Category: Uncategorized

  • Resevoir

    The concept of free will is one of the major questions of neuroscience. It’s a controversial question, since there seems to be evidence for both sides of the argument. Importantly, though, it is hard to think of ourselves without free will, without the capacity for choice, so there is a bias towards believing in it…

  • Writing Singers not Sinners

    Writing novels is solitary work. You have to enjoy doing independent research and sitting in front of the PC for months or even years.  If you’re lucky, at the end of 2/3 years of drafting and re-drafting, someone else may read it, but until then, the characters, the words and the scenes really only exist…

  • Writing Singers Not Sinners

    Writing novels is solitary work. You have to enjoy doing independent research and sitting in front of the PC for months or even years.  If you’re lucky, at the end of 2/3 years of drafting and re-drafting, someone else may read it, but until then, the characters, the words and the scenes really only exist…

  • Short Story Month: ‘The Last Shaman’

    In 1952, after the Chinese Revolution the leaders of the Oroquen agreed to give up their superstitions and religious practices. Over three nights in July a special ritual was held by the whole community to drive away the spirits from the land. Read more here.

  • Review of ‘The Dressing-Up Box’ by David Constantine

    David Constantine, The Dressing-Up Box, Comma Press, £14.99 In the third short story in this collection, Siding with the Weeds, Joe goes to visit his old friend Bert. Details of place are meticulously realised; Bert lives on a cul-de-sac on an estate of ‘Sunshine Houses, all with key-hole porches, around a green’. At the back…

  • Short Story Month: ‘Callow’

    Keith’s mother had once told him it had taken four years of trying before he was born and then another eight for Tim to come along. At Christmas. He remembered being nonplussed, and a little outraged by the gift of a new baby brother, which he definitely hadn’t asked for. Read more here.

  • Review of Nikolai Leskov stories

    A new edition of the selected stories of Nikolai Leskov (1831-95)! Although less widely known than Tolstoy or Chekhov, he was admired by both. First published by Dostoevsky, Leskov is credited with creating the most comprehensive portrayals of Russian life in the 19th century. His novella, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk was made into an opera…

  • Review of ‘Orange World’ by Karen Russell

    Loved these visionary stories! Read my full review here.

  • What Manchester means to me

    When I was a child I lived in a council flat on the seventh floor of a tower block in Ashton-under-Lyne. I spent a lot of time on the balcony, looking out towards Manchester. Manchester to me was a long line of bright lights on the horizon. It was also the city where my mum…