Books

One of my favourite writing advisors of all time is Chuck Wendig. He tells it like it is – no sugar coating, no pointless ego stroking, just a real get up and do it attitude. But as much as I ...

Like many people my age (the wrong side of twenty-five and still not a millionaire – how disappointed my six-year-old self would be!), I often feel lost. I’m not someone who has had my life planned out – I don’t ...

*Spoiler free review* I’m only a recent convert to the Neil Gaiman way of life, but when I saw his most recent novel, Ocean at the End of the Lane, on sale for £0.99 for the Kindle, I couldn’t buy ...

Back in 2010, I was fairly new to Twitter. As always, I was desperately (or cleverly?!) trying to keep up with the modern world. I had heard about this ‘one book one twitter’ book club event taking place; the idea ...

While everyone else is reflecting on what came out this year, I’m going to be different (I always was contrary). There are a lot of things I have loved this year that I was very late to jump on the ...

HO HO HO! Terry Pratchett’s Discworld* has its own fan traditions. I love watching what can happen when you put a lot of Discworld fans in a room together, and Hogswatch is one of the many events where this phenomenon ...

I have a tendency to resist anything that is really popular. Call it stubbornness, narrow-mindedness, or plain stupidity. Whatever it is, it is a character flaw I am aware of – although not actively trying to rectify. I finally gave ...

A weekend away with a difference When I tell people I’m going to a Discworld Convention, there are usually just three responses: What? Nerd! Ooh…can I come? What? Discworld* is a fantasy world, on the back of four elephants on ...

To live outside the law, you must be honest. – American proverb People forget that Hunter Stockton Thompson was serious. He devised gonzo journalism, pitching that in a phoney culture full of obfuscation and disengenuity, embedded and exaggerated subjectivity often ...

I was excited to review a debut novel from independent publisher Legend Press when they sent me my very first review copy. Legend Press was set up in 2005 and has since become one of the most successful start-ups in ...