First Look: The Greater Thief
The day the man at the end of the road got shot was a fairy tale day. It was a day I’d spent in another world wondering if my prince would trot round the corner and along the grisly north London street on a white horse. I thought it all through thoroughly, as I sat...
Diary of a Novelist; writing and the ‘Olympic Legacy’
This is the third in a series of articles following my experience and thoughts on the journey towards publication of my debut novel – The Greater Thief. The book, I’m told, is now at the printer’s; it’s popping up on websites for preorder, and the modest marketing push of my publisher is underway. Business is...
Novels and ‘the holy contour of life’
In his 30 point Belief and Technique for modern prose Jack Kerouac exhorts writers to ‘Believe in the holy contour of life’ and to be ‘Writer-Director of earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven.’ It seems almost impossible to dream of a modern, adult novel that contains no element of spirituality or moral questioning. Yet...
Diary of a novelist – Design and the art of the book
There is much prevailing wisdom that tells us people fall into distinct categories with regards to their ways of thinking; you are either verbal, visual, aural or numerical (or that’s the gist anyway – there’s one to do with touch as well). It’s undoubtedly true that as humans we each find different mediums easier to...
The Artist as Activist (or George Clooney gets arrested)
Last week Hollywood actor George Clooney was arrested after failing to comply with police at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC. He told journalists he was “just trying to raise attention” about the situation in southern Sudan where military action supposedly targeting terrorists is devastating civilian populations, and aid is still...
