Tonight, a darker shadow looms large as the crimson hour approaches....

Oh yes, for tonight, Crimson Clocks launch our long-awaited (by us, anyway) second EP, A Darker Shadow; and celebrate the fact with a Crimson exclusive on web-DJ Steven C. Davis’s GASP radio show, tonight on Blast 1386 between 8-10pm (UK).

(...And now you understand the opening line....)

A Darker Shadow contains 6 tracks.  Marvel at the klezmer/ thrash hybrid of Shadow... Click your fingers cabaret style-ee at A Safe Pair of Hands... quiver at our Goddess duo of the Washer at the Ford and Hel (part of our Little Myth stories)(you’ll get that if you remember the Mr Men and Little Miss children’s books)... mellow out with a blues-esque All Seeing Eye... and gasp (GASP) at the audacity of the Crimson Circus – including Live at the Circus mix!  A veritable smorgasbord of sound, how can you possibly resist?
 
A Darker Shadow will be available via our bandcamp page, where you will also find our Ingeniously Evil debut EP.  And as previously mentioned, look out for an exclusive first official airing on GASP radio show tonight, Tuesday 28th Jan).

And that’s not all... adding to GASP’s Crimson tinge tonight, I shall also be making my debut as a regular correspondent for the show.  So you can hear all this in my own dulcet tones, in discussion with host Mr Davis, who, in fairness, humours my gibbering quite well.  And Crimson things aside, GASP showcases a wide range of music across the gothic, alternative, steampunk and progressive spectrum and beyond, and is well worth a listen for the tunes alone.  If you can’t listen tonight for some reason, the show will be repeated at 7am (UK) on Saturday morning.  Yes, it’s true, there are two 7ams on a Saturday.

What – you want more? 

Well, OK – since you asked so nicely.

There is also a brand, spanking new mini-video available on you-tube, featuring a reading of a passage from The Home Front, Volume 1 of The Automata Wars.  Executed in true Jackanory style – minus the rocking chair and roaring fire -  you can listen to a small extract, all about Mr Black...  Who?  Have a watch and you’ll know more.  Maybe not much more, but enough...

The Home Front is available through Amazon, for e-download as well as in paperback format.

And don’t forget A Darker Shadow on our bandcamp page; and my new regular spot on the GASP radio show on Blast1386.  Next week I take over the woooorrrlllllddd.............

Have you been hunched over a computer all day at work?  Are you tired of doing more hunching (ahem) in the evening, just so you can read the pearls of wisdom (ahem x2) that spill from my keyboard, on this, my elegant, erudite, weekly blog?

Fear not, oh hunched ones.  Your hunching days are over.  Actually, no they aren’t, but at least your hunched evenings are over.  For now, yes now, you have the opportunity to LISTEN to the pearls of wisdom (still ahem) that spill from my ruby(ish) (rubbish?) lips, instead!  Er... while still hunched over a computer... (but at least you don’t need to look at the screen!)(or at least not after the first bit).

*le gasp*  

And yes, GASP indeed.  For it is the Gothic, Alternative, Steampunk and Progressive radio show, otherwise known as GASP, on which my dulcet tones (ahem ahem) can be heard...  

Some of you may be aware that in 2013, I guested twice on web DJ & author Steven C. Davis’s former radio show, CPR (if you’re not aware, then tsk, but you can still listen to the witty banter (the ahem-o-meter just broke) and fabulastic choons here and here).  Steven is back in 2014 with a new show – the aforementioned GASP – available exclusively for your listening pleasure on Blast1386 web radio (that’s the bit where you need to hunch over the screen in order to tune in), every Tuesday evening at 8pm – 10pm UK.  And he has asked me if I would like to do a regular weekly feature on his show!

The opportunity to bring the Cooke Chronicles to the airwaves?  How could I refuse?

...  And so it begins.  I have written a suitably portentous theme tune.  I have practiced my telephone voice.  And I shall be doing a short, weekly segment (not of an orange) reviewing books, films, gigs, local (to Reading, where the radio station is based) events and places, historical doings, philosophical theory, feline behaviour and chocolate, amongst other things.  I may, from time to time, mention the weather (I am English, after all).

If you have suggestions for things you’d like me to talk about or review, then do let me know – you can comment below, or you can contact Steven via the GASP pages (let’s keep it fairly clean, folks!).

But.... wait?  What, more?  Oh yes, oh very yes...

