One of the most pleasurable pieces of fiction I’ve ever written, Salmonweird is a 70k-ish supernatural crime comedy about a retired detective living in a small Cornish village as the only human. The remaining residents are all ghosts, representing 2,000 years of the village’s history. It was clear from after finishing the first couple of […]
Tag Archives: books
10 Books with the Best Closing Lines
(UPDATED AND RESCHEDULED POST) The opening line of a book is vitally important for grabbing the reader by the throat and making them not want to let go. But what about the final line? Regardless of whether there is a sequel in the works, the final sentence – although not as important, still requires some […]
Frankenstein is 200 Years Old: What is it About?
It’s considered the first ever proper modern science fiction novel. 200 years after it was first published, it still manages to wow audiences. It’s been reinvented more times than Madonna but a resurgence a few years ago means we are once again craving the timeless tale. It all began when Danny Boyle adapted it for […]
Book Review: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
The TL;DR version of this review: This is the travel guide to Britain you never knew you needed 😀 I’m a Bill Bryson convert. Just as he has adopted the British (genetic?) predisposition for sarcasm and deadpan delivery, I’ve adopted his unique writing style. Like many Americans, Bryson always wanted to visit Britain. But his […]
Book Review: Uncanny Valley by Gregory Miller
I’ve gone off short story collections in recent years. I can’t help feeling that modern writers have lost the art of succinctness and good old-fashioned storytelling required of a short piece. Yet Uncanny Valley caught my eye thanks to the unique selling point. It claims to be a collection of short stories sent in to […]
Book Review: Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan
It’s around 18 months since I completed another book on North Korea – Nothing to Envy. I bought this around the same time. It’s one of the most famous accounts from anyone who lived inside the country and spent time at one of the many notorious gulags. Kang Chol-Hwan was just a boy when his […]
Book Review: Deck Z by Chris Pauls & Matt Solomon
What happened to the “unsinkable” RMS Titanic? Did it strike an iceberg and sink in the early hours of 15th April 1912? Did it actually go down in history as the worst maritime disaster ever? Yes, we know this is the case. But what happened in the hours leading up to that fateful night. Some […]
Science Fiction’s Sub-Genres in a Nutshell (Part 1)
To the uninitiated, science fiction is about space battles and exploring planets full of strange and wonderful creatures. Yet science fiction has never “just” been about spaceships and alien planets. That is just one subgenre of our weird and wonderful genre. There are many more and you might be surprised at some books and films […]
Book Review: Nothing edited by Jeremy Webb
This is a book about nothing – quite literally. It makes something of nothing, quite literally about that too. You will find nothing in this book, lots and lots of nothing and you will find it quite frankly one of the most interesting books you will ever read. Even though it is about nothing, featuring […]
Which Classics Have You Read More Than Once?
We either love classics or we endure them. For most people, reading a classic is something to tick off a bucket list. Let’s be honest, being forced to endure them in a school environment is not conducive to repeated reading. Yet eventually, most of us find a handful we love. Here is my list. For […]
