If....

If... is one of those films I watch through my hands at times.  Although it is exaggerated and is set 10 years before I entered such an institution, aspects of it are very recognisable. "Fagging", the Cadets Corps, the endless lusting after females, the emphasis on sport and the age and decrepitude of the buildings and staff.

My public school had a technocrat headmaster.  He did not understand the boys.  But the other teachers were very recognisable, the dim failed housemaster, the young teacher, the eccentrics, the mad chaplain.  We had one English teacher who left suddenly due to "illness" halfway through term.  "Illness" being a euphemism for taking one of the borders up to town for a night out.

The scene where Travis and Johnny take off for the afternoon, steal a motorbike and head off to a truck stop to be served coffee by the pneumatic Christine Noonan really summed up that sudden desire for freedom that probably existed in many boys.  The music that accompanies this scene is one that resonates with me to this day.

The other scene that I did not get first time round aged 13 was the very charged one set in the gym when Johnny preens himself in front of the precocious Bobby Phillips, one of the fags, who then ever so slowly pulled on his jumper, tidies his hair and reluctantly leaves the manly Johnny to continue doing gymnastics.

Now I do understand that scene all too well.

As for the ending?  Well that is/was probably every school boy's fantasy.

If... is available on DVD.  Go for the Criterion version as it has lots of extras.  I also recommend Oh Lucky Man for the further increasingly surreal adventures of Travis ("Chocolate Sandwich" and the instant obituaries to name two scenes that amused me).

If... Region 1 import from Criterion

...is on the market

With a new cover and some slight edits (reflected in the on-line version as well) at lulu.  It will also be appearing on amazon (most markets) in six to eight weeks they tell me.

I have my own copy, which is now on my bookshelf.  I wonder who will notice?

The Paperback version at lulu.com

And now the paperback version.....

Finally, after a bit of tinkering with covers etc, here is the paperback version.

Currently this is just available from Lulu, but shortly it will be available from amazon as well.

Unfortunately I have no control over the price, the minimum is set by Lulu, so that is what I have left it at.

I will be checking this out myself shortly.

Note the download still remains free at Smashwords for the moment so you can take a look at the entire book so this is a no risk deal.

Paperback version of "Scholarship" at Lulu.com

Going Nuclear - redux IV

Well finally, the news I had been hoping to hear.  "Scholarship" is now in the premium catalogue of smashwords so is now available through "the usual outlets".

When they say available, I believe it can take up to two months to get through to the various lists and catalogues.

That is also true of the paperback version which is just undergoing some minor formatting etc tweaks as we speak.

Scholarship French style

I mentioned in a previous post that there are two French films which have some echoes of "Scholarship".  These are 1964's "Les amitiés particulières", a film about two boys who form a "special friendship" in a French style boarding school.  This affair is complicated by the "interest" of one of the priests in the younger boys, so he breaks up the friendship.  This is based on a well known book of the same title, written by Roger Peyrefitte.


The second film is 1997's "La ville dont le prince est un enfant" based on the book "The Boys" and the play "The Fire that Consumes" by Henry de Montherlant.  The plot is identical to "Les amitiés particulières"for the first two thirds of the film before veering off into a Catholic guilt trip of stupendous length and boredom.  However the first two thirds is very watchable as the sadness is palpable almost all the way through, summed up in a stunning scene where "hope" or "happiness" is imagined as a paper plane thrown by the younger boy (Souplier) and ends up crushed in the hands of the jealous priest.  It is one of the most powerful scenes in a film I know, yet few know it.  The authors knew each other, this explains the similarities.


The films are available from amazon.fr (tip if you have an amazon account elsewhere you can sign in for 1 click and get it sent to you from France) Les amitiés particulières and La Ville dont Prince est enfant (at an eye watering price).  They may be available elsewhere but that is one for google.

I recommend both films, they really do resonate with Scholarship (and inspired me to think "hey, I had something like this happen to me" and decide to write a fictionalised account).

And with a dull thud

The shiny new preview copy of the paperback version lands on my doorstop.

The weight is impressive if nothing else.

I have already spotted one/two  minor tweaks that needs to be made to the cover (the publishing logo is fractionally off centre and I am going to experiment with different colour verbiage).  Update, see result below.  I was sorry to lose the purple, but the white stands out more front to back.

I also realise now that both front and back covers work really well, the front is a boy alone, the back is two boys together, which sort of sums up the plot.  Combined I think it says a lot.  A chance frame as it happens.

Now I am really, really pleased with how the cover has come out.  It gives a clue to what lies within, which was my main aim, and I hope it stands out.  That is a tough challenge in today's crowded e-store, but I am trying

I hope there are not too many more corrections to be made but I aim to scrutinise once more before unleashing this copy  in due course.  Friends, you know what my Christmas prezzie might be this year!

Blazer Fables

This book has been sitting at my bedside for a few weeks now.

A collection of interlinked short stories set in the stifling confines of a 1960s tradition obsessed Public School.  The boys are mildly rebellious, the masters daydreaming, both mostly oblivious to the world outside.

Buck Theorem has written each story in a slightly different style but over the course of the book you end up with a feel for the school and some of its inmates (yes, public school felt like prison to me).

The best is saved to last "Now that we are here" has a gentle build up to a powerful ending with a sublime description of an afternoon spent doing mostly nothing.  Really I wanted more of this one

If you liked some of the hinted stories around the edge of "If..." then this is for you.  But be warned, no machine guns at the end, but something else....

Blazer Fables - paperback

Blazer Fables e-book