I’m delighted to say that Detective Fashion is once again ‘active’.

This time he’s writing his memoirs online - so you can ask him about his incredible life as he goes along. The idea being of course that the whole thing will form the basis of a book; the writing of which I’ve been intending to do for years but keep putting it off.

Unlike the Simon Test book I’m avoiding the path of making thousands of notes before writing and instead I’m getting right in and getting my hands dirty straight away. Let’s not forget that this is not a new character or even new stories that I’ll be dealing with but instead I’ll be padding out stuff that we know already. 

Of course I have to mention to that I don’t own the sole intellectual rights to the detective. Back in 2003 I had the idea of an old man shamelessly abusing his retarded step-son and as we tried on a number hats and glasses Fashion just arrived - fully formed but with a live of his own! DK Cavey had accidentally discovered a window to his own subconscious and both he and I have been looting from it else since. 

It look us a while to know exactly what Fashion would or wouldn’t say but over the years we have learnt know Fashion so well that he is a real friend to us both and whilst DK has the honour of  lending Fashion his body from time to time I get the honour of journaling his life and thoughts. 

The outcome of which I hope you will enjoy over at DetectiveFashion.com 

I’ve been listening to How To Use A Journal and one thing that struck me was that by writing down our experiences, we are work out the meaning of our lives - almost like a mathematician with a black board full of symbols and numbers. It’s a very good point - by explaining ideas on paper we are turning abstract thoughts and feeling into language - even if incorrectly and therefore into meaning.

I should explain. I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a book again. This time it’s Detective Fashion’s autobiography (you may recall I toyed with the idea of writing Simon Test’s scientifc memoirs too last year). There is no reason to write such a book but if my first book is to be written off as experience then I might as well right something that I want to write rather than something that people want to read!

Also in fashion in my literary life at the moment is William Burroughs. I discovered some lecture recordings on archive.org and am now listening to the author’s reading of Naked Lunch. I remember enjoying the movie version with (Robocop) Peter Weller but this audio book is something else entirely. Burroughs voice has a sing-song quality but it rasps like a throat cancer ridden drunkard - worth hearing though! 

I recently listened to the entire series of Harry Potter audiobooks and it reminded me of the detail I’ve spent plotting and planning the maybe details of the Spainful world. Not only in the wiki but also notes for the twice aborted season 3. That’s two possible futures plus an even more comprehensive past. All hidden awy on a shelf somewhere. Of course it doesn’t matter that the only two people who give a shit are me and Dave - what matters is that it’s written down somewhere, in the same way as all those ideas are written down somewhere now. The more I write the less I feel ashamed.