Rob Chapman
@scribblerrob.bsky.social
My new novel is called Drum. It's available as a Kindle and Paperback. You can buy it here.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drum-Rob-Chapman/dp/B0G4CQ6FKV/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drum-Rob-Chapman/dp/B0G4CQ6FKV/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
(Audience heckle.) Do some jokes!
A man walked into a bar. It was an iron bar wielded by a woman. Wham! That’s for 200 years of servitude and oppression you dickhead. Politics.
(Laughs and cheers.)
Oh, come on, is it that easy to get a laugh out of you? The right-on laugh.
Not a comic novel.
A man walked into a bar. It was an iron bar wielded by a woman. Wham! That’s for 200 years of servitude and oppression you dickhead. Politics.
(Laughs and cheers.)
Oh, come on, is it that easy to get a laugh out of you? The right-on laugh.
Not a comic novel.
January 13, 2026 at 6:51 PM
(Audience heckle.) Do some jokes!
A man walked into a bar. It was an iron bar wielded by a woman. Wham! That’s for 200 years of servitude and oppression you dickhead. Politics.
(Laughs and cheers.)
Oh, come on, is it that easy to get a laugh out of you? The right-on laugh.
Not a comic novel.
A man walked into a bar. It was an iron bar wielded by a woman. Wham! That’s for 200 years of servitude and oppression you dickhead. Politics.
(Laughs and cheers.)
Oh, come on, is it that easy to get a laugh out of you? The right-on laugh.
Not a comic novel.
Contains; Jazz. Jokes. Nazis. The IRA. More jokes. Kinder Transport. Transport Caffs. Lenny Bruce. Samuel Beckett. Bits. Estate Agents. Harold Pinter. More jokes. Accidentally getting famous. Top of The Pops. Top of The Form. Stanislavski. Peter Cook. Peter Sutcliffe. "I wouldn't open with it".
January 12, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Contains; Jazz. Jokes. Nazis. The IRA. More jokes. Kinder Transport. Transport Caffs. Lenny Bruce. Samuel Beckett. Bits. Estate Agents. Harold Pinter. More jokes. Accidentally getting famous. Top of The Pops. Top of The Form. Stanislavski. Peter Cook. Peter Sutcliffe. "I wouldn't open with it".
Look, all I said was I'd only just joined the conceptual dots y'know between actual people queuing round the block to see a popular film and the term itself. I didn't say I was the OED or even Eric Partridge y'know. And now it's all this.
January 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Look, all I said was I'd only just joined the conceptual dots y'know between actual people queuing round the block to see a popular film and the term itself. I didn't say I was the OED or even Eric Partridge y'know. And now it's all this.
He did a nice hybrid job in the end. Impossible to keep the shape though, before modern products and gel. As it grew out it sort of deflated like a souffle.
January 10, 2026 at 12:25 PM
He did a nice hybrid job in the end. Impossible to keep the shape though, before modern products and gel. As it grew out it sort of deflated like a souffle.
Would have helped if I'd remembered to scan the bloody cover wouldn't it? Hey, new readers, join in!
January 9, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Would have helped if I'd remembered to scan the bloody cover wouldn't it? Hey, new readers, join in!
- It's a bit slippy out there
- Better put out a warning
- Amber?
- You bet. Can't be too careful
- Better put out a warning
- Amber?
- You bet. Can't be too careful
January 9, 2026 at 8:18 AM
- It's a bit slippy out there
- Better put out a warning
- Amber?
- You bet. Can't be too careful
- Better put out a warning
- Amber?
- You bet. Can't be too careful
Headline in Times 2. None of this means anything does it? It's just barrel scrapping bubble brained desperate editorial meeting will this do ARSE as national print journalism continues its daily plummet towards its clickbaity demise.
January 8, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Headline in Times 2. None of this means anything does it? It's just barrel scrapping bubble brained desperate editorial meeting will this do ARSE as national print journalism continues its daily plummet towards its clickbaity demise.
"There were many nights though when he longed to say more, to venture beyond the boundaries of taste and reason and tap into the unspeakable, the stuff that lay deep and subliminal and cathartic."
Not a comic novel. Available now.
Not a comic novel. Available now.
January 7, 2026 at 10:16 AM
"There were many nights though when he longed to say more, to venture beyond the boundaries of taste and reason and tap into the unspeakable, the stuff that lay deep and subliminal and cathartic."
Not a comic novel. Available now.
Not a comic novel. Available now.
Ooh who's this handsome devil on my telly?
January 6, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Ooh who's this handsome devil on my telly?
Happy 80th epiphany to Roger Keith Barrett. xx
January 6, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Happy 80th epiphany to Roger Keith Barrett. xx
Comedian Maria Bamford in the NYRB on her Mum who died of lung cancer. I go in deep and bleak from chapter one in Drum but did anyone ever go this deep and bleak (and hilarious) I ask myself.
January 6, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Comedian Maria Bamford in the NYRB on her Mum who died of lung cancer. I go in deep and bleak from chapter one in Drum but did anyone ever go this deep and bleak (and hilarious) I ask myself.
Then to compound his obv 'oh I'd better look this guy up does he have a Wiki page' he quotes this (from LRB as I recall) as an example of Ian's prose which I thought at the time was IP still in journo shorthand mode. I think he kicked on massively as a writer in the years after this.
January 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM
Then to compound his obv 'oh I'd better look this guy up does he have a Wiki page' he quotes this (from LRB as I recall) as an example of Ian's prose which I thought at the time was IP still in journo shorthand mode. I think he kicked on massively as a writer in the years after this.
End of year accounts. Unsung Unsaid total sales tally.
2024 - 698
2025 - 119
Total - 817
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I hope Drum does half as well.
