fire and forget

First five pages of volume two of the magnificent Phonogram, The Singles Club at the Phonogram blog.

The first volume of Phonogram is one of the few things I had wondered if the creators had yanked all the stuff I wanted to write out of my brain and y’know, made it as good as it sounded in my head. The first thing I saw when I opened the trade paperback at random was a reference to Kenickie, and I just had to have it.

It’s about… well, when I finished it I opened Indiedisco, the story i’ve been writing, about a guy in the present day who looks back at his group of friends in the britpop era, full of smart cultural references to obscure yet glorious indie bands, and wrote this:

INT. THE RED DRAGON - DAY. NOW: JOHNNY, in white v-neck t-shirt and dark jeans, is sat by a small table on the bench around the edge of the pub, reading Phonogram. Mia, in black cap-sleeve t-shirt and black jeans, is slouched next to him reading a tattoo magazine with her plain black trainers on the seat. Her sunglasses, an untouched pint and a half-drunk vodka and tonic sit on the table.

JOHNNY:
FUCK.

Mia looks over.

MIA:
BIT RUBBISH, IS IT?

JOHNNY:
NO, IT’S GREAT. WELL, IT’S ALRIGHT. YOU KNOW THAT STORY I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT WRITING, ABOUT A GUY IN THE PRESENT DAY WHO LOOKS BACK AT HIS GROUP OF FRIENDS IN THE BRITPOP ERA, FULL OF SMART CULTURAL REFERENCES TO OBSCURE YET GLORIOUS INDIE BANDS?

MIA:
YEAH.

Johnny holds up the comic.

JOHNNY:
WELL, THIS IS A STORY ABOUT A GUY IN THE PRESENT DAY WHO LOOKS BACK AT HIS GROUP OF FRIENDS IN THE BRITPOP ERA, FULL OF SMART CULTURAL REFERENCES TO OBSCURE YET GLORIOUS INDIE BANDS.

WITH MAGIC AND GODDESSES.

Mia makes a face, which Johnny reciprocates while still looking at the comic.

MIA:
FUCK.

JOHNNY:
YEAH.

MIA:
I HATE MAGIC AND GODDESSES AND SHIT LIKE THAT.

Of course, they’re totally different beasts. Phonogram is way sexier than me, for a start. And reading it did push me to push the pop cultural references in Indiedisco a bit more. It also made me let go of Britpop. Not bad for a funny book.

And while we’re on the subject…