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Ross Hamilton – writer, editor, contract scribe
World War Z by Max Brooks – five stars
World War Z Max Brooks 9780715637036 2006 Brilliance is not a world I toss around a lot. Yet when I start considering World War Z by Max Brooks, it might be worth considering. Max Brooks first really came to attention with The Zombie Survival Guide. This was a fictious handbook on how to survive in […]
Posted in: Review
The Institute by Stephen King – Four stars
October 1, 2019
The Institute Stephen King 978 1529 35540 6 Hodder & Stoughton 2019 Any new Stephen King novel is always keenly anticipated. And rightly so. I was working in a bookshop and was able to grab my copy straight out of the box when they arrived. Yahooo! When we think of King, we think of ‘horror,’ […]
Posted in: Review
The Cruel Stars by John Birmingham – 5 stars
August 24, 2019
The Cruel Stars John Birmingham 9781789545920 August 2019 Del Ray Whether it be felafels, time travel, alternative future or fighting oddball demons, John Birmingham is always entertaining and worth reading. He has now turned his hand to space opera and The Cruel Stars was easily my most anticipated reading of August. The Cruel Stars is […]
Posted in: Review
Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Gary Bell
August 22, 2019
Beyond Reasonable Doubt Gary Bell 9781526606136 August 2019 Pretty much every aspiring writer is told to ‘write what you know.’ What that brings to the writing is greater verisimilitude, of believability by applying what you know. If that knowledge is something such as your profession or vocation then all the better.
Posted in: Review
The Secret Runners of New York by Matthew Reilly
February 10, 2019
The Secret Runners of New York Matthew Reilly March 2019 Macmillan 9781760559076 Generally despicable teenagers of the super-rich having access to a curious, secret and ancient technology. Nothing could go wrong there, right? One of the hallmarks of a Matthew Reilly story is how he researches things, to give it an overall appearance […]
Posted in: Review
2028 by Ken Saunders – don’t judge a book by its cover!
February 10, 2019
2028 Ken Saunders Allen & Unwin 2018 978 1 76063 106 2 There is that old saying: don’t judge a book by its cover. And in this case that really is true. The cover of 2028 really is a poxy piece of crap that just about anyone could have done. I had little difficulty in […]
Posted in: Review
Firefly; Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove
December 29, 2018
After quite a layoff, Words by Ross is up and running once more. It shall shortly be back on its own domain etc but for now I am too excited by getting to review this book that I could not wait until everything else was done. Firefly; Big Damn Hero James Lovegrove 9781785658266 Titan Books […]
Posted in: Review
BOOK REVIEW: Getting Away With Murder by Duncan McNab
April 22, 2017
Getting Away With Murder Duncan McNab 9780143780786 Vintage 2017 With his background in the police, as a private investigator and investigative journalist, Duncan McNab has a set of skills and experience which enable him to dig deep into narratives such as this. And he does it well. It is easy for many of us […]
Posted in: Review
BOOK REVIEW: Never Cry Again by Jim Cole
February 26, 2017
Never Cry Again Jim Cole self-published via Xlibris 978-1524504694 2016 Never Cry Again The saga of 12 years in the life of a rural boy, born in a bawdy house, living in extreme poverty with his mother in the poorest part of a southern Arkansas town. Drew observes his mother entertaining numerous ‘uncles’. When […]
Posted in: Review
Showing, not telling
February 6, 2017
One of the first things you will be told if doing a course on writing or that you will read in books on writing, is to show, don’t tell. What does that mean? As is usually the case these days, this piece was inspired by something I read. It was a self-published book given to […]
Posted in: Opinion
Words By Ross 
May 12, 2020
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