#❬ * narrative › ❛ — malcolm o’sullivan ❜ ❭

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   beverly   torrance   /   @thirtecnth​   !

❝ alright beverly, i got us some treats that’ll set us up for a whole night of fun ! ❞ sully holds out a cup of lucky’s punch to the blonde with a smile, ❝ added my own SECRET INGREDIENT, let me know what you think. ❞ secret ingredient being more alcohol — but she’ll find that out soon enough. sully was no bartender and the flavour wasn’t exactly subtle. ❝ and i even stole some S’MORES from the kids, don’t tell mayor huang.❞ he gives her a quick wink before taking a sip from his own cup. 

[glcryborn]

— a starter for ANGELINA ROYAL ( @ofhungers )

He DEFINITELY shouldn’t have hired the pretty, red-haired, seventeen year old to work here but ... Sully just couldn’t say no. It felt almost HYPOCRITICAL for someone who used to hate hearing the word for himself. Besides, teenagers were always in need for a job and she was a regular at the bookstore anyways — he was only helping her out. Really. Carrying the box filled with new arrivals, he lowered himself to set them down at her feet and scratched at his temple as he rose back up. He had never really been good with words VERBALLY, especially when it came to explaining things, but he supposed he’d have to try. ❝ Erm, so, you probably know all this stuff, don’t you? You’ve certainly been here enough times .. but I guess, just to make sure, sort ‘em by GENRE then in alphabetical order of the author’s last name, blah, blah. Basic stuff, ❞ he gave a casual shrug as he looked at her, wondering if she was even LISTENING. ❝ Think ye can handle it? ❞   

[rajpersaud]

The Voices Within - Charles Fernyhough discusses hearing voices and inner speech with Dr Raj Persaud

The Voices Within

http://www.charlesfernyhough.com/tvw.html

    The Voices Within is a book about the voices in our heads. It is published by Basic Books in the US and by Profile Books/Wellcome Collection in the UK.

The Voices Within was picked as a top neuroscience book of 2016 by Forbes and a science book of the year by the Observer and ABC. It was chosen as a top spring science book by Nature and selected as a summer reading pick in the Guardian and Times Higher Education. It was the subject of an essay-review in the New Yorker.

I spoke about the themes of the book on the Diane Rehm Show, and discussed them in this Q&A with The Atlantic. These pieces for TIME Ideas and the LA Times explore the benefits of talking to yourself. I spoke about these ideas on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week; you can listen again here. You can also see me speaking about the themes of the book in this talk for 5x15 and in this Royal Institution lecture. The book featured in a Guardian Books podcast. An abridged extract from the book was published by BBC Future.

Translation agreements have been concluded for German, Spanish, French, Turkish, Italian, Korean and simplified Chinese.

Order from the Guardian Bookshop, Hive.co.uk or Amazon.com.

          'A lucid, authoritative survey of our current knowledge… The author’s investigations, at once scientific and humane, represent the discipline of psychology at its rare best.' Raymond Tallis, Wall Street Journal

'An intriguing and deeply humane book… particularly good when addressing the role of inner voices in creativity… In ‘The Voices Within’, [Fernyhough] has again rendered complicated mental experience without losing its human texture.' Casey Schwartz, New York Times Book Review

'Fernyhough’s book … provides enough science to ground the argument, but the real achievement here is the writing. The author is a psychologist and a novelist, and his prose has a narrative feel that separates it from most books on the psych shelf. The subject is one of the tough brain conundrums that’s far from settled; we’ll be trying to figure out the role of the inner voice long from now, but Fernyhough’s book is a readable take on what we know and where the questions may go next.' David DiSalvo, Forbes Brain Books of 2016.

