OUT AT LAST!

OUT AT LAST!

The novel I’ve been working on for the last ten years, “Coup de Grace” and the film script based on this book “Coup de Grace In Three Acts” are both now available through Amazon and other online book sellers.
As you can see above, their covers are based on a Nazi recruiting poster. To this I've added Charles de Gaulle's symbol of a free France, the Cross of Lorraine, which was used by the French Resistance - as well as an SS symbol, because the notorious German division Das Reich also plays an important part in the story.

WARNING:
These books are not for everyone.
They are about the dreadful, bloody and barbaric things that happen in war. And they are presented in the bluntest manner.
Many of the characters express decidedly anti establishment views.
Strong language is common.
There are several graphic sexual scenes which may not be to everyone’s taste.
And the overall theme in both is decidedly and unashamedly anti war.
As I've indicated above, some people may have problems with this book, but for those of you who would like to make up your own minds, here is some further information.




COUP DE GRACE

“Coup de Grace” is a novel about France in the two World Wars.
Although it is a work of fiction, most of the story is based on fact.

Here is a short synopsis:

A few days after Billy Leigh's nineteenth birthday, Roland Murphy sees him hit in the mouth by a sniper's bullet. The outback boys are fighting for the King’s shilling on the western front.
Between the wars, Roland’s son Philippe and his best friend Paul are in love with the same girl - but she only has eyes for Paul.
And she really loves the scar on Paul’s face - it makes him look as if he's always smiling.
During the Nazi Occupation, Philippe and Paul are constantly on the lookout for German troops who are always after French kids to send to work in German factories.
To avoid this compulsory labour scheme Paul decides to join the Milice or French Gestapo.
But Philippe takes a different route – he joins the French Resistance.
The two boyhood friends are now on opposite sides in one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.
While hiding from the Nazis in the forest Philippe goes swimming with some young patriots. He notices that one of them is circumcised - this French boy must be a Jew.
Just after D-day, in an abortive attack on Das Reich - a crack German division - Philippe is badly wounded. A friend tries to hide him in the undergrowth, but he is found by a German patrol.
One of the officers has a scar on his face. And his mouth is twisted into a permanent smile...

For further information, please go to:
http://www.amazon.com



COUP DE GRACE IN THREE ACTS

“Coup de Grace In Three Acts” is an adaptation of my novel “Coup de Grace”, but in this version, many changes have been made.

I only realized afterwards, that once you take a hatchet to a novel with the intention of removing large chunks of it, there are many unforeseeable consequences. For one, the story went off in a different direction, and this required the elimination of several major and minor characters who appear in the novel, as well as many of the incidents that I had used in an attempt to create the ‘spirit of place’ in France before, during and after the two World Wars. However, when this was done, some holes were left in the narrative, and I immediately saw that I now needed to add several scenes and introduce a few new characters, both for continuity and to propel the story forward. The end result is that “Coup de Grace In Three Acts” now has a completely different denouement from the one in the novel.
Although this book is essentially a film script, it is presented in a format that will make it easily accessable (and I hope enjoyable) by the everyday reader – and not in the strict format that is required by those associated by the movie industry.

For further information, please go to:
http://www.amazon.com

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any queries:
ray@johnstonesinfrance.com

ABSTRACT ART? DEFINATELY NOT!

Here's the answer to the question on my last posting:
As you can see, it's simply a dining table. In this case it's set for six, but the table actually sits double that number.
I bought it for a few dollars a long time ago in Port Melbourne, and I repaint the surface every few years or so.

WHAT? ABSTRACT ART? AFTER ALL YOU'VE SAID ABOUT IT?

Well, the first question is: What is it?
Is is a bird?
Is it a plane?
Is it...well, what do you think?
Let me know.
ray@johnstonesinfrance.com
I'll publish the answer soon - when I've taken a decent photo.

OUT AT LAST!

Book publishers certainly work in weird and wonderful ways.

Here is a prime example:

My novel, "Coup de Grace", which I've been working on for almost ten years,

has been with the publisher/printer since March.

My screenplay version, "Coup de Grace In Three Acts", has been with the same printer/publisher since October.

