Why we keep writing
Long experience as a graphic designer means I started thinking about an appropriate image for this. There is no image. There shouldn’t be an image for this, because images stay … Continue reading Why we keep writing
Recent Posts
Ferdy’s Brexit Story
They say that if you draw a circle around a spider, it will stay within the circle. Why the spider does this is unclear. Why my country has stayed in … Continue reading Ferdy’s Brexit Story
The Expert System’s Brother: Review
Cover Artwork by Raphael Lacoste The Expert System’s Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky leaves the wasp sting of knowledge behind it. No wonder his signing comes with a small, perfectly-formed drawing … Continue reading The Expert System’s Brother: Review
Jeff Noon and the really weird
Jeff Noon, British cult novelist, playwright and one of a small but very recognisable group of contemporary writers of weird, or new weird fiction, was in the Forbidden Planet London … Continue reading Jeff Noon and the really weird
Writing in a time of heinous fuckery®
“Heinous fuckery” is not my description, I say with great regret. It belongs to @ChuckWendig, who is wondering how to keep writing while being in the middle of it. He’s … Continue reading Writing in a time of heinous fuckery®
Is Anybody Listening?
“You can’t stop the signal, Mal,” says Mr Universe in Serenity. At the London Premiere we were six deep, waiting for Joss who wore the expression of someone convinced everyone else … Continue reading Is Anybody Listening?
oh fuck what now: 01
The first in a regular series dealing with the current “heinous fuckery” (copyright @ChuckWendig). Ground rules: I’ll try and present solutions. If you tell me to shut the fuck up, … Continue reading oh fuck what now: 01
The Naked Author … is not
I was wavering on whether Kazuo Ishiguro appeared as a Naked Author or not in The Buried Giant until Damien Walter came up with The 8 Tribes of SciFi (now The Nine Tribes … Continue reading The Naked Author … is not
The Naked Author 1: This Census Taker
Francis Spufford’s review of This Census Taker in The Guardian, heads the “stoic bleakness” in the novel with a choice of author photograph designed to bring out the same qualities. The familiar image … Continue reading The Naked Author 1: This Census Taker
Urban Fantasy is dead – What?
I feel an attack of slottishness coming on. Slottishness is when the book you’re submitting is the wrong genre for the current climate. You’ve learned, painfully resuscitating the trampled … Continue reading Urban Fantasy is dead – What?
The Continuation of Cats
This picture, from a series by Miyoko Ihara/Rex Features about her grandmother’s cat, Fukumaru, reminded me of something about the continuation of cats. A few years’ ago, I decided … Continue reading The Continuation of Cats
Fanfic is Real, OK?
‘ Well, maybe not “real” in the usual sense. Re-reading one of my fanfics it is a heady brew of reverent but extreme use of Joss Whedon’s wall-to-wall fan catnip, Buffy … Continue reading Fanfic is Real, OK?
Out of the Muffin Zone
Surrey is leafy. Every few weeks I think I’ll go out for a walk in all this “leafy” that I’m paying for on a par with Westminster and possibly Kensington. So yesterday I set … Continue reading Out of the Muffin Zone
