About
I am a freelance writer and editor based near Liverpool. I specialise in non-fiction writing about books, crime fiction, culture, and history. My current book projects include Cains: The Story of Liverpool in a Pint, and reference books on linguistics and the philosophy of language, and crime and detective fiction. I am co-editor of Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language (2005) and Mystery in Children’s Literature (2001).
A lot of my contract writing and editing has been in specialist reference books, including The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (4th ed. St James Press, 2000), The St James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000), Scribner’s Encyclopedia of American Lives: The 1960s (2003) and Gale Inc.’s long-running Contemporary Black Biography series. I have also written for newspapers, magazines, and blogs, including The Daily Telegraph, Lancashire Life, The Guardian, and More Intelligent Life. Here’s an example of the kind of thing I do, here’s another, and yet another. There are more examples of my work, including articles on Raymond Chandler, Harry Potter, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Moby Dick, on my writing page.
Since June 2007 I have been editor of The Reader Online, the blog and online offspring of The Reader magazine and in May 2008 I became Online Editor for The Reader Organisation as a whole. More information is on my news pages.

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