I reviewed J.R. Crook’s debut novel Sleeping Patterns on this blog a few weeks ago, and thought I’d follow up by asking the writer himself some questions. If you’re not familiar with the book, click here to read my review, or have a look through the brief description below. Or just skip straight to the [...]
Tag Archives | legend press

As if by magic…
A sharp-eyed Amazon-watcher just emailed to let me know that my next book, A Virtual Love, has been listed and is available for pre-order. Now don’t worry, this isn’t a sales pitch – I wouldn’t ask you to go and order a book about which there’s no information, not even a cover photo. I just [...]

Sleeping Patterns
The latest winner of the Luke Bitmead Award, the prize I won myself back in 2008, Sleeping Patterns is an intelligent, intriguing and ultimately rewarding book. It’s experimental in nature. The author, J.R. Crook, stated in an interview with his publisher that “the most obvious influence on Sleeping Patterns was probably Roland Barthes’s (in)famous essay [...]

Introducing “A Virtual Love”, coming to a bookshop near you in Spring 2013
Well, it’s been a long time coming, but I finally finished my second novel and it has been acquired by Legend Press with a publication date of spring 2013. It’s a story about the fluidity of identity on the internet, how we present different faces in different situations, can rip up or change an identity at will, [...]

“The Generation Game” by Sophie Duffy
An interesting premise: the book starts with a woman in hospital talking to her newborn baby girl. She starts to tell the story of her life, beginning with her own birth in St Thomas’s Hospital in 1965 and going right up to the present day. “I’ll tell you my story. Our story. Because there’s nothing [...]

“Ashes” by Matthew Crow
The opening image of Ashes is a powerful one – a group of kids trying to stone a cat to death. The reason? “Something to do”. The tone is set for the rest of the novel. Bleakness, lack of hope, pointless violence, misdirected anger, innocent victims. The setting is Meadow Well council estate in North-East [...]

Prize draw to win books
OK, I haven’t done any self-promotion on here for a while, so here goes: BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! Thank you. The reason for this outburst is that my publisher is running a special promotion today – if you buy On the Holloway Road through their website, you get entered into [...]

Sleepless
It’s past four in the morning and I can’t sleep. Haven’t slept all night. I tried reading for a while, but that didn’t work – I couldn’t focus for more than a few seconds at a time. All that I have been able to do is lie in bed for five hours with my eyes [...]
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The 20 best Caribbean book blogs
1 October 2012
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The cafe killer
29 October 2012
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Liebster Award reloaded
1 November 2012
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The Kindle Report: does it beat paper?
4 December 2012
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The next big thing…
4 January 2013
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We could take a train, be miles away by morning…
6 May 2013
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Ten years ago: Voluntary poverty in New York City
30 April 2013
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Some interviews
22 April 2013
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Giveaway: Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2003
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How to Improve your Foreign Language Immediately
15 April 2013
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Brian Joseph: Sounds like a super trip. Have a great time Andrew...
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Charlie: All the best to you both. Crete most definitely b...
