Richard Powers' "The Overstory" is a quite exceptional book on many levels. Engaging, principled, well-written, intelligent; the narrative weaves it way through its pages like the roots of a tree - especially in the final section where the tendrils mix and merge and knit. It's obvious why it was shortlisted for the 2018 'Booker', and … Continue reading “The Overstory”
Category: Blog
Forthcoming Public Event!
Really looking forward to appearing on the panel of writers at this free event in Ripon Library on 14th March, being grilled about being a writer - and only having a minute to answer each question!
“Footnotes to Water”
Zoë Skoulding's "Footnotes to Water" is somewhat obsessed with its subject. Water flows through the poems, washing inexorably over you in wave after wave. Which is fine, though a little more variety - if only to better demonstrate the poet's linguistic skill - might be nice. In many of the pieces I struggled with the … Continue reading “Footnotes to Water”
Anonymous – a short story
Later, after the fog had lifted, I discovered I had become invisible. It had tumbled down the hill like an afterthought forgotten by the morning, as if it had missed its alarm call and was trying to make up for lost time, scurrying across the lake to where I sat alone, accompanied only by the … Continue reading Anonymous – a short story
Compulsion – a poem
Compulsion abstracted from reality he painted consumed by a nameless passion accidentally acquainted no slave to fashion he claimed a lack of choice for rolling with the punches rarely on the verge of controlling unbidden instinctive hunches it’s not important what’s created he claimed his … Continue reading Compulsion – a poem
Obituary – a poem
Obituary fettered by an obscured unnatural view he sought another as if a fresh vista might renew a weary perspective on his mother tongue the tricks he’d sleight-handed since the womb his genius for linguistic husbandry were devoted to a life beyond the tomb his embalming for posterity it was the one … Continue reading Obituary – a poem
On Being Thrown Over – a poem
On Being Thrown Over Would your love for me increase were I to die or would my barely-mourned decease erase me from your memory? Would your febrile eyes seek out a physical response, the fuel to weave a quilt of lies made posthumously cruel? Was I no more than ornament, a transient … Continue reading On Being Thrown Over – a poem
The Perennial Question: What Next? (part 2)
It was a little over two months ago I wrote the first version of the post below. Given the books I was working on were finally published today - Published Today! - the questions posed below become even more relevant. I'm heading into the bulk of 2020 without a firm plan. I have been through the … Continue reading The Perennial Question: What Next? (part 2)
Published Today!
I am delighted to announce three new books for 2020, the first two of these released today, 1st February 2020! The third is published in a week's time. Liam is haunted by his age and the history it forces upon him. Yet he is also plagued by the need to make more - to generate … Continue reading Published Today!
“Tale Tales and wee stories”
Many years ago the comedian Billy Connolly produced a brilliant TV series, "Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland". Many of the stories in "Tale Tales and wee stories" are replays of some of the material from that series, and at its best the book takes you back to those shows; you can picture Billy delivering … Continue reading “Tale Tales and wee stories”
Ian Gouge - Writer 