Writers’ undercurrents: in the novel you’ve just read — or in your own writing? Sometimes it’s only after finishing a novel that you become aware of its undercurrent. For instance, in Dead Water (Simon Ings) the fast paced plot involves the protagonist in a deadly international chase after an evil[…]
Read More »ARABIA. What is left to say? This was the first poem I loved, and it’s still my favourite. Here the country is the character, and like all well-drawn characters it is complex and has its dark side. Far are the shades of Arabia, Where the Princes ride at[…]
Read More »Chinese short stories: Shi Cheng -Short Stories from Urban China– edited by Liu Ding, Yinghua Lu and Ra Page. It was purely coincidental that just as I finished reading the last story in this collection, the government announced a relaxation of visa restrictions to Chinese nationals with the rejoinder that British[…]
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