by Derek | Sep 23, 2015 | Writing
I’ve come, over the past week or so, to realise that the best murder mysteries are, ultimately, about serial killers. Not, necessarily, the Gory Hannibal Lecter type of serial killers; even the classic Agatha Christies, for example, seem to work even better when the...
by Derek | Sep 18, 2015 | Reading
I have an admission to make: I love melancholy: that sense of ennui at the human condition, a despair at the inevitable entropy and ending of everything, and – bubbling just under it – the anger at man’s impotence in the face of a world that just won’t be set right....
by Derek | Sep 13, 2015 | Travel
The first time I went to New York was in 1993. The Twin Towers still stood, monolithic orientation points that allowed the visitor to tell uptown from downtown. The city – pre the Giuliani and Bloomberg sandblasting of its gritty façade – was the ultimate grown-up,...
by Derek | Sep 10, 2015 | Writing
Writing fiction is not always hard. It’s not always easy, either. Oh, I know some people would love us all to believe the image of the tortured artist agonising for years over the right word – something between Proust and Joyce – whilst others would see all...
by Derek | Sep 5, 2015 | Food
Some debate, recently, around when Autumn starts: Is it immediately after the end of August, or does the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness kick in the September Equinox (23rd, this year)? For me, it feels like it started this week. It’s been the saddest summers...
