John Baker’s Blog

There are several excellent short stories in this collection. This is a taster from Timing:
The copper one threw her arms around the dark one and they kissed at the side of the river. I have never seen a kiss on one of my walks, not a long desperate kiss like that. I had to slow [...]

Novelist Ronan Bennett takes Martin Amis to task for “as odious an outburst of racist sentiment as any public figure has made in this country for a very long time.”
Muslims bridle at the broad strokes by which they are depicted. Every time a writer or politician or policeman begins a sentence by saying “Muslims must [...]

Six women - Jessica Valenti, Natasha Walter, Rebecca Walker, Julie Bindel, Ariel Levy and Joan Smith - speak about the feminist writers who first inspired them.
And The Guardian makes an offer - We would love to hear about the book that first opened your eyes to the women’s movement. Whether it was one you found [...]

Waking in the night, the coroner went outside to the garden and taking his easement, heard shouts and uproar nearby. Finishing his business, he took his sword and went out to the way in front, where he found Adam and the tippler roused from their beds by the agitation. It was the dark time of [...]