The About Writing Book Blog

Welcome to the About Writing Book Blog.

This is where I write about books I’ve recently read and have interested me. They’re most likely to be science-fiction, urban fantasy or commercial literary fiction. From time to time I may splurge into non-fiction.

It’s main purpose is to help improve my writing by thinking about what I read. I’m not looking for submission and please don’t contact me to ask if I’ll read your book. What I will review are a mix of what I’ve recently bought, books by people I know, and books forwarded to me by organisers.

The possible exception is you are a British (by birth, naturalisation or just hanging out there a long time) transexual or writer of colour. Your book doesn’t have to be about those things (honestly I’m more interesting in spaceships) but I do want to play my part promoting marginalised groups and keeping my horizons as broad as possible. I like science fiction, science fantasy, urban fantasy and literary fiction with an imaginative story that isn’t about a young woman who has a terribly childhood then has sex and is punished for it. I also like historical fiction written by actual historians. If you think you fit into that rather narrow window, click here to go to the contact form.

To check out the full blog click here.

Or to jump directly to the most recent reviews, look here:

• Black H, “The Cruel Prince (The Fold of the Air Book 1)”, Romance, (Little, Brown Young Readers: 2018)
• Hughes P, Probably the Best Kiss in the World, HarperCollins (London : 2019)
• Mitrache Corneliu, “Laughter and Gloom in the Trading Room”, Contemporary Fiction, (Indie: 2022)
• Hume D, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” ed. Peter Milican, Non-Fiction, (Oxford World Classics: 2007)
• Atwood M, “The Heart Goes Last”, Science-Fiction, (Virago: 2016)