My Inspirations for Letters to Strabo Behind every great love is an epic story waiting to be told. My first idea for Letters to Strabo came from the memory of a trip I made twenty years ago to Olana, the amazing Catskills home of the painter Frederic Edwin Church. It was a truly stunning experience.…
Category: Books
‘A Voice Beyond Reason’ by Matthew Félix
A Voice Beyond Reason When a young Spaniard is thrown out of his normal, everyday existence by a family tragedy, it forces him to take a good look at life and his own future. From knowing exactly what is expected of him to suddenly having no idea how to move forward, Pablo finds help in…
Guest Post: Why Serial-Killer Fiction Isn’t Going Anywhere
Guest Post by Carolyn Arnold Years ago, a rumor circulated in the writing community that books about serial killers were passé. I didn’t buy it, though. Had any of these writers picked up a mystery book or watched popular shows on television? Serial killers were everywhere! And still are. The truth is, many people…
Which Twitter Are You?
Warning: Rant Alert! As much as I like Twitter, there’s a few things about certain other Twitterers that bug me. Let’s begin with a rundown: as far as I can tell, there are six types of folk on Twitter (seven, if you count the Porn Brigade)… What’s-This-For? The folks who set up a Twitter account…
‘The Horse’s Arse’ by Laura Gascoigne
The Horse’s Arse Ageing artist Patrick spends his time running art classes in his garden shed, while working on his pet project – a large-scale series of paintings called The Seventh Seal. When his son comes up with a plan to earn his dad a few grand in return for knocking out copies of old…
‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita Oddly named intellectual and romantic, Humbert Humbert, falls in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady’s twelve-year-old daughter. To linger in close proximity to the child, he decides to marry her mother, despite several misgivings. The partnership, naturally, does not go as planned for the hopeful lover, and Humbert begins dreaming up ways of ending…
‘The Abattoir of Dreams’ by Mark Tilbury
The Abattoir of Dreams Waking up in hospital, Michael Tate learns he has been in a coma. Worse – he’s paralysed from the waist down and has little memory of a past life. When surly Detective Carver turns up making accusations of murder, a nightmare scenario thrusts Michael into a world where it’s impossible to…
How to Turn (Another) Idea into a Novel…
A little while ago, I wrote about the inspiration behind my last book ‘Death on a Dirty Afternoon’ which came out in November. With three other books currently germinating away (ie being written), I hadn’t intended embarking on another one just yet, however… A few weeks back, author and blog queen Vicki Turner asked if…
‘The Ruins’ by Daniel Bristow-Bailey
The Ruins Fifteen-year-old Edward leaves his family to stay at the labyrinthine palace of Lord Norbert where he is to be tutored in the ways of Saxon nobility, before being baptised into the Christian faith. But the young man has much to learn and soon realises his new environment is positively seething with political intrigue,…
‘In The Land of Broken Time: The Incredible Journey’ by Maria and Max Evan
In The Land of Broken Time: The Incredible Journey When the circus comes to town, young Christopher sneaks off to the big top where he makes two new friends – a girl, Sophie and Duke, a talking dog. The three of them steal away in a hot air balloon to a magical land peopled by…
Colin Garrow 