Revamped Web presence

Don’t call it a blog! Well, OK, I guess it is a blog, technically. But we don’t do any of that “blogosphere” nonsense around here.

Welcome to my new and improved personal homepage, which is only part of a comprehensive overhaul of all my various Web sites and properties. For a while now I’ve felt that it’s high time I got myself a grown-up’s Web site to replace the rather shabby version I’ve been using since the late 90s. (You remember that one, right? All the skulls and calligraphy fonts? How we’ll miss it.)

Building the new site around a blog back end will make it easier for me to keep you up to date on my comings and goings, if you’re the sort of person who cares. I’ll post updates on my latest work and where to find it, highlight some events of interest, and maybe even post the occasional review or random observation, just for fun. » More... »

Review: “The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs”

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs: A NovelA new novel from Irvine Welsh is always welcome, and after revisiting familiar territory in Porno it’s nice to see him take a stab in a new direction, even if it’s not entirely successful. This one is a warped take on the Dorian Gray theme, with two young Edinburgh men sinking into a bitter enmity that produces a strange curse of transference: All the ill effects of the drink, drugs, and sex that are the habits of incorrigible Danny Skinner manifest themselves not in Skinner but in his rival, the nerdy and introverted Brian Kibby. As the truth begins to dawn on him, Kibby vows revenge. All is not entirely as it seems, however, and Welsh uses this material as a launching point for ruminations on life, food, sex, and especially alcoholism and absent fathers. Unfortunately, the writing here just isn’t up to par with some of Welsh’s other works. » More... »