The Write to Know #18
Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads
The master of twisted surrealist drama, David Lynch, died a few days ago, aged 78, and so this newsletter is dedicated to him.
The mere mention of his name immediately brings to mind two memories. The first is cruising along Mulholland Drive, in Los Angeles, and taking in the majestic skyline and city below; out of one window you can see across the haphazard city streets to the ocean, and on the other side, the valley yawns wide beneath you, encased by mountains.
Every time I’d snake around another hairpin corner, I’d imagine I was being directed by Lynch, and in some way, a part of his most successful movie.
Featuring dreamy visuals and ever-shifting realities Mulholland Drive, which was released in 2001 and starred Naomi Watts and Justin Theroux, earned Lynch the Best Director award at Cannes, and also an Academy Award nomination for Best Director (Ron Howard won that year for A Beautiful Mind). He often talked about how much he loved the light in LA, which he always used to great effect.
And the second memory is of my spinal surgery, in 1990. Around three days after I’d had my pretzel of a spine unfurled by a surgeon, Twin Peaks debuted on British TV.
I didn’t have a clue that the show was sweeping the nation, as post op, I was in a drug-induced haze. I couldn’t move my body, couldn’t feed myself, sit up, turn my head. Nurses rotated my body twice a day. I went from capable adult to helpless creature in just under ten hours on an operating table.
Weak and immobile, I couldn’t even press the play button on my Walkman, which had two cassettes on heavy rotation, The Best of Aretha Franklin, and Faith, by George Michael. I had other tapes with me but didn’t want to bother the overworked nurses by asking them to fish through my bag. I could just about press play or rewind if the Walkman was sitting on the bed at the right angle.
For hours on end, drifting through my own hallucinations from regular morphine injections (dreamy visuals and ever-shifting realities?), I’d listen to the same side of an album over and over again. (This is sounding more Lynchian than I ever intended).
“I wish for all of you blue skies and sunshine, internally, all along the way.” David Lynch
A friend visited me during my second week in hospital and one of the first things she asked was if I’d seen Twin Peaks yet. She was only making conversation but I had to laugh, if only inwardly. I couldn’t even see straight let alone absorb a TV show that featured Laura Palmer and cherry pie.
I caught up with the series later, and of course, loved it. Twin Peaks was event television in a way that nothing is in today’s streamed universe. It may well have been the most perfect show of all time, and it undoubtedly changed the medium. Without Twin Peaks I don’t think you’d have had The X Files, Ally McBeal, Dexter, Mad Men, The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, American Horror Story and on and on. He redefined what television could be.
Although, I have to say I’d love to have seen his Return of the Jedi, which he was offered. “I had next door to zero interest,” he said of the opportunity, but took the meeting anyway because he admired George Lucas.
Lynch was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2019, and at the end of his acceptance speech, he turned away from the audience and said directly to the gold statuette in his hand: “You have a very interesting face. Goodnight.”
THE DEADLY DOZEN ARE BACK!
Author Peter Berry has just published Revenge of the Deadly Dozen, a sequel to his wildly successful 2024 cosy crime debut, Lunch with the Deadly Dozen, about a group of crime-solving retirees.
I was delighted when a copy of Revenge of the Deadly Dozen arrived in the mail last week, complete with ‘Half a Sixpence’ postcard bookmark and a bar of chocolate. I truly appreciated the personal note inside the cover, and also - aw, shucks - being mentioned in the Acknowledgements.
I spoke to Peter about his first book last year for a Ten for The TEN but of the second he says: “The day I got a publication date for 'Lunch', I began wondering about what might happen with the characters next. I assumed that the seven or eight people who might read Book 1 may have some interest in how the story moves forward. As it turned out, 'Lunch' was way more popular than I anticipated, which was both surprising and delightful.
“With 'Revenge', I knew I wanted to focus a bit more on some of the characters other than Monica and Thomas, so we learn a lot more about David and Chris and Anna and Belinda and Martin. I wanted to develop the group rather than just the two main characters from Book 1.
“Weirdly for Book 2, I had the middle bit in my head before anything else so I just had to work backwards from there and figure out how it started.”
And he did! I’m digging in as we speak, and am already engrossed. I do love how older people are being depicted in fiction these days. Probably because I’m now so much older myself but I feel like we’ve erased the idea of a blue rinse brigade. We’re more Blue Monday, and there’s still plenty of life left in our old bones!
Buy Revenge of the Deadly Dozen here.
“The whole world is wild at heart and weird on top” - David Lynch
THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW/SPY BUSINESS…
My obsession with spies and all things clandestine continues. I found the podcast, Cold War Conversations, over the holidays and immersed myself in all manner of intrigue. What gets me is how recently all of this happened (is happening?) but if you like espionage, you might enjoy this.
Another of my all time favourite podcasts, You Must Remember This, written, produced and presented by Karina Longworth, is back after a long break. It looks at the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century, and the new series is called The Old Man Is Still Alive.
Part one looks at the career of Frank Capra and frankly, I discovered so many unsavoury things about him, I’m not sure how I’ll ever sit through It’s a Wonderful Life again. Fritz Lang, who directed Metropolis, is the subject of the second.
I absolutely love this podcast. It’s so thorough, well-paced and I always learn new things. If you love Hollywood and haven’t stumbled across it yet, lucky you, because there are over 250 episodes to wade through. Jean Harlow, seen above, is featured in the season about the MGM studios.
