Of Equality Of Opinion

How I do wish we could just say to that type: "You know, please don't read my books, because they are too difficult for you..."

“I just didn’t want to be alive any more”

Nothing in that "interview" with the duchess was more upsetting, I felt, really, than her stating she had wished not to live any longer.

Friday Digest: 15 January 2021

Well, here we are again at the crossroads of life.

I Dissent

If you support him, I apologize. But this is my considered opinion after four years of him. I do not write this lightly.

In A Horrible National Place

I have not been this depressed since the afternoon of September 11, 2001; and I know I am not alone in that.

A “Review” That “Spooks And Horrifies” Too

Endings are, uh, I think, reasonably important to us as readers. I am of course interested in what will happen (or why would I be reading the book in the first place?), but I don't really want to know how a book ends... until I get to the end.

I Can Do “Dystopian”

I have decided I may have to give in. "Dystopian" and "fantasy" seems all that we are supposed to be writing as authors. It appears I need to take the plunge...

What Do You Think They Know?

Occasionally the American featured celebrity tracing his/her family tree comes across as - much as I hate to say this - worryingly clueless about wider history and lives lived prior to the present.

One Of The Best Habits

Back to the actual point to the day: Kids having access to books. A love of reading is one of the best habits one can instill in a child. I saw my parents regularly reading for relaxation.

“Robert’s books about France, I’m talking with him…”

Recently I turned down an interview request from a US podcaster because I felt that I could not do full justice to her suggested main subject. I didn't think it would be fair talking with her merely for the sake of just talking - even if doing that might in some ways perhaps have been usefully self-promotional.

Twitter: A Great Idea, But…

I advise anyone now to be cautious, very cautious, on Twitter. The only reason I have not deleted my account is because I do like engaging carefully with decent people when possible. And many readers now expect authors to have Twitter accounts.

That Questioner’s Horse He Rode In On

If you have had experiences such as my family has had (and yours may have had too), you learn that there are those times that nothing can be done by others to stop self-destruction.

A “Relation Spéciale”?

It is no secret that this US president evokes wildly negative feelings in many. [Full disclosure: I did not vote for him.]

Our Battle Over Language

Teaching "old" novels that also contain vulgarities and slurs - novels which usually had been targeted at adult readers when they were originally written - in high school literature is always going to be contentious.

The Minefield: Where Entertainment Meets Politics

There is a reason we have a secret ballot: none of us need ever reveal, explain, or justify our vote to anyone if we wish not to do so - and that includes to the Guardian.