The third of my year-in-reading columns has gone up over at Dorian's blog: the best stuff I read in 2023 ..read more

I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed a book by a publisher new to me, First to Knock.The book was Jeremy Kitchen's Mr Crabby You Have Died, which was not quite like anything else I've read (always a plus). Imagine falling into conversation in a bar with a stranger who starts telling you drink-fuelled anecdotes. Anecdotes about being an American soldier during Desert Storm, and being exposed to a blown Sarin gas store. Anecdotes about being a teacher while raddled with heroin. Anecdotes about a beloved but ill-fated hermit crab, weirdo Christian youth camps and incredibly ill-advised sex ..read more

Click through for full size ..read more

The free online launch for my book is this weekend (21 or 22 October, depending where in the world you are): please feel free to come along ..read more

(I transplanted this thread I made over from Twitter to keep it in a more readable form) The Big Book of Unfortunate Author Deaths Sherwood Anderson: swallowed a toothpick which punched holes in his innards, leading to lethal peritonitis. Ödön von Horváth, hit by a falling branch from a tree and killed during a thunderstorm, three days after writing a poem about being scared of storms. Francis Bacon, killed by pneumonia contracted after an experiment in freezing a dead chicken with snow. Tennessee Williams pulled open a pill bottle with his teeth and accidentally inhaled it, choking to dea ..read more

For the second year in a row, the mighty Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year at his blog. So I did. Books discussed (click to enlarge ..read more

I'm sorry, but only crime novels featuring a dark house with a yellow light and some yellow text will be considered for publication from now on ..read more

 Over at the Scratch Books website, I attempt the impossible task of briefly introducing Franz Kafka through his brilliant short story Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor. As a suggestion, if you're looking for an attractive edition of the story, try the one illustrated by David Musgrave, published as part of the Four Corners Familiars series ..read more

(A follow-up to this post, derived from this thread...) 51. AN OBSCURE MAN: Marguerite Yourcenar Astonishingly convincing novella about a 17th-Century Dutchman, his travels, his loves and his failures. Found in this collection (also available as 'Two Stories and a Dream'), with its equally successful sequel novella, A LOVELY MORNING. 52. SICKLE: Ruth Lillegraven Verse novel encapsulating the whole life of a Norwegian man in the 1800s, and the life of the woman who is unlucky enough to marry him. Big themes, done with a delicately light touch. 53. AN UNTOUCHED HOUSE: W F Herma ..read more

The ever-splendid Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year over at his blog. So I did. Books discussed: (click for bigger image ..read more