Promotion | Guy Portman's Blog

Symbiosis Countdown

Jan 15 2016

My psychological thriller, Symbiosis, is ~~being released next Thursday (January 21st)~~ now on sale.

Symbiosis

The blurb:

Identical twins Talulah and Taliah have never been apart. Viewed as curiosities by children and adults alike, they coexist in an insular world with their own secret language. But being identical doesn’t necessarily mean being equal…

Soon a series of momentous events will send Talulah and Taliah spiralling out of control, setting them on a collision course with a society that views them as two parts of a whole. Will their symbiotic relationship survive?

Perceptive and poignant, Symbiosis explores our enduring fascination with twins and the complexities of twinship.

Click here to enter the goodreads giveaway for a chance to win one of three autographed copies.

Symbiosis

Here are two short extracts from Symbiosis:

During dinner that evening Talulah and Taliah’s cutlery does not move in unison with one another, and when they reach for their glasses of water, they do so at different times. Their unsynchronised actions continue into dessert, with Talulah rapidly consuming her Petits-Filous yoghurt, whilst Taliah eats hers at a leisurely pace, each time her teaspoon emerges from the pot, only the front end is covered in yoghurt.

‘You will not regress to cryptophasias, not here!’ shouts Hunter-Thornton. The scarlet-cheeked psychiatrist views with consternation the two expressionless faces staring back at him. ‘At Hunter-Thornton Integrated Counselling Services we accept cognitive disorders in all their manifestations, but insolence we will not. You have been warned.’
‘Ugi derriii bothi baldi.’ It is Talulah who says this.

Symbiosis is now available for preorder from Amazon.

Amazon.com – paperback ($10.99) & Kindle ($3.38)

Amazon.co.uk – paperback (£6.99) & Kindle (£2.29)

Symbiosis Blurb Reveal

Jan 08 2016

There are only 11 days to go until the release of Symbiosis (Publication Date: 21st January 2016). Symbiosis is a Psychological Thriller. It is my third novel (Charles Middleworth & Necropolis). Last week I unveiled the front cover (see below).

Symbiosis

This is the blurb:

Perceptive and poignant, Symbiosis explores our enduring fascination with twins and the complexities of twinship.

A valuable addition to the monozygotic canon…

Symbiosis demonstrates Portman’s ability to populate his worlds with peculiar yet plausible characters.

Moving and laconic, with impressive attention to psychological detail…

I am pleased to announce that Symbiosis is now available for preorder from Amazon.

Amazon.com – paperback ($10.99) & Kindle ($3.38)

Amazon.co.uk – paperback (£6.99) & Kindle (£2.29)

Click here to sign up for my newsletter.

Symbiosis Front Cover Reveal

Jan 01 2016

Happy New Year everyone! May 2016 prove to be a prosperous year for us all.

Late this morning I spent some time perusing my 2015 Jetpack annual report. If you don’t like stats look away now.

This blog received over 14,000 page views in 2015.
Visitors came from 123 countries including Kiribati.
I wrote 52 blog posts (every Friday afternoon).
March 20th was the most popular day with 341 views.
My most viewed post was 7 Famous Writers Who Died Poor.

2016 promises more of the same.

2016

As many of you know my third novel, Symbiosis, is being released later this month (21st January).

Here is some information about Symbiosis.

Symbiosis is a Psychological Thriller (a story which emphasises the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states).

The main characters are twin girls called Talulah and Taliah.

Talulah and Taliah speak to each other in a cryptophasia. A cryptophasia is a secret language developed by a set of twins, which only they understand. The word originates from the Latin crypto meaning secret and phasia meaning speech.

The book’s themes include mental health.

Symbiosis explores our enduring fascination with twins and the complexities of twinship.

And now for the first time I present Symbiosis’s front cover.

Symbiosis

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Happy New Year.

Click here to sign up for my newsletter.

7 Books about Twins

Dec 18 2015

My 3rd novel, Symbiosis, is a Psychological Thriller about identical twin girls called Talulah and Taliah. I will be revealing more soon, but for now we continue with the book theme.

As part of my research for Symbiosis I read a number of books about twins. This week’s blog post is devoted to books about/that feature twins (fiction & non fiction) – 4 of which I have read.

The following books are presented in chronological order:

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (1927)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Set in 18th century Peru, this novella is about a bridge that collapses, killing 5 people. The main characters include identical twins called Esteban and Manuel. The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a philosophical tale with religious undertones. Click here to read my review.

