Richard Curtis gives his opinion on the future of publishing at GalleyCat. At #5 he suggests the rise of ebooks will paradoxically prompt an increase in paper book sales. Is this like the “paperless office” we were promised years ago? You know, the one where the introduction of computers increased the amount of paper produced.…

No matter how brilliant Stephen Fry is as an actor and social commentator, when he is offered a knighthood, it will be for his contribution to the craft of poetry. In The Ode Less Travelled he gently, wittily, inexorably insists on poets learning and mastering the “rules” of their craft. Fortunately, he’s a good guide.…

A cliché becomes a cliché because we recognise and re-use it. As a writer I know editors don’t want stereotyped characters. They want new, fresh and engaging. But stereotypes play an important role. They move on and off-stage with a minimum of description and fuss, and they can be gently subverted to provide sly fun.…

I’ve never read Shelley’s Frankenstein, but it’s a book that has worked its way deep into our culture. Is its impact due to the fact it’s one of the first books to present the numinous experience as an encounter with modernity? In Frankenstein’s monster we have the vaulting ambition of human ingenuity. It is dangerous…

Mirrors of the Unseen. Journeys in Iran drew me in as if I, too, were visiting the country. Elliot mixes ancient and modern history and his own experiences of Iran. His portrayal of people is mostly kindly (I hate sniggering travel books). His observations a trifle self-conscious. The second half of the book lost me…