Friday, May 20, 2022

H.G. Wells in Woking

H.G. Wells' time in Woking is well documented and has become an important and revered part of the town's folklore. It’s now over 150 years since the birth of Herbert George Wells, renowned for being one of Britain's greatest science fiction writers and public intellectuals.

His arrival at a humble address in Maybury Road in Woking in 1895 inspired some of his greatest works, including The War of the Worlds. Wells made Woking infamous in the late 19th Century by making Horsell Common the location for his great fictional Martian invasion.  A broadcast of part of the book on US radio in the 1950s, notoriously caused panic across the nation as listeners were led to believe the invasion was real!

An original illustration ‘On Horsell Common’ © Rick Fairlamb’
 

More about H.G. Wells...

H.G. Wells arrived in Woking in May 1895. He lived at ‘Lynton’, Maybury Road, Woking, which is now numbered 141 Maybury Road. Today, there is an English Heritage blue plaque displayed on the front wall of the property, which marks his period of residence. It was while he resided at ‘Lynton’ where he spent his mornings writing, revising proofs, and dealing with correspondence, and his afternoons walking or cycling in the surrounding countryside. Wells’ stay in Woking, though lasting less than a year and half, proved an extremely creative period perhaps the most productive, of his whole writing career.

A humble abode - H.G. Well's former residence

H.G. Wells famously wrote - “Our withdrawal to Woking was a fairly cheerful adventure … We lived very happily and industriously in the Woking home for a year and a half.

We furnished a small resolute semi-detached villa with a minute greenhouse in the Maybury Road facing the railway line, where all night long the goods trains shunted and bumped and clattered – without serious effect upon our healthy slumbers.

Close at hand in those days was a pretty and rarely used canal amidst pine woods, a weedy canal, beset with loose-strife, spiræa, forget-me-nots and yellow water lilies, upon which one could be happy for hours in a hired canoe, and in all directions stretched open and undeveloped heathland, so that we could walk and presently learn to ride bicycles and restore our broken contact with the open air.



Shortly after his arrival in Woking, H.G. married his second wife, Amy Catherine Robbins (known simply as ‘Jane’).


He added...
I learnt to ride my bicycle upon sandy tracks with none but God to help me; he chastened me considerably in the process, and after a fall one day I wrote down a description of the state of my legs which became the opening chapter of the Wheels of Chance … The bicycle in those days was still very primitive. The diamond frame had appeared but there was no freewheel. You could only stop and jump off when the treadle was at its lowest point, and the brake was an uncertain plunger upon the front wheel. Consequently, you were often carried on beyond your intentions. The bicycle was the swiftest thing upon the roads in those days, there were as yet no automobiles and the cyclist had a lordliness, a sense of masterful adventure, that has gone from him altogether now.


Herbert George Wells


A creative and productive period...

While residing in Woking, The Time Machine (1895) was published. Herbert George Wells also completed The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), began and wrote much of The War of the Worlds (1898) and The Invisible Man (1897), and began writing When the Sleeper Awakes.

The original idea for The War of the Worlds came during one of his walks when his brother Frank speculated about what would happen if aliens suddenly descended upon the scene and started attacking people.

You can find more on the Celebrate Woking website ‘Woking and War of the Worlds’ and ‘Woking’s Wellsian Martian’ where there is more information about the influences and storyline behind this book.

Also during his time in Woking, Wells wrote also The Wonderful Visit and The Wheels of Chance, a pioneering cycling novel, and started Love and Mr. Lewisham.

Looking back in 1898, Wells recorded that during the past few years he had been a creative writer working “at a ghastly pace” and “writing away for dear life” to make his name and fortune. By the time he left Woking his career as a full-time writer was – to quote from his autobiography – “fairly launched at last” and “we were ‘getting on’”.

Moreover, he was earning a substantial income. Reportedly, his literary earnings in 1896 were £1,056, which is worth approximately £118,000 in present-day terms!

* Reproduced courtesy: Exploring Surrey’s Past and H.G.Wells – The Martian Diaries.

** (It is important to note, that various versions of this article appear across the internet, some information may differ).



Jeff Wayne's, spectacular musical and stage version of The War of the Worlds


Thursday, May 19, 2022

Lelita Baldock - Where the Gulls Fall Silent

Woking’s Lelita Baldock is an author of historical fiction and crime fiction. She has a passion for dark stories, with an unexpected twist. It was during her years studying English Literature at University that Lelita discovered her love of all things reading and writing. But it would be another 15 years before she would take up the challenge and write her own novel. Her debut novel, the historical fiction Widow’s Lace, is an Historical Australian and Oceanian Fiction Amazon best-seller. 

