I'm back - and it's about... catching up!

Something odd seems to have happened nearly three years ago, now. My writing started to take off and I was suddenly getting material published. Yet, at the same time I stopped updating my Blog. This seems a bit nuts, really. You'd think this was a great platform for promoting my work, and maybe giving a little insight into how the work came about. And you'd be right. As one does, I decided in the shower this evening that I needed to do something about the situation.

So, here I am with a brief introductory post.

What I plan to do is to take each franchise to which I've contributed, or each publisher I've worked with, and do a post about that work. If I tried to cover everything in depth I'd never get anything else done, and even though we're still locked down (as I write this) I do have a day job to do, as well as my ongoing writing commitments - along with attempting to be at least a half decent husband and father, all at the same time.

I think Master Pieces, from Altrix Books, is the only collection to which I've contributed since April 2018 that is no longer available to buy in any form. That was a great book to be part of, and for a worthy cause - in aid of The Stroke Association. If it ever comes back into print, I'll talk more about it then. In the mean time, I'll just express my thanks to Scott Claringbold for conceiving the project, to the editor, Paul Driscoll, for including the two contributions from me and to Ginger Hoesly for creating the iconic cover image.
.

Over the next however long this takes me to catch up, I'll be covering my work so far with Candy Jar Books on the Lethbridge-Stewart and Lucy Wilson Mysteries ranges. There's Big Finish, for whom I've now written two Bernice Summerfield short stories. Thebes Publishing and their Erimem range of books and then onto my Sherlock Holmes pastiches for MX Publishing and also for Belanger Books. My only non-franchise piece so far has been in a collection called Relics, from Red Ted Books (edited by Scott Claringbold). I think that deserves a post all of its own.

And, of course, if anything new comes out in the meantime, I'll do my best to sing about it from the rooftops!

So, I'm back, basically.

You and 42

https://who-dares.co.uk/shop/you-and-42-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-douglas-adams/

A couple of years back, I responded to a notice from Watching Books, asking if people were interested in contributing to another of their You and Who-style charity publications, this time one focussing on the life and works of Douglas Adams, to be called You and 42. For most people who know me it will come as no great surprise that I leapt at the chance and, thankfully, both my pitches were accepted, swiftly written and submitted.
 
Due to various circumstances (none of which are relevant or in any way my business) the project has taken a couple of years to see the light of day. But it's not been left to stagnate during that time. Co-editors and general froods, Jessica Burke & Anthony Burdge, have continued to gather new contributions, spreading the net wider and wider within the fan community, and noted Adams biographer Jem Roberts ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frood-Authorised-Official-Hitchhikers-published/dp/B01BOED098/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523869681&sr=8-3&keywords=jem+roberts ) has given a preface which perhaps lends the venture more of the sense of legitimacy that it deserves.

The other major change across that hiatus period is that now the book is being published by Who Dares instead of Watching Books. It's still a charity publication, with proceeds going to Save The Rhino ( https://www.savetherhino.org/ ), a charity for which Douglas was a Founder Patron (we contributors receive nothing, in case you wondered - not even a free copy).

The book is 300+ pages covering the whole gamut of Douglas Adams' life and various works and endeavours, told from the personal perspectives of a large number of contributors. That's the point of these You and... books, they tell the personal stories of fans relating to, or being affected by, these works.
My pieces cover Douglas' time as script editor of Doctor Who, and then my encounter with Life, The Universe and Everything during GCSE English about ten years later. His time on Doctor Who, and then the severe backlash immediately after, was the last time I found the programme either scary or utterly enthralling for years after, and the last time it was ever classed as required viewing by the other children at my school. About ten years later the Hitchhiker's Guide books were an absolute breath of fresh air amongst the turgidity of Far From The Madding Crowd or whatever else my dull grey smear of an English teacher felt fit to bore us with that week. It showed me that English could be fun, and despite my teacher's best efforts I've never looked back since. 

