Tag: fiction

Do we need ‘conspiracy theory’ because we find trust in short supply? August 20th Day Seven in Edinburgh Highlights: 1. Pleasance Dome 10, ‘Moth and Dog Are Dying to Get Out’, a play exploring the relationship of two boys, their  coming out and the confrontation of distrust and ‘conspiracy’ involved (The Fringe Festival); 2. NW Room, Jem Calder & Derek Owusu (The  Book Festival) & Courtyard Theatre Édouard Louis (The Book Festival).

August 22, 2026

What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable? Do we need ‘conspiracy theory’ because we find trust in short supply? August 20th Day Seven in Edinburgh Highlights: 1. Pleasance Dome 10, Moth and Dog Are Dying to Get Out, a play exploring the relationship of two boys, their  coming out and the confrontation of distrust … More Do we need ‘conspiracy theory’ because we find trust in short supply? August 20th Day Seven in Edinburgh Highlights: 1. Pleasance Dome 10, ‘Moth and Dog Are Dying to Get Out’, a play exploring the relationship of two boys, their  coming out and the confrontation of distrust and ‘conspiracy’ involved (The Fringe Festival); 2. NW Room, Jem Calder & Derek Owusu (The  Book Festival) & Courtyard Theatre Édouard Louis (The Book Festival).

The best books show that erasure is not an option but seeing all events as a part of a dynamic process to which we change our response, or even find atonemt for, is. August 17th Day Four in Edinburgh : At the Book Festival thinking about Two Queer books about transition and our response to it (Kae Tempest & Dean Atta), and accepting a New Cemetery with Simon Armitage.

August 19, 2026

The best books show that erasure is not an option but seeing all events as a part of a dynamic process to which we change our response, or even find atonemt for, is. August 17th Day Four in Edinburgh : At the Book Festival thinking about Two Queer books about transition and our response to … More The best books show that erasure is not an option but seeing all events as a part of a dynamic process to which we change our response, or even find atonemt for, is. August 17th Day Four in Edinburgh : At the Book Festival thinking about Two Queer books about transition and our response to it (Kae Tempest & Dean Atta), and accepting a New Cemetery with Simon Armitage.

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.

August 13, 2026

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out to read at least some of the books. Here is the list for this year, which I will update as I progress through my reading and responses: 2026 Booker Longlist … More Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.

In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? This is a blog on Makenna Goodman (2026) ‘Helen of Nowhere’.

August 13, 2026

In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? ‘I made a point to say this loudly, as I didn’t know if I were speaking or thinking and yet it was clear she could her me regardless of whether the words were, in fact, coming out of my mouth’.[1] The status of words and … More In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? This is a blog on Makenna Goodman (2026) ‘Helen of Nowhere’.

In Djamel White’s novel ‘All Them Dogs’ being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is the reason we lose responsibility for ‘the child’ we find in the world or inside us, failing to safeguard it: the mark of effective adult responsibility.

August 8, 2026

In Djamel White’s novel All Them Dogs being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is … More In Djamel White’s novel ‘All Them Dogs’ being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is the reason we lose responsibility for ‘the child’ we find in the world or inside us, failing to safeguard it: the mark of effective adult responsibility.

I used to worry about finding out that a novel was not ‘for me’. But you don’t have to like writing just because, in its own terms, it is good. This is a blog on Gwendoline Riley (2026) ‘The Palm House’. It starts by defining that strangeness in the novel that is precisely ‘not the kind of strangeness for me’ anymore.

August 6, 2026

I used to worry about finding out that a novel was not ‘for me’. But you don’t have to like writing just because in its own terms, it is good. This is a blog on Gwendoline Riley (2026) The Palm House London, Picador. It starts by defining that strangeness in the novel that is precisely … More I used to worry about finding out that a novel was not ‘for me’. But you don’t have to like writing just because, in its own terms, it is good. This is a blog on Gwendoline Riley (2026) ‘The Palm House’. It starts by defining that strangeness in the novel that is precisely ‘not the kind of strangeness for me’ anymore.

Why not name Troy, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul and keep proliferating names for the primary city of the Golden Horn until you reach 10 such names for cities rich in trade that are for ever renewed or ‘renovated’. This blog is about Kenan Orhan (2026) ‘The Renovation’.

August 4, 2026

Why not name Troy, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul and keep proliferating names for names for the primary city of the Golden Horn until you reach 10 such names for cities rich in trade that are for ever renewed or ‘renovated’. In a description of the renovation of Istanbul under Erdoğan as ‘the simulacrum of progress … More Why not name Troy, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul and keep proliferating names for the primary city of the Golden Horn until you reach 10 such names for cities rich in trade that are for ever renewed or ‘renovated’. This blog is about Kenan Orhan (2026) ‘The Renovation’.

‘It’s dark and I can’t see a thing, but the scent of Sixten’s coat finds its way in, causing something inside me to shift. To be rearranged.’ Do you suddenly stop worrying about death? Some thoughts based on reading ‘When the Cranes Fly South’ by Lisa Ridzén.

July 30, 2026

‘It’s dark and I can’t see a thing, but the scent of Sixten’s coat finds its way in, causing something inside me to shift. To be rearranged.’ Do you suddenly stop worrying about death? Some thoughts based on reading When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén. The following lines of free verse came to … More ‘It’s dark and I can’t see a thing, but the scent of Sixten’s coat finds its way in, causing something inside me to shift. To be rearranged.’ Do you suddenly stop worrying about death? Some thoughts based on reading ‘When the Cranes Fly South’ by Lisa Ridzén.

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July

July 29, 2026

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out to read at least some of the books. Here is the list for this year, which I will update as I progress through my reading and responses: 2026 Booker Longlist … More Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July

As I read Jem Calder’s celebrated novel ‘I Want You to Be Happy’, Ella Fitzgerald’s best-known lyric sung through as if it has lived with me forever. This is really a blog on that novel.

July 28, 2026

As I read Jem Calder’s celebrated novel ‘I Want You to Be Happy’, Ella Fitzgerald’s best-known lyric sung through as if it has lived with me forever. This is really a blog on that novel. To be honest, I was reading Jem Calder’s novel because is aid I would because he is appearing at the Edinburgh … More As I read Jem Calder’s celebrated novel ‘I Want You to Be Happy’, Ella Fitzgerald’s best-known lyric sung through as if it has lived with me forever. This is really a blog on that novel.

Some reaons for missing a technology that still required a person to drive and regulate its process: the case of the hand loom and cottage industry in literature. A blog on extracts from George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner’ and Douglas Stuart’s ‘John of John’.

July 26, 2026

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why? Some reaons for missing a technology that still required a person to drive and regulate its process: the case of the hand loom and cottage industry in literature. A blog on extracts from George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner’ and Douglas Stuart’s ‘John of John’. My collage … More Some reaons for missing a technology that still required a person to drive and regulate its process: the case of the hand loom and cottage industry in literature. A blog on extracts from George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner’ and Douglas Stuart’s ‘John of John’.

Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a story where conversations with the original are ‘an encounter … across the span of two-and-a-half millennia’. Part Three of an examination of three versions of ‘The Oresteia’ before Simon Stone’s brilliant version: the ‘Girl Who Closed Her Case’ in ‘The Oresteia’ of Zinnie Harris, ‘This Restless House’.

July 25, 2026

Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a … More Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a story where conversations with the original are ‘an encounter … across the span of two-and-a-half millennia’. Part Three of an examination of three versions of ‘The Oresteia’ before Simon Stone’s brilliant version: the ‘Girl Who Closed Her Case’ in ‘The Oresteia’ of Zinnie Harris, ‘This Restless House’.