Richard Blandford - Editor
Described by acclaimed short story writer and novelist Dan Rhodes as ‘one of my favourites’, Richard is the author of Hound Dog (Jonathan Cape), the story of a depraved Elvis impersonator on the run.
Mixing dark humour with scenarios both banal and fantastic, Richard Blandford has walked the line between the comic and the horrifying since 2004. He is the author of the Elvis impersonator novel Hound Dog (‘Squalid, raucous and wildly entertaining’ – Dan Rhodes), the coming-of-age tale Flying Saucer Rock & Roll (‘He has captured everything’ – John Higgs), and Whatever You Are Is Beautiful, a new eBook about an illness that turns people into superheroes. He is also the author of the short story collections The Shuffle and Erotic Nightmares.
His art survey London in the Company of Painters was published by Laurence King in 2017 and was listed by Martin Gayford as one of the art books of the year in The Spectator, and a London book of the year in the Evening Standard. A comic strip horror story, ‘The Fixer’, appeared in David Lloyd’s online comics anthology Aces Weekly in 2019. He has written articles for the Guardian website and the art periodicals Frieze and Elephant, and has been a literary consultant since 2007.
Find Richard on Twitter here: @rblandford
Testimonials
Ryan Quigg
J. E
Sim C
William H
WHY WE LOVE RICHARD
Richard has a great eye for satire and has a wonderfully clear and direct approach to writing reports. We find his reports honest, contemplative and diligent; he will digest each line of your manuscript with the seriousness needed to pinpoint areas of improvement. We love his openminded approach to reading manuscripts, no matter the subject matter, he will always strive to improve your title in a way that chimes with your own aims and ideas. As one author wrote you ‘can feel the fondness for writing with which the editing is been done’.
WHAT RICHARD SAYS ABOUT EDITING
It is very rare for me to read a manuscript and not find some good ideas, interesting characters or astute observations in there, even if it is very rough around the edges as a whole. What excites me is concentrating on the parts that are distinct and unusual and showing the author how they can be developed, while at the same time raising the rest of the manuscript to a standard that matches them. My method is simply to read what is in front of me, say what I like about it and what I don’t, and imagine what a more successful version of it would be like. I also have an eye for detail and can spot inconsistencies and inaccuracies well. I particularly enjoy stories with a strong main character where the focus in on the world they inhabit, rather simply than following an overly mechanical plot. Having said that, I find a truly unexpected plot twist very appealing!
Genres Richard specialises in
Richard's published books
Hound Dog
Dark comic novel featuring an Elvis impersonator who goes off the rails
Flying Saucer Rock & Roll
Coming-of-age tale about an amateur rock band.
The Shuffle
Short story collection in which the fantastic, banal, unsettling and profound collide against each other.
London in the Company of Painters
Art survey of paintings of London over nearly five hundred years of history.
Erotic Nightmares
Short stories in which various characters’ sex drives undermine them in strange and startling ways
