Last Friday, Lizzy and I found ourselves in one the oldest surviving music hall in the world, for the Five Dials Book Slam. Paul Murray read from Skippy Dies, Jonathan Safran-Foer read from Eating Animals, and Plaster of Paris played some delightful tunes. It was grand old evening.

However, it also served to highlight my woeful ignorance of Five Dials, a free and remarkable digital literary magazine published by Hamish Hamilton, and edited by Craig Taylor (of the wonderful One Million Tiny Plays About Britain). Here’s one of my favourite extracts from the most recent issue: unused book titles by Raymond Chandler (favourites are in bold).

The Man with the Shredded Ear
All Guns Are Loaded
Choice of Dessert
Return from Ruin
Here It Is Saturday
My Best to the Bride
The Man Who Loved the Rain
The Corpse Came in Person
Law Is Where You Buy It
The Porter Rose at Dawn
We All Liked Al
Fair With Some Rain
The Only Murdered Him Once
Too Late for Smiling
The Diary of a Loud Check Suit
Deceased When Last Seen
Quick, Hide the Body
A Night in the Ice Box
Goodnight and Goodbye
The Cool-Off
Uncle Watson Wants to Think
The Parson in the Parlor
Stop Screaming—It’s Me
No Third Act
Twenty Minutes’ Sleep
They Still Come Honest
Between Two Liars
The Lady with the Truck
The Black-Eyed Blonde
Rigadoo
Thunder Bug
Everyone Says Good-bye Too Soon