Category: Writing
Got a hyperlink on your web-site? Hey, there’s a EU tax for that!
Well, the European Parliament has finally passed the EU Copyright Directive by a majority of 438 to 226. This ‘interesting’ EU-wide law states that (a) anybody who links to a web page and uses more than two words found in said web page has to pay copyright fees to the originating website as long as […]
Book title troubles and hundred quid meals.
This is the first blog update post from me for a goodly while. Sorry. Utter idleness on my part. Never one to clog your broadband unnecessarily. Anyway, I recently returned from Norway’s capital, Oslo, visiting friends and family. Great city – truly insane prices, even self-catering. Five quid for a can of coke. Ten for […]
Let’s talk about software.
Hey, you. Sit down. It’s time we had that chat. About software. Specifically, the software this author uses to pen his novels. For decades I’ve been using Microsoft Word, upgrading to the latest version with each new desktop purchased. But I’ve finally succumbed to the warm propaganda issued by my fellow writer Michael Marshal Smith, […]
In Dark Service – first look at cover art.
The bound proofs will be going out for In Dark Service very early next year (2014) to reviewers in the media, prior to the book’s official March 20th 2014 publication date. There’s a cover shot below – subject to change (these things are always tweaked). This is a new fantasy series set in a distinctly […]
Is Stephen Hunt really JK Rowling?
I’m not JK Rowling. Honest. Or am I? And if I was, would there be anyway for you to know? This is one of those philosophical questions along the lines of if a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? It’s a fine philosophical game […]
The creative writing courses controversy?
With the uptick in indie authors, so a corresponding uptick in organisations offering creative writing courses, but are they worth the money, or just another way for commercial interests to milk money out of would-be writers? Radio 4 examines both side of the arguments in this week’s You and Yours episode. This piece ran on […]
The sorry state of career journalism in 2013.
Following my last couple of posts, here’s a quick link to an exchange between the Atlantic Magazine and journalist Nate Thayer looking to solicit his professional services for an article the Atlantic wanted to publish. It’s in the same ballpark as my two pieces. Noel Coward once sung ‘Don’t Put Your Daughter On The Stage, […]
Barnes & Noble goes to war with DC Comics
Barnes & Noble in the USA has removed all DC graphic novels from its shelves after DC gave the Amazon Kindle Fire an exclusive early release programme for its comic content. I think we can see this through the lens of increasing bitter tussles between books stores and indeed trad. publishing over Amazon’s progressively successful […]
How to burn a genre. World Book Night
I have just finished watching the BBC’s World Book Night coverage, which was meant to be generally bigging up the world of fiction, but instead nearly resulted in me having a coronary. The contemporary fiction – aka modern fiction, aka literary fiction – genre was represented by the bucket-load, as you’d expect. The TV producers […]
HarperCollins party pics
The HarperCollins Summer party this year was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was a lovely warm evening, with hundreds of authors, HarperCollins editors and staff from all those vital HQ functions – such as the art department (where would those covers and jacket designs be without them?), sales, PR etc […]
