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…
Three books for humans
It’s not easy to find an entertaining book about the way we live now, climate change and politics. Even the words seem so off-putting. But I’ve just discovered three that are great reads in totally…
How to start a novel – holiday or chaos?
I’m at that wonderful, scary, exciting, fearful point of starting to plan a new novel. The first glimmerings of ideas are beginning to come. The romantic view would be that they are like whispers in…
Remote control – Stone Heart Deep by Paul Bassett Davies reviewed
With foreign holidays still only slowly returning, how about a remote Scottish island? One with a freezing-cold loch that contains deep secrets, a populace who seem eerily calm and controlled – and a rather strange…
My 2021 in books
Imagine you could buy a pill that could give you more brainpower, more empathy, better vocabulary and a longer life, while preventing cognitive decline, reducing stress, helping sleep and lifting depression. How much would you…
Is the rise of the topical novel killing literature?
In 2010, I took my then agent for a Chinese lunch. I pitched an idea for a novel about fake news, close elections and knife crime. He said that it was a mistake to write…
Interview: Sam Blake #1 bestselling author
This week I’m talking to bestselling author Sam Blake. Originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Sam has two teenagers, three cats and lives in a 200-year-old cottage at the foot of the Wicklow mountains with…
Breaking bad? Review of Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt
I’m very into re-reading at the moment (if you’re interested there’s a great article on the subject by novelist Richard Bradbury) but this week’s review is of a book I re-read by accident. To be…
Will you be gripped by The Singapore Grip? Review
As disaster looms, the incompetents in charge can offer only complacency, arrogance and grandiosity. Sounds familiar? But this isn’t Covid-19, it’s Singapore in the Second World War. Based on an acclaimed satirical novel, the glossy…
Talking with comedy best-seller Paul Bassett Davies
I’m really pleased that this week we have a guest appearance by the best-selling comedy writer (and a good friend of mine) Paul Bassett Davies. Paul has been a writer, director and performer for stage,…
Q&A with Adam Hamdy, crime author, screenwriter and co-founder of Capital Crime
I’m delighted this week to host a question and answer session with the successful crime author and screenwriter Adam Hamdy. Adam is the author of the acclaimed Pendulum trilogy, an epic series of conspiracy thriller novels, nominated…
Interview with award-winning author Louise Doughty
Louise Doughty is one of the most interesting authors today. Refusing to be pigeon-holed, every book breaks new ground. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize…
Dark night of the soul? Review of Louise Doughty’s Platform Seven
I like dark stories. I have no problem with light stories, either, but there’s something about a novel or a film that is unafraid of the night, literal or metaphorical. Louise Doughty is one of…
Openings
It was like they weren’t there. This is the opening sentence of my novel The Breaking of Liam Glass. Why did I write the opening as I did and not in one of a million…
What makes good writing great?
What sorts the Austens from the Dan Browns? The Truffauts from the Ed Woods? It’s not using clever words. It’s not making a political statement. It’s not even necessarily creating a dazzling plot. This is…
9 steps to writing dialogue with rich subtext
9 ways to get your subtext muscle working for readable, rich dialogue