Porto in lock down

In Blog Items, Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

Today I watched a tv news item on the closure of the border with Spain and, collaterally, of the pilgrimage route to Santiago, and it struck me that here was a tiny filament in the incomprehensibly complex web of fractures in the life of the world: like the shattered screen of a mobile phone, but not so easy to replace.

January 2019

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

A film noir drizzle is spangling the windows tonight, puddles fragmenting the street below, the wet sweep of traffic like windscreen wipers: reveal and erase, erase and reveal.

From: “THE FRENCH THING” (Carreg Gwalch, 2002)

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

“…that low-grade xenophobia that is never far below the surface in the English psyche; a dull and petulant hatred of the whole world, but especially of Europe. People talk about Ireland’s deadly affair with history, the gloomy steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone, but really it is England that has the dismal and corrupting preoccupation with the past. Sometimes you feel …

RED HAMMER (from FLIRTING AT THE FUNERAL)

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

    © Chris Keil 2012 “RED HAMMER” A play by Dave Leaper ACT ONE SCENE ONE As the lights come up on a stretch of isolated country road, we hear the sounds of a bus pulling away from a stop – hiss and clap of the door, EEH-AW screech of a klaxon, the roar of the motor shifting up …

May 26th

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

I’ve been watching a couple in their early forties in the square across the street, talking very intently under a tree, amongst the parked cars. There’s a kid with them, a boy of twelve or thirteen, that skinny, floppy-haired look they have, sometimes taking part in the conversation, sometimes stamping off, bouncing a ball on the pavement. He looks bored …

Porto, May

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

A film noir drizzle is spangling the windows tonight, puddles fragmenting the street below, the wet sweep of traffic like windscreen wipers: reveal and erase, erase and reveal.

Cillian Editing Services

In Blog Items by ChrisLeave a Comment

My publisher, Mark Brady of Cillian Press, has just launched  Cillian Editing Services – brilliant, innovative, setting a  new standard of excellence. Check it out at: cillianeditingservices.co.uk

See All Blog Items Posts

New book

In Books by ChrisLeave a Comment

From The Ghostwriter’s Notebook  Copyright © Chris Keil 2015 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena couldn’t tell me much about the asteroid 3408 Shalamov that I didn’t already know. They knew, obviously, that it had been discovered in 1977 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh, and is named after the author of Kolyma Tales. They’ve plotted its orbit, but they say …

View Post

Wales Arts Review

In Books, Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

Thanks to Wales Arts Review for a nice review of Flirting at the Funeral in the latest issue. Even if you didn’t quite get Matty! Link: http://www.walesartsreview.org/flirting-at-the-funeral-by-chris-keil/  

View Post

FROM “LIMINAL” (ALCEMI, 2007) CHAPTER THREE

In Books by ChrisLeave a Comment

“The colours of the map rose up at him out of the pool of lamplight: the lucent blue of the Halcyonic Gulf; the sand-shades of the littoral, deepening in tone as the mountains rose behind the sea; winding yellow roads, and everywhere churches, and the little broken pillars marking ancient sites. He traced a route along the shore with the …

View Post

New Flirting review

In Books, Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

5.0 out of 5 stars Just incredibly brilliant, 8 Nov 2013 By  Bob Ventos “Bob Ventos” (UK) – See all my reviews   Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?) This review is from: Flirting at the Funeral (Paperback) I bought this because I liked the title – but it was a great and surprising find. In fact, it’s the best novel I’ve read in several years. …

View Post

HAY TRANSCRIPT

In Books, Featured, Trips and Events by Chris1 Comment

  “The novel certainly came out of the optimism of the sixties and seventies, the feeling that the world might really be about to change, that anything was possible, that the old models of social, political, cultural life could be thrown out and utterly re-imagined; that there would be a series of concentric revolutions that would transform relations of class, …

