Announcement: Book deal & a new website

I can hardly believe this day is here, but I'm winding down this blogsite as of today. No more posts or updates will be going out.

THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE by Stuart Turton

A short write-up on why I loved this novel despite its flawed ending (or alternatively, why this novel has a flawed ending even though I loved it.)

New publication: DUST (a poem)

Grace to the mother says the emphysemic, but this is not the garden where all loves end—this is just the house where all doors close and journeys die.

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia OwensMy rating: 4 of 5 starsCautious 4 starsWell written and engaging. I found myself turning pages earnestly, and I loved the ecological beauty present in the story. I loved the themes of loneliness and isolation and the quiet exploration of trauma, the damage it does to us through generations.Structurally, …

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THE CHIMERA CODE by Wayne Santos

The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this novel (received a free copy from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review). Santos sometimes bills himself as a straight-up action guy whose books are full of explosions, but that's doing himself a disservice. Although Chimera Code is …

DEAD ASTRONAUTS by Jeff Vandermeer

Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer My rating: 4 of 5 stars The cover of this book (I won't call it a novel) must have a mention. It's gorgeous to see in person, it's gorgeous to see in pictures, it's gorgeous to touch. Note above that I feel I can't call it a novel. The book …

New Publication: This Song Is Dedicated To the End of the World

This story took almost 6 months of picking on to finish writing, and another entire year to finally sell. At nearly 7k words, it was too long for most genre fiction zines, and its saleability was probably not helped by my choice to use Second Person perspective. Also, it's more of a character study than …

Persona Poetry Competition, Winning Entries

via Persona Poetry Competition, Winning Entries

Love Curse 2.0

The following short story (satirical fairytale) was read out on BBC Radio Leeds on April 7th, 2020.  You can find a clip of that audio recording here: Otherwise, the text of the story is below. ### LOVE CURSE 2.0 The prince fell asleep on the second day of spring, after returning from his honeymoon. At …

Writing in troubled times

Leeds Writers Circle

At the time of the Coronavirus lockdown, the biggest success to report is the continuing functioning of the Circle on-line. Ian Harker’s “Places of Poetry” workshop successfully moved to Zoom and proved a great success. The first remote Manuscript Evening was held on Monday, April 6th. Hosted by Graeme and chaired by Lucie, with no less than 18 members appearing on screen at the same time, it worked very well . The other groups are continuing to function too. Writers are irrepressible people.

The adjudication evening for the poetry competition had to be cancelled. The brief from judge Mark Connors was for a Persona Poem and the full results are now on the Competitions Page. Many congratulations to Gail Mosley, Andrew Lambert and Joanna Bucktrout as the main winners, and also to Sue Ryder, Adelle Kirk and Sunyi Dean. Hopefully we can celebrate and hear your poems at an…

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THE PLAGUE by Albert Camus

The Plague by Albert Camus My rating: 5 of 5 stars The last time I read a Camus book was 17 years ago, and it was a life-changing experience. Ever since then, I have studiously avoided Camus' writing in case his other novels were similarly affecting. But with the onset of Covid-19 and so many …

NOPHEK GLOSS by Essa Hansen

Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Caveat: This is not your usual book review; I've included some "behind the scenes" musings for once. If you prefer my usual reviews, this may not be your cup of tea. Okay, caveats out of the way--let's go! There's a lot of mutual back-scratching …

King Far

I will not live in silent rooms
where all my mothers died;
forgotten women lost in time
feet bound by cultural pride.

Writer Alliance: Publishing Round-up!

I try not to do promo-type stuff very often, either for friends or myself, but I want to talk very briefly about my amazing online writer group. Good critique groups make all the difference in a long writing journey. I remember all too well the confusion and mild horror of sifting through one bad beta-read …

THE PURSUIT OF WILLIAM ABBEY by Claire North

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North My rating: 3 of 5 stars Conflicting read "And I knew at last what I had wanted to know since I had met her: that there was no such thing as simple as the storyteller’s love in her, that love was a tangled measure of a thousand …

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar My rating: 5 of 5 stars Beautifully written: go read this. Eloquent, subtle, atmospheric; fast paced but still carrying depth. So much wordplay; if you delight in reading such things, as I do, then you will find the writing itself to be so much …

DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ehhhhh. In a nutshell: strong characterisation and good craft/writing, with a very atmospheric setting. But the novel was structurally messy, the main character has motivation and/or passivity issues, and the final reveal is incredibly convoluted. Without wanting to give any spoilers, I feel like …

On the peculiar joy of feeding trolls

Let's talk about Hairy Baguette.

THE MONSTER BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson

The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson My rating: 2 of 5 stars I adored The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Masquerade #1) and loved the *start* of book #2 in this series, but despite some excellent writing and characterisation at the start, the novel disintegrated for me at around the 30% mark. Structural problems were my …

TELEPATHIST by John Brunner

Telepathist by John Brunner My rating: 4 of 5 stars #shortreview for Instagram: I finished reading the Telepathist this morning. It was a sad and rather brutal novel, about a man whose physical deformities enable him to develop powerful mental capabilities (telepathy, in this case). There's some dystopian-esque spy stuff going on in the background …

Coming off submission: some thoughts

So much of an aspiring author's time (at least, for those aspiring towards trade publication) is taken up with querying. I can understand this, having been in the querying trenches last year (and the year before that). Doors open with agents, you might say, meaning it's natural to focus on such a big goal. Querying …

A Possible Serenity reprint

This is the only other story I'll "reprint" on here at present, as it's the only other story which was been locked into a print-only magazine. A Possible Serenity https://nycteris.com/publications/short-fiction/a-possible-serenity/

Deserted Lies the City reprint

Feel silly listing this as a Publications but here we are anyway 🙂 I've put up an older short story whose publication rights have expired elsewhere. You can read it here, where it will remain permafree. As more of my shorts become available, I'll probably put them up here as reprints with links to the …

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins My rating: 5 of 5 stars Intriguing and nuanced I stayed up late to finish this, which is always a good sign! Extremely well done, and much better than Gone Girl (imo). I am reluctant to give spoilers so won't; the twists were less plotty than i …

LWC 2019 Dialogue Comp

Grats to the lovely winners of the dialogue competition! Another great event with friendly writers and thoughtful judging.   via Competitions

Query Construction: PAPERFLESH

A brief deconstruction of how I wrote the query/pitch letter for my current WIP. May be of use, or may not! Up to you 🙂

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn My rating: 4 of 5 stars It was perhaps a mistake to embark on a novel which is, one way or another, centered on a tumultuous marriage, particularly when your own marriage is somewhat tumultuous. Still, I suppose it speaks to the relatability of the novel that, despite its bizarre …

TOUCH by Claire North

Touch by Claire North My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have enormous respect for Claire North's writing. She has fascinating ideas, beautiful prose, poignant characterisations, a lively yet literary style, and keen observations on society/humanity. However, I didn't love this novel as I hoped I would. I started off thinking it would be a …

The Best Of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe

The Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe My rating: 5 of 5 stars Awesome Obviously, I loved it. My favorite was The Eyeflash Miracles. Absolutely stunning story on every level. Here were my other standout stories: “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories,” copyright © 1970 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit …

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel My rating: 5 of 5 stars A cautious but thorough endorsement I had to consider for quite awhile what rating i wanted to give this novel. The fact I had to think about it is, of course, its own sort of endorsement. Let's start with some context. I …