Guess which one has been printed first?

You got it.

The second book is available NOW. The first book will be available SOON.

You can get further information at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Please type in these full details on either site:
"Coup de Grace in Three Acts Ray Johnstone"

Both books will be available from other internet booksellers in due course.

***
Please note that these books are not for everyone. Why?
Please check why on my October 2009 blog posting in the list on the right hand side of this page.

MELBOURNE STATION

This is Henry and Joey. They live in Australia. And that's one of my paintings between them. It's of a red brick railway station on the Melbourne suburban network.
I painted a lot of buildings when I was in Australia, and one of them even won a prize in 1997 - the Applied Chemicals International Acquisitive Prize for a watercolour of a Victorian factory building in Melbourne.
But I didn't win a prize in South Africa when one of my large nudes in a Pretoria University exhibition created a controversy. A screen had to be erected around the painting to prevent it being seen by the South African Prime Minister John Vorster who was visiting the uni. I always had trouble working out whether this display of bigoted Calvanism was because he'd never seen a nude women or because he didn't like to see women in the nude.
However, this kind of silly narrow mindedness was not unique to South Africa, and when I worked at Myer in Melbourne in the 1980's, a copy of Michelangelo's David on display in one of their windows had to have a fig leaf applied to hide his genitals before he was considered sartorially acceptable.
Anyway there's nothing controvercial about railway stations so Joey and Henry won't be needing any screens or fig leaves (I hope).

ANATOMY OF A PAINTING - 4

This is Heather's Van Gogh just before a few last touches and before applying the varnish. It's the last in this series on 'what goes into a painting'.
(En passant, painting in acrylic is like producing a painting in plastic - it is very durable, and after varnishing it should even survive a nuclear holocaust).
The next time you'll see this 'Vincent' copy will be when it's on Heather's wall. She's sending me a photograph and I'll post it as soon as it arrives.
'A +' as they say here to confuse the Anglo Saxons.

ART AND THE MEDIA

One is fairly used to the popular press generating emotional and emotive headlines to deride and condemn art, artists and exhibitions. These cheap shots and easy laughs are part of how headlines are used to sell newspapers - and, more importantly, I believe that most readers understand that they're there for light relief - and to generate a 'bit of a laugh'.
It's all a matter of taste (and personal perspective), I suppose, but I believe that the other side of the coin is where more serious journalists produce what are presented as more thoughtful citicisms and reviews of artworks and artists who, in my opinion, are the equivalent of the emperor who wasn't wearing clothes.
During my ten years in France, I've written to the UK Guardian Weekly fairly regularly, and, someone there likes what I write because they've published eighteen of my letters to date. (I must admit here that any criticism of the Royal Family or Tony Blair gets in quite regularly).
'So what?', you're probably saying.
Well, the point is that they DIDN'T print a letter I wrote in a fit of exasperation after reading what their art reviewer wrote about a recent exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.
British Artist Anish Kapoor is a very well regarded British artist and it was his 'work' that was on show. This consisted of a 'train' with a 'canon' that the artist constructed to run on rails through several rooms in the gallery. The gun was used to fire a compound of sticky red material (crap?) that stuck on the walls and high ceilings. The result was, apparently, art.

Here's what I wrote to the Guardian Weekly:

SHAME ON KAPOOR, SEARLE AND THE R.A.

What on earth should we tell children, casual visitors or even art devotees who read the likes of Adrian Searle’s article on Anish Kapoor and then visit the Royal Academy?
That art criticism is just another form of fiction? Or that so much contemporary art is merely a very expensive game with taxpayers’ money? Or that journalists and artists - like bankers and politicians – have made an art form of taking the public for fools?
Perhaps the short answer is for them to be encouraged to read Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ before, during or after seeing the exhibition. In art terms, the moment of revelation - when the kid realizes that the emperor is naked - would be just like us coming to our collective senses and realizing that so many famous artists have no talent. And that when we read about art, talk about it and pay good money to get into exhibitions, quite often there’s simply nothing there.

What do you think?
All responses will be acknowledged - please write to me at:
ray@johnstonesinfrance.com