April 2008

The Rooinecks met last night at our regular haunt, the National Theatre. We critiqued two pieces of work: a chapter from Hartwin's novel, Third Force, which is taking a more gothic and surreal turn, though some wondered how much more surreal it could get. It's set in South Africa at the time of the first free elections, 1994. It has elements of the classic thriller but with nightmarish overtones, which is where the surreal turn comes in I think.

The group, Maya, Nick, Terry and Hartwin, ably chaired by Cathy, also looked at my short story. I wrote it after hearing a New Yorker podcast. It was a short story by John Cheever called Reunion, which I found out inspired Richard Ford's story of the same name. Being vain enough to want to join this clique, I wrote my own Reunion after overhearing a conversation on the tube. I might post it here once I've considered the improvements suggested by the Rooinecks.

My story the Man in the Wilderness is being broadcast again on Radio 4 tomorrow night (12th April 08) at half past midnight. If that's a bit late you can catch it on Radio 4's listen again here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/late_story.shtml for a week