My Opinion: Average

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews (1979)

This, the first book in the Dollanganger Series, features twins called Carrie and Cory. Flowers in the Attic is a gothic horror/family saga that has been adapted for the silver screen on 2 occasions. Over 40 million copies have been sold worldwide.

The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace (1986)

This is the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins born in the UK in 1963. Their lives caught the public’s attention, and were the inspiration behind the lyrics of Tsunami by the Manic Street Preachers. Click here to read my review.

My Opinion: Quite good

Evil Twins by John Glatt (1999)

Evil Twins

Utilising a tabloid journalistic approach, Evil Twins is a true crime book, which is divided into 12 sections, each dedicated to a different set of ‘evil’ twins. It spawned a television series of the same name. Click here to read my review.

My Opinion: Eminently readable sensationalist tripe.

Alva & Irva by Edward Carey (2003)

This unusual novel is about inseparable, identical twins called Alva and Irva. The twins, who come from a family of post office employees, reside in Entralla, a picturesque city with only 1 guidebook. Click here to read my review.

My Opinion: Quaint

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2006)

One of the book’s main characters, Margaret Lea, was born a conjoined twin. Her sibling died shortly after separation. This gothic suspense novel also features another set of twins called Emmeline and Adeline March.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry is a novel about American twins called Julia and Valentina, who are living in an apartment their aunt left them. The girls’ lives become entangled with that of their neighbours. It is set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.

7 Mental Health Themed Novels

Dec 04 2015

Here are 7 mental health themed books from the last 90 years:

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925)

Set during a single day in June 1923, Mrs Dalloway’s themes include mental health. One of the main characters, Septimus Warren Smith, is a veteran of WWI, who is suffering from shell shock. Click here to read my review.

Tender Is The Night by Scott Fitzgerald (1934)

Protagonist Dick Diver is a talented psychoanalyst, whose wife Nicole is also his patient. Scott Fitzgerald wrote Tender Is the Night when his wife Zelda was hospitalised for schizophrenia. It was his fourth and final completed novel.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kasey (1962)

The book’s narrator is ‘Chief’ Bromden, a Native American psychiatric hospital patient. Other characters include Randle Patrick Murphy, who faked insanity to escape a prison sentence, and Mildred Ratched, the hospital’s draconian head nurse.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)

Protagonist Esther Greenwood’s year in the ‘bell jar’ as she describes it, culminates in her being institutionalised in a mental health facility. This erudite and humorous semi-autobiographical novel adeptly explores an emotionally disturbed mind. Click here to read my review.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (1987)

Norwegian Wood sees protagonist Toru Watanabu reflecting on his college days in Tokyo. During this period Toru had established a relationship with a beautiful but emotionally troubled girl called Naoko. Naoko was to spend time in a secluded mountain sanatorium.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham (1998)

This Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner follows 3 generations of women who have been affected by the Virginia Woolf novel, Mrs Dalloway. The women are: Virginia Woolf herself, Mrs Brown, the wife of a WWII veteran, and the bisexual Clarissa Vaughan.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011)

Set during the 1980s, The Marriage Plot is about 3 college friends from Brown University – Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell. Leonard has manic depression. This is affecting his work, friendships and romantic relationships.

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Books with Secret Languages

Nov 20 2015

My third novel, Symbiosis, is about identical twin girls called Talulah and Taliah. It is a psychological thriller. Talulah and Taliah speak to each other in a cryptophasia. A cryptophasia is a secret language developed by a set of twins, which only they understand.

Here are 6 authors who invented/alluded to idiosyncratic languages in their writing:

James Joyce – Finnegans Wake (1939) – Written in Paris over a period of 17 years, much of Finnegans Wake is written in an idiosyncratic language, made up of a combination of portmanteau words, multilingual puns and English lexical items.

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings (1954) – Tolkien had a penchant for creating languages. In The Lord of the Rings he described in intricate detail the linguistics of Middle-earth. A number of constructed languages were envisaged.

H.P. Lovecraft – Various books/stories – In Lovecraft’s writing the language R’lyehian is a hieroglyphic lettering system, which was brought to earth by the spawn of Cthulhu. Lovecraft never gave a name to this language, but his fans did.

Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange (1962) – Set in a dystopian near future, this violent and at times comical work employs an imaginary teenage dialect called nadsat that is in part inspired by Russian. A glossary is provided. Click here to read my review.

