Now playing

Cults, 'Most wanted.' The Brunettes under The Knife, maybe.

Riot in a Jam Jar

Mr Jimmy Cauty: poster boy, pop star and spendthrift. Currently exhibiting at the Light Industrial Workshop.

All you've done is hide behind words

Marilyn by Michael Ochs, from Time magazine's 'birthday' portfolio of 85 Marilyn Monroe images.

It was not a short fight, but it was fast

I have a new short story out on Kindle. 'Huxley' is a detective story about an Auckland ex-cop turned debt collector. The story first appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best International Crime (Constable, 2009). The ebook version has been revised: the opening is different and a number of details have been changed. There are more stories in the Huxley series which I might put out as ebooks later on. You can get it here.

This is part of an ongoing project to digitally convert my back-catalogue, particularly the early and hard-to-find short stories. Special thanks: Messrs Bell & Stratford. (Their new LP coming soon.)

Now playing

Liaisons Dangereuses. (Not to be confused with Les Liaisons Dangereuses.) One of the best electronica albums ever: recognised, but so rare as to be practically mythical.

Here She Comes Now, now

My new ebook is out. Here She Comes Now is a collection of three short stories published on Amazon's Kindle. I will be publishing digital editions of my earlier novels and short stories as well as some new fiction, including a series of detective stories and at least one longer work. Here She Comes Now is the first step. You can get it here.

It's a shame about Ray

I have a three-by-five up there with this fragment of a sentence from a story by Chekhov: "... and suddenly everything became clear to him." I find these words filled with wonder and possibility. I love their simple clarity, and the hint of revelation that's implied. There is mystery, too. What has been unclear before? Why is it just now becoming clear? What's happened? Most of all - what now? There are consequences as a result of such sudden awakenings. I feel a sharp sense of relief - and anticipation.

I overheard the writer Geoffrey Wolff say "No cheap tricks" to a group of writing students. That should go on a three-by-five card. I'd amend it a little to "No tricks." Period. I hate tricks. At the first sign of a trick or a gimmick in a piece of fiction, a cheap trick or even an elaborate trick, I tend to look for cover. Tricks are ultimately boring, and I get bored easily which may go along with my not having much of an attention span. But extremely clever chi-chi writing, or just plain tomfoolery writing, puts me to sleep. Writers don't need tricks or gimmicks or even necessarily need to be the smartest fellows on the block. At the risk of appearing foolish, a writer sometimes needs to be able to just stand and gape at this or that thing – a sunset or an old shoe – in absolute and simple amazement.

Raymond Carver, On Writing (New York Times Book Review, 1981)