I am scheduled to be interviewed next week by the internet-based UK radio station, 'Chat and Spin'. They regularly interview writers, musicians, artists and the like, a ten-minute slot which gives you a chance to talk about your work. Looking forward to it - even if it is live and not pre-recorded! The slot is … Continue reading Radio Interview next week!
I confess to being slightly confused and ambivalent about Ian McEwan's "Machines Like Me". It seemed to vary between being good, and not so; between generating empathy for its characters, and then nothing at all. The only constant perhaps was my distaste for the android / synthetic human, Adam. But perhaps that was the point. … Continue reading “Machines Like Me”
Okay, it's my own fault. I should have read it at University nearly forty years ago when I was supposed to. But I thought "Hey, more chance of understanding it now". "Dreams" is from the Vintage 'mini' series and contains two of Freud's most famous essays: "On Dreams" (1901) and "Typical Dreams" (from The Interpretation … Continue reading “Dreams”
On the 19th December I started work on something that - as is often the case - was no more than a vague notion, a few opening sentences. On Monday, just under four months later, I finished the first draft of a new, relatively small novel (c. 52k words, about 150 paperback pages). I have … Continue reading The result of four months’ work…
Normally I would argue that a Booker Prize winning novel (or even finalist) would be a pretty decent yardstick for the oeuvre of an author, a good place to start. But having read "On Chesil Beach" and "Black Dogs", I have to say Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam" is far from that. Indeed, had I read "Amsterdam" … Continue reading “Amsterdam”
Whether some elements of the central post-war event re-told at the end of Ian McEwan's "Black Dogs" have any basis in reality is potentially irrelevant - and if you've read the book, you'll probably have a good idea of the specific element I'm talking about! True or false, it doesn't diminish the power of the … Continue reading “Black Dogs”
Ever since I read Graham Swift's wonderful "Waterland" I've been completely hooked; his writing is something I can always reliably turn to. There are a few authors in that bracket for me - Murakami certainly, Julian Barnes, Donna Tartt, Swift himself - with a few others 'coming up on the rails': Ishiguro, Ali Smith, McEwan. … Continue reading “Here We Are”
This week - Monday 30th March to Friday 3rd April - Amazon are giving away free Kindle copies of my collection of short stories, "Secrets & Wisdom". So today's the last day! Recently I read one of the stories from this volume, "Welshman" (see the link below). Now you have the chance to get the … Continue reading Free e-book this week – last chance!
Kwame Dawes and John Kinsella's "Tangling with the Epic" is probably, above all, 'clever'. It is a dialogue between the two comprised entirely of Spenserian stanzas, batted backwards and forwards across a literary net. It is clever in the sense of its formulaic execution, of sticking to the brief. But for me it is also … Continue reading “Tangling with the Epic”
This week - Monday 30th March to Friday 3rd April - Amazon are giving away free Kindle copies of my collection of short stories, "Secrets & Wisdom". Recently I read one of the stories from this volume, "Welshman" (see the link below). Now you have the chance to get the whole collection absolutely free! Partly … Continue reading Free e-book this week!
Ian Gouge - Writer 