I must apologise to anyone who’s checked this blog out over the last few months and found an empty cyber desert devoid of any posts. Writing a regular blog for a full time writer is a bit of a busman’s holiday. So I’m afraid I’ve shied away from putting anything up here.
However I’m now feeling rather penitent about my shocking lack of updates and, as I have a lot to plug (and a little more time on my hands), I hope to rectify the situation.
The first thing I’d like to bring to your attention is ‘Alien Ink’ a new 30 part on-line weekly graphic novel which I wrote with Esther Bircham. It’s being drawn by David Bircham and is published by Pulp Theatre Entertainment on behalf of Channel 4 Education.
You can view it at http://alienink.co.uk/
It’s aimed at young adults and is in the same vein as programmes like Skins and Misfits. It’s set in Camden and features the exploits of a couple of teenage aliens called Trinity and Ryder who move into the high street and set up a tattoo parlour (a well known extraterrestrial activity as many experts will attest). The friendly and welcoming vibe around the parlour soon draws a group of teens who treat it as their base of operations. The series confronts many controversial issues including drug use, rampant teenage sex, STIs, binge drinking, homosexuality and anything else readers of the Daily Mail fulminate against.
It’s on its third episode and it’s already gotten some really positive press coverage. Like this piece at Bleeding Cool: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/05/13/alien-ink-and-how-brodies-law-liv…
And it’s created some controversy with local councillors desperate for a bit of positive coverage. As you can see from the extremely well balanced and non-partisan coverage here: http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/may/graphic-view-teenage-life-…
About a decade and a half ago Keith Tyson, a conceptual artist and childhood friend of mine (who would later go on to win the Turner Prize), invited me to one of his shows. It was in a boutique gallery in a trendy part of West London and the place was filled with just the sort of preening, pseudish individuals you’d imagine attending these sort of events.
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