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Respectable Austrian news service APA has published a report saying, and I quote, “according to employees sent abroad by companies, Vienna is the third-most unfriendly…
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How men and women think, and whether there is a difference, is one of the abiding puzzles of life. We all want to understand other…
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“You have 15 seconds to capture someone’s attention,” crime writer Mark Billingham says. Outside, the ocean rushes by, waves flecked with white horses. The wreck…
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‘Are the James Bond novels any good?’ a friend asked me the other day. ‘They are anachronistic, homophobic and sexist,’ I replied. ‘But James Bond himself…
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I wrote the following story as flash fiction at a writing course I attended recently at Loutro on Crete (links in bold italics are to other posts…
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I have finished reading from my book Seven Hotel Stories when a guy in the audience raises his hand. ‘How much of these stories is made…
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Have you seen the classic 1949 British thriller The Third Man (links in bold italics are to other posts on this site)? If not, watch it immediately! Either way,…
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What do you think a reading with Robert Pimm looks like? I was delighted on 18 October to read from my Berlin thriller Blood Summit in…
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I wrote the following story as flash fiction at a writing course I attended recently (links in bold italics are to other posts on this site).…
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The paperback version of Seven Hotel Stories is now out. It looks like this: I’m pretty excited about this, so all shares, retweets etc welcome! The text on…
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Hello to all you readers out there. I shall be reading from my Berlin thriller Blood Summit at the Stadtbibliotek (city library) in Innsbruck at 1900…
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What if Ian Fleming wrote a James Bond novel in which the hero did not appear until halfway through? The cover of my Folio Society…
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A new James Bond movie, No Time to Die, lurches over the horizon. Will it be any good? Almost certainly not (links in bold italics are to other posts…
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When I climb into an Uber driven by Jonathan (not his real name) in San Diego, he is playing reggae. Rashly, I comment on this.…
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Vor kurzem war ich zu Besuch in Berlin. Ich habe den Reichstag besichtigt: die Kulisse für meinen Berlin-Roman Blood Summit. Blood Summit gibt es noch nicht…
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An Austrian friend of mine was reading my Great Vienna cafe reviews recently (links in bold italics are to other posts on this site). My…
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In the shade of a quiet taverna, eight people sit writing. Crickets chirp on the fragrant hillside. A glistening kebab rotates; as fat hisses in…
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I recently visited Berlin to take another look at the city in which my thriller Blood Summit is set. My goal was the Reichstag, where much of…
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In the city, the heat is oppressive. Yet the evening, in a deck chair under a beach umbrella, is cool. The beer in my hand…
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How beautiful can a footpath be? Austria’s are amongst the best. I particularly enjoy the country’s system of footpath signs. Over the past three years…
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‘Where can I find out more about your paperback “Seven Hotel Stories”, featuring the world’s most homicidal hotel manager, Ms N, and her beautiful but…
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I recently visited one of my favourite places on earth, Lundy Island off the north coast of Devon, for the 22nd time. Lundy Island has…
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Exactly ten years ago, when I was living in Kyiv, I visited Chernobyl for the first time. Following the HBO TV series “Chernobyl”, I thought…
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What is the funniest book by “Plum” Wodehouse? I have so far read 14 of the 20 P G Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster and Blandings…
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You click open your e-mails. Your heart leaps. The agent to whom you sent your cherished work in progress has replied to your pitch letter.…
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I recently did a reading from my book Seven Hotel Stories at Cafe Korb in Vienna. It was a wonderful evening. The hosts were the…
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via Wodehouse and Plumtopia
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Congratulations! You have finished writing your novel. First step: celebrate. You’ve achieved an awesome feat. Now what should you do? You should do lots of…
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I recently wrote on how to write a novel: plan in advance or not? (Links in bold italics are to other posts on this site.) I…
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Good news for story-lovers. I shall be reading from my book Seven Hotel Stories at Cafe Korb in Vienna on 17 June. Click on the…
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Originally posted on Plumtopia: My Man Jeeves was published 100 years ago in May 1919. Jeeves–my man, you know–is really a most extraordinary chap. So…
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What is the best way to write a novel? Let’s explore two common methods. I’ve tried both. Each can work well: which is best for…
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I once visited a wonderful friend who was a successful writer (DF – it was you!). At the time, I was struggling to complete my…
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An experienced commissioning editor told me recently that one of two main reasons she rejected manuscripts was “no story”. The other was “overwritten” – I’ll…
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I recently started a list of e-mails for people who might want to hear about my writing activities – eg my next reading from “Blood…
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I am grateful to everyone who reads this blog, my Berlin thriller Blood Summit or my novel-length collection of Seven Hotel Stories. So I thought I would give…
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Previous posts in my series The Americans have included The Americans: prologue; The Americans: leaving New York; The Americans: Avenue of the Heroes; and The Americans: Valley…
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Do any of our actions make any difference to anything? What makes us happy? What makes us laugh? What about the power of memory? This…
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Trollope is, perhaps, my favourite novelist (although PG Wodehouse is up there). I have described before 11 life-changing reasons you should read Trollope, including his views on…
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My recent blog Reading Wodehouse: a plea for help recorded that I had finished the main body of Jeeves and Wooster stories. I sought advice on what…
