If D.H.Lawrence were to submit some of the stories from this collection to a modern-day mentor or writing group, they might not go down too well. "All that repetition! Clumsy. Have you heard of editing? You could cut some of these down by twenty percent, then you might get to a decent short story..." Lawrence's … Continue reading “The Woman Who Rode Away”
The AI Critic…
Yesterday I had a short story rejected by a competition in which it was entered (at least I assume it has been unsuccessful). Along with the email came some specific feedback on my story. The email was very open: the response had been written by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) bot… Naturally I read it. The … Continue reading The AI Critic…
Digest and links to my posts on Substack this week
“Thom Gunn”
Reading August Kleinzahler's selection of Thom Gunn's poetry (in Faber's 'Poet-to-Poet' series) I confessed I really struggled - not with the selection made, but with the source material. It wasn't just that I felt the poems hadn't travelled well across the years (the selection covers 1954-2000), nor perhaps any translation from California to the UK, … Continue reading “Thom Gunn”
Two Submission Opportunities
Coverstory books currently has two open submission windows: Pebbles on the Strand - for short stories between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Closing date 30th November. New Contexts: 6 - for poetry and short prose (less than 2,000 words). This will be the sixth edition of the anthology. Closing date 31st December. For details on how … Continue reading Two Submission Opportunities
“Monsieur”
I have just finished re-reading Lawrence Durrell's Monsieur - my first reading of the book being many years ago, not that long after finishing The Alexandria Quartet. I remember being spellbound by the latter, though I worry now that memory may only be a byproduct of a certain fondness for the rosy literary hue... This … Continue reading “Monsieur”
Here are some of the posts on last week’s Substack
“Kid”
I don't think it would be inaccurate to say that I haven't quite made up my mind about Simon Armitage. Clearly his 1992 collection Kid isn't entirely representative of what he's writing now, so perhaps it is better to see it as a way-marker on his journey - it was thirty years ago after all! … Continue reading “Kid”
Ian Gouge - Writer 