Caustic Cover Critic

Since this blog is basically in archive mode now, here's an index to the most popular/useful bits of it (and some stuff by me from elsewhere): 100 Great Short Books 75 Excellent But Neglected Books Great Hungarian Literature (Video) Great Australian Liter…

Shawn was kind enough to host me again, this time banging on about Hungarian/Magyarul literature in English translation, one of my personal obsessions.

In the unlikely event anyone still happens across this dusty wasteland of a site, my most recent best books of a year in reading has gone up at Dorian Stuber's blog, for 2025.

The fourth of my year-in-reading columns has gone up over at Dorian's blog: the best stuff I read in 2024 (that I hadn't read before).

The third of my year-in-reading columns has gone up over at Dorian's blog: the best stuff I read in 2023.

I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed a book by a publisher new to me, First to Knock.The book was Jeremy Kitchen's Mr Crabby You Have Died, which was not quite like anything else I've read (always a plus).

Click through for full size.

The free online launch for my book is this weekend (21 or 22 October, depending where in the world you are): please feel free to come along!

My book is out, published by the good folk at Orbis Tertius Press, should you wish to read it.

Because I will be doing a monthly thing next year with the mighty Brad Bigelow about novellas, here's the full list of 100 great short books I recommended on Twitter, in one place for ease of reference. *** 1.

The Big Book of Unfortunate Author Deaths Sherwood Anderson: swallowed a toothpick which punched holes in his innards, leading to lethal peritonitis.

For the second year in a row, the mighty Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year at his blog.

My book, GIBBONS, being the discontinuous narrative of an Australian family in short stories, including glass eyes, false mermaids, inadvertent death, nuclear weapons and the accidental destruction of the Sydney Opera House, coming in 2023 from Orbis Tert…

I'm sorry, but only crime novels featuring a dark house with a yellow light and some yellow text will be considered for publication from now on.

Over at the Scratch Books website, I attempt the impossible task of briefly introducing Franz Kafka through his brilliant short story Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor.

A couple more recent appearances on the mighty Shawn's Youtube channel recently, discussing the brilliant Danish writer and suicide Tove Ditlevsen, plus a certain recovered classic : Click through for actually not-tiny full-screen versions!

(A follow-up to this post, derived from this thread...) 51.

Somehow I end up sharing virtual space with the mighty Chip Kidd on this podcast here, talking about book cover design and its commercial pressures.

The ever-splendid Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year over at his blog.

This was a lot of fun--a bunch of people who read too much discussing the year behind and the year ahead in reading, and I got to be one of them: Click through for a nice full-screen version!

I darken Shawn's doorstep once again, this time discussing a Polish classic: Click through for a nice full-screen version!

Anyone who has read much of what I blather about here or on Twitter will know my passion for neglected, rediscovered books.

I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but I'm sure I am as silvertongued as ever as I discuss a book featuring a woman and her potato on the cover.

Some people have unwisely asked to see all my books.

For all your Canadian bear sex novella needs: Click through for a nice full-screen version!