Book Slam in Bristol

A bit of catch-up from last week here. On Thursday evening I went into Bristol for a Book Slam event, hosted by my friend Nikesh Shukla. He read a short story all about trying to write a second novel which was very funny. You really should check out his novella, The Time Machine. Look, unsolicited recommendation:

The second reader was Bernardine Evaristo, whose latest novel, Mr. Loverman, is about a gay West Indian man living in London. I’ve seen a review that complains that the characters are caricatures, but it was obvious from listening to Evaristo read that the book is satire, and very funny too. I bought a copy on the strength of hearing her read it.

Finally we had Emylia Hall reading from A Heart Bent Out Of Shape. She was clearly a good writer, but I’m afraid my life is too busy to read romance novels that can’t even manage a sparkly vampire to liven things up. Sorry.