Writing

  • It’ ha’s been a while since I read any Henry James and, to be honest, I’d forgotten how convoluted his writing can be: super-long sentences with multiple embedded clauses such that you often lose referentiality along the way, forcing you to go back and start again. I confess that this undoubtedly late-Victorian / early-Edwardian writing…

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  • The gate is locked behind me now

    A poem. https://iangouge.substack.com/p/the-gate-is-locked-behind-me-now

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  • “Dear Mr. Beckett”

    As an in-depth curation of a publisher’s interactions with one of his authors, Dear Mr. Beckett is something of a Curate’s Egg – but what makes it entirely fascinating is that the author concerned is none other than Samuel Beckett, and the publisher the visionary Barney Rosset (who also successfully fought to get Lady Chatterly’s…

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  • On Thursday 26th November I will be giving a ‘launch’ reading of my latest collection, ‘A Demand to be Heard’. This will be the inaugural offering of the new bi-monthly ‘Platform’ virtual reading event. Likely to be published around the 21st November, the book contains a series of ekphrastic poems based on photographs taken at…

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  • I am delighted to announce the publication of my latest collection of short stories, Writing to Gisella and Other Stories. The collection opens with an updated version of the 2017 novella, Writing to Gisella. ~ Writing to GisellaIn many ways it was the perfect summer break: taken on impulse, and filled with the beauty of Tuscany. For Rick…

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  • “when you see anything of mine that you don’t like remember that I’m sincere in doing it and that I’m working toward something.” – Ernest Hemingway  A selection of recent posts from my Substack site. If you like what you read, please subscribe on Substack for free! Thank you.

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  • “In the Labyrinth”

    Alain Robbe-Grillet’s In the Labyrinth is, in many ways, more Kafka than Kafka. Most of the time you have no true idea of what’s going on – but that’s precisely the point. The structure isn’t linear, the tense flits between past and present, characters appear and disappear at will, and in many ways every page…

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  • I am delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of my latest collection of short stories, Writing to Gisella and Other Stories, on the 3rd October, 2026. The collection opens with an updated version of the 2017 novella, Writing to Gisella. ~ Writing to GisellaIn many ways it was the perfect summer break: taken on impulse, and filled with…

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  • In many respects Samantha Harvey’s The Shapeless Unease is a remarkable little book, an easy fusion between fiction, memoir, and a battle with insomnia. It’s no wonder it was long-listed for the Booker Prize. For once the blurb on the back cover is perfectly accurate. I picked up my copy in the remainders section of…

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  • We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of Ian Gouge‘s latest collection of short stories, Writing to Gisella and Other Stories, on the 3rd October, 2026. The collection opens with an updated version of the 2017 novella, Writing to Gisella. ~ Writing to GisellaIn many ways it was the perfect summer break: taken on impulse, and filled…

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