Before I go much further, my interview with a local AM station was aired this morning, and I will share a link here. I've had a few congratulations on the interview, so I am very happy about that. It's interesting, but people tend to assume the protagonist, Tess, is about me. She's not. She's got some qualities I had as a seventeen-year-old - shy and literate - but she's NOT me. Something I've found as an author is people assume you're writing about yourself, and this is not necessarily the case at all. Writers tend to write about what they KNOW, but the reader should not assume the character is a manifestation of the author. I was attending a sex-scene session at a literary festival last year, and pointed out that you could write the most gruesome, cannibalistic murder scene ever, and the reader is all: 'Yep, okay', but write a sex scene, no matter how pedestrian and vanilla the act, and everyone's like: 'That's YOU, isn't it?!!!!!!'
Anyway, check out the link to my radio interview here: https://www.2nm.com.au/podcast-player/show/7315650-simone-bailey-howling-on-a-concrete-moon/2nm-breakfast
It occurs to me there is material in the book the modern SJW is likely to view as 'problematic'. I make no apology for this, but will suggest if anybody has a problem with the material, then to contextualise. Some of the points of view given by the characters are keeping in with the zeitgeist of the book's setting.
On this line of thinking, just for shits and giggles I had a bit of a look through my iPod playlist, just to see what would annoy the woke people of today. Here are a few numbers:
1. Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent. Well, just the fact it's Ted Nugent is enough to get people clutching their pearls, or indulging in the modern-day equivalent, which is to start an online petition seeking to ban things because some people don't understand the concept of just not looking at or not listening to material that bothers them. It would appear the song is not about a cat playing with a scratching post, but apparently it's about STIs. When Nugent growls, 'I give 'em cat scratch fever...', alarmists everywhere would be decrying his cavalier attitude to not using condoms and spreading around his poxy boy-germs.
2. Mendocino by The Sir Douglas Quintet. To me, the narrator always appeared to be a lovelorn teenager, desperate for his girlfriend to commit - although the lyrics about 'please don't go/please stay here with me in Mendocino' made me wonder if he was trying to hold her back and prevent her realising her full potential. However, if driven types heard Doug Sahm singing: 'Fast-talking guys/With strange red eyes/Have put things in your head/And started your mind to wonderin'...', there would be screams about the dude being a gaslighter of the worst type. It would appear 'gaslighting' is the word du jour of late. That's not to downplay the seriousness of what is really manipulative abuse, but I do see it rather a lot when I'm reading articles lately.
3. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Ian Hunter because when he sings: 'I got there in the nick of time/Before he got his hands across your state line...', he sounds like something of a cock-blocker who doesn't want to allow the woman agency and self-autonomy over her own sexuality. If anyone's got an issue with this song, chill out and enjoy Mick Ronson's solo - best guitar solo EVER!
I know it sounds like I'm reading too much into these songs, but I'm not. I'm just having a bit of fun imagining how the modern socially aware generation would interpret them. In fact, I'm just off to play those songs now, while I'm getting my mini foxie his dinner. Speaking of my mini fox terrier, can I just give a shout-out to the guy across the road with the monstrous blue heeler (that appears to have been crossed with a Great Dane, or maybe a horse) this morning: You rock, man! No wait, that came out wrong. What I meant to type was this: you are a fucking moron who should keep that vicious beast on a leash, instead of allowing it to wander around with you, thus enabling it to come across the road and bite my little dog when I was walking him today. Reader, let me tell you I let fly with the language at that rotten mongrel, as I quickly dragged my dog away and scooped him up. Thankfully, my dog was not injured in the fracas, but seriously, if you've got a vicious bloody hell-beast like that fucking thing, keep it on a leash!
Just before I go, I've published a short story on Amazon - it's a satirical look at the Instagram influencer generation, and it tells the story of a planned raunchy afternoon that spirals into craziness. It's only $1.41AUD, and here's a link. I'm sure it will give you a laugh.
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07V4VT4XG
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