You may recall that Crimson Clocks have been recording some new moosic for your delectation...
... well, now the Crimson hour is come round at last.  Our new EP will be released next week - and you can hear tracks from it on next weeks GASP show - an exclusive first!  That's right; next week GASP has all sorts of added me (you lucky people ;) )

If you want a sneak advance preview of the Clocks, take a look at the GASP promo video, which features a brief snippet from one of our new tracks.  You can also keep up with us on facebook.  And don’t forget to tune in to Blast1386 on Tuesdays 8 – 10 for GASP web radio show.   You know it makes sense...

Two weeks into the new year; so far I’m refraining from using Facebook.  Of course, my twitter and Google+ use is increasing, but as they seem slightly more impersonal than Facebook, they don’t seem to demand quite so much attention.  

So what have I been doing with my Facebook-free attention?  Well, last weekend I went paddling.  Officially walking – but 13.5 miles along the Kennet & Avon canal towpath in very, VERY waterlogged conditions, meant that paddling was the net result.  Or even wading. 

The several swans I emptied out of my boots illustrated just how heavy some of the over flow was.  At the deepest point (on the path, bear in mind), the water was knee deep.  And cold.  Very cold.  Have I mentioned how cold it was?   Despite the high water levels, resulting from several days of very heavy rain, the sun shone throughout the walk – well,  until it set, anyway – and the scenery was fantastic, as some of these photographs show.  And I’m over the trenchfoot now.   The next walk will be shorter, but over some hills, so flood-free.  Mud-free, however, may be a different matter...  

I also visited Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, for the first time ever – and thanks to the lovely Jo for organising and for a lift to and from the train station.  Milestones is a great little place; effectively a set of Victorian style streets built inside an aircraft hangar, making it weather-proof if a smidgeon chilly. 

Sherlock Holmes was there hunting for the Beast of Basingstoke; of course, I helped him out (as you do), and solved the mystery.  I’m not sure whether I managed to get him to rename one of his more famous cases to ‘A Study In Crimson’...  

Find out in next week’s exciting installment of Crimson Shadow:  The Cooke Chronicles.  Or similar.

So one week into 2014 – how’s it been for you?

I suspect, if you’re anything like me, new year’s eve now seems as if it was a long, long time ago – much longer than a mere seven days.  In that time you’ll have cleared away festival-related clutter, dealt with the recycling, and settled back into daily life.

Broken any new year’s resolutions yet?  (And THAT’s why I don’t make any...)   One thing I have managed to do, even though as I explained last week, it was an aim rather than a resolution, is to stay off facebook.  While I’m missing the people on it, I’m finding that as a result I’m being much more productive; and I’m also less stressed.  Facebook somehow conveyed a necessity (to me at least) to respond to everything straight away; I find other social media sites far less demanding (although Twitter seems to mainly be a feed for people to constantly re-tweet their own adverts, as far as I can tell).  Staying off facebook has also made my email inbox far, far easier to manage.  I don’t intend to give up facebook entirely, but I think remaining clear long enough to break it as a ‘habit’ seems to be a good idea.

So instead, I’ve been using time constructively to start some proper research into my dissertation, which will be due this year.  I’m planning to write about Victorian prostitution, which should be a fascinating subject; but I've found that googling for sources doesn't always give the results I'm looking for (ahem).  At the moment, the main issue is narrowing the focus sufficiently to make the theme manageable as a dissertation.  An interesting angle may be that the city I want to focus on, Lichfield, had a nearby army barracks.  Although Lichfield wasn’t one of the areas specifically named under the Prevention of Contagious Diseases Act (which enabled specific ‘measures’ to be taken in garrison towns where armed forces personnel might be likely to avail themselves of local prostitutes)  it might be interesting to see if the act had any repercussions there.   I’ll be starting with reports of convictions for prostitution in the local newspaper archives, and local court records, and then working out from there.  I’m looking forward to seeing where it all takes me - do get in touch if you'd like to discuss prostitutes!

In other news, Crimson Clocks now have a (mostly) repaired violinist – I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Jo the best as she recovers from gall bladder removal (I’m hoping she’s been allowed to keep it so we can use it as a percussion instrument...). 

And coming soon - in February, I’ll be at the Third Annual Surrey Steampunk Convivial, this time in my capacity as an author.  Along with fellow author Steven C. Davis, I’ll be doing book readings and also something workshoppy – further details coming soon.  Last year’s even was excellent; this year it has expanded to two days, so expect more merriment, madness and mayhem, masterminded by the inestimable Ben Henderson.  Hope to see you there!