Martin Jones
@martinjones11.bsky.social
I think I’m a writer, but until the world catches up with that idea, I work in a pharmacy.
https://martinjoneswriter.com/
https://martinjoneswriter.com/
Still haven’t finished clearing out the attic. Maybe I keep getting distracted. Here’s an appointments page from The Observer July 31st 1966. Vacancies to work on the Nimrod particle accelerator, some engineering positions going in Uganda, and a surprising number of jobs in computing. 📰
January 25, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Still haven’t finished clearing out the attic. Maybe I keep getting distracted. Here’s an appointments page from The Observer July 31st 1966. Vacancies to work on the Nimrod particle accelerator, some engineering positions going in Uganda, and a surprising number of jobs in computing. 📰
Clearing out the attic I found a pile of old magazines from the 1970s… Planes Ships Cars Space Science Fiction. My needs were few it seems. Didn’t even need commas.
January 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Clearing out the attic I found a pile of old magazines from the 1970s… Planes Ships Cars Space Science Fiction. My needs were few it seems. Didn’t even need commas.
I was wondering if art was a just frivolous activity we pursue when getting enough food has been dealt with. I thought the history of art from the time when people faced sabre tooth tigers, might be instructive. I was surprised at what I found.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/12/09/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/12/09/t...
The First Artists, In Search of the World’s Oldest Art, by Michel Lorblanchet and Paul Bahn
This journey through the history of ancient art is not straight forward. Very little of the art remains, researchers make mistakes and disagree with each other, and the development of art seems to …
martinjoneswriter.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
I was wondering if art was a just frivolous activity we pursue when getting enough food has been dealt with. I thought the history of art from the time when people faced sabre tooth tigers, might be instructive. I was surprised at what I found.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/12/09/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/12/09/t...
A post-apocalyptic vision of east Kent? I had to take a look…
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/30/r...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/30/r...
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban – a Gud Buk
Riddley Walker published in 1980, is set in post-apocalypse east Kent, close to where I live in pre-apocalypse mid-Kent. Society has fallen apart. Modern knowledge has been lost. Language is a deba…
martinjoneswriter.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:22 AM
A post-apocalyptic vision of east Kent? I had to take a look…
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/30/r...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/30/r...
Originally written way back in the year I was born, this great novel of London life had been reissued this year by Faber.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/17/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/17/t...
The Lowlife by Alexander Baron – Confidence is a Preference
The Lowlife is a 1963 novel by Alexander Baron, reissued in May of 2025 by Faber. It’s described as a cult classic. I don’t quite know what one of those is. Maybe it’s a book considered very good, …
martinjoneswriter.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Originally written way back in the year I was born, this great novel of London life had been reissued this year by Faber.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/17/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/17/t...
We all have to go to the doctor at some point. So, Julian Barnes has the great idea of building his history of the Belle Epoque around a surgeon who seems to meet just about everybody. And fancy clothes are involved too. The doctor will see you now.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/11/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes – A Dedicated Follower of Fashion
The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes is a 2019 history of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century period in France, known as the Belle Epoch. It features a huge cast of characters, all arra…
martinjoneswriter.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:23 AM
We all have to go to the doctor at some point. So, Julian Barnes has the great idea of building his history of the Belle Epoque around a surgeon who seems to meet just about everybody. And fancy clothes are involved too. The doctor will see you now.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/11/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/11/t...
The phone box in Haddon Street, London, where Ziggy Stardust tried to call home. I visited to read a short section from my story Record Man…https://youtu.be/2uRppSsQPJA?si=e-NyeV24Vd2CYq0Z
November 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM
The phone box in Haddon Street, London, where Ziggy Stardust tried to call home. I visited to read a short section from my story Record Man…https://youtu.be/2uRppSsQPJA?si=e-NyeV24Vd2CYq0Z
On Monday I have been invited to take the books to Ladies’ Night at the Chequers, Laddingford. Does this mean I’m a kind of literary Chippendale? 6.30pm - 9pm, free canapés, a warm welcome from Tracey and Charles, Christmas shopping opportunities, and the chiselled good looks of my book covers. 🍷
November 7, 2025 at 9:24 AM
On Monday I have been invited to take the books to Ladies’ Night at the Chequers, Laddingford. Does this mean I’m a kind of literary Chippendale? 6.30pm - 9pm, free canapés, a warm welcome from Tracey and Charles, Christmas shopping opportunities, and the chiselled good looks of my book covers. 🍷
Recent writer scams - two emails from the supposed leaders of enormous book clubs who think my books are the work of genius and want to share with their readers - the payment comes later. You have to pay to be a genius it seems.
November 2, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Recent writer scams - two emails from the supposed leaders of enormous book clubs who think my books are the work of genius and want to share with their readers - the payment comes later. You have to pay to be a genius it seems.
Re-reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in my sixties. How did that go for me?
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/02/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: Re-reading In My Sixties
The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel about a mysterious portrait of a young man, where the painted figure ages, while the youth himself lives on unblemished. I first read The Pict…
martinjoneswriter.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Re-reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in my sixties. How did that go for me?