Russell Hoban – Riddley Walker (1980) – Set in the English county of Kent, 2000 years after a nuclear war, Riddley Walker is written in an idiosyncratic language, composed of a phonetic transliteration of a Kentish accent.

Chris Beckett – Dark Eden (2012) – In this science fiction novel, the descendants of 2 people who crashed on a planet called Eden, communicate in an unsophisticated language. The inhabitants of Eden do not yet have words for much of their environment.

My Revamped Blog

Oct 16 2015

March 12th 2012 saw the launch of this blog with a post titled Miami Day One. It was followed 4 days later with a post dedicated to my first and last visit to Taco Bell (Fort Lauderdale). I am not sure anyone other than myself ever read these posts.

Today, 3.5 years and 36,000 page views later, I finally got around to getting a professional to redesign this blog. It was out with the all-encompassing grey, including grey font, and in with a tasteful white and blue scheme with a clear, large, black font.

You can find my 2 novels (Necropolis and Charles Middleworth) on the right hand side of the page. I went with a red font for the Amazon links. The rationale being that red encourages action. Wishful thinking perhaps, only time will tell.

I write a blog post every Friday afternoon (16:03 GMT) and hope to continue to do so for many decades to come. There are now over 50 instalments of my famous author series, in addition to posts devoted to books, as well as the occasional update on my travels, including a trip around a high-tech Japanese house and tours of 3 cemeteries (The Brompton Cemetery in London, Recoleta in Buenos Aires and Zentralfriedhof in Vienna). I am interested in cemeteries. The protagonist in my second novel, Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council.

In the My Reviews section (see top of page) you will find 81 of my book reviews. The titles, unlike before, are now neatly nested in a table. There are books to interest all tastes. I look forward to sharing many more reviews in the forthcoming years.

You might be interested in joining my mailing list (see right hand column). I will be sending out occasional newsletters.

Have a good weekend.

Work in Progress Blog Hop

Apr 24 2015

I have been nominated for the Work in Progress Blog Hop by author Heather Burnside (heatherburnside.com). Heather is a regular blogger, who likes to share writing tips and information about her books. Heather is currently working on her second novel – a sequel to SLUR, her crime fiction novel, set in 1980s Manchester. Heather has also written a book of short stories called Crime, Conflict & Consequences. Thank you for nominating me Heather.

The blog hop rules are:

Link back to the person who nominated you.
Write a little about and give the first few lines of your first three chapters from your WIP.
Nominate some other writers to do the same.

Here are my nominations:

Andy Lowe – Andy is a poet and author of 4 books. He shares writing excerpts on his blog – andrewlowewriter.wordpress.com

Craig Stone – Craig is the author of 5 humorous novels. He is also something of a Twitter celebrity. Craig shares his unique insights on his blog – http://thoughtscratchings.com

You can find reviews of Heather, Andy and Craig’s books in the review section of my blog.

Here’s a little about my work in progress:

I am currently writing my third novel (Charles Middleworth & Necropolis). It will be an original and suspenseful work of psychological fiction.

This is the opening line:

‘wethiwethi deh klathi nuhnuh – meou klathi bothi iahn’

It’s not even English I hear you say. It is written in a cryptophasia. A cryptophasia is a secret language developed by a set of twins, which only they understand. The word originates from the Latin crypto meaning secret and phasia meaning speech. As you’ve probably guessed by now my book is about twins. Their names are Talulah and Taliah.

Here are the opening lines of my first draft of Chapter 2 and the second paragraph of Chapter 3 (the first contained spoilers).

Chapter 2

Framed watercolours capturing landscapes adorn the white walls of the spacious, brightly lit room, furnished with vivid coloured settees, chairs, polka dotted bean bags and a large glass desk. Spread out on the polished wooden floor in the centre of the room is a large gridded mat with different coloured squares. Taliah is crouched over the mat, each of her feet and hands resting on separate squares. The young psychiatrist, sitting cross-legged beside the mat, says, ‘You ready …’

Chapter 3

As far back as Colin can remember he has been led to believe that ownership of a Ferrari offers the prospect of redemption, but now as he looks down upon its metallic, inanimate form, and its balding proprietor Gerald, heaving his corpulent carcass towards the office entrance, it occurs to Colin that redemption is merely an illusion.

