Here is the suitably creepy front cover for the new ghost story anthology coming out from Constable and Robinson (last I heard, the publication date was 15^th November in the UK, and January in the US), edited by the lovely Marie O’Regan. I have a little contribution in this – The Fifth Bedroom is my first ever published short story. I’m not usually much of a fan of short stories in general but I love a good ghost story and I’m looking forward to reading the others when the anthology is published. Ghost stories are better enjoyed in the winter, I think. I like reading them by a fire late at night whilst it rains outside. There should probably be hot chocolate, too.

The Fifth Bedroom was inspired by the servants’ bell-board in my aunt’s house. It’s one of those old fashioned ones with a little striped flag hanging down in each window, and it refers to a couple of bedrooms that no longer exist in the building. Babysitting there, late at night, after my cousin was already in bed, it occurred to me how freaked out I would be if a bell suddenly went off and I saw the flag moving in the window of one of the rooms that no longer exists. And, believe me, once that thought takes hold late at night, it don’t let go easy. That’s the problem with being a writer, I guess – you’re always thinking: what if this happened? How would I react? Would I grab a carving knife and charge upstairs to protect my sleeping cousin from any spectral intruder? Or would I leave her there and run screaming from the house, jump in my car and drive off without looking back? We shall never know.

But I enjoyed writing this story and am very much looking forward to the anthology coming out so that I can scare myself silly by reading the others in it the next time I happen be babysitting.  

This is Source – Jewellery’s Fairtrade Journey, a beautiful coffee table book compiled by Deborah Miarkowska of EcoChic and Jo Swannell-Owen. I was very pleased to be asked to contribute an article to this amazing book, and I’d like to encourage everyone to go out and buy it straight away. Informative, inspirational and beautifully put together – this book really taught me a lot about the jewellery industry, the terrible human rights and environmental problems that plague it, and the steps that are being taken by some remarkable people to improve the situation and make the jewellery-making process as beautiful as the end result.

I have to admit that before I got involved with Source, I was almost completely ignorant about the ethical issues surrounding jewellery. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that a small-scale miner would routinely risk dangerous working conditions, disease and death during the course of his day; that he would be improperly compensated for his efforts or robbed of a fair sale price by unscrupulous middle-men. I didn’t realise that there is a real problem with children being involved in the mines or that some of the chemicals used in the mining process are toxic and can cause brain damage. What a perverse injustice that miners who spend their days surrounded by gold should be desperately impoverished themselves as a result of industry corruption, and bad business practices, and unfair market conditions. Until recently, even if a consumer wanted to know where exactly their gold had come from, a jeweller would not have been able to tell them.

Thankfully, this is starting to change as a result of the Fairtrade Fairmined Gold Mark that was launched last year – the world’s first independent ethical certification for gold. The mark guarantees that the gold has been mined in an environmentally responsible manner and that the workers have been fairly paid. It guarantees an absence of child labour in the mines, protects the rights of women miners and ensures that the gold has not funded any violent conflict.

Source tells the story of the fairtrade mark and looks in greater depth at some of the main issues (the interview with the Columbian miner is particularly fascinating) – but it also celebrates the pioneers of ethical jewellery – the designers, makers and retailers who are taking a different approach to the industry – one that empowers artisanal miners and local communities to improve their own circumstances in a way that simply would not have been possible before.

What I really admire is that, for many of these ethical jewellers, they do not merely refrain from doing wrong; they actively involve themselves in nurturing positive change as well. Oria donates ten percent of the profit from their endangered species collection to the IUCN Red List, which works to protect these animals; Arabel Lebrusan supports The Water Project, an NGO that strives to address the water problem in Sierra Leone; SilverChilli reinvests a whopping 95% of their profits back into social projects that benefit the entire local communities in Mexico, such as buying computers for schools and planting a 220 tree forest.

So much work went into this book, so huge congratulations to Deborah and everyone else who was involved with it. It was truly a labour of love to celebrate truly beautiful jewellery and I think that shows in the end product.

You can buy the book here. You can also find out more about fairtrade gold here. The first picture is a piece from April Doubleday’s collection and the other three are by Arabel Lebrusan – two of the ethical jewellers who feature in the book.

It costs £15.00 to enter and the prizes are £300, £150 and £50 plus publication in the Chapter One Promotions Anthology.

The deadline is this Saturday (31st March) at midnight so there’s still time to enter (but you have to get a move on!). The maximum word count is 5,000, and more rules and information can be found on the Chapter One website here: http://www.chapteronepromotions.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=528&Itemid=187

Here’s the description from Chapter One:

“Listen to your heart and remember those first tentative moments of falling in love for the first time. That intense feeling that you felt would consume you, those tender moments of secrets shared where it felt like your love was written in the stars.

Perhaps romance are those quiet moments of thoughtfulness that has built up over the years, where love is no longer a case of a faint blush on the cheeks but has matured gracefully into a steady stream of affection over the years.

Passion, memories, pain, adoration, longing and desire all make up wonderful elements to a story that can be complex, deep, meaningful, gentle, erosive.  Inspire us with love the old fashion way, or lead us into a tale of ardour in a modern world where tokens of affection are made using mobile phones and texts.