'From explaining the hurdles of studying our internal dialogue to setting the record straight on schizophrenia and “hearing voices,” this book is a must-read for those seeking to understand the voices in their heads.' DiscoverMagazine

'Fernyhough has built up an interesting picture of inner speech and its functions… making a case for the role of inner speech in memory, sports performance, religious revelation, psychotherapy, and literary fiction.' The New Yorker

'This sophisticated and appealing work scrutinizes a tangled topic with aplomb and will leave readers permanently observing their own thought processes differently. Perfect for readers of Oliver Sacks and Malcolm Gladwell.' Booklist (starred review)

'After reading the book, I couldn’t help noticing my thoughts more closely—asking myself, Is this dialogic thinking? or What perspective was that voice taking?At one point, there’s mention of “the idea that, when we internalise dialogue, we internalise other people. Our brains, like our minds, are full of voices.” For me, at least for now, one of those voices is Fernyhough’s.' New York Magazine, The Science of Us

    'Though the book is not about creativity per se, one of its highlights is its fascinating insight into the process of artistic creation, particularly writing. In another high point, the narrative gently prods readers into a wider and more empathetic view of pathologies such as aural hallucinations. Fernyhough's book is a valuable addition to the literature surrounding the unending human quest to understand the location—and the creation—of the self.' Publishers Weekly

'Fernyhough examines the phenomenon of "inner voices," which manifests in two broad components: the more or less ordinary business of talking to oneself and the more fraught existence of voices inside one's head... with much to say about how the brain works at the interface of thought and language.' Kirkus Reviews

'This expansive review offers a stimulating blend of theory, research, and insight on inner speech and voice hearing that will complement more prevalent behaviorist and biomedical perspectives.' Library Journal

'A book that will challenge some of our preconceptions about how we think and how "the voices within" may be plentiful, or infrequent, helpful or problematic and variable from person-to-person. This is a valuable book for those who want to understand one important aspect of our human mind.' New York Journal of Books

'Intriguingly challenges conventional assumptions about the self as unified and coherent, while also posing the question: how might that which we deem pathological be shaped by the mores of our times?' Christine Gross-Loh, Guardian summer reading picks.

'As enlightening as it is surprising… By entwining inner voice theories, research, and data into easy-to-digest literary, pop culture, and personal anecdotes, Fernyhough has (quite intentionally) crafted a book that reads like a novel but never strays from its carefully examined scientific foundation.' Kirkus Reviews author interview

'Charles Fernyhough isn't just a scholar and a scientist, he is also a novelist, and this book reflects his unusual combination of gifts. It is an engaging and humane exploration of the experience of voices in our heads, delving into the origin of these voices in children, their contribution to problem-solving, creativity, and religious experience, their role in madness, and much else. This is a beautifully written and fascinating work.' Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology at Yale University, and author of Just Babies

'Perceptive, illuminating and humane.' Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

'Fascinating and elegantly humane... [Fernyhough’s] book is refreshingly interdisciplinary in its insistence that philosophy and literature are going to be just as important investigative tools for this subject as clinical psychology and brain scan.' Steven Poole, Guardian

Fascinating… the book traces in detail (the footnotes are just as interesting as the text) the various attempts to pin down inner voices… an expert blend of the scientific and artistic.' Erica Wagner, New Statesman

'Persuasively unravels connections between the voices we hear inside and the words we say out loud... an elegantly written survey.' Nick Rennison, Sunday Times

'If Fernyhough is to be believed, there is a sense in which we are visited all the time by good or bad angels and it is the ability to question and discriminate that distinguishes creative thoughtfulness from madness... His book, The Voices Within, is the intriguing result of his research.' Salley Vickers, Observer

'Fascinating… thought provoking… intriguing… clear presentation of the slippery nature of both our inner and spoken worlds.' Suzanne O’Sullivan, Lancet

'Stimulating and fruitful... A fascinating tour d'horizon.' Mike Jay, Literary Review

'Profound and eloquent... an intriguing array of fresh findings and perspectives.' Douwe Draaisma, Nature

'Compelling… reassures those of us who worry that we have a chorus of voices jabbering in our heads.' Mail on Sunday

'This is a truly exceptional book for its scope, richness of detail and originality… a book that informs as well as provoking thought and reflection… It is quite simply a remarkable book.' British Journal of Psychiatry

'With its extensive illustrations of the creative effects of inner speech and voice-hearing, sane and mad, [The Voices Within] is a thought-provoking and engaging read.' Times Higher Education

