Thank you to editor David Flint for making the legendary Holly Woodlawn the cover-star of  the latest edition of The Reprobate. Aimed at the socially contrary, The Reprobate kindly included a previously unpublished interview that I did with Holly probably about 12 years back and was never able to find an outlet for. Holly was gracious and funny throughout and had the smoky laugh of a celluloid siren. In era when we are patronised by celebrities who think that wearing a tee-shirt  is a revolutionary stance, its vital to pay respect to icons such as Holly who never gave up the fight for freedom of expression and lived beyond the mainstream, a shoe-string stardom when she should have won an Oscar.  From Puerto Rico to Broadway, Holly reminisces about playing alongside fellow luminaries from the Warhol Factory: Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling and Joe Dallesandro as well as the origins of the Stonewall riot not to mention a steamy evening with Jim Morrison……

To read the interview, click the link below:

https://ninaantoniaauthor.com/holly-woodlawn-superstar/

I was also fortunate to be able to review Caroline Coon’s gloriously illustrated book, ‘Laid Bare’, an unflinchingly honest autobiographical account of how to survive a year of working as an escort. Bold, witty and brave, Caroline is again a pioneer and the book is a treat!!  Here’s a little snippet : ‘Back in the Sixties, she was ardently pursued by the actor, Terence Stamp. On the night he called up at her window, like a love-sick swain, Caroline finally relented to his advances. Terence was beautiful so bedding him was no hardship. Afterwards, he leaned back on the pillow and jauntily exclaimed, “Wasn’t that a wonderful fuck?” Wanting to be truthful, Caroline responded, “Actually, no.” Disgruntled, Stamp announced “Well Catherine Deneuve and Julie Christie didn’t complain.”

To read the review, click the link below:

https://ninaantoniaauthor.com/books/caroline-coon-laid-bare/

Johnny Thunders – In Cold Blood’ is sited as one of the best music books you’ve never read in an interesting feature on Unknown Pleasures.  Most Thunders aficionado’s have got all the editions: Jungle books and Cherry Red  – as for the ‘real’ world – that can take awhile……….especially if its a music book written by a woman.  Some barriers take longer to break than others……….

Click the link below the check out the article:

http://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/best-music-books-youve-never-read

Delighted to see on a Thomas Ligotti forum (Ligotti is an American horror writer and reclusive literary cult figure) that one of the users said that The Greenwood Faun was the first book they were were most looking forward to:

The Greenwood Faun will be available September 2017 by Egaeus Press who have described it as “A beautiful, otherworldy novel which draws on the lost writings of Lucian Taylor and Lionel Johnson, the natural world and the preternatural; blurring facts and fictions.”  

Stay tuned here to order The Greenwood Faun online.

xxx

It seemed timely to double check Katherine Briggs ‘The Fairies in English Tradition & Literature’ just in case a Blog was a type of nature spirit or a long-forgotten sprite or elemental. Of mischievous Boggarts, the shapeless Brollachan and North Country Bogles there were plenty, frolicking, hiding and haunting the highways and low-lands. Some are best glimpsed by moon light, others steal elf horses and set up home in barns, but not a single Blog was to be found on the pages of Brigg’s marvellous tome. Sadly, blogs are a purely human-made construct. I tried not to be disappointed. The otherworldly is all around. Music and poetry have long been considered fairy gifts and the piper plays on, if you choose to listen.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by ‘Louder Than War’s’ Gus Ironside. A long time Peter Perrett aficionado, Gus and I talked about books old and new, including the forthcoming ‘Greenwood Faun’ which is due for publication via Egaeus Press, this September and how I’d ventured from rock n’ roll into a more otherworldly realms. I never thought I’d write a protest poem either – but – one doesn’t expect a council to start felling thousands of healthy, mature trees because they are an impediment to tidy streets. But that is precisely what has happened in Sheffield and why I wrote ‘Sheff’. Tree activist ‘The Sad Squirrel’ very kindly provided illustrations to go with the lyrics. As well as being mystical, living entities, trees filter pollution and provide leafy bowers for urban wildlife. Gus and I had plenty to talk about and I look forward to posting the interview.

I was very sorry to hear that Paul Clements, bass player with Manchester’s E.P.I had passed away. Paul was a lovely chap, steeped in rock n’ roll and a huge Thunders fan. Paul leaves behind a young family and will be missed by many. L.A.M.F always, Paul.

That’s all for now, this Blog is best glimpsed by moon-light and I need to get back to working on my current project, an anthology of moody Victorian poetry by a cruelly neglected but awesomely melancholy author who it is said still haunts the star-washed streets of London. Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder…….

‘Still Life’ is a short story by Nina Antonia published exclusively in Cold Lips II.

via Cold Lips:

Nina Antonia is best known for writing the most stolen book in rock n roll’s history, In Cold Blood about Johnny Thunders (currently in development in Hollywood).  But she has scribed and edited on a wealth of others: Peter Perret from the Only Ones, Peter Doherty, The Mission’s Wayne Hussey.  A rare force of true independence, this tarot reading tour-de-force was a regular at the anti-literary night that led to Cold Lips, and she performed with Thunders’ drummer, Chris Musto, at the launch party for the second edition which this is grabbed from…

To read it, please click on the link below:

New fiction from Nina Antonia

Nina Antonia performs Sheff, an elegy to Sheffield’s felled trees, and Celestial Slang (dedicated to Johnny Thunders) at John Cooper Clarke event at Cold Lips.

Oscar Wilde’s Supernatural Lecture by Nina Antonia