Those are just my stories, of course, but there are loads more besides, and Who Dares have done the book proud with a smashing cover and some wonderful interior artwork to complement the words. The book is out later in April and you can find out more about it, as well as pre-ordering it, on this link:  
https://who-dares.co.uk/shop/you-and-42-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-douglas-adams/
 In some ways the book's publication is very timely; not only have we just had the final HHGTTG series, The Hexagonal Phase, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, but just a few short weeks ago it was reported that the last surviving male Northern White rhino had died ( https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/worlds-last-male-northern-white-rhino-dies?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0qu788a-2gIVhj8bCh0MIg8kEAAYASAAEgLxjfD_BwE ). The species will become extinct when the few remaining females die. Raising money to help save other species of these magnificent animals may allow future generations to appreciate them, and their beauty, as more than simply pictures in a book, or a footnote in human development. It would be a shame if all the hard work that's gone into getting this book out into the world doesn't then feed something worthwhile back to a charity that was so close to Douglas' heart. I would urge any fans of Douglas Adams' work to buy a copy of You and 42.

Thanks.

The Crunch… and other Stories, by Nigel Kneale

This Network DVD release brings together three disparate stand-alone television plays by Nigel Kneale, made for ITV networks.

The Crunch, 1964, dir. Michael Elliott (ATV)

Unnatural Causes: Ladies Night, 1986, dir. Herbert Wise (Central)

Gentry, 1988, dir. Roy Battersby (Central)

Kneale may be best known for the 1950s Quatermass serials and his other BBC work, but he wrote a lot for ITV too – notably the 1976 anthology series Beasts and the 1979 John Mills Quatermass Conclusion mini-series. The three television plays in this collection are a welcome addition to Kneale’s legacy in our home collections. 

Kneale’s television work has many hallmarks: it is often challenging – both technically and narratively. It is often uncompromising in the way it faces up to the realities of the modern world, and the vagaries of human relationships. These three plays are, on the whole, representative of this, but I think they show us most tellingly how the changes to television production over the years affects the viewer’s perception of the stories they have to tell. 

The Crunch is Kneale at his uncomfortable best. A nuclear catastrophe is threatened at a London Embassy, by an ex-British colony seeking reparation for their island being economically and culturally raped in the name of progress. It is dark, ponderous at times, and directed with an edge of realism and a feeling of immediacy – shown, in particular, through the POV external films sequences. Quatermass fans may struggle with uniformed Anthony Bushell, who looks exactly the same here as he did as Colonel Breen seven years previously in Quatermass and The Pit. But as a bonus you can look out for a pre-moustachioed young Peter Bowles giving a fine turn. It’s a great play, very much of its time and easily the gem of the set. 

Then we leap forward 22 years, and into colour. 

What Ladies Night and Gentry have in common is very much a 1980s ‘sheen’. The incidental music is upbeat, jaunty and – unfortunately - prominent in them. Glossy production values give both plays an unwanted theatricality, so we are aware of the act of watching TV (if that makes sense) which means the plays have to work harder to suck us in to their world, and the audience has to work harder to see through the veneer. They both look and feel like episodes of Only Fools and Horses, frankly. But beneath that the scripts are still sharp, still insightful. 

Fiona Walker steals the show in Ladies Night, although Nigel Stock is always immensely watchable. Alfred Burke’s old misogynist, Colonel Waley (who reportedly saved Herman Goering’s life as a matter of honour), doesn’t want ladies in his gentleman’s club, but is a little two dimensional, a little too one-note, to be truly believable. And, unfortunately, Kneale’s work always relies very much on the audience believing in all the characters they meet as real people.

Ladies Night is The Worm That Turned meets Love Thy Neighbour, building to a punchline that shouldn’t surprise the audience and only exasperates the old Colonel. Yes, it’s clearly a satire, an exaggeration of the old Gentleman’s Club world as its outmoded ethos struggles to attract new membership in a society that no longer values the kind of hunting, empire-building, chivalrous old gent of yesteryear. But the overt staginess of the production, drawing attention to itself as ‘television’, means the satire falls flat. 

Gentry is also a satire, this time on 1980s society and materialism, as the loss of community values and social consciousness creates starker gaps between classes and ideologies. This is personified by Gerald, Duncan Preston’s conservative, unscrupulous – but perhaps not unscrupulous enough – lawyer, versus Susannah, his wife with her decent, socialist values, both of whom are then posed against the desperate lower / rougher end of society in Roger Daltry’s thief, Colin, and his accomplices.

I’d argue that Duncan Preston is miscast. He did a lot of good work with Victoria Wood, and he certainly looks the part, but in a drama like this he’s just a caricature - you can see him acting a lot of the time, whereas by contrast most of the others sell themselves as real characters. Phoebe Nicholls, Michael Attwell and Roger Daltry are all excellent and totally inhabit their rolls. But here again the unsubtle theatricality of the look and feel of the play means that the satire falls flat. 

