Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
You would be forgiven for thinking that spoilers ruin mysteries. But research suggests this isn't the case, rather that readers prefer spoiled to unspoiled stories. This is the paradox of suspense - that suspense survives certainty
Badly hurt ten years ago in a road accident. Now recovered, and writing 1500 words every day “I sit down maybe at quarter past eight in the morning and I work until quarter to twelve." Next book: An amusement park serial killer
"As women continue to gain power and influence, they will be tested as heroes, and many, no doubt, will fail and turn to corruption, just as their male predecessors have done. But for now, the female superhero may be our last hope"
HP Lovecraft is now seen as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century. He took horror out of Victorian occultism and into the realm of contemporary science. How wrong he was to think of his work as a failure
Obvious question, but has it been asked before? Mary Shelley was pregnant much of the time she was writing "Frankenstein", having lost one child. Does her experience of making and losing life give the story its strange power?
"The secret services are the only real expression of a nation’s character." Not a bad motto for Le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This is an engrossing comparison of book, 1970s TV series and recent film
If you loved Alec Guinness's portrayal of Smiley, Gary Oldman's is bound to be a hard sell. Hitchens leads the lamentations. "They have needlessly messed it up. Someone has gone through the book changing things for their own sake"
In praise of crime fiction. Particularly a 10-volume Swedish series predating Mankell and Stieg Larsson. Offered a "slyly devastating critique of the social and political condition of Sweden". Just don't call it crime fiction
Stieg Larsson smoked three packs a day, lived on hamburgers, and worked around the clock. His Millennium Trilogy was a powerful piece of detective fiction—but no more than that. Why has it been such an international best-seller?
Author of "Trainspotting" discusses his favourite crime novels. Bleak, with a strong Scottish flavour. "The thing that I like about this book is that there is this chemical plant that has poisoned everyone"
In 1943 the richest man in the Bahamas was bludgeoned to death. Who killed him, and why? And what was the involvement of a former British monarch? Author explains his fascination with the case, how he put it in a novel
Author finds that possessing a Kindle reader makes it all too easy to impulse-buy books when intoxicated. Short thrillers go down best. "For the past few months, I have barely read anything except Poirot novels"
