This week I was reminded of the importance to check facts. My big non-fiction project is an attempt to identify Mary Jane Kelly who was killed by Jack the Ripper in 1888. I have compiled a large database containing details of over 600 women and am slowly attempting to trace each one. This is often […]

I recently read an article which bemoaned the lack of positivity in modern science fiction. The golden age of the genre according to Robert Silverberg, others put it earlier, was the 1950s. Writers predicted technological advances, the conquest of space and innumerable triumphs for humanity. In a rather austere era between warfare and social change […]

Sometimes legislation introduced with good intent has unforeseen consequences. California’s AB5 law restricts the use of contractors, aiming to give workers greater protection and make big companies pay more tax. Some writers and journalists have complained because technically they are now classed as employees, with an exemption that allows 35 articles per year. The American […]

This week I submitted a story, deciding to change the title at the last minute. This often happens. Sometimes it’s because of a change in direction but, more often, it’s about creating attention. Editors are inundated with manuscripts. Faced with one that has a bland, unoriginal title and one that sounds different they’re more likely […]

This month is the eleventh annual women in horror month, an international grassroots initiative that encourages people to learn about and showcase the work of women in the horror industry. The genre began in literature, arguably with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first published in 1818. Last year Frankenstein was listed by the BBC as one of […]

This week I had two different cinema experiences. I watched the second instalment of the Jumanji franchise in a local cinema, one of many daily showings. Jojo Rabbit had none, forcing me to travel to a smaller venue. Mainstream films, like television, now focus on satisfying existing demand, rather than taking risks with bold new […]

Many of us make resolutions at the start of a New Year but fail to keep them. You stand a better chance of realising an aspiration if you work out exactly what you want and how to achieve it. I use a technique called 5W + H, which can be adapted to most situations. The […]

Most of my fiction reading in 2019 came from a box of old paperbacks, written by Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton and various others. It was probably a mistake to binge read one author at a time, as you get used to their style and start to predict plot developments. Pick of the bunch was Koontz’s […]

This year I’ve been a bit disappointed in the quality of my reading material. Usually I’m able to pick out one or two good fiction and non-fiction books to recommend. Obviously, this is subjective and personal tastes differ. I’ll talk about non-fiction here and fiction next week. I found the three big new books with […]