And if you need more to fill your ears, I have to give a special mention to actress Tracey-Ann Oberman, who co wrote and starred in Turning Point: Mae West, for BBC Sounds.
The play has been shortlisted for a BBC Audio Drama Award, for Best Original Single Drama, and it’s part of a really great series that shines the light on historical turning points.
CARRY ON RIVALS
The second season of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals has been announced, which is just as well because we were all left hanging after the first series ended halfway through the book.
Regulars here will know how much I loved the first series but you can bet your bottom dollar that there was a tangible menopausal frisson across the land when it was announced.
This glorious technicolour romp through the world of commercial television, in south west England, in the 1980s, made shoulder pads and Danny Dyer look cool.
Producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins is keeping his Laura Ashley florals close to his chest when asked about series two, which we may not see until 2026, saying only: “There are so many possibilities about what could happen but what we do know is revenge is a dish best served on television.”
As long as that dish is either Pyrex or Wedgewood, then it’s 80s approved!
PIPING HOT
The 2025 Script Pipeline competition is now open to entries. It’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to writing comps these days as there are so many but in my ‘umble opinion, this is one worth entering.
The winner receives a rather tidy $20,000, industry meetings and long-term script development. Not a bad haul.
Early bird entry is $55 (£45) and you have until March 5, to submit at that rate.
“Consciousness is tied in with intelligence, creativity, happiness, love, energy, power, peace... all positive things. That's why I want to talk about them.” - David Lynch
THE REAL THING!
Author Paul Schiernecker published his debut novel, The Counterfeiter of Auschwitz, this week.
It’s very exciting because Paul attends my writers group and we’ve all been avidly following his progress over the last few months. Champagne flutes aloft!
The book has been published on Kindle and in paperback, in Italy, by Newton Compton Editori, hence Il Falsario di Auschwitz. They’re calling it the ‘book event of the year!’ and rightly so.
The Counterfeiter of Auschwitz is set to be published in three more territories and a UK version should appear at some point. In the meantime, Paul’s been hard at work on his next book, another work of WWII-based historical fiction, and from what we’ve heard around the table, it’s going to be another fantastic read.
Buy Il Falsario di Auschwitz here.
CONVERSATIONS WITH DAVE*
Ready for more about David Lynch?
I only ask because I’ve seen a few comments on social media this week from people who’ve never heard his name. Crikey. If that’s you, then I suggest you watch his films, which include Eraserhead, Inland Empire, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and his biggest flop, Dune, which is still worth it for the expansive visuals, costumes and of-their-time special effects. Think Duran Duran’s Wild Boys video meets Dynasty (niche but it works).
For further insight into his brilliant movie-making mind, I-D have reposted an interview they did with him at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2001, ahead of the release of Mulholland Drive.
And this interview is fun, from 2010, when he guest-edited Wallpaper magazine.
For a more recent peek inside his unique mind, take a look at the chat he did with the BFI last November, when he released an album called Cellophane Memories.
On the eve of, well… you know what, this quote stood out: “Right now, the world is so divided. And what I am for is for peace. In real peace, all diversity is appreciated fully.”
*Naomi Watts, seen above, called him Dave.
CHEMISTRY LESSONS
Have you seen the screen test Paul Newman did with James Dean, in 1954, for Elia Kazan’s movie, East of Eden?
You should.
FEMALE, FUNNY AND WRITING A BOOK?
Get yourself over to Instagram and follow the Comedy Women in Print Prize.
Founded by comedian and author Helen Lederer, it’s a comedy literary award for published and unpublished writers.
From their website: “Its aim is to recognise, celebrate and encourage witty women authors. We’ve created a platform for both aspiring and established witty writers. CWIP not only offers a publishing deal with Harper fiction to a NEW witty writer, but it also gives mega publicity and respect to the BEST funny fiction around.”
I love the sound of all of this. You don’t even need to have a complete manuscript to enter their competition - details of which will be available shortly. Keep your eye on their account!
AND FINALLY…
Long read klaxon!
Carve out an hour and immerse yourself in this fascinating story by Andrew Dubbins, for Atavist magazine, about two perplexing bank robberies, that also looks at the rivalry between brothers.
(I promise I didn’t pick this just so that I could use the word ‘rival’ again!).
You've inspired me in a few ways with this piece.
1) I started streaming Twin Peaks a couple of years ago having never watched it the first time around since I was a pre-teen when it came out, and, as often happens with my attention these days, I drifted away from it. I now know what a mistake that was! Gotta find it somewhere and get back into it.
2) Speaking of streaming - I've gotta find a way to pipe Rivals into my American eyeballs stat!
3) Those podcasts? Right. Up. My. Alley. Can't wait to start listening, especially to Cold War Conversations. Have you read the book Stasiland by Anna Funder? A great work of nonfiction about a part of world history that often escapes our studies in the States. I feel like it is especially poignant right now as I write this comment on the morning of the presidential inauguration here.
Also, the descriptive language you used to convey what is was like going through your surgery pulled me in and felt like the foundation of a thriller of a Lynchian-esque story!
Can I lower the tone for a second to say how smokin' hot Paul Newman was, not just in his twink phase but also as he aged! As you were.