Copies of my first novel just arrived! Thank you to @JulieMannell for acquiring it and to everyone else at @dundurnpress. N.B. The bio says that I split my time between Toronto, the UK, and Russia. For obvious reasons, I am no longer spending time in Russia.

I’m working on a new novel.

There’s a curious thing that happens to British men after a couple of days of nice weather. They suddenly stop looking like cured hams, and start looking like boiled lobsters. Not me though. I always look more or less like a highland cow that’s gotten lost in a Tesco.

I wrote a review essay on Karl Schlögel's THE SOVIET CENTURY: ARCHAEOLOGY OF A LOST WORLD. Advance warning: it is very long. plus.thebulwark.com/p/what-w…

“Your own Ebenezer Looks down from his height On back street and alley And chemical valley Laid out in the light; On ugly and pretty Where industry thrives In this hill-shadowed city Of razors and knives.”

My funerary monument explaining I never had sex with Mary Queen of Scots has a lot of people asking questions already answered by my funerary monument.

When I set out to write a novel about classical musicians, I really did not expect it to get this kind of play. Excited to be in such magnificent company on the Amazon Canada First Novel Award shortlist.

This is a book about a guy who finds a used Volvo he loves so much it destroys his life. It might be a perfect novel.

I wrote about @GeoffreyDMorri1's first novel FALLING HOUR for @reviewcanada. 1500 words wasn't enough to cover everything going on in the book, but it did give me a chance to think about calvinism, socialism, and the "liberal-Methodistical" state of Canada reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202…

Found this at a thrift shop on Ecclesall Road. First edition, third printing of Rebecca West’s BLACK LAMB AND GREY FALCON from 1942 with photo plates. It cost six quid. I feel like I’ve committed a robbery.

The folks at the @GillerPrize asked me to recommend some books I’ve read in the past few months. Always a difficult proposition, because I could recommend books all day, but these four are definitely worth your time.