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/02/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/11/02/t...
Milton Keynes Indie Book Fair. For the first time as an author I have a lanyard 📕
October 26, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Milton Keynes Indie Book Fair. For the first time as an author I have a lanyard 📕
Celebrity endorsement - the Uckfield Town Crier reading Secret Street…
October 19, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Celebrity endorsement - the Uckfield Town Crier reading Secret Street…
My experience as a ‘street stationer” in Uckfield High Street…
October 19, 2025 at 8:35 AM
My experience as a ‘street stationer” in Uckfield High Street…
I’ll be at Milton Keynes Literary Festival on Saturday 25th October. The festival sent me this publicity picture. I am rather pleased to see it makes me look like the star of the show. Not entirely true, but very nice nevertheless. 📖
October 16, 2025 at 5:21 AM
I’ll be at Milton Keynes Literary Festival on Saturday 25th October. The festival sent me this publicity picture. I am rather pleased to see it makes me look like the star of the show. Not entirely true, but very nice nevertheless. 📖
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FTM9DT7K
My new book of nine short stories, originally written for competitions, one of which I managed to win!
My new book of nine short stories, originally written for competitions, one of which I managed to win!
The Chequerboard Floor eBook : Jones, Martin: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
The Chequerboard Floor eBook : Jones, Martin: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
www.amazon.co.uk
October 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FTM9DT7K
My new book of nine short stories, originally written for competitions, one of which I managed to win!
My new book of nine short stories, originally written for competitions, one of which I managed to win!
The cats of Upnor in Kent. They’re like welcoming tour guides.
June 9, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The cats of Upnor in Kent. They’re like welcoming tour guides.
Who’d have thought it? A very interesting book about nothing. Dr No by Percival Everett.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/05/21/d...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/05/21/d...
Dr No by Percival Everett – A Book About Nothing
Dr No is a 2022 novel by Percival Everett. It’s about a maths professor Wala Kitu who studies nothing, as in the concept of nothing. A super villain in the James Bond manner tries to recruit Wala t…
martinjoneswriter.com
May 21, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Who’d have thought it? A very interesting book about nothing. Dr No by Percival Everett.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/05/21/d...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/05/21/d...
Secret Street on The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells - reading a scene in the setting that inspired it.
May 12, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Secret Street on The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells - reading a scene in the setting that inspired it.
Classic sci-fi from the 1960s, which you could say is about antivirus software, and extremely effective hairspray.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/24/u...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/24/u...
Ubik by Philip K. Dick – Update Your Antivirus
Ubik by Philip K.Dick is a science fiction story, published in 1969, now considered a classic. It appears on Times Magazine’s list of best novels since 1923. The book imagines a version of 1993 whe…
martinjoneswriter.com
March 24, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Classic sci-fi from the 1960s, which you could say is about antivirus software, and extremely effective hairspray.
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/24/u...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/24/u...
Delighted that there were Rocky Horror Picture Show questions on University Challenge last night. But dammit Janet, I only got two out of three right. Picture from Oakley Court Hotel where some of the interior scenes were filmed.
March 4, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Delighted that there were Rocky Horror Picture Show questions on University Challenge last night. But dammit Janet, I only got two out of three right. Picture from Oakley Court Hotel where some of the interior scenes were filmed.
My commute to work, a poster in the window of Nationwide Building Society and The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. How does that all work together?
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/02/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/02/t...
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles – Going, Going, Nowhere
Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky is about a wealthy American couple, Port and Kit Moresby, travelling in Africa soon after World War Two. In a snobby sort of way, Port considers himself a traveller …
martinjoneswriter.com
March 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
My commute to work, a poster in the window of Nationwide Building Society and The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. How does that all work together?
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/02/t...
martinjoneswriter.com/2025/03/02/t...
🎤 Later today I’ll be doing my three minute book pitch on stage at the Alexander Centre, Faversham. Literary talk? Comedy club skit? Open mic night sing-song? We shall see. Sold out I’m afraid 🎤
February 23, 2025 at 9:41 PM
🎤 Later today I’ll be doing my three minute book pitch on stage at the Alexander Centre, Faversham. Literary talk? Comedy club skit? Open mic night sing-song? We shall see. Sold out I’m afraid 🎤
I’ll be at the Faversham Literary Festival Local Writers’ Showcase this weekend. Each writer has three minutes to make a pitch. It’s like literary speed dating. I looked up speed dating tips. 1: Don’t talk about your work. 2: Don’t talk about yourself too much. Both tricky given the circumstances. 📚
February 21, 2025 at 8:10 AM
I’ll be at the Faversham Literary Festival Local Writers’ Showcase this weekend. Each writer has three minutes to make a pitch. It’s like literary speed dating. I looked up speed dating tips. 1: Don’t talk about your work. 2: Don’t talk about yourself too much. Both tricky given the circumstances. 📚