It's out there.
I have published a book. To be more accurate, I have written a book, rewritten it, rewritten it again, revised and corrected it a dozen...
top of page
Apr 263 min read
Route 666 (the highway to hell)
Basically, Special Boy gets to do all the things you don't, because you're not special.
Apr 223 min read
Everything Everywhere All At Once
There's a lot to be said for the ease of living in the streaming age, but is the instant availability of so much film, music, TV and...
Apr 192 min read
Let the story decide
'How Soon Is Now?' is a complex book built on a simple idea: What if you could go back to be yourself at any point in your life? This...
Apr 142 min read
Every book deserves a soundtrack
Music played a huge part in the writing of 'How Soon Is Now?' (and the other novel-and-a-quarter written since its completion). I always...
Apr 132 min read
Leaving the nest
Just a few days to go until pre-orders open for 'How Soon Is Now?', and it's suddenly all becoming very real. The website is finally...
Mar 14, 20203 min read
Neither Am I
I'm sure I saw it as a Private Eye cartoon, but I've also seen it as a quote attributed to the late Peter Cook: Two men at a party. One...
Feb 22, 20203 min read
The sting
MOST of what’s gone wrong in British social and political life can be summed up with a fairly simple example using Jameela Jamil, a...
Dec 8, 20192 min read
The pick of the bunch
There’s something indefinably magical about the intricate, chiming sounds of a finger-picked acoustic guitar. It’s something I’d always...
Oct 15, 20193 min read
Kristin Hersh in conversation, 1998
From the archives comes this 1998 interview with singer, songwriter, Throwing Muses founder and. latterly, author Kristin Hersh, as she...
Aug 29, 20193 min read
‘Chekov was just pressing buttons…’
(Interview originally conducted in 1998, to coincide with the release by Titan Books of ‘Warped Factors’) WITH ‘Warped Factors’, ‘Star...
Aug 12, 20192 min read
Take your pick
Mark Hanson’s ‘The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking’ is one of the guitar tuition books I’ve returned to most often over the years. If...
Jul 31, 20191 min read
Welcome
This is my blog. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It’s a diversion, for me and anyone who happens to pass by. It’ll play...
Jul 31, 20194 min read
An interview with Ivor Cutler
It’s 1997, the tail-end of Britpop, and one of the more idiosyncratic – but enduring – talents to emerge during the first British beat...
Jul 31, 20193 min read
Suit you, Sir!
Back in the 90s, when I was young and slim, vintage suits were my thing. In those pre-eBay days, vintage shops and second-hand stores...
Jul 31, 20191 min read
Trudy time
Trudy came to us earlier this year from Romania, via https://www.silverfoxdogrescue.com. She’d been on the street, then rounded up by the...
Jul 31, 20191 min read
She walked up to me, and in a dark brown voice…
Our time with Lola was brief but sweet. She’d been a breeding cat, passed about from owner to owner, before she came to us. A typical...
Jul 31, 20191 min read
Super Bad fun (featuring Mr Cheap Butts)
In 2008, we visited Mrs C’s home town in the southern USA – an ideal spot for outings in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. I’ve always had a...
Jul 30, 20191 min read
You’ve (almost) lost that lovin’ feline
Rosie cat, safe at home. For now. Meet Rosie. We adopted her from the SPCA in 2016. She’d been living rough in a coal cellar with some...
Jul 30, 20191 min read
Cakes, concerts and coffees in Reykjavik
Last year Mrs C and I visited Reykjavik for the first time – tying our long-awaited (17 years!) honeymoon into a trip to see the...
bottom of page