The author of Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour and What’s Wrong with Dorfman talks about his adventures in self-publishing and how he attracted St Martin’s Press, his out of print titles, the relationship between his life and his art, his next novel, his influences, on living by the pen, his moving Blue Streak, and lots more.
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A review of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The whole book converges on one point: that all life is one, on Earth, and in the wider universe, and that life is a miraculous thing and not something to be taken lightly. Put into the context of this large…
Interview with Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
In this charming interview, the author of The Last Song of Dusk talks about the origins of his first novel, the nature of the songs his characters sing, the unbearability of mercy, his favourite scenes from the book, on being compared to Rushdie, on homelessness, future stories, and lots more.
A review of The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
Like all good novels, the book raises plenty of questions: Is love enough, or do we need more–support, friendship, companionship, happiness? Is there really no mercy in life? Or are there indeed mercies in little moments, of story, song and…
A review of The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Throughout the book are quotes and suggestions from well known self-publicists and experts in the publicity field, along with a wealth of anecdotal information from Howard-Johnson’s own considerable experience. There are lots of examples, as well as some practical templates…
A review of Broken Land by Coral Hull
This is very powerful, and more so because it doesn’t rely on appealing to the reader’s intellectual sense of right or wrong. It is about pain and beauty, about loss and longing, and the full loss of life is as…
Interview with Christopher Klim
This ambitious novelist (who also published Jesus Lives in Trenton) takes time to discuss his most recent novel, the current state of the publishing industry, what it’s like to assume the POV of a sexually deviant pyromaniac, and his mentor…ahem, Albert Einstein (yeah, I know, it’s a weird choice for a writer of literary fiction, but Klim actually was a rocket scientist).
A review of Jake with a Snarly Smile on His Chops by Matthew Ward
This is something of a boys own adventure story, billed by the author as a few hours entertainment, and as that, it succeeds admirably. There are plenty of chuckles, and lots of mouth watering detail which bring the setting, both…
A review of Oblivion by David Foster Wallace
Wallace’s fiction forces the reader to look beneath the surface. His characters, like most human beings find it difficult to communicate directly. More often than not what they are really concerned with must be parsed out through indirection, as though…
Interview with Peter Mews
The author of Bright Planet talks about the writing of his second novel, the premises of his book, his research, his use of the Fibonacci numbers for the book’s structure, the literary games he plays in the novel, about the…