Her follow up, The Unsound Sister, saw her take a different direction in her writing, trying her hand at crime fiction and has been warmly received globally.  


Lelita Baldock, the author of  'Where the Gulls Fall Silent'


Her third novel, Where the Gulls Fall Silent, a traditional historical fiction set in mid-1800s Cornwall, is out now… 

... A small fishing village, a shunned healer, her daughter, tradition, superstition and a world set to change. Kerensa lives with her mother, the healer Meliora, on the edge of a small fishing community on the Cornish Coast. The townsfolk, who work the fish runs of pilchard and mackerel that make their way up the Atlantic coast, call on her mother for help with their ailments, but never for her company. Kerensa does not know why. Curses and superstitions whisper around her as she grows into a competent young woman, fighting for her place amongst the people of Porth Gwynn. But what has caused the rift between her and the town? And can their traditional way of life survive in the face of changing winds? 

Where the Gulls Fall Silent is a remarkable piece of historical fiction that explores the lives of the fishermen and women who made their living from the rough Atlantic Ocean; the hardship they faced; the secrets that divided them; and the community spirit that pulled them through. A story of love, loss, hope and second chances.




60 Second Interview 

1) When did you start writing your new book? 

I started writing Where the Gulls Fall Silent in November 2020. We had just returned to lockdown, and I decided I wanted to be as positive as possible whilst restricted to ‘at home’ activities. Things started really well, but unfortunately my cat seriously injured her knee just before Christmas. Caring for her had to come first and so my spare time to write was greatly diminished. But I didn’t let it stop me altogether, and kept writing, even small amounts as often as I could. Proof that even when time and commitments are stacked against you, the small actions add up to success. 

2) What was the inspiration behind the book? 

The idea from the story was strongly influenced by the history of Cornwall and it’s fishing heritage. My husband and I holidayed at Port Gaverne in 2019 and I fell in love with the rugged and beautiful coastline. Spending slow, relaxed days exploring the nearby towns, meeting the locals and hearing about the history of the ports got my creative mind spinning and even before we left for home the first pieces of the plot were developing. 

3) Can you describe your route to publication from concept to completed novel? 

Where the Gulls Fall Silent followed much the same path from concept to publication as my previous two novels. Once the initial ideas began to form, I gave myself time to plot and plan. I am definitely a planner. I develop the key events that are needed for my story and a basic overview of how the plot will move between them. Then I create my characters, in detail, and work on how they would react in the key moments of the story, to give them authenticity. Once I have a chapter-by-chapter outline, I get writing. My first draft is invariably loose and rough, but I get the bones of the story out. Then I use drafts 2 and 3 to really work on the story and refine the flow. For this novel I decided not to try querying with Literary Agents and instead went straight to self-publishing. I asked a dear friend of mine to paint an image for the front cover and I was absolutely thrilled by the result. Putting her incredible image on my novel really brought the whole story together, ready to publish through Amazon.  

4) What ideas do you have for any future books?  

I am currently nearing the completion of what will be my fourth novel, another historical fiction. The story will be set in Post-Napoleonic War France, and involves smuggling, fetishism and espionage – but that’s all I am ready to share at this point!  

5) Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend?  

So far in my career I have only used Amazon to publish my novels. It is easy to use, clearly set out and very powerful. Plus, it has a large market share and reaches a wide audience.


#wokingwrites

THE ASYLUM SOUL is seven years old today!

19th May sees the seventh anniversary of Mal Foster’s debut novel, ‘The Asylum Soul’, and incredibly, its popularity is still soaring…

“I think out of all my work, it will always be remembered as my stand-out publication, chiefly due to its subject matter,” said Mal in a recent radio interview.


The novel tells the tragic and heart-wrenching tale of a young Tommy Compton, who is incarcerated at the Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Knaphill, near Woking in Surrey. His only ailment… a simple speech defect which these days could easily be cured with modern medical intervention.

The book is written in a diary format and has caught the imaginations of many people who probably would not normally read a full-length novel. A fact that has delighted Mal immensely... “That’s exactly what I was intending to do at the outset, and it's great that people are still enjoying the storyline and asking questions about the characters, seven years after the book was originally published.” 

More about the book…

Lunatic asylums were an inescapable hangover of Victorian Britain and they harnessed a certain stigma borne from an environment of fear and shame as well as the great unknown.

For many families the asylum system helped create their darkest ‘skeletons’, and for Thomas (Tommy) Compton, it was unforgiving. In 1929 he was twenty-three years old when his mother had him sent to The Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Surrey, his only ailment - a simple speech defect.

