Jae Watson's partner Jim Stokey has written some brilliant songs to accompany Jae's two novels Journey and Fragile. You can listen to them for free at his Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/jimstokey
We have been listening to them in the office this afternoon and they provide the perfect background to an afternoon of reading!
Lucy
Each day of advent we are going to profile a different Legend Press book or author! We want everyone to have a Legendary book in their stocking, so if you see something you like please order.
The best selling book will be at the top of our Christmas tree on the blog on 25th December.
The choosen author for today is Jae Watson who has published fantastic books with Legend Press Journey in 2007 and Fragile this Summer!
Jae has commented about her reading:
I started off in the magical worlds of CS Lewis and Enid Blyton and then, in my teens, I lost myself in the tragic romances of Thomas Hardy, the Brontes and Tolstoy. Later, I moved into the more contemporary and grittier worlds of Milan Kundera, Graham Greene and John Fowles. Nowadays I try to be eclectic in my reading, choosing both classic and contemporary fiction, but I don’t believe we ever lose the influence of our earliest reading experience. In some ways I am always trying to recreate the gothic romance of Wuthering Heights combined with the through the Wardrobe experience of Narnia.
Lucy
My first novel, Journey, was published by Legend Press in March 2007 and my second, Fragile, in June of this year.
Before publication I wondered what the key was, the magic formula. I attended conferences and literary festivals, nurturing a fading hope of finding the answer. Here are the things I gleaned, helping me cross that fine, elusive line dividing unpublished and published writers.
Find your own style – Publishers know if your style is forced; they won’t read on. Natalie Goldberg says write what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should think and feel. Capture the wild energy of first, unedited, thoughts.
Write – I believe I became a writer when I treated it as a job, not a hobby.
Write what you know – A much bandied phrase, but what does it mean? I think it is about authenticity. Journey tells the story of two friends who travel to India with dramatic consequences when one drowns in the Ganges. I have never drowned but I do swim in rivers. I have travelled in India; I know how the Ganges looks at different times of the day. I had to research Hindu cremation ceremonies, but I already possessed certain experiential knowledge and this, I am told, gave my story authenticity.
Fragile looks at three characters, one who is transgendered; one who uses a sperm donor and the third who searches for her father with… you guessed it… dramatic consequences. My work and life experience, rather than first hand knowledge, enabled me to write with authenticity.
Accept advice - Join a discerning writer’s group. We don’t need to be told our writing is nice; we need to know how to make it publishable. Consider paying for a critique, such as one offered by WritersServices.
Like good wine give your work time to breathe, you’d be surprised what you see with fresh eyes. Make your material as strong as possible before sending it into the lion’s den.
To read the article in full click here!
Lucy
Jae Watson author of the brilliant 'Journey' and 'Fragile' was in Liverpool at the weekend promoting 'Fragile' at the main Waterstone's in Liverpool.
The event was a great success with lots of people buying signed copies. There were several fans of Jae's first novel 'Journey' at the event, and it is great to see people reading both novels. One student even mentioned that 'Fragile' was recommended reading on their university course.
Blurb:
Following the breakdown of her marriage, in desperation Beth Swann uses a donor bank in her hometown of Liverpool to start her family. 18 years later, her daughter, Julia, increasingly intrigued by the identity of her biological father, goes against her mother’s wishes and returns to Liverpool to complete the jigsaw of her background. Julia finds that not only Liverpool has changed but also her character, as she is drawn into an increasingly fraught and passionate journey that will turn her life upside down.Fragile follows the lives of Beth, Julia and Jack, Beth’s ex-husband and closest to a father figure for Julia, on a roller coaster trip search for understanding and love – but, firstly, their identity
Lucy
The fantastic Fragile by Jae Watson has received a glowing review from the Liverpool Student online magazine by Gabby Smith.
'Fragile by Jae Watson follows the rollercoaster lives of Beth Swann, her daughter Julia and Beth’s ex husband and close friend Jack Berry. These intriguing, tragic, yet identifiable characters each embark on separate journeys to find love, belonging, acceptance, but most of all, their identity. By no means an optimistic novel, Fragile is riddled with desperation, pain and broken souls which, when taken on face value, is completely unbelievable. Yet that’s what makes this novel so brilliant, what makes Jae Watson so brilliant, it is believable.
Yet there is something rather unsettling about this book, the constant return to the subject of identity really makes you question your own; in this way, Fragile affects its reader more than just through the words on the page and the mere enjoyment of reading it, it affects the reader more than just during the time spent engrossed in it... it leaves you thinking, questioning, considering, contemplating for days and weeks and months after reading. By the end of the novel you are sad to leave behind the characters you have met and built a relationship with through the course of reading the novel. This may all have something to do with the ending however. The ending left me angry. So many loose ends, so much more for Watson to tell us, yet it just stops, right in the thick of things. But then this is a modern novel, and like it or not, the ending is bloody brilliant for what it's meant to achieve.
What's more, the ending isn’t the only point at which Watson ends right when you just can’t wait to find out what happens next; the frankly brilliant structure flitting between characters, time and events leaves you constantly guessing, wanting the full story, wanting to know what happens next.
Fragile is a great novel, an easily read, disturbing, yet moving piece which is a real credit to Jae Watson. I would certainly recommend this book to absolutely anyone who enjoys a good book that you can really get inside of and which really makes you question how simple life and identity really are. After all, as Watson so brilliantly sums it up- ‘People don’t always walk in straight lines'.'
To see the article click here!
Lucy
Tomorrow night is the official launch of Jae Watson's fantastic novel Fragile at the Phoenix Artists Club in Central London. It is exciting to celebrate the launch of Jae's second novel with Legend Press.
Following the breakdown of her marriage, in desperation Beth Swann uses a donor bank in her hometown of Liverpool to start her family. 18 years later, her daughter, Julia, increasingly intrigued by the identity of her biological father, goes against her mother’s wishes and returns to Liverpool to complete the jigsaw of her background. Julia finds that not only Liverpool has changed but also her character, as she is drawn into an increasingly fraught and passionate journey that will turn her life upside down.
Fragile follows the lives of Beth, Julia and Jack, Beth’s ex-husband and closest to a father figure for Julia, on a roller coaster trip search for understanding and love – but, firstly, their identity.
Fragile is available now to buy on the online shop for £7.99. If you would like to receive a signed copy please order today and we will have them signed tomorrow night. If you would like a signed copy simply purchase the copy as normal and email me at lucyboguslawski@legend-paperbooks.co.uk with your message.
Order your copy of Fragile now - £7.99
Lucy
