PositiveThe Skinny (UK)Ted Kessler’s Paper Cuts will be of interest not only to music lovers, but also magazine aficionados ... The book only really gets going when [Kessler] starts writing about that career ... In terms of entertainment there are other memoirs written by music journalists that deliver more anecdotes and tales of extravagance, but they were mostly written in or about times when sales, and budgets, were huge. Ted Kessler bears witness to the end times, or near it, which makes Paper Cuts a fascinating document for readers today and in the future.
Louise Welsh
RaveThe Skinny (UK)Would The Second Cut incite the strength of feeling as The Cutting Room – a book once read, never forgotten? ... Rilke remains a striking character ... Although as contemporary as any recent novel in terms of its references and commentary on the modern world, the feel of The Second Cut remains gothic and unsettling. Few writers have married literary fiction with crime as Welsh has done in her fiction, and The Second Cut is a reminder of this. This is noir as it should be – literary, licentious, and leaving you wanting more.
Ryan Vance
PositiveGutter (UK)One Man’s Trash is a welcome addition to the genre ... The stories are an attack on the senses, and it is almost overwhelming at times. Sights, sounds, smells, touch, and particularly taste are all stimulated as you read, with the writing describing in detail what the characters are experiencing far more than what they are thinking ... But these stories are not sensational for the sake of it. Ryan Vance is using the details and the devils in his writing to comment on modern living, especially concerning relationships and other distinctly human connections. It’s not simply the stories themselves, but they way they are told and unfold ... a collection of stories that are thoroughly modern while remaining strangely familiar.
