The Chocolate Shop Perverts by Ernest Alanki
Outsiders make great literary characters. Their otherness makes them naturally interesting characters, and it’s also fascinating to see “normal” people and social conventions through their eyes,…
The new design has landed
Welcome to my new website. After a lot of work, I’m finally up and running with the new design. I’ve still got…
Pardon my appearance…
New year, new website. I’m giving the design and layout a long-overdue overhaul, as well as making the site a bit more…
Review of Glow by Ned Beauman
Glow is a wonderfully inventive book, with some beautiful writing. Unlike Beauman’s previous two books, this one has a contemporary setting, and it’s…
London Fiction: a Reading List
A couple of years ago I was involved in a panel event on London fiction. As part of my preparation I decided to…
Under the Tripoli Sky by Kamal Ben Hameda
Peirene Press is known for publishing contemporary European literature in translation, but its latest offering takes us a little further afield, to Tripoli in…
Latest UK book stats
Came across some interesting stats on UK book sales in the latest issue of The Author magazine from the Society of Authors, and…
Clara’s Daughter by Meike Ziervogel
Authors and publishers generally live in different camps. They have their own associations, their own awards, their own complaints about the people…
A potential novel: In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds
Reading Adam Foulds’s new novel In the Wolf’s Mouth, I was reminded of literary movements like Oulipo, which explored the concept of…