The Literary Sofa
Book Review
Guest Author – Alex Christofi on Writing the Shard
Since starting the Literary Sofa blog in 2011, I read far more new fiction than I used to. And despite the endless stream of fantastic novels which find their way to me, I often get the feeling there are established notions of ‘what works’ in fiction or ‘what the reader wants/expects’ – notions I personally like … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Oscar de Muriel on Victorian Edinburgh
It’s not every day that you bump into a violin-playing Mexican chemist who’s written a historical crime novel set in Scotland, in English! I met today’s guest Oscar de Muriel at a book party in the early days of the Literary Sofa and although our paths have yet to cross again in real life I have … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Peter Nichols on Mallorca
I launched the Writers on Location series almost a year ago to showcase novels which have interesting settings and a particularly strong sense of place. It’s become very popular and has featured some fascinating pieces by authors who’ve set their books in locations that were sometimes new to them, sometimes familiar and in some cases, their home town. If … Continue reading
Guest Author – Shelley Harris on Writing a hero from the inside
I am really thrilled to welcome Shelley Harris to the Literary Sofa following the recent release of her second novel Vigilante. Her first novel Jubilee (2012) was a critically acclaimed bestseller and her path to publication has been a genuine inspiration to me. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Shelley in person and … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Philip Teir on Helsinki
Over the next few months I’ll be featuring some of the titles from my Hot Picks 2015 selection on the Literary Sofa, starting with a Writers on Location post about Helsinki by Finnish author Philip Teir, dubbed #Scanzen by his UK publishers Serpent’s Tail. I’m often sceptical about such tags but with his debut novel … Continue reading
Book Review – Let me be Frank with you by Richard Ford
First of all, I really want to thank everyone who read, shared and discussed my last blog post My first year as an agented writer and to welcome all new readers to the Literary Sofa. The response was absolutely overwhelming both in size (2,000 hits in a few days!) and impact. I cried and so did … Continue reading
Guest Author – Charles Lambert on Writing a Novel in Fragments
Today’s featured title With a Zero at its Heart was released in May 2014 but I only read it recently, on the recommendation of several friends who predicted I would love it. They were right. My keen interest in narrative structure dates back to my student days, and although this novel in fragments has many … Continue reading
Guest Author – Alice Jolly on Crowdfunding – How to make new friends (and lose old ones)
*PUBLICATION UPDATE – JULY 2015* **CONGRATULATIONS to Alice Jolly and to her publishers Unbound on the publication of Dead Babies and Seaside Towns. The hardback edition (see the cover below) is a thing of beauty as befits this extraordinary true story and it is rightfully receiving a great deal of media attention.** As with many … Continue reading
Author Events – with a guest appearance from Francis Plug
Apologies to anyone wanting to read a serious article about author events. This isn’t one. But it is a historic event, or if you want to get all literary, an historic event. It was supposed to be a guest author post but that went wrong from the start when South London New Zealander Paul Ewen, … Continue reading
Guest Author – Emily St John Mandel on Setting a Novel in the Future
By happy coincidence, the autumn season on the Literary Sofa has started with two truly outstanding books. When Kate Mayfield joined me last week, I mentioned my new love of memoirs. My taste is pretty broad and always evolving, often to include genres and subjects which didn’t previously attract me, in today’s case, dystopian fiction. Since … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 