I couldn’t help getting a sense of these 1980s pieces being like ‘A’-Level theatre studies devised pieces, or dark adaptations of old Whitehall farces, with their limited settings and clear two-act structures – particularly in Gentry where the play works around the arrival or revelation of certain characters. I very much wanted these plays to take a bolder step into discomfort at times – Michael Attwell and Roger Daltry come closest - just to set them at a remove from the comparison.

I didn’t dislike Ladies Night and Gentry and they’re definitely worth another viewing, but I wanted to like them more than I did. Their glossy ‘80s sheen serves to undermine their dramatic impact. It suggests cosy drama rather than gritty realism. Tastes change, I know, but personally I consider that a piece like The Crunch stands the test of time far better than these latter two.

Memories of Christopher Lee and M.R. James' Ghost Stories for Christmas

 

Isn't it funny how one's old life comes up unexpectedly at times? I found out last night that BBC4 have scheduled a whole M.R. James Christmas Ghost Stories evening for Christmas Eve this year. Amongst the line up, and seeing in Christmas Day itself at midnight, are two of the four half-hour Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas episodes, in which I appeared back in 2001. Lee played M.R. James himself, reading his stories to our select group of his Cambridge Students.

 

We filmed it at a stately home near Coventry in the spring of 2001. I recall being massively busy at the time, in the way that acting jobs sometimes dovetail nicely, although I was living very much hand-to-mouth. When this TV role came up I was already due to be in the area anyway, rehearsing for a two-handed T.I.E. tour with the Onatti Theatre Co. out of nearby Leamington Spa. I was also rehearsing a fringe production of Hamlet at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham (in which I played Guildenstern). At weekends I was driving back to London to perform as Michael & Smee in Peter Pan at the Colour House Theatre in Colliers Wood. Makes my eyes water now to think about it!

 

I also recall that it was a very cold spring that year, and the oil central heating system in my digs had broken down (with no apparent plans to fix it anytime soon). The lovely couple with whom I was staying had a Dalmatian who was in season, and was allowed to rummage around and pleasure himself on everything. I learned very quickly to stay on the move. I was really only there to sleep and eat the odd meal, thanks to my hectic schedule.

 

As for the man himself, Christopher Lee. Wow, what an honour to share a set with him. I remember when he walked into the green room for the first time; he was incredibly tall, and his amazing voice just filled the entire room with no effort at all. And he smoked these enormous cigars!

 

Naturally, we were all very much in awe of this screen legend, but he was lovely, and very generous with his time. We would eat together in the green room, with him sitting quietly at his own table, but slowly as a group we tried to open up and offer him opportunities to join in our conversations if he wanted to, otherwise we just politely left him to himself. We certainly were wary of discussing any of Lee's work, but as it turned out Ian Fleming and James Bond was the clincher. It's possible that the conversation was nudged that way specially (I don't recall now, but I certainly wouldn't have been one to push our luck!), but once we started on that topic Christopher Lee willingly opened up to us about being Fleming's cousin and playing Scaramanga, and how he should have played Dr No if they'd remained faithful to the description in the book (Fleming wanted this, we were told).

 

I'll admit it felt as if Lee was on something of a renaissance at the time, after being in several high-profile projects of late. He was clearly embittered about not being taken more seriously as an actor by the Establishment, and listed the volume and variety of work he'd done over the years - which was truly varied and prodigious, it must be said. He told us how much he'd hated filming Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones ('hours and hours of discomfort stuck out in the desert', he said). He talked of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, in which he had recently appeared for the BBC. He spoke at most length, though, of Tolkien, Middle Earth and The Lord of The Rings ('the greatest fantasy ever written', he said) which he had just been filming out in New Zealand.

 

As is often the way with old pros when given a captive audience, once the floodgates were open he was off, talking to us (at us?) at length - seemingly authoritatively - on any subject. Pertinent to the job in hand, Lee recalled his own time at Cambridge and how he'd met M.R. James as provost there. He also spoke of his genealogy, and how, if he hadn't been an actor, he'd have been an Ambassador in the Diplomatic Corps, as he had the right contacts and a natural affinity for languages. One can't deny that whatever he'd ended up as, Christopher Lee would have been very striking.

