Iain Manson

Born in Wales and brought up in Scotland, Iain Manson spent several years outside the UK, teaching English as a foreign language.

His writing (almost all under his former pen-name of Simon Craig) has been published in many places on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Guardian, History Today and The Geographical.

In 2008 his first book appeared. The Lion and the Eagle, published by SportsBooks, tells the story of the notorious Sayers–Heenan prize fight of 1860. It has been favourably reviewed in, amongst other places, The Independent, The Sun and The Morning Star.

Iain Manson is a member of the Society of Authors, and has been interviewed several times on radio and television.

Website: http://www.the-no-hoper.com
Blog: http://www.the-no-hoper.com/blog.html

• Sonant on Aug. 27, 2012
  
  This is a fascinating piece of work, neatly constructed and well written. The central character, Aerie Walker, divides her time between a dead-end job and music-making as bassist in a band put together by the enigmatic Aaron Levine. Although they play only at Aaron's home, and never in front of an audience, he pays them well, because their wild music provides nourishment for the sonant (nicknamed the birdie) a small living dust devil which he keeps in a bell jar. All is well until their conservative church-going neighbours, convinced that the weird sounds emanating from Aaron's house must be the music of the devil, call in a team of exorcists. The band have bigger problems than they think. Funny and sad by turns, Sonant is well worth reading. I have two caveats. First, it's too long: in particular, the exorcists (of whom there are too many) spend too much time getting things together. And second, the proofreading is inadequate. If these things were fixed, Sonant would deserve five stars at least.