If anybody's interested, this is the subject of my latest post on The Rap Sheet.

http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-debt-to-dostoevsky-part-i.html

I enjoyed your blog. I know very little about Dostoevsky. It's amazing the life experience some people have and survive. There's nothing like the human spirit to rise from the ashes.

Di2

Thanks, Di. I'm writing a second instalment to that piece right now.

What a brilliant read. Thanks for posting Rog. Thoroughly enjoyed that.

Nik.

Thanks Nik! Glad you liked it.

So fascinating, Roger. Love this bit:

If he failed to deliver, he would forfeit the rights--and all payment--on anything he might write for the next nine years.

Blimey. That would have stopped him fiddling about on WW then.

Look forward to the next installment.

Emily

Thanks Myrtle. The second instalment is now up:

http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-debt-to-dostoevsky-part-ii.html

Fascinating, Roger. Great insights into your work, and his - I was reading nervously in case of spoilers (I've ordered your first, but pressed the button on amazon that groups orders together, so I don't get it until Lola Dane's novel is published ).

Thanks Emily! I appreciate you placing the order. Hope you like it.

I was very carefully trying not to give anything away when I wrote the piece. It's harder than you might think!

Loved part deux as well. Thanks Rog. You enjoyed writing those, didn't you!

Nik.

Thanks Nik. Yes, I did enjoy it, I think, though it has been a bit stressful having to post a different article every day. I'm not a professional journalist. I'm near the end of my stint now. I shall be relieved when it's over.

Thanks Roger - will nip across and read.

There was a smashing radio play on a few years ago about the 'hostage to fortune' Dosto ... him, the Russian guy ... made and the nail-biting countdown to him just about pulling it off. Even though I knew the outcome, it had me gripped.

Jim

Thanks Roger - I did enjoy both parts to the blog!

sarah

I'd have liked to have heard that play, Jim. I think it is an amazing story.

Thank you, Sarah. Thanks for checking it out.

Really fascinating accounts, Roger. I'm going to Shropshire next week and staying somewhere with no internet. I'm supposed to be working on my second book but I think I'm going to take 'Crime and Punishment' as well. Having read 'A Gentle Axe' without re-reading the Dostoevsky I really feel I must do it before Porfiry No 2 hits the shelves.

Naomi