Download A Short Story

As I continue to burn in the white heat of new technology and Harold Wilson haunts my dreams, I wake in the morning with all kinds of dumb ideas. My latest is a downloadable short story and so it has come to pass. It's called "Hole" and I wrote it for the Verb on Radio 3, but as that's no longer available to listen to online, I thought I should turn it into a pdf and upload it so you could download it and read it or even print it out for posterity (huh?). Anyway, it's a very small file and it's obviously free so go and do it now....

The Third Programme

That's what it was in those glory days when the BBC ruled the world and all quaked before its well-spoken might. Now they'll even let chancers like me on there. But the good news (in relative terms, I guess - i.e. relative to me) is that The Verb broadcast a new short story by me on Friday night. It sounded dead good and what have you in that it were read by a proper actor, like. You can listento it here. Personally I could only sit through the first sentence I spoke before I had to turn off, but in that brief moment I realised a transcendent truth. I do not speak like a man with a beard...

Not (radio) Waving But...

Was on the Book Panel with Simon Mayo on Radio 5 Live yesterday. All in all an odd experience but nowhere near as traumatic as I was expecting. You can listen to (or even download...) the podcast here for the next week.

Alternatively, there's a brief interview with me and a new short story by me being broadcast on the Verb tonight between 9.45pm and 10.30pm on Radio 3.

Better Late..?

Having been utterly crap at maintaining this blog over the last few months, it's now my duty to inform you (if there is any 'you' out there) that my new book is published this week.

What else can I tell you?

It's called "The Heritage" (though originally it was called something else).

As you can see it has a rather marvellous cover courtesy of Alex Kirby at Faber.

As far as I know there haven't been many reviews of it yet but Marianne Brace wrote a very nice piece for the Independent a couple of weeks ago.

I'm on Radio 5 Live with Simon Mayo on Thursday afternoon along with Anne Enright (the fear, the fear) and on the Verb on Radio 3 on Friday night, where a genuine actor will be reading a new short story by me (links to follow when I have them and if it's not too humiliating...).

Let me see... Oh yes, it's half price at Amazon but I hope is available elsewhere, too.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. More news to follow, as long as I can remember my password this time...