2024 - 698
2025 - 119
Total - 817
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I hope Drum does half as well.
January 5, 2026 at 9:05 AM
End of year accounts. Unsung Unsaid total sales tally.
2024 - 698
2025 - 119
Total - 817
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I hope Drum does half as well.
2024 - 698
2025 - 119
Total - 817
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I hope Drum does half as well.
Happy 90th birthday to the very wonderful John Gorman. Thank you very much. Thank you very very very much. I met him once. Genuine oddball.
January 4, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Happy 90th birthday to the very wonderful John Gorman. Thank you very much. Thank you very very very much. I met him once. Genuine oddball.
Meee? In Waterstones, with £50 in tokens to spend? Oh well.
January 4, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Meee? In Waterstones, with £50 in tokens to spend? Oh well.
My quartet of self-published books. That's four in six years, two memoirs two novels. And I have two more (possibly three) planned. I'm 71. As you can see I'm not about to go gently....
Available for podcasts and festival marquee yacking.
Available for podcasts and festival marquee yacking.
January 2, 2026 at 10:46 AM
My quartet of self-published books. That's four in six years, two memoirs two novels. And I have two more (possibly three) planned. I'm 71. As you can see I'm not about to go gently....
Available for podcasts and festival marquee yacking.
Available for podcasts and festival marquee yacking.
Oh, he didn't like that! Not one bit.
Oi! Stop exploiting my image rights for social media aaaahs.
Oi! Stop exploiting my image rights for social media aaaahs.
January 1, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Oh, he didn't like that! Not one bit.
Oi! Stop exploiting my image rights for social media aaaahs.
Oi! Stop exploiting my image rights for social media aaaahs.
(mock sarcastic voiceover)
Oh no! Jasper isn't on his specially prepared bed blanket. Where could he possibly be?
Wait a minute.....A HA!
Oh no! Jasper isn't on his specially prepared bed blanket. Where could he possibly be?
Wait a minute.....A HA!
January 1, 2026 at 12:00 PM
(mock sarcastic voiceover)
Oh no! Jasper isn't on his specially prepared bed blanket. Where could he possibly be?
Wait a minute.....A HA!
Oh no! Jasper isn't on his specially prepared bed blanket. Where could he possibly be?
Wait a minute.....A HA!
"What you have to understand about Drum is that if you praised him too much he’d lash out. He couldn’t abide compliments. If you trace it all back I suspect it had something to do with being an orphan".
"I suspect it had something to do with taking too much speed."
Out tomorrow.
"I suspect it had something to do with taking too much speed."
Out tomorrow.
December 31, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"What you have to understand about Drum is that if you praised him too much he’d lash out. He couldn’t abide compliments. If you trace it all back I suspect it had something to do with being an orphan".
"I suspect it had something to do with taking too much speed."
Out tomorrow.
"I suspect it had something to do with taking too much speed."
Out tomorrow.
Eurocamp holiday photo of the year. August 2nd. Châtelaillon-Plage (where I subsequently discover that Derek Bailey lived at one point.)
December 30, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Eurocamp holiday photo of the year. August 2nd. Châtelaillon-Plage (where I subsequently discover that Derek Bailey lived at one point.)
FB memory of the yr, posted by his daughter. Keith Marsden aka 'Mate' as in 'shall we pop into Mates and find out the Test Match score?' when we were kids. Here much older obv. He was a lovely man and I want you to admire his immaculately tidy work area. Needless to say he knew where everything was.
December 30, 2025 at 10:43 AM
FB memory of the yr, posted by his daughter. Keith Marsden aka 'Mate' as in 'shall we pop into Mates and find out the Test Match score?' when we were kids. Here much older obv. He was a lovely man and I want you to admire his immaculately tidy work area. Needless to say he knew where everything was.
This lot. Bloody state of them. No idea what a pedestrian crossing was whatsoever. Looked like they'd been smoking charge half the time.
December 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
This lot. Bloody state of them. No idea what a pedestrian crossing was whatsoever. Looked like they'd been smoking charge half the time.
Jesse's Jack Your Body Musical Diet. Today I will mostly be listening to these, because sometimes you have to go back to the source, back to where it all began.
December 29, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Jesse's Jack Your Body Musical Diet. Today I will mostly be listening to these, because sometimes you have to go back to the source, back to where it all began.
D – Join us for the next half hour for a refreshing antidote to comedic conventions
WC – Comedy designed to get you thinking about laughing
D – But not actually laughing
WC – Comedy that one day will be taught in one of our more fashionable Polytechnics
Drum & Wallace Castle in the Wreath Lectures
WC – Comedy designed to get you thinking about laughing
D – But not actually laughing
WC – Comedy that one day will be taught in one of our more fashionable Polytechnics
Drum & Wallace Castle in the Wreath Lectures
December 29, 2025 at 10:02 AM
D – Join us for the next half hour for a refreshing antidote to comedic conventions
WC – Comedy designed to get you thinking about laughing
D – But not actually laughing
WC – Comedy that one day will be taught in one of our more fashionable Polytechnics
Drum & Wallace Castle in the Wreath Lectures
WC – Comedy designed to get you thinking about laughing
D – But not actually laughing
WC – Comedy that one day will be taught in one of our more fashionable Polytechnics
Drum & Wallace Castle in the Wreath Lectures
New(ish) read of the year. The period vibe & drift was familiar to me. I've long been interested in the the intersections between memory and place and the friction between evocation and the institutional construction of nostalgia. Jeff's book gave whole new impetus and clarity to my thinking.
December 28, 2025 at 1:59 PM
New(ish) read of the year. The period vibe & drift was familiar to me. I've long been interested in the the intersections between memory and place and the friction between evocation and the institutional construction of nostalgia. Jeff's book gave whole new impetus and clarity to my thinking.