Further to my last post, I regret to inform you that Project X has – to no-one’s surprise – progressed no further, although I have dug out a couple of other ancient abandoned projects in the hope of actually doing something with them. More on that soon, if I fail to find a way of […]
Well, the reading programme got sort of back on track in January, after a disastrous last two months of 2019. But before we dive into this lot, I’d like to bring your attention to an interview I did with Teika Bellamy of The Book Stewards, where we talk about how I got into writing, how […]
Long time followers may remember that I’m a bit of a fan of book trailers. Yes, I know conventional wisdom is that they’re a waste of time, but I suspect that most of them tend to be ignored because they’re a bit dull. Mine, on the other hand, tend to get ignored because a) they’re […]
Yes, you read that right. October. This post is indeed two and a bit months late, and I really can’t come up with any decent explanation. I can’t even complain that I was busy finishing a novel, because that one was put to bed at the beginning of November. What I have noticed, however, is […]
I’ve been getting lazy about reading lately, what with one thing and another. Up until the year before last, I was regularly reading at least 70 or 80 (sometimes even 90) books a year. But last year it dropped, for no good reason, and the start of this year has also been pretty dismal (although […]
I’m not sure I’ll ever really get over what a weird roller-coaster ride having a book published is. You and your publishers do your damnedest to make it the best thing you possibly can, but once it’s out in the world, no-one really has any idea what’s going to happen. It’s wise to remember the […]
Shortly before the Christmas break, I delivered the manuscript of A QUESTION OF TRUST, otherwise known as Book Two in the Mathematical Mysteries Series, to my editor at Farrago. Put like that, it doesn’t sound terribly scary. However, what you need to know is that the seventy-odd thousand words in that manuscript hadn’t previously been […]
This is not a review about David Bowie. Rather, it’s a review of F J Morris’s new book “This is (Not About) David Bowie” from Retreat West Books. Or is it? Let’s see where this goes. Writing about David Bowie is always a tricky thing to do because you first need to decide which David […]
There is of course only one thing worse than being talked about and that’s not being talked about, and this applies to writers as much as anyone else. So I was very pleased to find out this morning that Judy Darley had posted the first ever review of DIP FLASH on her Skylight Rain blog. […]
I read 67 books in 2017, which was seven more than in 2016, but still a long way short of 2014’s epic 95. One of these days I’ll make it to 100. Anyway, here they all are: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Half of a Yellow Sun Alderman, Naomi The Power Ball, James Post Truth Barnes, Adrian Nod […]