Based on Tommy’s own diary notes, The Asylum Soul is a disturbing account of an innocent young life ripped apart by unthinkable institutional failings, false hope and ultimate family betrayal.

What people are saying...

"The best book I've read for a very long time. Film to follow?" - Colin Hampton 

“I have just finished the book, I couldn't put it down. I'm lying in bed with tears rolling down my cheek. It was so powerful and moving. One of the best books I have ever read - so sad, funny in parts and a tragic end. So much credit goes to you for writing such an amazing book.” – Andy Carless

"One of my favourite books, EVER!" - Annie Wheeler

"An awesome read." - Gladys Hayward


'The Asylum Soul' is available from Amazon in eBook and paperback. The paperback can also be bought locally at the Lionsheart Bookshop at Commercial Way in Woking.

BUY NOW



The old Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Knaphill


#wokingwrites

 

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Four Poems by Write Out Loud's Greg Freeman

Greg Freeman lives in Byfleet, and is a former newspaper sub-editor, and now the news and reviews editor for the poetry website Write Out Loud. His debut pamphlet collection, Trainspotters, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2015.

He co-runs a monthly open mic poetry night in Woking, Surrey. He watched the second half of England's World Cup drubbing against Germany in a pub in Ludlow with the-then poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy; and with hundreds of others, contributed vocals on Chuck Berry's no 1 hit, My Ding-A-Ling.

He has recently published two pamphlet collections of his poems, Marples Must Go and The Fall of Singapore.



Greg Freeman - Poet


 

CHAGRIN FALLS

A suburb of Cleveland, Ohio,
of four thousand souls
that takes its name from the river
that runs through its heart.

The town and its waterfalls
are referenced in a song
by Canadian rock band
The Tragically Hip. 

I’ve never been there,
and I guess I never will,
which is a matter
of some regret.  

Give half a chance
I’m sure I would have loitered
in the Fireside Book Shop,
with its three floors of books.


MEETING SIMON ARMITAGE

It wasn’t exactly a coincidence:
we were heading in the same direction.
Slightly stooped figure, rucksack
on his shoulder, just ahead of me.
I thought at once: That’s him.

The future laureate was startled
to be accosted by this looming stranger
on a traffic island in the centre
of Winchester, but after clarifying
that he didn’t mind his picture 

being taken at the festival, we fell into step
and conversation, and I mentioned
– and this was a coincidence –
that I’d be in Marsden
the following morning, at an open-mic 

at the Railway inn. One of my regular
drinking haunts, he reminisced. 
The ice was well and truly broken.
Just at that moment we reached
the festival steps, and he was whisked 

away by the director, where he spoke later
of his poems engraved into Pennine
rocks, and how they might last there
for a thousand years, if there was
still people there to see them … 

Time, gentlemen, please.
The kind of bloke you’d share
a beer with down the pub.
Sadly I never got to ask:
What are you having, Simon?

FRAMLINGHAM

I sing of a castle (and so has
Ed Sheeran, as it happens).
Built by one of William’s
Normans, King John’s knights

lay siege, capturing it
In just two days, the year
after he caved in
and signed Magna Carta. 

Bloody Mary sought refuge there,
rallying troops and her confidence,
before heading to London
to claim the throne, and seal
the fate of a teenage girl.
The people cheering the rightful heir
didn’t foresee the martyrs.
Perhaps they did, and didn’t care. 

Next century a benefactor
purchased the thirteen towers,
flint curtain wall and Tudor chimneys;
ordered in his will that the buildings
within be levelled, a workhouse
constructed in their place.
These days the ‘Fairtrade town’
is known locally as ‘Fram’. 

The mere has shrunk
since the Middle Ages.
Jackdaws patrol the jagged stones,
a patchwork of history
stitched together once more
by English Heritage; jigsaw puzzle
of ascendancies, misfortunes,
triumphs, fatal falls from grace.


BACK AT THE MATCH
after Philip Larkin

The beckoning floodlights
still work their magic,
early October’s comforting chill,
scarf snug round the neck.
Blood pulses through arteries,
moving as it should. Heart lifts
with every step towards the stadium. 

An old pal texts me from
another game up north.
The name rings a bell.
He’s at a club where my job
was to phone over a few pars
for the Saturday Pink
from a kiosk outside the ground. 

Games that I didn’t give a toss about,
dictated to a bored copy taker,
wishing I was somewhere else,
roaring my own team on to promotion.
But then, I remember Larkin’s sigh:
it wasn’t the place’s fault I didn’t care.
A goalless draw can happen anywhere. 



The cover of Greg's latest poetry collection,
The Fall of Singapore