Win lunch with James

James is one of the judges on this year’s Waterstones Books Quarterly short story competition. The overall winner will meet the author for a unique ‘publishing lunch’ to talk about how this success might be turned into a writing career. www.wbqonline.com/feature.do?featureid=505

Writing about his work, and about his own criteria for a story, James has said:

“My ideal short story is akin to a stone-balancing sculpture. The materials, textures and shapes are infinitely variable, but are made possible by that essential core of consistent gravity: the equilibrium of narrative flow. Aesthetic simplicity thus masks an invisible construction of innumerable minor adjustments whose combined effect is wonder.

“My books are nominally crime fiction, but I see them more as pure entertainment. This means never forgetting the reader’s demands for surprise, pace, novelty and a world that at first invites, then imprisons them until the very last page. Prose quality is also critical as the irresistible voice in the ear.”