View Post

FROM CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

In Books by Chris1 Comment

“People slip away,” Howard said. “You have to hold on to them, or they slip away.” He walked through the vaulted archway of the gate-house into the dazzling afternoon light. “You can’t hold on to them,” Matty said, hanging back inside the key-hole of the arch. “They slip away anyway.” There was a slight resonance in her voice, a hollow echo. Howard turned, looking …

See All Books Posts
View Post

WORDSTOCK 2013

In Featured, Trips and Events by ChrisLeave a Comment

WORDSTOCK 2013 – The festival schedule is now live http://www.wordstockfestival.com/festival-schedule/ Two hundred and thirty writers, and I’m one of them! I’m doing a writing class on Sex and the Serious Novel And I’m appearing on stage with Chelsea Cain – going to be seriously good fun! Check it out here: http://chelseacain.com/events/wordstock-readingtalkqa  

View Post

HAY TRANSCRIPT

In Books, Featured, Trips and Events by Chris1 Comment

  “The novel certainly came out of the optimism of the sixties and seventies, the feeling that the world might really be about to change, that anything was possible, that the old models of social, political, cultural life could be thrown out and utterly re-imagined; that there would be a series of concentric revolutions that would transform relations of class, …

View Post

The Forge at Gort Festival Easter 2013

In Featured, Trips and Events by ChrisLeave a Comment

They know how to do book festivals in the west of Ireland and Guinness and hot toddies and music in the bars at night… Mark Brady of Cillian Press (UK) – left – in expressive mode introducing Chris Keil (right) in a discussion and reading from ‘Flirting at the Funeral,’ chaired by poet Patrick Stack (centre) at The Forge at …

See All Featured Posts

EXIT 16

In Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

As they turned off the main road through tunnels of overhanging branches, the landscape opened up into broad stretches of parkland, mapped out by stone walls and stands of trees, rising in soft folds. At a cross-roads, Andy jerked his head to the right. “Whatsisname lives up that way,” he said. “You know, Cameron. Big place, drove past it with …

Porto in lock down

In Blog Items, Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

Today I watched a tv news item on the closure of the border with Spain and, collaterally, of the pilgrimage route to Santiago, and it struck me that here was a tiny filament in the incomprehensibly complex web of fractures in the life of the world: like the shattered screen of a mobile phone, but not so easy to replace.

Full audio

In Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

FLIRTING AT HAY You can hear the full audio version of my gig at Hay on the Festival site: http://www.hayfestival.com/p-5822-chris-keil-and-julian-preece.aspx But skip the first 34 minutes!    

From the Notebook 2

In Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

It was sunset, and windy; the house was on the top of a hill. They were lighting fires and heaping rubbish into piles, throwing furniture out of the front door. They were intoxicated with leaving.

From the Notebook

In Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

From: The Ghostwriter’s Notebook Copyright © Chris Keil 2015 “Disgusting old man, that porrnographer. I met him Stephen you know, in Petersburg in 2005; he dribbles. I think he pisses pants also.” Fabienne was pouring herself a drink, her back to the room. “You’re so rude, darling,” she said. She turned to look at me. “He can’t help it, I …

View Post

LISBON

In Recent Posts by ChrisLeave a Comment

  I’m borrowing an apartment in Lisbon, fabulously glamorous city in a wonderfully frayed and tattered, ever-so-slightly seedy sort of a way, perfect belle époque, faded, a little down-at-heel, a courtesan of a certain age, irresistible! And I’m getting some writing done; for some reason my imagination is being fed raw meat here, even though I’m writing about London and …

See All Recent Posts Posts
View Post

Wales Arts Review

In Books, Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

Thanks to Wales Arts Review for a nice review of Flirting at the Funeral in the latest issue. Even if you didn’t quite get Matty! Link: http://www.walesartsreview.org/flirting-at-the-funeral-by-chris-keil/  

