• Cover image of On the Holloway Road by Andrew Blackman
  • A Virtual Love Cover
  • Boy, Dog, Accordion, by Andrew Blackman

Andrew Blackman
Literary fiction writer

Welcome to my blog. You'll find 15+ years of posts about books, reading, politics and travel. You can also find out more about my two published novels and hundreds of published articles, essays, book reviews and short stories.
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Latest posts

literary fiction reader

What Is Literary Fiction Anyway?

Literary fiction is hard to define, but I'm going to try anyway. The debate tends to be poisoned by debates about elitism and being "better" than genre fiction, which I'd like to avoid here. Instead, I want to identify the…

Books I Read in January 2025

With novels set in Malaysia, Russia, Germany, India and Serbia, along with some interesting non-fiction, here's what I read this month.
after dark murakami

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

After Dark is a strange, elliptical novel that weaves together layers of meaning in a story that unfolds over a single Tokyo night. Here's my take on what it all…
november 2024 reading

November 2024 Reading Roundup

From Indigenous Americans discovering Europe to Voltaire destroying my last shred of optimism, here's a summary of my reading this month.

Review: The Other Side by Alfred Kubin

What would a dream world look like? A world in which the normal rules of cause and effect don't exist, in which social obligations are subordinate to each individual's ability to dream? In Alfred Kubin's vision, it looks a lot…

Review: 912 Batu Road by Viji Krishnamoorthy

A Malaysian debut novelist combines a contemporary love story with a historical narrative of Japanese occupation. I enjoyed one much more than the other, but would recommend it nonetheless.

July 2024 Reading

Will AI destroy us? Why do some novels not quite work despite having all the right ingredients? Can a bad title ruin a good book? These are just some of…