Benjamin Judge's judgements

Hello. Remember me? Probably not. It’s been a while.

About a decade ago I was well on the way to being nearly almost a somebody, you know, with the writing and that. I had a few stories published, I did some events, Colm Tóibín said something complimentary about my sentences, I was a judge for the Not the Booker, I won a prize or two. It was a good time.

Then we had a baby and she became the priority and it turns out I’m not one of those writers who can just carve time out of the day for writing. I wish I was, but I’m not. I am a good dad though, so it all worked out nicely. This was a good time too. A great time.

Anyway, that baby is almost a teenager now and I’m writing again. I have a couple of stories on the go and I might be doing a ‘thing’ next year, so I thought, why not crank up the old blog? Get my name out there again. It’s free publicity, isn’t it, a blog? Everyone still loves and reads blogs. Even the word, blog, in no way sounds fucking ridiculous in 2025.

Mate, what choice do I have? Social media is all video now and to get anywhere you need to be at least an 8. I’m a 6 with an asterisk at best. Don’t get me wrong, I’m flipping awesome, and if you get to know me you’ll think that too, but I don’t have the sort of face you would use to advertise cars or expensive watches. Roof tiles, maybe.

So instead of video, here I am, typing, like a chump.

It’s fine though. This is going to be great. A blog where some guy reviews stuff. Do you need that? Honest answer? Yes. Yes you do. Because I’m going to do it in a cool and interesting way that everyone will think is really interesting and cool. And I don’t expect you to just believe me. No. I’m here to try out for the role.

What if I gave you two hundred ‘recommends’ from the full span of human history, roughly twenty a week, for ten weeks? What if we considered that my audition? A mix of well known stuff that you can compare to your own taste, and some slightly more obscure work that, will include a new favourite or two. Literature, art, music, film, a sprinkling of misc. Something for everyone. We’ll start next Friday, in the Lower Paleolithic and by December the 12th we will be up to 2024.

See you there.