'Fernyhough presents his work as a wide-ranging investigation, spanning psychological research – including the brain-plundering marvels of fMRI – as well as philosophy, spirituality, literature and the arts. If there’s a drawback to The Voices Within, it’s that it may make you spend even more of your waking hours listening to yourself think.' The Saturday Paper(Australia)

'Utterly fascinating... the main joy of Fernyhough’s book comes from watching him chase down the faintest conceptual ripples extending outward from the ideas he discusses.' The National (UAE)

'A surprisingly humanitarian approach to a necessarily human topic… a vital, illuminating, engaging exploration of the things that make us who we are.' Ilkley Gazette

'Most of us talk to ourselves. In fact, many people describe their thoughts as being like a conversation between the different voices of their consciousness. In his eye-opening new book, Charles Fernyhough explores this inner speech, revealing what purpose it serves, what it says about us, and what it can tell us about those who experience hallucinated voices.' BBC Science Focus

Biography

  I was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1968, and educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and Queens’ College, Cambridge, where I read Natural Sciences.

I returned to Cambridge to study for a PhD in Developmental Psychology, which I was awarded in 1995.

My writing has been published in several anthologies, including New Writing 11 and New Writing 14, and my books have been translated into eleven languages.

      Photo credit: Ben Gilbert/Wellcome Images

  My awards include a Time to Write Award from the Northern Writers’ Awards and an Arts Council of England Grant for the Arts

I have taught creative writing, with a particular focus on psychological processes in reading and writing, in a variety of contexts around the UK, including a short course on Creative Writing and Psychology at Newcastle University. Between 2004 and 2006 I worked as a mentor on the British Council’s Crossing Borders project for African writers.

I have appeared at festivals in Barcelona, Sydney, Durham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Hay-on-Wye, LSE, Wigtown and Bath.

I work as a part-time Professor of Psychology at Durham University, with interests in child development, memory and hallucinations.

  photo credit, it’s Ben Gilbert/Wellcome Images

Check out this episode!

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   sebastian   amer   /   @mercuriial   !

❝ don’t worry, i’ve saved the day SEBBY ! ❞ sully approaches the younger with a weak grin and an.. almost full bottle of whiskey. ❝ couple of sips of this and we can forget this night even existed, eh ? how’s that sound ?? ❞

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   kira   lavandre   /   @mistysmoons  !

❝ alright, so how CRAZY of a trip are we really talking here ?? like am i gonna end up naked in the atlantic ocean by the end of the night or what ? ❞

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   coraline   leung   /   @qceenofdance​   !

❝ oh shit, hey ! wait — ❞ sully’s pace quickens as he tries to catch up to the woman, ❝ you’re coraline leung right ?? you wrote that NOVEL .. ❞ his voice trails and there’s a faint grin on his face,  ❝ i heard you were in town — i’ve been hoping to run into you ! just to .. say i’m a big fan and congrats, y’know. ❞

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   kolby   mitchell   /   @ofiridescnce   !

the tea’s wearing off, sort of. at least he’s stopped SEEING shit now — so that’s a start. sully had taken a seat near the edge of shore, far away from the main event that was going on that night and he doesn’t really know how to describe what he’s feeling other than shock. the older sits in the sand with his knees drawn up to his chest and wraps his arms tightly around them - it’s too goddamn cold for this. eyes trained on the waves lapping up at the sand nearby, it escapes his notice that his cheeks are wet with TEARS and his body’s shaking all over. zoned out and absolutely oblivious to his surroundings, he certainly doesn’t notice the individual standing only a few feet away either.

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   elienna   willard   /   @femmefatclle​   !

❝ hey, you ! mary jane ! ❞ sully calls out frantically to the redhead, ❝ yeah, YOU ! you gotta help me dude — listen, do i.. do i usually wear glasses ?? ‘cause i swear to god, i feel like i lost mine. but now.. i can’t even remember if i own a pair... ❞

[gcldveins]

*   closed   bonfire   starter   for   juniper   olsen   /   @hclyghxst​   !

