Phillip Mann – writer, teacher and theatre director

My good friend Malcolm B. made a video during the launch of The Disestablishment of Paradise at Unity Books in Wellington. During the short video, I am seen reading some bits from the book and I talk about the experience of writing it.

I am delighted by the video – though it makes my voice sound higher than I expected, (the result of nerves possibly) – and it is a  timely corrective to the 48 years old image of myself that is used on the banner for this website. When I first saw the video, I was struck by  the difference between the image of the older man reading, and the more youthful inner-self I feel when I am writing. Both realities are true in their own way.

You can view the video be going to www.youtube.com/embed/lcrF1-C8r54 I shall be interested to know what you think of it.

And now, while I am still delighted at the reception that the D of P has received, and I have replied to many questions and comments sent to me regarding the ideas in the book, I am now into writing a new work: one which seems to be quite different both from the D of P and all my previous novels. For one thing it is quite comic in a dark sort of way, and that I find encouraging.

In the new year, Gollancz will be publishing a collection of my short stories and a book for children called The Paradise Mission.  This latter, as you may have guessed, uses some of the strange creatures we meet in The Disestablishment of Paradise but in a narrative more suitable for younger readers. Both these will be available in E format only.

I would love to re-publish my earlier titles in book format, but publishing seems to be going through a strange evolution at present, and no one can predict the outcome. Still, we live in hope.

Christmas will be upon us in two weeks, and so I wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year, accompanied by Peace on Earth.