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We’ve been talking about publishing (or rather, not getting published), and G24 points out: You don’t need a publisher these days any more than you need pulped up trees to print on. I agree entirely, but I don’t think self publishing is the right road for me. There are lots of reasons for that, but… [more]
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Remember that book I was writing? I thought I’d post an update. After a lot of work, eight drafts and two printers I’ve sent it out to some people, and I’ve had loads of feedback about it from agents and other publishing insiders. The dialogue is great. It’s really atmospheric. The characters are fun. The… [more]
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Hello. Sorry if I’ve been quiet lately – Baby Bigmouth was a bit unwell last week so it’s all sleep deprivation around these parts. Not that that’s stopping me from getting angry about tech things. Far from it. Here’s my take on the government’s latest ISP-related idea. Rather than, say, reining in Google or telling Facebook… [more]
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A fascinating post by Jean-Louis Gassée on Google’s self-driving car: The hardware and the software will fail, no question. The real riddle is determining the socially acceptable failure rate. Today, there are about 40,000 car fatalities per year. Note the euphemistic “car fatalities†or “car accidentsâ€, as if the drivers weren’t to blame. You can imagine… [more]
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Stating the bleedin’ obvious it may be, but Lenovo says Windows 7 isn’t right for tablets and that Android 2.2, aka Froyo, isn’t ready for them either. Lenovo’s director of new technology Howard Locker, explained it this way: “The challenge with Windows 7 is that it’s based on the same paradigm as 1985—it’s really an interface… [more]
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Reviews of the new Nokia N8 are coming in thick and fast, and they’re not good: the consensus is that it’s a great piece of kit hobbled by not so great software. Via The Guardian, here’s a piece in the Helsingin Sanomat that attempts to describe the problems facing Nokia and what caused them. I… [more]
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My friend Chris Mitchell runs Spike, a most excellent books-and-interesting-things site on the Internet. And now, he’s put together a most excellent ebook version with some of the best bits from Spike’s last 15 years. And a few things I’ve written too. It’s a lovely thing to look at and and to read, and it’s… [more]
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Me at Techradar: there are still areas where netbooks are better than iPads. … [Adobe] Flash. Sure, there are reasons to loathe it, but in my house my wife matters more than Steve Jobs, and many of my wife’s favourite sites use Flash. Until they see the light and switch to something else, the iPad… [more]
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Orange and T-Mobile customers can now roam across each firms’ networks, although for now it’s only 2G (ie. calls and texts, not Internet). You’ll need to sign up for it. If you’re on Orange, you need this link. If you’re on T-Mobile, you need this one. [more]
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Books are rubbish. They just sit there with their words and their plots and their characterisation and their background detail. Where’s the fun in that? What books need is… 3D audio clips! From the press release: Pan Macmillan Marketing Director Becky Ikin said: ‘We wanted to celebrate the phenomenal global publication of Ken Follett’s Fall… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
