Stories Mak Us with Jim Alexander

What do we take from stories? There are the memories of scenes and characters that endure inside us. They have nowhere else to go. We absorb and weave them into our own DNA.

For me, there are so many memories to choose from. The poisoned wine in The Papers of Tony Veitch that leads Jack Laidlaw into the belly of the Glasgow underworld. The realisation of The Old Man of the Sea, on his return, that he is not the same man who left. The giant mutant crabs patrolling a dystopian beach in The Time Machine. A sister’s playing of a violin, which leads to the heart-breaking denouement of Metamorphosis. The last line of I Am Legend.

Ask me another time and I would give you a different set of examples. Passages, characters and adventures remain as vivid to me now as the first time I read them, perhaps even more so, the wonder of them, the emotion I continue to invest in them. Stories Mak Us, and these are some of the stories that make me.

I’m appearing at a live event as part of this year’s Paisley Book Festival at Paisley Central Library on the evening of the 22nd February 2022. I’ll be talking through my writing career ranging from working for Marvel and DC Comics and to latterly writing novels. There will be an emphasis on how to get started, so this is the perfect talk for those thinking of writing their first book. I’ll be joined by writer Seamus Connolly and there will be readings, anecdotes, a Q&A, lots of chat, and plenty of insight. Hope to see you there.