My Top 5 Transgressive Novels

Nov 21 2014

Definition: Transgressive literature is a genre that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways.

Here are my Top 5 Transgressive Novels:

Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk’s seminal work is about a nameless narrator, who starts a fight club with a charismatic anarchist by the name of Tyler Durden. Their fight club concept becomes very popular and spreads across the nation.

My Review: The protagonist, who remains nameless, is an insomniac leading a bland corporate existence, investigating accidents for a car company, whose only concern is profit. Unable to find meaning in a faceless consumerist society, he instead seeks solace in… (More)

American Psycho

American Psycho is a satire of the yuppies culture of the 1980s that caused outrage when it was published due to its explicit violent and sexual content. It went on to become a cult classic.

My Review: American Psycho is a highly controversial novel that brought its young author Bret Easton Ellis instant fame. The book is written from the perspective of a young Wall Street financier, Patrick Bateman… (More)

Junky

Junky is a sardonic, dark and humorous semi-autobiographical account of William S. Burroughs’s years spent using heroin. Its protagonist Bill Lee struggles to escape a cycle of drug dependency whilst trying to find meaning in his life.

My Review: Set in 1950s America and Mexico, Junky is a confessional novella about drug addiction. Its protagonist Bill Lee chronicles his drug-centred existence, which entails searching for his daily fix, scoring, and intravenous drug consumption …(More)

Post Office

Post Office is a darkly humorous, semi-autobiographical work about Charles Bukowski’s years spent working for the United States Postal Service. It describes the banality, dehumanisation and hardship of unskilled drudgery.

My Review: Henry Chinaski is a heavy drinking, womanising, race track frequenting low-life, who works at the post office. The story follows his menial existence of twelve-hour night shifts, sorting post, delivering mail, observing his fellow colleagues and facing countless disciplinary measures… (More)

Necropolis

Necropolis is a satirical black comedy about a sociopath called Dyson, who works for the burial and cemeteries department in his local council. Okay, so I might have left myself open to accusations of hubris in including my own book alongside these four iconic texts…

Review: ‘The book is full of razor-sharp satire. No politically correct madness escapes unscathed, and no sacred cow remains un-butchered and served up in freezer packs.’ (More)

My Visit to Recoleta Cemetery

Oct 24 2014

I have always been fascinated by cemeteries. Not only have I visited countless burial grounds, but the protagonist in my second novel, the satirical black comedy Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council. Necropolis features a number of fictional cemeteries.

During my trip to Argentina earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit the world famous Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Recoleta is filled with a dizzying array of monuments, mausoleums, statues, columns, tombstones and obelisks. On entering the burial ground visitors are greeted by the sight of this towering arch (see below), commemorating General Alvear, hero of the Argentine War of Independence.

Iconic former First Lady of Argentina, Eva Peron, is buried five metres underground in her family crypt at Recoleta. This is her plaque:

Unlike the sombre and dark traditional family crypts/mausoleums I have seen in the UK, Recoleta’s are often inviting, glass fronted structures brimming with flowers (see below). A flight of stairs leads down to the death chamber below.

Having shooed one of Recoleta’s numerous feline inhabitants away with my foot, I took this picture (see below). Note the palm tree and the pining angels clasping onto the mausoleum on the left.

Below is a picture of your esteemed author posing outside a family crypt, adorned with angels in a variety of poses.

Below is an austere, angel-free mausoleum that particularly appealed to me. I wonder if my monthly Co-operative Funeralcare plan will cover me for one of these in marble or black granite.

Another interesting burial receptacle.

Señor Donovan seemed very confident in which direction he was heading (see below).

Recoleta abounds with monuments commemorating the Generals from Argentina’s proud military past – a proud military past I was not even aware of. I made the decision it was probably advisable as an Englishman not to question the authenticity of this claim whilst in the cemetery.

Recolata is a truly remarkable and unique cemetery that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Buenos Aires. Below is an aerial shot of Recoleta, which shows the sheer scale of the facility and the diverse nature of its monuments and numerous burial receptacles.

Category - Promotion

Symbiosis Countdown

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Symbiosis Blurb Reveal

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Symbiosis Front Cover Reveal

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7 Books about Twins

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7 Mental Health Themed Novels

Like this:

Books with Secret Languages

Like this:

My Revamped Blog

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Work in Progress Blog Hop

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My Top 5 Transgressive Novels

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My Visit to Recoleta Cemetery

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Category - Promotion

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