For reference

Coming soon: my entries in British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, edited by Barry Forshaw and published by Greenwood.

The Uses of English

From my inbox:
"This is an important email from Ticketmaster with regards to your booking for Monkey: Journey to the West at Monkey's World, The O2.It has come to light that there has been some confusion with the terminology used in the text for this event.The term 'Journey Starts' does not mean there is any form of pre-show activity. It was simply a term chosen to keep in with the show's title and theme - 'Journey to the West.' The 'Journey' time refers to the door opening time.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused." Quite.

Meanwhile my DVD rental service has more inappropriate-sounding tidings for me:
"Dear Graham, Good news! We've just posted Cannibal Holocaust to you, so please look out for it." Good news indeed.

Working Doors, Dalrymple Deconstructed

The new issue of Reconstruction, a section of which I co-edited, is out today. Read on.

In the same issue is a book review of books by Simon Winlow and Theodore Dalrymple. If it seems like these books have been around for a while, that's because they have (the review having gone around the houses at one journal for donkey's years before getting rejected, while leaving me to guess this fact for myself).

What I really needed was for the bloody thing to appear at around the same time as an earlier review of a Francis Gilbert book, as with it I might have avoided a grumpy email exchange with Dr. Winlow himself. Anyway, hopefully the belated appearance of this review article might set things straight.