Tim Roux's Page

If you are strict enough with yourself to follow the injunction ‘never judge a book by its cover’, here in a positive way is where you might consider aiming yourself next.

The cover of… Continue

Ever since the publication of ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’, I have been troubled by a niggling concern. It doesn’t keep me awake at night but I do regularly accost strangers and ask them “Whatever happened to Harry Potter’s grandparents?”.

Harry Potter was a baby when his parents were killed. His parents… Continue

Scott Pack, the Head Buyer of Waterstones, once famously boomed “Who on earth could care less what Tim Adams of The Observer thinks about anything?”, his point being that upmarket critical opinion was no indicator of sales potential except perhaps by way of negative correlation (‘the more the praise, the less the sales’). No, what Scott was looking for was the next Dan Brown not an up-and-coming literary stylist.

He upset many an author and many a ‘quality’ journalist (not least Tim Adams), but… Continue

The book industry has gone Wild West and, as we all know, the outlaws are typically a lot more fun and enterprising than the law men, the only problem being where to find them. One of their secret hide-outs is Authonomy where authors showcase whole or part books (a minumum of 10,000 words) which you can freely read electronically and comment upon. I have decided that as I come across really interesting books on Authonomy, I'll blog my review here (I only review work I am recommending).… Continue

The book industry has gone Wild West and, as we all know, the outlaws are typically a lot more fun and enterprising than the law men, the only problem being where to find them. One of their secret hide-outs is Authonomy where authors showcase whole or part books (a minumum of 10,000 words) which you can freely read electronically and comment upon. I have decided that as I come across really interesting books on Authonomy, I'll blog my review here (I only review work I am recommending).… Continue