 

I particularly recall a conversation about an 1818 first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or a Modern Prometheus, which he'd found in his bedroom (he was staying there at the stately home). Aside from being impressed that it was there, he was surprised that it had 'by Mrs Shelley' scribbled on the flyleaf but otherwise no indication of the author's identity. As I was undertaking a Masters Degree in English Literature with the Open University at the time I was able to advise him that it was standard practice until much later for the author to conceal their identity on first editions, to see how well the book was received before they would lay claim to it - and more so if the author was female. Nice to know I imparted a little knowledge back to the great man on that occasion.

 

The filming itself was largely trouble-free, although I do recall a crane shot on one day, from outside the window looking in. Eleanor, the director, asked Lee to talk to us as if he was relaying one of James' stories while the camera filmed from outside - possibly through heavy rain, as it wasn't necessary to match any actual dialogue to the footage. Anyway, this went on for a good fifteen minutes or so, with Lee improvising to us, and at the end he had a huge strop at the production crew, told us that was no way to treat actors, and demanded a break.

 

Anyway, I'm surprised that I recall as much about the job, and him, as I do, but I guess it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the time.

 

Three of the four episodes have been released on DVD on the BFI 6-disc box set Ghost Stories For Christmas - available from Amazon on the link below. It's a sumptuous set of archive BBC Christmas ghost story dramatizations and readings from the 1970s onwards. Unfortunately the one episode of Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas that hasn't been released commercially is the one which features me more heavily, in some nice cutaways by the window. Ho hum...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Christmas-Expanded-6-Disc-Collection/dp/B009XD7M2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513162127&sr=8-1&keywords=ghost+stories+for+Christmas

Anyway, watch it if you can, and buy it if you like, but either way I hope you enjoy it, and watch out for the beak-nosed student who looks both ways outside the chapel in the opening credits!

Whoblique Strategies - available now!



 

Hot on the back of yesterday's post, Whoblique Strategies is now available to buy direct from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whoblique-Strategies-Elton-Townend-Jones/dp/1981246347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512467364&sr=8-1&keywords=whoblique+strategies

An awful lot of love and creative energy has gone into this charity volume, all in aid of Children in Need. I hope it gets the wide audience and appreciation it deserves.

I've had the honour of contributing four pieces to the collection, which comprises short 200 word works extrapolated from every televised Doctor Who story, through the perspective of an individual random oblique strategy card - a technique used by Brian Eno and David Bowie working on Bowie's LPs Low and Heroes.

My pieces are in the Second Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Tenth Doctor and Eleventh Doctor sections, and cover the stories The Underwater Menace, Image of The Fendahl, Silence in the Library and The Girl Who Waited.

The mastermind behind it all is Elton Townend-Jones, who is also the driving force behind Dyad Productions. More information here: http://www.dyadproductions.com/index.php

More information about the cover artist, Simon Brett, can be found here on Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/simonbrettart/

Please also look up Chinbeard Books http://www.chinbeardbooks.com/ and find out more about who they are and what they do.

Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour Show 45

Cast your minds back to July 2016. Yeah. Remember Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour, show 45? No? Well, whether you do or not, here it is at last, available to listen to in all its glory either via the Cranked Anvil website or via Mixcloud, depending on your preference or convenience.

This week, Paul & Nessa discuss biscuits, sweets, and the dodgy things our parents used to say to us. Paul rants about Wham bars and Haribos, and we’re joined on the phone again by Mr Punn, who discusses the Euros and football legends. And our #GuessTheTheme game this week has listeners utterly beat! Can you figure out the link before the end of the show?… Sketches written by Tim Gambrell, Michael Monkhouse, Tim Perry, Chris Tindall, Paul Dunn, and David Metcalf Jamie McLeish & Andrew Kirkwood as MKM Comedy, with extra material by Michael Monkhouse. They were performed by James Barton, Sarah Boulter, Carole Cooke, Paul Dunn, David Foster, Harriet Ghost, Vanessa Karon, Micky McGregor, Dolores Poretta, Peff Soulsby, Stephen Sullivan, and Jordan Todd. Script editor was Paul Dunn. First broadcast 06.07.16.

https://crankedanvil.co.uk/happy-hour/

https://www.mixcloud.com/pauldunn3998/paul-nessas-happy-hour-45/ 

Book news update...

