Show us a transformation.

I... have no idea why this Vox Hunt is titled "Robots in the Sky".  But here's a transformation for you, anyway... two snapshots taken during a magazine shoot for July's edition of Easy Living magazine.  The actual shots for the magazine will be with much softer lighting, but you will probably get the idea -- we were going for old school Hollywood glamour.  I felt like Joan Crawford or Barbara Stanwyck.

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Here's a comedy performance I was particularly please with - in the final of the North Essex New Act Competition (NENAC) on 28th March this year.  I came joint-second.

North Essex New Act Competition

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Here's an interview I did recently for a website/cable TV thing.  I'm talking about Can't Let Go.

 (I've taken the interview clip out until I can work out how to embed it without it starting automatically every time the page is opened).

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"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." -- Pamela Hansford Johnson
Show us a self-taken picture of the sunset.
Submitted by Connie.

Southsea seafront, Christmas Day 2007

On Christmas Day, when I was still living near the beach in Southsea, I was putting my rubbish in the bins outside my flat late afternoon, and I noticed that the sky was a delicate shade of orangey-pink and promised a great sunset.  I grabbed my coat and my camera and hot-footed it down to the beach.  This was my reward, and it turned a pleasant Christmas Day into something very memorable.

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A sudden burst of publicity has marked the launch of my new book Can't Let Go - with newspapers and various other media taking more of an interest than usual, thanks to a fascinating biographical press release that my publicist and I concocted.

On launch day itself I was in Southampton with John Harvey and Peter James to talk to the assembled throng (well, thirty people) about crimewriting and to read bits from our books.  The following day I was holed up in a little BBC room in central London talking to a variety of disembodied voices from BBC local radio stations across the nation.  Then last week I returned to Lincoln, where I lived for about ten years, to do a reading/signing at Waterstone's.

Can't Let Go, Lincoln 1

Can't Let Go, Lincoln 2

Tomorrow I am heading for a TV studio somewhere in London to record an interview for some satellite TV channel that I've never heard of, that is connected with Borders Bookshop.  And then the following week I head for Dursley in Gloucestershire to do a reading/talk in a library. 

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I don't really have the words to describe how lucky and awed I felt to see Neil Young at the Hammersmith Apollo, twice in the last week.

I was there for his first London date of the tour on Wednesday, about twelve rows back from the stage with a walkway beside me and therefore an uninterrupted view of the stage.  He was extraordinary.  I had actual tears in my eyes when he played one of my favourite songs "Ambulance Blues" as the second song of his acoustic set.  The hour-long set touched on all parts of his long career, and he was in perfect voice throughout.  His demeanour was that of a slightly grumpy old man, with occasional stories thrown in, in that slow, droll way of his that manages to be so funny.

Then he returned for a blistering 90 minute electric set, and the one drawback was that the venue was a seated one.  He returned for an encore - "Cinnamon Girl", and was just launching into "Like A Hurricane" when I realised it was about 11.40 and reluctantly I had to take my leave in order to trek back to Walthamstow.

On Saturday I returned and this time I had a front row seat.  The setlist was very slightly different, and this time I was about ten feet from my hero.  There's no gap between the seats and the stage at the Hammersmith Apollo.  For such a big venue it has a very intimate feel.  This time the encore was much shorter - no "Cinnamon Girl" or "Like A Hurricane", just a down-and-dirty "Roll Another Number For The Road".  But by this time I was standing, with my hands resting on the stage where Neil Young stood, so I was in heaven. 

There was a little disabled boy two seats away from me - his father said he'd been listening to Neil Young since he was a baby.  He was in raptures throughout, and at the end Neil came over and gave him a plectrum and a drumstick, and he was just inches away from me.  That was a thrill.  He's not the kind of artist who shakes hands with his crazy front row fans, but I put my hand up in a salute and he returned it, then gravely ambled off.  Magnificent.

Photos taken on phone, so blurred and shakey ("shakey"... see what I did there?).

