On the shelf

14 July 2015 - 02:12 By Tymon Smith

Quick cuts by Sarah Lotz, one half of SL Grey Best line you've ever read?George V Higgins's ''the night was as dark as a car full of assholes".Best line you've ever written?Louis Greenberg and I had a great deal of fun making up the ''downside" language in our third SL Grey novel 'The New Girl', so I'll pick a random line from that: ''Mother! Mother. It is time for you to kindle."The most disappointing ending to a book I ever read was ...Saturday by Ian McEwan. I'm a great admirer but the ending was too unbelievable even for me.The best advice anyone ever gave me about writing ...''Never open a scene with someone waking up - it's a cliché," from the brilliant Henrietta Rose-Innes. (I have to admit I've done this several times).Not many people know that I ..I know Jaws and Fargo off by heart.If I was only allowed to take one book with me to Mars it would be ...Persuasion by Jane Austen.In the end I hope people remember me as ...Someone whose imagination was as dark as a car full of assholes. Sarah Lotz's latest novel Day Four is published by Hodder & Stoughton...

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