Hello people. Stuff has been happening on the writing / publishing front and while I've been promoting it all and sharing it all on social media platforms I haven't been updating my blog. I've had the honour, this year, to work with some great people on some great ideas and franchises. There'll be more to come in 2018, for sure, but for now this is what's out there and how to get hold of it:

 

Lethbridge-Stewart: The HAVOC Files 3, featuring my story The Bledoe Cadets and the Bald Man of Pengriffen. The last few copies may still be available direct from Candy Jar Books:
http://www.lethbridge-stewart.co.uk/

Otherwise, it's available as a Kindle e-book from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lethbridge-Stewart-HAVOC-Files-Andy-Frankham-Allen-ebook/dp/B072NZD99G/ref=pd_sim_351_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=032XTKQBXW1Y7N3HEMB1

 

Back in September I had my first work published with Big Finish. Bernice Summerfield: True Stories is a collection of short adventures set in the Unbound Universe of the recent audio box sets. It features my story Stockholm From Home, along with some great luminaries from the world of Doctor Who prose fiction, such as Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum.

True Stories is available in three formats; as a (gorgeous) hardback book, as an e-book and also as an audiobook read superbly by the incomparable Lisa Bowerman, Bernice Summerfield herself.

It's only available through the Big Finish website, as follows:
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/bernice-summerfield-true-stories-novel-ebook-1695
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/bernice-summerfield-true-stories-audiobook-1698

The Lethbridge-Stewart Quiz Book features an exclusive short story by me, Cow Pats and Comfort. The story also foreshadows some aspects of my Lethbridge-Stewart novel which is due out at the end of 2018 - but more on that nearer the time.


There are only a few copies left, so get in quick. It's available exclusively from the Candy Jar website:
http://www.lethbridge-stewart.co.uk/


Whoblique Strategies is available from Chinbeard Books from December 6th.
http://www.chinbeardbooks.com/charity-beard

It's the brainchild of Elton Townend-Jones and all proceeds are going to Children in Need.

There's more about the background here:
https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2017/11/18/whoblique-strategies-anthology-book-announced-for-children-in-need/

I have four pieces in the book. It's going to be a pretty unique volume, and some wonderful writers and artists have contributed work in the name of charity to help bring Elton's vision to life.

And that's it for now - but all in all I'm very happy with what I've achieved and had published in 2017. 2018 will be bigger and better, and I'll endeavour to keep this Blog updated along the way.

Cheers, Tim

The Screen Savers, by Bryan Romaine

My good friend Bryan Romaine has published his first novel, The Screen Savers. I was fortunate enough to be given an advance reading copy in March of this year, which I read, thoroughly enjoyed and then reviewed.  I've been holding on to that review ever since, and now that the book has finally been published I can tell the rest of the world what I thought of it!

The book can be purchased in hard copy or Kindle form from Amazon on the link below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073JPH5CD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499073004&sr=8-1&keywords=bryan+romaine

The Screen Savers.
Literature has a long history of eccentrics and obsessives, from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, through Laurence Sterne’s Uncle Toby and HG Wells’ various tragic specialists, up to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-time and beyond. In The Screen Savers Bryan Romaine has created another in this line of complicated, neurotic, eccentric, fallible and ultimately human literary characters in the simply-named Adam. I think anyone who has lived on their own for any period of time will be able to relate to Adam – either positively or negatively. But at a basic level this reviewer found him to be an endearing creation with a real sense of truth about him.

This is Bryan’s first novel, and stylistically it is a very confident work. The narrative voice gives the reader a sense of immediacy and pace. The only exceptions to this are occasional predictive clauses informing the reader of events or decisions further down the line; these serve not to spoil, merely to whet the appetite or ensure that the reader’s focus remains aligned with the authorial voice. It’s a subtle hand-holding technique within what, on the surface, appears to be a text that lays itself and its central character completely bare to the reader.

The author’s confidence, and competence, is further displayed by the fact that the book is largely under-written. Peripheral detail and description is scant at times, yet there are also occasions where detail and information is thrust at us with almost manic fervour, reminiscent of Bret Easton Ellis’ Postmodern classic American Psycho. Somewhere within this uneven landscape of tropes and signifiers the reader gets a very real sense of Adam’s world and surroundings. Scenes don’t always pick up directly from where the previous one left off – although where there are narrative gaps or jumps the reader is very soon able to fill in the blanks. We may not get to experience every scene or every moment, but we still know pretty much exactly what’s gone on – and that displays the author’s skill; Bryan has an acute understanding of how to craft the text in an engaging way. Symptomatic of these narrative jumps is the pervading sense of the sections or chapters as a modestly sequential collection of flash fiction pieces, all adding together to create a cohesive whole.

