LDM: the dust settles in the Evening Standard
There are some achievements in the field of human combat that resonate and echo down the centuries. Those guys on that bridge at… um… Thermopylae, maybe? The bowmen at Agincourt. The people who almost escaped from that prisoner-of-war camp, who are in that film.
Now, I am pleased to say, there is a new entry on this illustrious list, one that justifies this unprecedented two-posts-in-a-week intrusion into kind supporters’ long-suffering inboxes: my second-place in the febrile cauldron of dreams, lust and books that is the Literary Death Match. And before anyone quibbles or raises caveats about the worthiness of this feat to join the others aforementioned, let me ask you this: have any of the heroes of the past been celebrated in a glossy magazine owned by a Russian oligarch and given away free on Fridays? No, I rather thought not.
And finally, my friends, here is the clincher… Continue reading
Central Reservation reviewed by Times Literary Supplement
Well, now. Here’s the thing. Generally, in a post such as this, I would launch into some obscure and self-deprecatory flannel, which would lead, for those with the patience to navigate it, to the sheepish announcement of a fact subtly suggested by the title of this post: Central Reservation has just been reviewed in the TLS, which described it as an ‘ambitious and inventive’ and ‘subtle’ book in which ‘black comedy undercuts painful emotion’.
The reason for the sheepishness is that I am a firm believer in reserve and reticence, which are good and necessary things that inoculate right-thinking people from various forms of insanity, such as going on The Apprentice or entering politics.
However, I am aware that the line between these splendid virtues on the one hand and the horrors of timidity and false modesty on the other is faint and indistinct.
Basically, the question that arises is… Continue reading
Will le Fleming is a novelist. His debut, Central Reservation, is published by Xelsion and available now. Read more...
On a grey Thursday morning Holly lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and wished her sister would die. Five hours later her wish came true. Read more...
About this blog
The first post explains all - find it here.
