Category Archives: Publishing

Rules and commandments

There’s been a bunch of guidelines and rules for writers published over the years. As long as people want to write (but don’t quite now how or what about) I guess there always will be. I thought I’d share my … Continue reading

18 Comments

Filed under Crime Fiction, Personal posts, Publishing

Elif Batuman, the LRB and creative writing programmes

Elif Batuman recently wrote a piece in the LRB about creative writing programmes. Ostensibly it was a review of Mark Gurl’s history of such programmes – The Programme Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing. As so often … Continue reading

32 Comments

Filed under Personal posts, Publishing

Holidays and Kindles redux

I got back from holiday yesterday. I was away more than two weeks and the only reading matter I had on me was my new Kindle (a Kindle 2). So, how did that work out for me? I posted my … Continue reading

21 Comments

Filed under Administrative posts, Publishing

Holidays and Kindles

I’ve recently received one of the new next generation Kindles (Kindle 2 I think they’re called, though I could be confusing models). It’s £109 from Amazon UK and wifi but not 3g enabled. There are 3g versions, I just didn’t … Continue reading

10 Comments

Filed under Administrative posts, Publishing

The situation seems to be deterioriating…

The Fuller Memorandum, by Charles Stross The Fuller Memorandum is the first novel I have read entirely on a mobile phone. Amazon UK recently launched the new wave of Kindles. I placed an order for one, which should arrive next … Continue reading

35 Comments

Filed under Horror Fiction, Publishing, Science Fiction, Stross, Charles

Gloomy but fun

On Sunday I went to my first literary event. I’m not as a rule interested in readings or signings and I tend to think that if a writer has something interesting to say to the public it’s probably already in … Continue reading

37 Comments

Filed under Central European Literature, Publishing

What makes a good bookshop?

A discussion over at John Self’s Asylum blog got me thinking about this question today. The answer of course is highly personal, but when I thought about the bookshops I tend to enjoy browsing and buying in there are some … Continue reading

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Filed under Publishing

Thoughts on the lifespan of genres

I said in my post about William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki stories that I’d post shortly about the lifespan of genres. This isn’t a topic I know as well as I’d like to, but essentially genres are not the fixed things … Continue reading

46 Comments

Filed under Publishing

Ghosts in the machine

Epublishing and the short story Publishers don’t like short stories. Why? Because the public don’t like them. Short stories don’t sell. Back in the 1980s, when I was a kid, I only read science fiction (well, and some fantasy and … Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under Publishing, Short Stories

Further thoughts on epublishing

I promise a post about a specific book shortly, honest. Anyway, there’s now an excellent debate on the implications of ebooks for publishing at the Guardian here. You need to scroll down in the comments past the Amazon specific stuff, … Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Ebooks, Publishing