Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities
I asked in a blog some years ago if satire worked. If it does, why is the world in such a shitty place? But then, perhaps we’re misunderstanding. Perhaps satire was never intended to improve…
Can you help me deal with Amazon’s high-handedness?
I’d appreciate your help dealing with Amazon’s high-handedness. Some time ago on Amazon I had well over 100 reviews of my first novel, the satirical The Breaking of Liam Glass – the majority 5 star.…
Staggering Hubris by Josh Berry – review
You’re a staggeringly brilliant spad (special adviser) working in Downing Street in the early days of a new government. The world is at your feet. Brexit is oven-ready. You have a degree from Oxford. Attractive…
Putting on the squeeze. Review: Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
What’s a poor author to do? You write a comic novel that satirises the orange blob in the White House and no sooner is it in print than he’s gone. Carl Hiaasen is one of…
Fight club: Review of Lionel Shriver’s The Motion of the Body Through Space
Bestselling author Lionel Shriver is not one to run away from a fight. In her latest novel, she runs full tilt towards it, in just about every sense of the word. This week, I’m looking…
Collateral damage – review of Berta Isla by Javier Marías
Last month I reviewed the latest, possibly last, novel by one of the giants of spy fiction, Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré. Today a very different, indeed very unusual, spy novel.…
Review: Joe Country by Mick Herron
Publishers, agents and readers love a running series. Like a fast food outlet a good series promises a regular supply of what you love. A McNovel. Mick Herron hit a rich vein of dark spy…
How do writers come up with character names for their scripts?
Could you do more when it comes to naming characters in your scripts? Top of my list of faults are names that are bland, cliché, too similar, or just plain wrong. But how do the…