View Post

New Flirting review

In Books, Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

5.0 out of 5 stars Just incredibly brilliant, 8 Nov 2013 By  Bob Ventos “Bob Ventos” (UK) – See all my reviews   Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?) This review is from: Flirting at the Funeral (Paperback) I bought this because I liked the title – but it was a great and surprising find. In fact, it’s the best novel I’ve read in several years. …

More Flirting reviews

In Books, Reviews by Chris1 Comment

Great review for Flirting at the Funeral on the Whichbook site: “A powerful, raging novel…” http://www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/book.aspx?id=10981 … … … … …  

View Post

Marni Jackson’s review of “Flirting at the Funeral.”

In Books, Reviews by Chris1 Comment

Writer, award winning journalist and film co-writer, Toronto based Marni Jackson gives her thoughts on Chris Keil’s latest novel Flirting at the Funeral. “Matty, the character I found so charming in the early bits, evolves into a wonderful monster, whose artistry is undermined by ambition, narcissism and and living in the past. Howard became one of my favourite characters, his …

Review in NWR

In Books, Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

“Portugal, romance, film, terrorism, materialism & European capitalism. Highly topical, in the week the European Council got the Nobel Peace Prize! Chris Keil’s Flirting at the Funeral is reviewed by Katherine Stansfield in NWR spring edition.” Gwen Davies, Editor New Welsh Review    

Flirting reviews

In Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

5.0 out of 5 stars I want to read the sequel!, 12 Oct 2012 By Bananas – See all my reviews This review is from: Flirting at the Funeral (Paperback) This is a gripping, poignant and immersive read. Maybe it will resonate particularly with those who lived the time. The sequel would allow Matty to come through with integrity after doing away with Arno and …

Amazon reviews for Flirting at the Funeral

In Reviews by ChrisLeave a Comment

Flirting at the Funeral by Chris Keil Edition: Paperback Price: £9.99 5.0 out of 5 stars Its fun to flirt, 15 Oct 2012 This review is from: Flirting at the Funeral (Paperback) I read the second of Chris Keil’s books, Liminal and found the story much more engrossing when the action switched from Wales to Greece. It is the same with his third book, Flirting …

See All Reviews Posts
View Post

WORDSTOCK 2013

In Featured, Trips and Events by ChrisLeave a Comment

WORDSTOCK 2013 – The festival schedule is now live http://www.wordstockfestival.com/festival-schedule/ Two hundred and thirty writers, and I’m one of them! I’m doing a writing class on Sex and the Serious Novel And I’m appearing on stage with Chelsea Cain – going to be seriously good fun! Check it out here: http://chelseacain.com/events/wordstock-readingtalkqa  

View Post

WORDSTOCK WORKSHOP

In Trips and Events by ChrisLeave a Comment

  Title of creative writing workshop at Wordstock: SEX AND THE SERIOUS NOVEL The workshop will look at the role of the erotic in literary fiction: sometimes moving, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes unintentionally hilarious. Sex is a major part of life; why do so many serious writers have such trouble writing about it?    

View Post

HAY TRANSCRIPT

In Books, Featured, Trips and Events by Chris1 Comment

  “The novel certainly came out of the optimism of the sixties and seventies, the feeling that the world might really be about to change, that anything was possible, that the old models of social, political, cultural life could be thrown out and utterly re-imagined; that there would be a series of concentric revolutions that would transform relations of class, …

WORDSTOCK 2013

In Trips and Events by ChrisLeave a Comment

If you missed me at Hay in June, you can catch me at Wordstock in October! The Wordstock Festival takes place at the Oregon Convention Center, Portland, USA, October 3rd-6th. And I’m going to be there!

FLIRTING AT HAY

In Trips and Events by Chris1 Comment

Really looking forward to being at Hay with FLIRTING AT THE FUNERAL on June 2nd! http://www.hayfestival.com/p-5822-chris-keil-and-julian-preece.aspx  

See All Trips and Events Posts