about me

I'm not interested in pitching a novel, just here to read, so you are assured of honest feedback.

Since Authonomy is Harper Collins' slush pile for submissions, my main consideration is whether or not a manuscript meets the requirements of a traditional publisher like HC.

I don't comment on self-published books because by then it's far too late to make any changes.

Unfortunately Authonomy is not set up for giving proper crits on writing technique, but there are plenty of online writers forums out there and I recommend you join one if you're after that sort of feedback.

I don't mind spam, but if you don't bother to read my profile, and repeatedly spam me with requests to swap books, then I will award yours one star for being a numpty.

BEWARE, I GET GRUMPY WHEN I COME ACROSS BAD WRITING TECHNIQUE..
ANY STORY CAN BE GOOD IF IT'S WELL WRITTEN.
ANY NUMPTY CAN WRITE BADLY AND RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD STORY.

Thanks for all the friend requests, but I must decline as it would clog up my news feed.

favourite books

Too many to count, but off the top of my head:
Jane Urquhart's The Stone Carvers
Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now
Neil Gaiman's Stardust
Arnaldur Indridason's Silence of the Grave
Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy
Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow
David Guterson's Snow Falling On Cedars
Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves
Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing Script Books
Giles Milton's Nathaniel's Nutmeg; Samurai William
Anything by Deric Longden
Anything by Fannie Flagg
Anything by Susanna Clarke
JK Rowling's Harry Potter series
Derek Landy's Skulduggary Pleasant series
Nick Hornby's About A Boy; Slam
Sol Stein's Solutions for Novelists
Peter Ackroyd's Thames
Dava Sobel's Longitude
Philip Mould's Sleepers: The Trail of Lot 163.
Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series
Geraldine McCaughrean's Scarlet
Paul Magrs' 'Brenda' series
Most of Terry Pratchett's Disc World series
Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex trilogy
Arthur C. Clarke, Anne Mccaffrey, John Wyndham...

my websites