Here Is What I Think I'm Doing Here

A statement of vague intent

If you’re receiving this email as a subscriber, then: congratulations! You’ve been enjoying, hopefully, the soft launch of this Substack. Or to put it another way, you’ve been watching me work out what I’m doing and if I want to carry on doing it.

The answer to that question, for the moment at least, is Yes.

So here is a kind of mission statement as to what I think this blog will be for the next year, and maybe beyond. It’s also going to double as the About tab on the website. If you’ve been enjoying the posts, and you think you know somebody else who would also enjoy them, then please send this email along.

Thank you.

What’s this then?

This is a Substack about novels. I read a novel, you get an email about it.

Just novels?

That's most of what I read. Some short stories too. Maybe poetry? Maybe poetry.

What kind of novels?

Contemporary fiction, modernist fiction, postmodern fiction, experimental fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction, literary fiction, weird fiction: chances are at least one of those labels will work for any book I end up reading. If you click here you'll find last year’s list, which is probably as good a guide as anything.

This email, what will be in it?

Whatever occurs to me. I'm not a critic or a reviewer, so you won't be getting anything like criticism or an opinion on whether you should read a book. Except, perhaps, by implication: if I've written about it, I finished it; if I finished it, I probably didn't actively hate it; and if I didn't actively hate it, then you might not either. And that’s a guarantee.

Instead it will be some, all, or maybe none of the following: here is a sentence I liked; here is a paragraph I thought was interesting; here are some vague thoughts on genre or content or timing or tone; here is a relevant anecdote; here is another book I read that this one reminded me of; here is what I think the writer was trying to do in this bit; here is a joke that I think is funny. That kind of thing. Have a look at the Archive.

Can I give you money?

You can. And thank you. However, you won't get anything extra for it, at least not for the moment. Part of the point of this newsletter is to get back into the habit that I used to have with football blogging - quick, loose, fun, free - and so kicking off with a paywall would be a little contrary.

Football blogging?

I used to write a football blog called Twisted Blood. Then that became my job, and I have written for various places around the internet. I also wrote a book about Wimbledon, Milton Keynes, and whether or not football clubs have souls.