Bloggasm

James from ShortTermMemoryLoss.com is a writer, publisher and activist from London, England. The STML litzine – not so much a blog as an occasional column on literary matters, or otherwise – was conceived as a cheap way of making friends, but has since expanded into an expensive way of making friends; still, at least there are friends. Running mostly on reviews, cheap red wine, and bile since 1999, STML intends to take over the world, preferably by teatime.

Simon Owens: Do you think that the popularity of book blogs will eventually be able to influence new trends in publishing?

James Bridle: Not immediately, certainly not in the mass market, and possibly not ever. The only thing that influences trends in publishing is mass readership, so what book blogs can do is influence new trends in reading: pointing out overlooked and underrated writers who would otherwise receive little or no publicity, or carrying the torch for those who would otherwise fade into out-of-print obscurity. The big and ever-consolidating publishing houses have a stranglehold on the mainstream reviewers, so it’s the duty of independent voices to raise up books that would otherwise pass beneath the radar. But at the same time, who wants to influence new trends in publishing? It’s a dirty business, and most of us would rather concentrate on the product than the process.

Simon Owens: Does having a blog for the online magazine help in promoting the fiction you publish elsewhere on the site?

James Bridle: Not really. The two aren’t particularly connected, any more than the blog promotes the music, mapping and Londonphiliac sections of the site that coexist with it. The magazine is very inward-looking, always pleased when someone takes an interest, but generally just hanging out in the corner, muttering quietly to itself. The blog is more look-at-me, look-at-me, extrovert, running around, changing the music and doing coke off old paperbacks (new ones have too much gloss finishing, which tends to stick to the lines). That said, some friends made on the blog have expressed an interest in the fiction – several pieces are appearing in the next Laugh It Off annual, a truly excellent publication out of South Africa.

Simon Owens: Do you have a particular literary genre that you specialize in when blogging?

James Bridle: Absolutely not. Anything that interests and excites is likely to get a look-in, whether that’s the latest necrophiliac screed from Supervert or a decades-old spy thriller from John le Carre. Filth and perversion help, obviously, but your actual Twentieth- and increasingly Twenty-first-century fiction occupies the bulk of STML space, while a well-turned travel book (Wilfred Thesiger, Martha Gellhorn and Kevin Rushby are favourites) or literary biography has been known to sneak in under the ropes.

Simon Owens: You’ve obviously collected a very large number of books. Where did you get most of them?

James Bridle: Approximately 50% purchased from first- and second-hand booksellers in five continents, from the basements of Charing Cross to the back streets of Addis Ababa to shacks high above the Indus; the others won in combat; purloined from friends; inherited from maiden aunts; secreted about one’s person in public libraries; stolen from pubs and backpacker hostels; begged from publishers with unfulfilled promises of reviews; sold by tramps for smack monies; found beneath floorboards and on top of old cupboards; salvaged from dumpsters; rescued from house fires; lost and refound on underground trains; received as the gifts of a grateful nation; forced upon us by wannabe authors with a wild look in their eyes; traded for jam; obtained with menaces; and otherwise bought, borrowed, thieved, kept, read and loved.

Simon Owens: What upcoming book publications are you looking forward to the most?

James Bridle: To be honest, so much of our consumption is second-hand or later that news of new releases often takes months to filter through the literary topsoil. Like a lot of other people, the new Thomas Pynchon, due this autumn, is a rare counterexample: it’s on pre-order over in the States and occasionally bringing us out in sweats at the prospect of new Pig Bodine adventures. It would also be remiss not to mention stunning and bizarre new books due from Steve Aylett and Stewart Home early next year: these are talents which defy the dross that currently passes for novels in these parts. Apologies for the self-promotion inherent in that statement [Full disclosure: STML has relations, occasionally biblical, with the publisher], but if we’re not going to cheerlead these writers, who will?

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

James Bridle: Starting with BritLitBlogs, which is a bit like asking the genie for five more wishes, but worth it all the same, no time is wasted that is spent hanging with Dogmatika and The Midnight Bell, and discerning readers should also take note of Through A Glass Darkly. More important than any of those right now, however, is Mazen Kerbaj’s deeply affecting Kerblog, live from Beirut. Here and now, boys: attention.

(Related posts: Interview with Stephen Mitchelmore from This Space, Interview with Terry Teachout and Laura Demanski from About Last Night, Interview with Spurious, Interview with George Murray from Bookninja, An essay on conflicts of interest for journalists)