Blog 2


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Resevoir

The concept of free will is one of the major questions of neuroscience. It’s a controversial question, since there seems…
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Writing Singers not Sinners

Writing novels is solitary work. You have to enjoy doing independent research and sitting in front of the PC for…
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Writing Singers Not Sinners

Writing novels is solitary work. You have to enjoy doing independent research and sitting in front of the PC for…
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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….
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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Review of ‘Orange World’ by Karen Russell

Loved these visionary stories! Read my full review here. Orange World, by Karen Russell
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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…
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For Art’s Sake

Earlier this year I visited my son and his girlfriend in Switzerland and was taken to see the Collection de…
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Write Practice

Naughty Sophia

Well! I’ve just discovered that Naughty Sophia was written by Winifred Mary Letts, who was born on 10 February 1882…
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Write Practice

Write Practice

At some point in my childhood I announced that I wanted to be a writer. I usually say I was…
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From Court to Cloister

From Court to Cloister After nine years of research there is one moment that stands out to me, among all…
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Pen versus Sword: how the first Tudor king rewrote history

Pen versus Sword: how the first Tudor king rewrote history. Henry Tudor’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth changed history…
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Reading the Market

  Obviously, people read for different reasons; to switch off, to turn on, to be informed about the world they…
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Accession Video

A short video about “Accession”.
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What I’m Reading Now

Of all the books that I currently have on my bedside table (and it is a considerable pile) the most…
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Hilary or Florence?

Two nights ago I attended a wonderful reading by Hilary Mantel at MMU. She was magnificent – wise, witty and…
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Thinking Big

Rebellion, the sequel of Succession is out this week. This has led me to consider what I might say about it,…
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The end is nigh!

It has been more than eight years since I started to write Succession and its sequels.  Eight years and four…
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Hitting the big time?

OK, so, new book out in August, new publicist assigned. The very lovely Julia suggests that I come up with…
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The Author’s office…

Source: Livi Blogger feed
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some thoughts on writing and publishing…

Recent events have triggered an old line of enquiry in me; a search for an answer to something I’ve never…
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Ten Reasons Why you Should Read Crimelines (and come to the launch)

1.  It is unique.  There exists nowhere else in the world another book of short crime fiction aimed at young…
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Better than sex

Ah what can I say about my new book? It has the smell of summer leaves or ripe corn and…
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