Books I love you might not know but should know because I love these books

I feel like a hunter when I'm in a book shop. I get the same feeling when I'm in a record shop. I want something. I must have something. It's there somewhere, hiding, so I've got to find it. That means exploring the surroundings. When I get a book or a record/CD that I didn't…

When authors disappoint: a personal story

Last year I was at a launch of a new book when I had a conversation with a blogger, someone I like quite well. We were chatting about books we read when we were kids. If the early nineties belonged to Point Horror, then the late eighties were owned by Roald Dahl. However, as soon…

Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette

Truth be told, I've been wanting to talk about this book for a long time. It's one of those rare reviews I didn't enjoy writing, because I love this book so much that I don't think I can really do it justice. Of course, being my blog, I'm going to try to do it as…

Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima

Originally serialised in Playboy Magazine (in Japan) between May to October of 1968, Life For Sale wasn’t available to read in The UK for decades. Thankfully Penguin Classics decided to turn Yukio Mishima’s stories into a novel and, with the help of Stephen Dodd’s translation which makes the story accelerate along, this classic by is…

News about my book

Happiness Is Wasted On Me was meant to be released on 28th May but having had a chat with the publisher this morning, we both agreed to postpone it. With bookshops being closed, it seemed like a bad idea to put the book out next month. I actually requested the delay, so I could have…

Things That Make Me Happy During Lockdown

Lockdown is tough on everyone. All of our freedoms have been snatched from us, our TV sets and streaming services help a little, but the more adverts I see telling me to #StayAtHome the more I want to scream. No-one wants to overwhelm our NHS, but of course if The Tories hadn't slashed it to…

Me & Mr. Cigar by Gibby Haynes

My first published novel was a Young Adult book called Conjuring The Infinite, a sort of greatest hits package of everything that freaked me out as a child. There's a bit of Twin Peaks, a little Stephen King, and a smidgen of Doctor Who. Basically, I wanted to write the weird books that the teen…

Lots To Talk About

So much is happening that I almost can't keep up, but I'm going to try and get myself together using this blog to sort out my thoughts. WARNING: you, as the reader, may need to cartwheel in order to keep up. Okay? Good. Let's go. The Edinburgh International Book Festival Every year, every August, my…

Coronavirus? F* *k Off!

A few weeks ago Trump was telling people that Coronavirus was a Democrat hoax. That man perpetuates blatant fraud and gets away with it because his Twitter distracts everybody, including the press. If this virus doesn't make Trump's supporters understand how wholly ineffective he is as a leader, then nothing will. I wish Britain would…

Walking back to Happiness…

Now that the news is out about Happiness Is Wasted On Me (it’s available to pre-order hint hint hint), I can’t get myself sorted for actually getting out and about, promoting it. I’ve been speaking to some venues, looking at doing live shows, or literary salons. They’re the only salons I go to! Everything is…