Moving home

Hey.

I’ve got a new website. There’ll be regular blogs and stuff there. This blog’ll just be an archive of all the stupid stuff I’ve written thusfar. Head to my new website to stay in touch.

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This is the end, my beautiful friend, the end. The end of everything the end. The end of the podcast, the end. And it’s with James Smythe. Don’t expect MUCH talk about writing. We’ve got chat about last lines in movies, Breaking Bad, The Killing, Battlestar Galactica, Damon Lindehoff, science fiction, television, glorious brilliant television.

We go out as we came in, in a loud pub, not talking about books.

Follow James on Twitter: @jpsmythe
Follow me on Twitter: @nikeshshukla

And say hi. Cos this is the last podcast.

The Subaltern podcast episode 28: Chris Ware

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All the way over the corded phone from Conneticut comes Chris Ware – one of the best graphic novelists in the world. He of the astounding beautiful genius that is ‘Building Stories’ and the heart-wrenchingly sad ‘Jimmy Corrigan’. We talk about printed books, geeks inheriting the earth, how on earth someone puts together something like ‘Building Stories.

Learn how each panel comes together.

Hear Nikesh gush over talking to another hero of his.

Swoon with Chris’ delicate anecdotes of drawing and illustrating.

Thanks to Jonathan Cape and Joe Pickering (@joethepublicist) for setting this up.

Alas, life gets in the way and this writer must stop talking to other writers and actually write. This is the anti-penultimate episode of The Subaltern podcast, certainly for 2012. It may return in 2013 in a new format in a new home. Thank you for listening.

I just wanted to hear writers say things that weren’t answers to the same 5 questions we get asked in Q&As and author visits every day. I hope you like it too. If you did, leave me a legacy… tell everyone to download these episodes before they disappear. Thank you.

The Subaltern Podcast – Author Nikesh Shukla talks to other writers and authors and novelists about stuff, from writing to r’n'b. It’s the anti-panel discussion.

Credits:

Logo designed by Sanjai Dave

Location provided by the internet

Music provided by Vee Kay (Three Kings High)

Thank you to Chris Ware for phoning me on his book tour.

Thanks to Joe Pickering at Jonathan Cape for hooking it up.

Thank you to you for listening. If I can ask you to do one thing now… it’s these five things: Buy ‘Building Stories’, buy one of my books… leave a comment somewhere, here, iTunes, Stitcher, wherever. And tell all your friends. This is the pre-pre-goodbye. X

@nikeshshukla

http://podOmatic.com/r/mBVfEL

2 things I’m in

I’m in the next Book Slam annual, Too Much Too Young.

Too Much too Young’ features new and exclusive stories from David Nicholls, Marina Lewycka, Jesse Armstrong, Patrick Neate, Diana Evans, Emylia Hall, Nikesh Shukla, Jeremy Dyson, Craig Taylor, Salena Godden, Jackie Kay, and Chris Cleave.

My story, ‘Safe From Harm’ (Massive Attack) charts a friendship group falling apart and growing apart as they get older and forget the niceties of their childhood days.

Each short story is inspired by a song title – a nod to Book Slam’s drive to champion live music as well as literature.  ‘Too Much Too Young’ is a unifying theme, with many authors touching on youthful experience and nostalgic (and not so nostalgic) reminiscence, from Jackie Kay’s beautifully moving story, ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’, documenting a couple in the last throes of love to Chris Cleave’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’, a heartbreaking portrayal of dementia.

‘Too Much Too Young’ will be available in print, digital and audio editions. The print edition is a bespoke publication of considerable beauty – a limited edition hardback, individually numbered and signed by every contributor.

