about me

Sorry - unable to read anything at present - please don't ask me. In particular, I can't read or back things to meet the ED deadline. Please don't take it personally; it's a question of time.
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Editor with Diiarts, specialising in historical and literary fiction.

Do not be confused by my screen name. 'Abu El Banat' means 'father of daughters'. I have four of them.

Shelving criteria tend to be along the lines of 'Would I buy this [or the finished version if it still needs some polishing] in print, either for myself or for someone else who likes the genre?'

What do I tend to go for? Well, good writing above all. The kind of writing that glides effortlessly along the page and in through the eyes to the brain. The kind that looks easy and actually takes a heck of a lot of work on the part of the writer. Hope rather than nihilism; ideally a sense of humour. Characters who are believable enough, and likeable enough, that I want to spend time with them.

What annoys me? Bad writing - lazy writing - and authors writing in a historical period of which they appear to know little, and for which they demonstrate contempt. If you're writing anything historical, I want it to show me something of the period, of its people, and what made them tick.

favourite books

More or less anything by...
PG Wodehouse
Dorothy Dunnett (particularly 'Checkmate')
Dorothy L Sayers (particularly 'Gaudy Night' and 'The Nine Tailors')
Patrick O'Brian, Allan Mallinson, Julian Stockwin
Douglas Adams (for his style, more than anything - I don't do SF)
Poetry - anything from John Donne to Robert Frost...
For a little light relief - Eva Ibbotson, Dick Francis, Josephine Tey
Russell Baker - 'So This Is Depravity'
And for his unstinting determination to be sidetracked - 'The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes' by Stephen Marlowe

my websites

http://www.diiarts.com