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| ELEPHANTINA |
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fed on the sorry left-overs of
Fact
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Fiction fed on the sorry left-overs of Fact |
What I'm working on just now? A bit of this and a bit of that, really. I have Oh, and then there's the Crime Novel, the Ecological Thriller, the Almanack, the Historical Romance, the annotated Highway Code, and the unadulterated Love Story. This tells you only that I'm busy and could be a lot busier still, if there were enough hours in the day: that should be quite enough for anyone. |
I am a native of Edinburgh: that says much, but not everything. I studied Modern Languages at Aberdeen University and wrote a post-graduate thesis on the German Radical Reformation at the University of London. Having returned from exile in London many years ago, I now live in Edinburgh and work for Midlothian Council. Throughout the long days of my working-life, I am a software engineer and database designer by trade ... Ah, but by night ... I am a barely tolerated writer of slightly dodgy fiction, and will talk about my writing to anyone who makes the mistake of sounding politely interested. I write because I can very rarely find a good book to read; between times, I worry about the state of humanity, and wish my writing could change the world. Pause for a moment: what does it take for the human race to realise that we only ever got given one planet, and when we've finished trashing it, then there's nowhere else to go? The capitalist system has brought us thus far, and can take us no further, except - unplanned - into a watery and lifeless abyss, driven by profit, inequality, war, waste and over-production (and don't argue with me about the failed Stalinist economies - one day, should you have time, read Trotsky's My Life or his History of the Russian Revolution: it could have been so different.) And, in the light of recent events, we have to ask: at what stage will people start seriously to question the viability of capitalism and unlimited economic growth? Certainly, let those we have exploited in Africa, India and Asia catch up; but let them show us how sustainability works - both ecological and economic, and let's learn how to limit our greed, and live with our planet. It can't be too difficult, can it? I know this sounds a bit like a woolly liberal rant - it's easy for me to say. But let's face it, capitalism is not working, however much they tinker with it. And honesty? I saw in the shops the paperback edition of Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle. This is not the place to put forward my view of the book - we authors should stick together, even if we are appalled by each other's works. Suffice it to say that I was much astonished and greatly amused to read on the back of this new edition an extract from a review from The Observer: 'Wildly imaginative...It's bound to be an international bestseller.' Great blurb. The only problem is that the original review in The Observer read as follows: '...undoubtedly a wildly imaginative collage of stories, but it is almost certainly one of the worst pieces of writing you will come across this year.... A truly pedestrian effort that would have benefited from some serious editorial debridement. It's bound to be an international bestseller.' It does make you wonder, doesn't it? | ||||||||||||||
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INTERVIEWS:
You can read an interview with me on the Books From Scotland web-site: click here to link to it I was interviewed, by email, by Jim Henry of the Esperanto movement in the USA - click here to read the interview. |
Bibliographical stuff
Novels Short Stories Translations from German Articles on the Thomas Müntzer and the German Reformation, in:
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My email address: |
How to contact me
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