If anyone says something to your face that you know is unfair or untrue or scandalous, what can you do? You can deny hotly what is being alleged, or go into long explanations of what you know is the truth. … Continue reading
I had to dash away from Eastercon immediately after the end of the BSFA Awards ceremony. My son Simon was returning home from uni and had no latch key. Also, no trains were running between Battle and Hastings, and I … Continue reading
In its original version the long post below, about the 2012 shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, opened with a few caustic remarks about the thrillers of Mark Billingham, which I do not like. I started the post as … Continue reading
Just back from an appearance at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, in the preternaturally warm March weather. Oxford looked ravishing, the sandstone colleges and quads glowing in the sunshine, the rivers calm and peaceful, sunbathers and walkers everywhere. The … Continue reading
On Friday last week and without any warning, the Independent published the crossword below, no. 7919 in their excellent series, and compiled by ‘Phi’. I consider it to be an honour, in spite of 1 Down, which if I were … Continue reading
Rog Peyton has asked me to mention that I shall be giving a talk to Birmingham SF Group (Brum Group, as I’ve known it for nearly half a century) in a couple of weeks. Probably just as well that he … Continue reading
Today’s copy of the Guardian contains my obituary of Sam Youd, ‘John Christopher’, who died at the weekend. Like many obituaries, this was written to a tight deadline: I had less than four hours in which to research and write … Continue reading
I don’t know Adrian Hon, but he has an amazing way of thinking. His website Mssv has an analysis of The Islanders of such fierce intelligence that I gibbered in the cupboard under the stairs for half an hour afterwards. … Continue reading
For Christmas I was given a copy of John Baxter’s biography of J. G. Ballard, and this is just a note to say that I have written a review of it, hidden away on the Recent page of this site. … Continue reading
Some remarkably pleasant people in Hollywood are about to make a film based on something I’ve written. It’s the story of two stage magicians, and it tells what happens when … Familiar stuff, perhaps, but this one is nothing to … Continue reading