More importantly, make a statement with words entwined in tender possibilities that would make even an old cynic smile at the mere memory.”

So get writing – and good luck everyone!

Here is the Russian front cover for The Ninth Circle. I have my doubts about Gabriel wearing such a frilly shirt, nor do I recall him having either a goatee or an earring. The Victorian people in the bottom left hand corner also seem a little random. But, other than that, yes. The blood, the book and the knives are all good. And Lilith looks suitably beautiful and sinister.

In other news, there’s a few photos from a workshop event I did at a secondary school a couple of weeks ag0: http://www.brynhafren.com/ It was a great event and the girls were brilliant. Plus, I drove all the way to Wales without getting lost. I’m also going to be a guest at the New Forest Book and Supper Club at the Royal Oak next week: http://www.royaloakgorley.com/royal_oak_gorley_book_club.html

My problem (apart from being completely stuck up about it, that is), was that I failed to appreciate what Elle Magazine is really about. I thought it was all about status symbol shoes that none but the fabulously wealthy could ever afford to buy. I thought it was a slap in the face to any self-respecting feminist. So I stuck my tongue out at the magazine and insisted on walking around college with a battered copy of Pride and Prejudice instead, whilst completely missing the point that Elle would love Jane Austen because Elle loves any successful woman. Elle is not just about the catwalk, it is a celebration of being female.

The magazine doesn’t just profile fashion designers, they also interview novelists, comediennes, TV presenters, actresses and journalists too. They write articles about art and literature, film and travel. An edition I read last year even contained an article about becoming a writer.

Certainly a large part of the magazine is about beauty and fashion but Elle are far more interested in the style and life of Grace Kelly than, say, Paris Hilton. And they are independently-minded when it comes to fashion too, as opposed to the slavish followers of fleeting trends I always imagined them to be. One edition I bought last year contained an article titled: ‘Is Fashion Racist, Ageist and Fattist?’ In a different edition, ‘Your Body – What’s the Right Size?’ celebrated the different types of female figure. Far from perpetuating the size zero phenomenon, the magazine challenges it instead (on behalf of real-live, actual food-loving women everywhere).

Most of all, the magazine promotes diversity, variety and personal style. It is a celebration of individuality and of the self. It encourages readers to love books as well as shoes, to have an interest in fashion as well as to nurture career ambitions, to want a solid relationship with a boyfriend/partner, sure, but to not want that and only that. The magazine is a consistent celebration of being a woman in a modern world and of being free to pick and mix different interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes and passions. In this way, Elle is one of the most inclusive and open-minded types of magazine there is because it reaches beyond its own area of expertise (that of fashion and beauty) and is quite happy to dabble in countless other areas. Where else would you get articles about the newest mascara alongside glowing praise for the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the Twilight Series? Or a reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez in an article that is, essentially, about rom-coms? Or see a one-page spread on how to wear polka dots this season alongside an article that begins with the comment: ‘All girls love Han Solo’? (It’s true, by the way – we do.)

Elle does not sneer at Star Wars the way I once sneered at glossies. They’re quite happy to take a slice out of every pie if they see something they like there. There are no cliques here, no constraining little boxes. You can love Star Wars and you can love lipstick. I love Elle because although it’s fiercely stylish, it’s fiercely intelligent and independent too.

I wrote a blog post a while back about feminism and how TV female role models have changed over the years by comparing Elena from the Vampire Diaries with Sam from Bewitched. I think that drippy, empty-headed, whiny Elena would read (if you can call it reading since there are more photos than words) a sensationalist celebrity gossip magazine like Hello (if she could tear herself away from Stefan long enough to read anything at all, of course). But Sam, with her independence, her class, her intelligence, her sense of humour and her sense of mischief, would most definitely read Elle.

This advert for Agent Provocateur’s new perfume is like a visual representation of everything that’s so good about Elle. It’s very beautiful with its brooding overtones of cool French sophistication and an impossibly chic model but rather than having her kissing some half-naked stud, what do they have instead? They have her playing chess. There is no man in sight in this advert (half naked or otherwise). It’s all about the woman. Bravo, Agent Provocateur. Since discovering pure lotus flower oil in Egypt I rarely wear perfume anymore but this advert ticks every box for me and, if I could succeed in confirming that this company does not test its products on animals, I’d seek out this perfume tomorrow.

And therein lies the one niggle that I have with Elle – I would love to see more of a focus on ethical beauty and fashion. Although green issues do make the occasional appearance, it would be nice to see much more of that along with some discussion of the animal rights issues in the cosmetics industry as well. Realistically, this is unlikely to happen any time soon since so much of the fashion world is corrupted with gross mistreatment of animals but, still, I can’t help thinking that if Elle can challenge size zero then surely they can challenge animal-tested make-up too. It’s an evil that need not exist, and should be eradicated, but only will be when consumers, and publications like Elle, protest long and loudly enough.

In the meantime I am very much enjoying writing for EcoChic Magazine (check it out here: http://www.ecochicmagazine.co.uk/). Where else would I get to write about international human rights and organic chocolate body butters? Sweet perfection.