 Limited Edition: £20; Ebook: £1.99; Audio: £2.99

I’m also in this anthology of poems: ‘Where Rockets Burn Through’ with Ross Sutherland and Joe Dunthorne and loads more. It’s a book of science fiction poems. My one is called ‘Capsule’ and it’s about resurrecting lost loves and dead family members in digital spaces. Get it here

Short story: Hashtags that never trended #nevertrended

Hashtags that never trended #nevertrended

By Nikesh Shukla

1. #pornbooks – in August 2010, Rich and I tried to kickstart a pun game involving the pornification of book titles. Examples include Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Boner, Even the Dogging, A Tale of Two Titties

2. #nevertrended – in September 2012, I started to collate all the subjects that had never gone viral, the hilariously specific hashtags like #maybeonedayiwillgetjazz and retweeted them with the hashtag #nevertrended. The hashtag #nevertrended never trended.

3. #twittergold – in March 2011, I replied to anyone’s mundane tweet about meals, meetings or being made late by public transport with the simple qualification: #twittergold. I was unfollowed more times by anyone in this period.

4. #thingsthatmakemewanttokillmyself – in February 2012, my ex-girlfriend got in touch with me. I listed other things that made me want to kill myself.

5. #updatedfilmquotes – I thought I had a viral game here. It was September 2012 and I was writing a cheque. I thought of that moment in Point Break. I updated the quote: ‘Your mind’s using 3-digit security codes your body can’t verify.’ I couldn’t think of any others.

6. #x – in July 2009, I got so many Happy Birthday messages, I thought replying to them all, and then to all tweets with hashtag x, I would finally trend. I didn’t.

7. #iwillneverevereatsandwiches – in November 2010, I was drunk and feeling itchy to tweet. This was all I could come up with.

8. #hashtag – in June 2011, I thought this would break Twitter, in the same way Googling Google was supposed to break Google. It didn’t.

9. #loveme – in January 2009, when I first joined Twitter and learned what a hashtag was, this was the first one I ever used.

10. #imleavingtwitter – I Tweeted this today before deleting my account. Somewhere in there was a history of the last two years of my life. I just didn’t like who I had become.

The Subaltern podcast episode 27: Jennifer Egan

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A Visit from the Egan Squad today as we hit up Jenny from the block… Jennifer Egan, she of A Visit From the Goon Squad, Emerald City, The Keep, Look at Me and new Twitter-created short ‘Black Box’. She was ill. I was ill. We decided to be ill together. Well, on Skype. With the video chat turned off so we couldn’t see each other sneeze.

We talk about Black Box and its inception, lurking on Twitter, are da yoof reading less?, why she writes and what I tell creative writing students.

It’s the Subaltern podcast, y’all.

The Subaltern Podcast – Author Nikesh Shukla talks to other writers and authors and novelists about stuff, from writing to r’n'b. It’s the anti-panel discussion.

Credits:

Logo designed by Sanjai Dave
Location provided by the internet
Music provided by Vee Kay (Three Kings High)
Thanks to Jenny for trooping along despite the lurgy.

Follow me on Twitter: @nikeshshukla
Follow Jennifer on Twitter: @egangoonsquad (though she does just lurk)

The Subaltern podcast episode 26: Kevin Barry

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Dark lies the podcast… Kevin Barry, the mayor of Bohane, comes to us live on the telephonic instacommunication device all the way from County Sligo. Kevin Barry is one of the world’s best short story writers – this year, he won a £30k prize telling us just that. He has written a great book in the grim, dark, funny City of Bohane. He’s a bloody nice man too.

We talk about standing up writing, how to write about technology (proving a recurring topic), what he bought with £30k, broadband problems, grizzled detectives and film.

The Subaltern Podcast – Author Nikesh Shukla talks to other writers and authors and novelists about stuff, from writing to r’n'b. It’s the anti-panel discussion.

Credits:

Logo designed by Sanjai Dave
Location provided by pricey international phonecalls outside of the payment plan
Music provided by Vee Kay (Three Kings High)
Thanks to Kevin for postponing a dentist trip to talk.

Follow me on Twitter
Buy ‘Dark Lies the Island’