am and spend the hour it took to get to my perch reading two newspapers.

    I didn’t always feel like writing but I did always feel like sitting in my perch.

    I’m no longer sitting in that library but I do still eat my lunch at 12 Monday to Friday.

    I hope you have a productive day whatever you are doing.

    Barnaby

    P.S. How do you work?

     

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • Digital Paralysis? I’m not complaining

    January 10th, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Morning Everyone

    I’m struggling today.

    Really struggling.

    Not with New Year resolutions.

    I haven’t made any.

    Not with a blank page.

    I am writing daily.

    So what am I struggling with?

    I have too many projects close to completion.

    It feels like a form of digital paralysis.

    Too many projects?

    Close to completion?

    I know what you’re thinking.

    I should be so lucky.

    I’m not complaining.

    It is a great position to be in.

    It probably means that I’m not going to get anything done today.

    That’s fine.

    Sometimes not getting things done is as comforting as getting things done.

    I’ll try again tomorrow.

    Have a great day.

    Barnaby

     

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • The Digital Distance: To Print or Not to Print?

    January 3rd, 2018

    IMG_1052

    Happy New Year Everyone

    It is that wonderful time of year when all things are reset and everything begins back at the beginning.

    Or does it?

    The Viro project is still up and running and perhaps it is due to my years of academic training but I still need to have something printed before I can truly get to grips with it.

    Like everyone else, words accumulate on-screen on a daily basis and whilst I know that they are there in front of me it also feels like they are somehow far away.

    I can keep adding words (and I do keep adding words) – one of the many values of completing a PhD is the daily discipline it forces you to adhere to –  but the profoundly intimate relationship I have developed with every single one of my millions of words is also simultaneously extremely impersonal.

    This is not to say that they are not my words. They most certainly are – each and every one. Perhaps I am simply acknowledging the digital distance that can now exist between oneself and one’s work.

    Nor do I yearn for anything older or more intensive.

    I love writing by hand but couldn’t contemplate accumulating as many words as I have managed to do over the years if I had to keep turning a page.

    I save the pleasure of handwriting for cards, letters and the occasional note to school.

    All of this is a long-winded way of saying that I have printed a draft of Book One in the Viro series and am now copy-editing it.

    I’m not going to lie; this is not my favourite part of the whole process but it does mean that I get to use my favourite pen.

    Have a great day everyone.

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • VIROS – Book One – Jake meets Ellis

    December 13th, 2017

    VIROS COVER - #1

    Hi Everybody,

    In this excerpt from Book One in the VIROS series Jake meets Ellis for the first time.

    I hope you enjoy the read. If you do, please feel free to leave some feedback.

    Thanks.

    VIROS – BOOK ONE – ‘THE ROOF’

    Ellis

    I looked up. There was a smiling girl on the roof. She had curly hair.

    ‘Climb on top of that van and then jump across.’

    I got on the van. Mr. Bishop was behind me. I started to climb. He caught me.

    ‘Help,’ I shouted. ‘He’s grabbed my ankle.’

    ‘Don’t panic. I’ll knock him down.’

    I didn’t know what she meant. Something whistled past my head. Mr. Bishop roared. He let go of my ankle. He fell over. The girl had a catapult.

    ‘Good shot!’ I shouted.

    ‘I know.’

    I scrambled on the roof. I stopped. There was a gap.

    ‘Jump,’ she said. ‘You can do it.’

    I didn’t know if I could but I didn’t want to say. I didn’t know this girl. She might laugh. I jumped.

    I grabbed the wall. I didn’t fall.

    ‘Hi!’ said the girl. ‘I’m Ellis. Welcome to my roof.’

    ‘Jake,’ I said.

    I sat down. I was winded.

    ‘My name is Jake.’

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
  • VIROS – Book One – December 2017

    December 6th, 2017

    VIROS COVER - #1

    Virus

    I was hiding on the roof of a shop. There was a strange girl with me.

    Everything was good yesterday. I knew that presidents were saying mad things on television. That was like always.

    But not now.

    The radio said about a virus. People were being zombies. A scientist said it was a disaster all over the world. No one was safe.

    Mum worked at the hospital. She was always gone when I got up. She felt bad about this. It wasn’t her fault. She had to do these things. Anyway, I was independent. I liked looking after myself.

    I always heard Mum go out. I always went back to sleep.

    She wasn’t back home when I woke up again.

    I always heard her making breakfast. I would go downstairs.

    ‘Hi Jake,’ she would say. ‘Did you sleep ok?’

    I liked to hug her.

    ‘How was work?’

    ‘Work is over now.’

    Mum always said don’t worry if she was late. She would be coming back. It was different today. She wasn’t back.

    I was really worried. What if the zombies were chasing her?

    The hospital was quite near to home. I thought I would look for her.

    That was my idea.

    I didn’t think anything else.

    Share this:

    • Tweet
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Tumblr
    Like Loading…
←Previous Page
1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 51
Next Page→

Blog at WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    • Subscribe Subscribed
      • BARNABY TAYLOR
      • Join 1,762 other subscribers
      • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
      • BARNABY TAYLOR
      • Subscribe Subscribed
      • Sign up
      • Log in
      • Report this content
      • View site in Reader
      • Manage subscriptions
      • Collapse this bar
    %d