❝ hey — juni, right ?? i’m ... kinda getting 2005 vibes right now, where i’m on punk’d and ashton kutcher’s about to jump out from that bush right now .. but someone told me that you HAVE something for me ?? i don’t know what the hell that means but .. ❞ sully shrugs, a look of surrender on his face.

[glcryborn]

— a starter for PAULINE KISCH ( @storytcller )

Teeth working at his lower lip, Sully cautiously steps into the thrift store, taking a not so subtle glance around. He swears he’s not STALKING her — the thrift store is actually quite nice — but if she happened to be working today? Well, you definitely won’t catch him COMPLAINING. Walking up to an interesting denim jacket, blue eyes fall upon a particular blonde — he’s seen her here before. Polly? Polly. ❝ Hey, Polly, ❞ he greets casually with a small wave of his hand, lips pressing together in an AWKWARD smile. ❝ Busy today? ❞ Sully raises an eyebrow as he takes another, less goal-oriented, look around the store. 

[glcryborn]

— a starter for PHILIPPA ESPINA ( @tiltedview )

The familiar chiming of the bell rings throughout the store — signalling that a CUSTOMER has just entered. For a second, Sully has half a mind to pretending not to hear it and continuing on with his NAP but eventually, with an exasperated sigh, he forces himself up and out of his hiding spot in the back. Immediately, a practised lie begins to pass his lips as he dusts his hands off his trousers ( for added effect ), ❝ Sorry ‘bout that, I was just putting some BOOKS away — ❞ but at the sight of a familiar, young brunette, he immediately knows that his words are falling upon DEAF EARS so Sully saves his breath and shuts his mouth. Instead, he raises an eyebrow at Pippa, a questioning look on his face. ❝ You’re not running from someone are you? Because I got to go out for lunch in like, five minutes, so.. ❞       

[gcldveins]

*   closed   starter   for   kolby ,   @ofiridescnce​ .

“ yeah no, this tastes like 30 year old CARPET, blegh, ” sully grimaces as he forces himself to swallow the bite he had taken, washing it down with some of his root beer float. “ you have to try it though — i promised, seb, and i don’t want him to get MAD at me. he gets all beady-eyed and stuff .. FREAKS me out, quite frankly. ” the older sighs as he pushes the plate of experimental pancakes over to kolby’s side of the table. 

[gcldveins]

*   closed   starter   for   faith   fritz   /   @hclyghxst​   !

sully situates himself at the bar next to faith, shoulders hunched and forearms resting on the counter top. he turns to her with a soft smile, a tinge of melancholy to the way his lips curve, “ hey .. i know you’ve probably heard this a HUNDRED times already but .. seriously, how are you holding up ?? ” he tilts his head slightly in order to meet her gaze better, brows furrowed in an earnest look.

[gcldveins]

*   closed   starter   for   valeria   davila   /   @screamingmcemies​   !

he wants to make amends — for what exactly ? sully’s not quite sure, but since the bonfire he can’t quite shake this feeling that things didn’t go as PLANNED last night and well, who else was there to blame other than him ? it is a pattern of his, after all, to mess things up. though, one could argue that approaching valeria here, at her workplace, would only dig him in a deeper hole, but he did double check to make sure she wasn’t .. busy. so with a deep inhale, he rapped his knuckles against the door of the motel room and took a step back, hands clasped in front of him — fidgety with unease.

[gcldveins]

*   closed   starter   for   beatrice   honeycutt   /   @onvsm   !

he’s sitting behind the front counter, black boots kicked up next to the cash register while a copy of john steinbeck’s the wayward bus sits in his hands. at the familiar jingling of the bell above his door, sully glances up from his book to catch birdie walking into the store. ❝ ah, miss honeycutt, ❞ he greets her with a grin, boots lowering back to the ground as he sits up properly in his stool. ❝ just in time — some NEW ARRIVALS came in this morning and i set aside the ones i thought you might want dibs on. ❞ though he’d never admit it — sully might have developed a tiny, TINY little soft spot for the girl. how could he not ? she was sweet, endearing. really, he’d have to be a monster not to.