I have just published a new episode on my Walking Thru Fire podcast. I am intending to read all of the poems from my collection Not the sonnets; in this episode I read sonnets 1 thru 7. Walking Thru Fire is available on all good podcast services: Audible, Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music, Deezer etc.
Category: Fiction
Taking stock – again…
If you're a writer like me then you are always asking yourself questions about your work: what? why? is it any good? That kind of thing. It's a kind of navel-gazing that is possibly inevitable. I do it regularly - and usually by asking a question of myself and then trying to find the answer. … Continue reading Taking stock – again…
Does a new phase of writing start on Wednesday?
Now the proud owner of a Lincoln University Associate Reader's library card, on Wednesday - for the first time - I will find a desk somewhere in the English section on the second floor of the library and open my laptop. Then I will sign-on to the guest network. Then open Apple Pages, or Scrivener. … Continue reading Does a new phase of writing start on Wednesday?
Faber: sharp practice or incompetence?
As a Faber Member I received an unsolicited email offering me 25% off a range of Short Story titles. I decided to take them up on their offer. At the checkout however, the discount code in the email failed to work. I decided to buy the books and sort the discount out afterwards. When I … Continue reading Faber: sharp practice or incompetence?
Putting pen to paper – w/c 2nd October
Time to look back / forward. How did I get on last week? Meetings and Events - a meeting with the Hammond House organisation, hopefully to arrange a performance of Crash early in the new year - YES (though nothing fixed as yet) hosting Contextual: 20 poetry reading event on Thursday (via Zoom) - YES … Continue reading Putting pen to paper – w/c 2nd October
“Mostly Hero”
For once the blurb in a book is absolutely correct. Anna Burns' 2014 long short story "Mostly Hero" is a little like a Grimm fairy tale reimagined by Quentin Tarantino. It must have been so much fun to write! There is something in the style of the story (not the humour!) which prefigures that she … Continue reading “Mostly Hero”
“Dante and the Lobster”
In another one of those little Faber single-story editions, you will find Samuel Beckett's 1934 tale, "Dante and the Lobster". It's an odd little story: it is interesting because of the clear stylistic influence of James Joyce, yet in an of itself it is somewhat insignificant; there are few clues, for example, as to what … Continue reading “Dante and the Lobster”
“Come rain or come shine”
I have to start by saying that I really like Kazuo Ishiguro's work, and that I have read most of his novels. Indeed, he's probably one of my favourite authors. In 2019, for some unknown reason, Faber decided to publish his 2009 short story "Come Rain or Come Shine" in a single edition to sit … Continue reading “Come rain or come shine”
Putting pen to paper – w/c 25th September
Time to look back / forward. How did I get on last week? Meetings and Events - a Society of Authors' workshop on writing audio drama (via Zoom) - YES attending a book launch event (via Zoom) - YES attending a reading by Red Door Poets (via Zoom) - YES (this evening). Writing projects - … Continue reading Putting pen to paper – w/c 25th September
“Giacomo Joyce”
Published by Faber in a special edition, both in terms of style and its snippets of content James Joyce's very short story "Giacomo Joyce" serves as a way-marker for what is to follow in "Ulysses" and "Finnegan's Wake". Perhaps never intended to be published (it was only ever hand-written) the story is an impressionistic collection … Continue reading “Giacomo Joyce”
Ian Gouge - Writer 