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I am going to see Neil Young tonight.  I think many of you will know how exciting that is for me.

I still have a slight anxiety that my ticket will turn out to be a fake and I'll get turned away at the door... but fingers crossed.  It looks real enough. 

Watch this space for a full report.

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I played a gig in Brighton last night that reminded me (if reminder were needed) of how much I love doing stand-up comedy.  The gig is called Rabbit in the Headlights, and it's upstairs at a busy pub not far from Brighton Pier.  I was due to do the gig just before Christmas, but one audience member turned up and so it got cancelled.  This night was better - the small venue (which is also used for fringe-type drama productions) was completely sold out with people who were in the mood to laugh.

I was staying about a mile from the venue, which necessitated a walk along the seafront in some of the fiercest winds I have ever experienced.  Going there was exhilarating: I was virtually blown all the way.  Walking back into the path of the wind was a different story.  Whenever I crossed a side street I had to cling to a lamppost or similar so as not to get blown away.

Anyway, back to the gig.  I may not have said this before, but stand-up comedy is one of the friendliest and most sociable businesses I have ever experienced.  I have met very few arsey comedians.  Normally everyone's really friendly, and you see some of the same faces you've seen before, and backstage the talk is all of material and gigs, and mutual friends - and it's great fun.  Especially when there is a backstage... often that means just standing around at the back of the pub.  Last night, there was a dressing room.  Well, upstairs and along a very narrow corridor there was a room with a piece of paper on the door that said "dressing room".  The room was a small bathroom with some chairs in it.  So, the comics sat around in a bathroom, chewing the fat, shooting the breeze.

One drawback of a sell-out gig is that you can't get in to see the other acts.  But upstairs in our bathroom we could hear gales of laughter.  I was on in the second half, and stood outside the door to the venue listening to the compere and the guy on before me, getting a feel for the "room" (as we call it).

And they were brilliant - a bunch of women from Haywards Heath nearly exploded with laughter.  They were one of the best audiences I've had in ages, and they loved me.  It was such a joy to stand on stage and feel the waves of laughter and love.  Wonderful, wonderful gig.  And I got some money for expenses - RESULT!

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What's the biggest leap of faith you've ever had to take?

Leaving my full-time job to try to live on what I can earn as a writer and occasional radio-type person.  One day I might even make some money from comedy as well, but don't hold your breath.

So far, two years down the line, it seems to be going okay.

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Three books in, I shouldn't get so excited by this, but I do.  If you happen to be on the Waterstone's website and do a search of author events, you'll find that I am doing three whole bits of Waterstone's-associated publicity for the new book.  Here we are:

We found 3 events for author Jane Hill

Crime Evening
Jane Hill, John Harvey, Peter James
Cold in Hand

WATERSTONE'S SOUTHAMPTON ABOVE
Thursday, 6 March 2008, 7:00PM
£3, redeemable against the purchase of any crime title on the night.

Another of our crime evenings. This time we will have Peter James, John Harvey and Jane Hill in attendence; discussing their own books and the crime genre in general. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk to some of the leading authors in the field in person.

Further details: 02380 633 130

 

North Herts Literary Festival Crime Readers Day
Sophie Hannah, Jane Hill, Mark Billingham
The Big Sleep - Penguin fiction

The Sun Hotel, Sun Street, Hitchin
Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
Tickets £6, available from the shop and to include light refreshments

Three bestselling writers discuss three great crime novels in panel format and then in groups with us, the audience! A chance to discuss books with real authors so why not read one (or more!) beforehand and voice your opinion. The books for discussion are: The Big Sleep, A Quiet Belief in Angels and In the Woods.

Further details: 01462 422329

 

Jane Hill - Talk & Signing
Jane Hill
Can't Let Go

WATERSTONE'S LINCOLN HIGH ST
Thursday, 13 March 2008, 7:00PM
Tickets £3

Jane Hill will be talking about and signing her latest psychological thriller.

Further details: 01522 540011

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