“Yeah, well, makes a nice change from ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’.”
“Come on, there’s no way ‘e’s going to out-viral all them cats playing pianos, surely.”
“’Course not. Going for a niche market, in’t ‘e? A balding old hippie reading stories from this book he’s trying to flog – I mean, it’s not exactly cute or sexy. But, you know… Takes all types, dunnit?”
“Well, what’s ‘e like?”
“Put it this way. George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio won’t be losing any sleep. ‘E does his best, you know… You don’t see a lot of the audience, but they seem to be enjoying themselves by and large. ‘E gets a few laughs, and some of them look like they’re actually where ‘e intended them to be.”
“Really. So these stories ‘e’s reading, what are they about?”
“Oh, I dunno… I wasn’t paying that much attention. They don’t make a lot of sense, but ‘e tries to make it sound as if they do.”
“You mean like politicians?”
“I s’pose. Not so scary, though. In fact ‘e’s quite affable, really. An’ he bobs around a bit, does a few funny voices… Like I said, he does his best, bless ‘im.”
“Oh, there we are then. I might get round to watching one of ‘em, if I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Wait a minute! Forget about ‘im. ‘Ave a look at this one!”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a cocker spaniel… an’ ‘e’s playing the violin.”
“Oh yeah! Aww, look at ‘is little paws… That is so cute. And that’s a Stradivarius ‘e’s playin’, too.”
“You reckon? I thought it was one of the Brandenburg Concertos, myself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8fMwx_R4Y
The Cult Book of 2016 continues to pick up steam!
Don’t be the last one to know – get it now!
Comments are coming in from readers of Wilful Misunderstandings, and so far they've been well positive. Here's a sample:
Just to say I'm so enjoying your book. I've just finished 'Moon Bar Night'. It's mind expanding. How did you come up with that? Amazing. Loved the language, characters, everything about it. Your stories are like dreams half remembered, tapping into a seam (or seeming) of the unconscious mind. (TJ Alderson - novelist)
I'm really enjoying reading Wilful Misunderstandings! I love the feeling throughout the stories of shifting, malleable realities, it is so much fun and encourages thinking in new ways about the world. Love it! (Emily Hinshelwood - poet, climate change activist)
Wilful Misunderstandings.... The book is bloody brilliant. I read it in nearly one sitting. It totally messed with my head. So much so that now I'm going to read it all over again! (Jo Freeman - teaching assistant)
Quite fascinating reading. I'm sure Alan Moore fans will enjoy his stories. (Flavio Pessanha - Alan Moore scholar)
And speaking of Alan Moore, if you've missed it so far, here's what he had to say about Wilful Misunderstandings:
With an unusual oulipo toolkit and a feigned bewilderment at the English language, Richard Foreman strikes a previously undiscovered seam of literary inspiration in this oddly charming compilation of deliberately misconstrued everyday phraseology. Words are the essential wallpaper of our lives and our reality, and when even the word ‘wallpaper’ can suddenly become a thing of eerie, alien beauty we are made uncomfortably aware of the peculiar worlds of possibility that lurk beneath the skin of our vocabulary. A passport to a parallel planet where nothing means quite what you thought it did, this book offers an excursion to a strangely familiar place that you have never previously dreamed of. Get your shots and book your ticket today.
So there we are. Click on this link to Lepus Books (or go to Amazon etc. if you need to economise) and buy it. You won't have any regrets.
http://lepusbooks.co.uk/wilful-misunderstandings/
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