John Connolly – The Book of Lost Things
The world’s great authors discuss their best-known novel. Today, John Connolly (presented by Harriett Gilbert): https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/w3ct97sw…
Europe writes itself. Again. And we are thrilled to have you here to read it.
All Waters Lead to Rome
He then added, ‘It is said the Emperor himself reviewed the final plans. This water will fuel the new public baths and supply the main fountains. It is more than just water, Dominus. It is a symbol of Roman order, bringing life to where before there was only thirst. A…
0.00% Crunch
It was 100% chemical perfection. No gluten to inflame the gut. No sugar to spike the blood. No fat to clog the tubes. No salt to strain the pump. It was a perfectly engineered, mathematically flawless fuel for a perfectly miserable existence.…
The Lizard of Oz
Within minutes, a small crowd had gathered, cheering and throwing confetti made of rose petals. Lizzie tried to explain that her greatest achievement to date was catching a particularly fat bluebottle fly, but her protests were drowned out by the applause…
The Forest Purgatory
As a Detective Inspector, I had seen my share of grim discoveries in the Icelandic highlands, but the skull sitting in the black mud was entirely different. It wore rusted wire-rimmed reading glasses, and inside them, a miniature wood stretched into a misty distance…
The Loquacious, Inquisitorial Vending Machine
The hunger was a dull ache, and the solution was simple. You stood in the neon glow of the staff room, sliding two coins into the slot for a pack of cocoa biscuits. The machine rattled. The digital display blinked. Instead of the satisfying clunk of dropping confectionery, a synthetic,…
The Sun Eater
The desert landscape of my mind was an endless, sun-baked expanse of textured sand, a tapestry woven from memory and dust…
An Intriguing Avant-Garde Proposition (Part 2)
Following on from yesterday’s article, here is the promised exhaustive critique of the 100-word text written in an invented language…
A Mediterranean-Style Lyric Essay
I read the piece once, and it sounded like a beautifully crafted essay on pure presence and meditation. Then I noticed that something was missing from my simple categorisation, so I read the text a second time…
An Intriguing Avant-Garde Proposition (Part 1)
Plonk jorping quax, yornek slithered frob. Whick vriz quaffle, trundling gribble xylar plink. Grust zol, flizz triffled yornek. Xylar vraz glorped, bronting slithy unk…
About Me
Banner
Popular
Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight
The tension is personified by Statler and Waldorf, the two elderly cynics perched permanently in the box seats. They are the ultimate…
Books of Our Continent
From the quiet shelves of forty-four national archives and ancient university libraries to the cosy corners of independent bookstores and modest home…
Follow Me