John Baker’s Blog

The Taster:
Billy was on the point of drifting off to sleep when a single sentence drew him right in close.
‘But that day for some reason, I was all alone . . .’
Billy roused himself. ‘Sorry. Where was this?’
‘In Manchester. A place called Fallowfield.’
A white car pulled alongside him, Trevor said, as he was walking. The [...]

At The Robblog, Robb has a question: How do you know when to listen to feedback and change your story?
Does a story’s power and resonance come from the author, as if in a vacuum? Or does it come from the relationship between the story and the reader? And if a writer works in an area [...]

Guardian Unlimited reports on Vladimir Nabokov’s last work, the one he asked his son to destroy:
From his winter home in Palm Beach, Dmitri (Nabokov) justified his decision (to ignore his father’s will) by saying, “I’m a loyal son and thought long and seriously about it, then my father appeared before me and said, with [...]

A taster:
As plant cover diminishes and forests peter out the further north you go, buildings become lower and settlements more scattered. Is this a general rule? Perhaps. Perhaps not. What business is it of mine?
I must wait until tomorrow to continue my journey, and have nothing better to do than swell on such truths.
Here in [...]