Jim Clarken's Podcast

Bikes come in all shapes and sizes, but few are as unique at my first bicycle. 

A visit to the dentist got me thinking, never a good idea. 

With my second novel Death Watch out, how can I stop my brother-in-law from reading it and deciding that anyone who can imagine all this is not a danger to the community?

This is a extract from the second Nova Winterborne novel by Jim Clarken.  Nova may regard recent experiences as a karmic blip. But Karma has not finished with her yet. Soon, Nova’s new life is shaken to its foundations. She discovers cameras hidden throughout her apartment. Her private life has been streamed onto a voyeur website. Worse yet, she has caught the attention of a serial killer.

Nobody, who doesn't want to learn, has ever learned anything in a classroom. To ask a non-reader to read and digest a two hundred year old novel is like force feeding a vegan bun burgers by the ton; it is both loud and painful for all involved. Being a reader, in a class of non-readers, is to write off hours of your life, time you never get back, time that in measured, not in minutes, but in...

When my mother went in for a week’s respite care, I stumbled around, figuring out the rules of this alien world.

At my age, Death takes a keener interest in me than when I was a mere twenty-years-old; how much more interested must He take in my mother. 

What happens when you get dragged into your mother's political campaign against a future president of the united states? If you are unlucky, you might wind up writing limericks.

Covid is no longer novel, but it is still here. Of course, you have to test before you can prove this fact. Jim Clarken’s mother is not a fan of being tested.

My mother has spent a lifetime being discreet, but lately she has changed and predicting her next public utterance has become impossible. And all the more worrying for that.    

Prompted by a telephone call on the landline recently, my mind took off down a rabbit hole, me racing after in in the hope of catching it quickly and getting back to more mundane musings. You can read this and other blogs on www.jimclarken.ie  

Instead of reading my blog as I usually would, I am reading the first chapter of my novel Toxic Love which has just been published on Amazon as a paperback and on Kindle. 

An Irish, Indian Summer, brought Jim Clarken out into the light of day where Blackberry bushes caught his eye and brought on  memories and reflection of hunting down berries as a child. You can read this and other blogs on www.jimclarken.ie

When Ireland’s national broadcaster promotes Bloom’s Day (The 16th of June) with a reading from a very famous scene in the book, it awakens the critic in my 93-year-old mother. As a result, I find myself contemplating commodes and my grandmother’s use of them. This leads back to Molly Bloom’s famous potty scene. You have been warned. You can read this and other blogs on www.jimclarken.ie

Jim Clarken reflects on his mother’s gambling habit, does the maths, and realizes that her Fish & Tip Man, not only has the freshest fish in town, but he also has the best tips. 

Jim Clarken reflects on the difficulty of recording a podcast in an airing cupboard and on overcoming his fear of public reading while being chased by the ghosts of teachers past. 

Jim Clarken reflects on Nom De Plumes and how so many of them are forced on the writer. To have or not to have one, that is the question bothering him in this reading from his blog, as he faces into the publication of his first crime novel. Satisfied with his surname, he wonders which of his middle names would have the most shelf appeal for fans of crime fiction.

 When my mother said jump, I should have been more careful about answering. As it was, I said yes without thinking, and soon found a parachute tied to my back.

I got through Covid without incident. It was well after my first booster shot before the dreaded illness struck. It could have chosen a better time to strike, a day when my mother did not need to be taxied to A&E. You can read this and other blogs on www.jimclarken.ie

When I heard the colour name ‘Spanked Bottom,’ I felt that the days of subtext were well and truly over in the world of marketing. But mostly I was saddened that any colour could be so muddied by such a name. Rosy cheeks would be an equally valid, without even a whiff of brimstone attached to it. Read this and other blogs on www.jimclarken.ie

The humble potato has often elevated to a highest tables in the land by addition of exotic ingredients. But to remove it from the vegetable platter and hide it among the desserts, might be pushing the taste buts beyond the point of madness.

I grew with one hand, at a time when everybody felt they had a right to bring this to your attention; every time they met you. But there was an even bigger challenge, I was left-handed in a right-handed world. This made me truly sinister. Read this blog and others on www.jimclarken.ie 

When Jim Clarken heard that the Passport office was overwhelmed and there were huge delays is getting new passports, he checked his own, only to discover that in was out of date. 

Jim Clarken sings the praises of the coffee bean. He is so enamoured of it that he wrote a blog about his coffee adventures and even felt strongly enough to enter the kitchen and share a coffee moment with you on YouTube. 

Jim Clarken reflectes on inspiration in this blog. He concludes that, just as soldiers must keep their powder dry, it pays a writer to keep his inspiration close. It does not get any closer than your own home.