Just come back from Fantasy convention in Brighton. I’d been nominated for a Best Newcomer award for “Automatic Safe Dog”. Unfortunately no award for the Dog book but I did get to eat a lovely curry with a gang of weirdo writers and ride around Brighton on a sit up and beg bike chasing seagulls.
What I’ll do with a seagull when I catch one I’m not sure. Perhaps seagulls are a bit like homing pigeons and if you catch one you can tie a note above its horny claw and bid it adieu to the blue sky. I would write on my seagull note “Bring more tea.” or “Let me do cartwheels after the gym closes.” or “Books about Dog Furniture are the new literary novel. Wake up John Sutherland and smell the bonemeal.” or “Tell Jonathon Livingstone Seagull to get existentialist on my New Age Ass. ” Somesuch important message.
There have continued to be some good reviews of “Automatic Safe Dog” in the archipelagos of cyberspace. Such as this one from Fright.com
“ Obviously this isn’t your grandmother’s corporate satire. The novel will surely upset just as many readers as it enchants, yet in today’s economy-devouring corporate culture I believe Jet McDonald’s raunchy, surreal and altogether outrageous brand of absurdity is exactly what we need.”
This is what I will write on the haunch of my seagull when I finally catch one. And yet they always fly a finger breadth away , as I ride one handed down to the sea.
Jet McDonald 