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The librarian said you’re going to love this book. It’s exactly how young girls behave when they go on holiday. She was buzzed about it and even smiled. And it was longlisted for the Man Brooker Prize in 2010. But any good stories got a BUT, I use them a lot. The laws of diminishing returns apply here. I did love Morvern Caller , Alan Warner’s debut novel. The Sopranos was great, six eighteen-year old girls from a Catholic school and a wee town...

I've come to the party late. I don't read much fantasy. IMO it has its work cut out matching the greatness of Beowulf and The Odyssey. It's an unfair fight- modern genre fantasy against the BIG realities of the Old Days. In truth the only reason I picked up a copy of American Gods was that I was in a hostel in Portugal and it was the only English book on the shelf. And .... It's brilliant! Neil Gaiman has a deft hand with the Gods. He managed to...

BBC 2, BBC iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wfrk0 Hatred has no country. Ironically, I watched this programme on BBC Catch-up on Easter Sunday in memory of the resurrection. I read in The Observer about Israeli snipers on Good Friday shooting Palestinian demonstrators, or terrorists, depending on how those shot are defined. Around 16 dead. Hospitals in Gaza report 284 injured people, the majority with bullet wounds. 70 wounded,...

A journey into mystery...

My little Princess is planning her first Glasto. Not this year, next year. Last year, when the tickets came out for this year, she wasn’t poised over the computer with her fingers ready to ‘apply’ within ten seconds. This year, for next year, she and her friends will be hunched over the keyboard with the whole thing on a trip wire. However quick you are with your application, there’s still no guarantee you’ll get a ticket. Before long you will...

BBC 1 Scotland, 10.45. BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p060xfr6/unsolved-the-man-with-no-alibi-1-the-night-of https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0618hs2/unsolved-the-man-with-no-alibi-2-no-smoke-without-fire https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p061bm2d/unsolved-the-man-with-no-alibi-3-the-truth-and-other-lies https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p061bmtv/unsolved-the-man-with-no-alibi-4-hot-shoe-shuffle https://www.bbc...

I must admit, I was sorely tempted to award Pepsoid everything for this: https://www.abctales.com/story/pepsoid/larry-and-mick-hope-cherry-abc-tales In the end though, Story of the Week goes to Ed Crane's sharp, satirical and frighteningly believable 'Wai Peipei Comes Of Age'. A cautionary tale for our times: https://www.abctales.com/story/ed-crane/wai-peipei-comes-age Poem of the Week is Alfie Shoyger's beautifully constructed 'My First Love,...

I am compelled to write. I get the angle. I come upstairs. The light goes on. I type in the light. All of a sudden something exists that didn't exist before.The writing isn't seeking readers but the writer is surprised by the ongoing reduction of readership. Sometimes I think, well maybe I'm wating my time when I write. Pretty sure my wife feels the same way based on her level of support. Then the angle, then the climb, then the light, then the...

the flip-side of the coin