Paisley Shirt | the writer is a lonely hunter

Unusual connection

by gailaldwin

I received a direct message on Twitter this week from Rob Casey, a stand up poet, writer and performer who lives in Bridport. He teaches creative writing at Exeter College and is the Bard of Exeter City Football Club. While he was watching the first match of the season for Manchester City (against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Man City won 3-1), he noticed something about the kit that was relevant to me.

What do you notice? Love a bit of paisley, I do. Indeed I think the tear drop pattern is so great I named my first published book Paisley Shirt. It is a collection of short fiction and the title story is about a Polish man returning to visit a neighbour in the UK who helped to look after him as a child. With twenty-six other stories in this smart, square book there’s a lot of fiction to enjoy. Novelist and short story writer, Maria Donovan kindly endorsed the collection and says the stories are ‘sensitive, surprising, unnerving, tender and crucial.’ It’s easy to get a kindle copy or a paperback by popping over to Amazon. And, if you’re interested, you can read more about the history of the paisley pattern here.

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Fashion and Paisley Print

by gailaldwin

From being a highly prized pattern in Victorian times, paisley enjoyed a resurgence during the 1960s when clothes in this print became a popular fashion item for men and women.

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Certain garments continue to carry the paisley pattern today.

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Although shawls are not as popular as they once were, still the paisley pattern is used.

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And the not quite paisley patterned shawl.

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I hope you have enjoyed this series of blog posts on paisley designs. My short fiction collection, Paisley Shirt remains available with free delivery from The Book Depository and is stocked in Gullivers in Wimborne, The Book Shop in Bridport, Serendip in Lyme Regis and The Swanage Bookshop.

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A round-up for this week

by gailaldwin

While I’ve been away in Cornwall on 512px-Port_Isaac_2 a retreat in Port Isaac with three writing friends, plenty has been happening on the promotional front for Paisley Shirt.

First there was a lovely review on Frost Magazine for Paisley Shirt. Click on the image to read this.

Then there was an interview on Tracy Baines’ blog. Here I talk about the distinctive nature of flash fiction.

On Wednesday there was an article in the Dorset Echo about Paisley Shirt reaching the long list in the Best Short Story Collection category of the Saboteur Awards 2018. I was very pleased to find my collection alongside work by Tom Vowler, Tania Hershman and other notable writers. There’s still time to vote for the short listed titles here.

I also discovered that Paisley Shirt has been purchased by Dorset Libraries as part of their lending stock and is now available for loan in Poole, Bathnes, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire libraries through Libraries West.

Quite a week and I’m now exhausted by all the activity. Hope you have a good weekend.

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Story behind the cover image

by gailaldwin

Pasiley Shirt Image

The cover image for the collection Paisley Shirt was taken by Robert Sheie who allows images to be shared under creative commons licence. Robert’s company is called Menswear Market which is a personalised online consignment service with clients across the U.S. and customers around the world. He helps clients to sell their merchandise online by using websites such as eBay and Amazon.

To thank Robert for allowing me to use image, I sent him a copy of Paisley Shirt. I was delighted to receive an email from him giving a little more background information to the image. The paisley shirt I chose is a silk dress shirt from the House of Bijan in Beverly Hills (“the most expensive store in the world”), so I am pleased to have selected an exclusive product for the collection.

Note to self: remember to put a reply address on packages otherwise they may be regarded as unsafe. Thankfully, Robert took the risk in opening the envelope, so now I can share this information with you.

Paisley Shirt is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and is stocked in Gullivers in Wimborne, The Book Shop in Bridport, Serendip in Lyme Regis and The Swanage Bookshop.

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What’s in a name?

by gailaldwin

My maiden name is Chappell. My Dad thought we were descended from those who fled France during the revolution but it is more likely we have Huguenot ancestry. I hated my family name from the first time a classmate shouted, ‘What’s the time, Chappell? Or has your clock gone wrong?’

I was delighted to shed my family name upon marriage. I met my first husband in Tenant Creek, a town in Outback Australia. He persuaded me to travel with him to Cairns where we applied for a twenty-four hour marriage licence. My horrified parents couldn’t understand the urgency but a whirlwind romance is terribly exciting.

Four years later and back in the UK we fell out of love. But, I liked the sound of my name, Gail Marshall, so much I continued to use it for another five years. Upon marrying David, he obviously didn’t want me to carry on using that name, but I was mortified by the prospect of adopting his. I was a primary school teacher by then and anticipating being called Mrs Aldwinckle all day long filled me with dread. So, I chopped off my husband’s ‘winckle’ or rather his ‘ckle’ to become Gail Aldwin.

It is an irony to now find myself back in the Chapel fold. The publisher of Paisley Shirt (my collection of short fiction) is called Chapeltown Books. To reconnect with my family name under these circumstances is a surprise and delight.

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Staying in with…Linda Hill

by gailaldwin

I’m in good company today, staying in with Linda Hill. Here I share the inspiration behind the title story of Paisley Shirt and find out what Linda, a prolific book blogger, thinks about the collection. Why not pop over and take a look?

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