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Heinlein’s ‘Specialization is for insects,’ and why writers need life experience
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook… — read more
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Magic, Misogyny and the Dark Side of Chicago: Reading The Dresden Files
What are the Dresden Files They are a series of, so far, eighteen books in the urban fantasy genre, written by popular author Jim Butcher. The series stars Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only official wizard/detective and inveterate smartass. He has a colourful supporting cast including members of the Chicago PD, his skull sidekick Bob, Michael, who… — read more
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Julie Bindel was the first feminist I ever read
You don’t get to choose your introduction to feminism. That’s sometimes a bad thing. Reading Julie Bindel articles I grew up in a liberal UK household, and as such, the main newspaper we read was The Guardian. When I started reading newspapers at the beginning of the 2000s, the main things I was interested in… — read more
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How I wrote my first novel
Around 2023 I decided it was finally time to write a full-length novel. No-one in my family is a writer, I studied History instead of English Literature at University, I’m not a MFA, and while I read around 50-100 books per year, I’ve never formally studied them. What I have in my favour is an… — read more
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On vampires
Vampires are the only horror monster I have personally met. It happened when I was nine or ten. I was staying at a campsite in France for the summer with my parents and my brother. It was a dark, hot night, and me and the other children were playing hide and seek. I was by… — read more
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My dumb idea to save the publishing industry
It’s no secret that publishing is struggling at the moment. Can someone with no idea what he’s talking about* save it? People mostly read on screens Picture the scene: you take a train journey in 2025. Almost everyone around you is looking at a screen. Reading on a screen, in most cases. Most people probably read… — read more
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Book Review: Original Sin
Original Sin is a mean-spirited but undeniably effective work of journalism, portraying Joe Biden’s fateful decision to run for president a second time. Jake Tapper and co-writer Alex Thompson draw from hundreds of interviews with people close to Biden, including aides and high-up members of the Democratic Party, and make a convincing case that Joe… — read more
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Book Review: The Psychopath Next Door
The Psychopath Next Door seems to have drifted to the top of my Kindle recommendations despite its generic title.* The book opens with Fiona, a clinical psychopath straight out of The Mask of Sanity**, being released from prison. Eager for revenge for a past wrong, she moves to a quiet neighbourhood to make her mysterious… — read more
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Reviewing my book pile of shame
I have finally achieved the ambition of any literary person: to finish reading every book in my house*. Most prominently, what I call the ‘pile of shame’: a teteering stack of random books purchased from charity shops. Second-hand books are one of the cheapest things you can buy in London, at about £1 each. When… — read more
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We Need to Talk About Kevin: I don’t buy it
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver’s 2003 pitch-dark thriller about a killer child, is a fascinating puzzle because of its unreliable narrator, Kevin’s mother, Eva. In the book, Eva is a successful travel guide writer who was always uncertain about becoming a mother. After a tough pregnancy and birth, she struggles to connect… — read more
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Chris Barker 