The short sections gives the reader the impression that they are steaming through the book at pace – which can be a bonus for those who like to read on their commute to work. But The Screen Savers is deceptive in this; Adam’s voice, his worries, hang-ups and obsessions actually ferment a much deeper understanding in the reader’s mind than the simple words we read on the page in these brief scenes and moments. We start to fill in gaps ourselves; we absorb information and use it to clarify or justify actions already witnessed or those yet to come. So The Screen Savers is very much a collaborative text existing as a contemporaneous whole; the reader is constantly editing the text in their head and revising their understanding of characters and events as they progress through the work as more and more becomes clear. So the reader unwittingly works with the author in real time to create their individual experience, rather than sitting back and being dictated to.

In common with many previous texts fuelled by obsessive, eccentric characters, The Screen Savers is naturally very funny. The prospect that someone could be mistaken for Clive Owen and also Martina Navratilova paints some wonderful images in the reader’s head, for example. The humour is situational and character-driven through reactions and mannerisms; it is never forced and ‘gags’ (such as any are) are never set up in a contrived way. For example – and this owes much again to the pictures that the text conjures in the reader’s head - there is a persistent reference to deceased Scottish actor Alastair Sim. Now, okay, some younger readers may need to contextualise him, but the conceit is planted with perfect legitimacy and once there the obsessive revisiting of it, and the resultant mental hoops Adam puts himself through, create some extraordinarily comedic moments and images.

There is a notional ‘story’ running through the book, but this isn’t a plot-driven page-turner; it’s more of a character study as Adam comes to terms with various aspects of his life and his own mental challenges. One thing the book does expertly is show that no one is normal, or ‘ordinary’. Everyone reveals themselves to be flawed in some way – either in their own eyes or through those of Adam. Everyone has hang ups or oddities that they accommodate and deal with on a day to day basis in their own way.

Even though the story of the fight for screen seven at the local cinema is somewhat ancillary the author skilfully creates a sense of increasing tension as the narrative builds towards its conclusion – again this is achieved organically and not through any forced manipulation of characters and incidents. This produces a real sense of elation at the conclusion, rewarding the level of involvement and commitment the reader has invested in the characters and the text. The conclusion itself is appended by some wonderfully humorous (and organic) moments. We don’t get a pay-off scene between Adam and Yvette, and if there had to be a negative I’d say that Adam and Yvette’s relationship is a little too scant and under-written after she returns from her weekend away, but that’s really a minor quibble amongst a whole load of positives. 

To sum up, The Screen Savers is very well - and sympathetically - written, and I’ve greatly enjoyed the experience of reading it. I felt I could relate to Adam and to his situation in life; I understood the mental hoops he puts himself through in his relationships with other people. I’ve relished the challenges of the text, it’s lightness of touch and the shorthand way it has of encouraging the reader to infill any narrative gaps. Although I appreciated the bite-size chapters I really didn’t want to put it down once I’d started it, and I can envisage future re-readings with time set aside to consume it all in one go.

I hope this book gets the wide audience and appreciation that I feel it deserves, and that we get further works from Bryan Romaine as a result.

The Lethbridge-Stewart Quiz Book

OK, so yet again a few months have gone by and it seems I've neglected my Blog. The thing is, there's been 'stuff' going on and it's not always 'stuff' I can talk about until things are announced, but now we're into the second half of the year maybe things will pick up again around here.


First up is The Lethbridge-Stewart Quiz Book, from Candy Jar Books, compiled by Mark Jones and featuring an exclusive short story from Yours Truly. The rather splendid cover is by Richard Young.

The book is currently available to pre-order via the Candy Jar website on:

http://www.candy-jar.co.uk/books/thelethbridgestewartquizbook.html

and I'll no doubt post a reminder when it's actually released. The Lethbridge-Stewart Quiz Book features questions from the Target, Virgin and BBC novels, the Big Finish and BBC audio stories, comic strips and the Candy Jar Lethbridge-Stewart novels.

The Unofficial Doctor Who Limerick Book!

So, the guys at Long Scarf Publishing have produced another fan-led Doctor Who book for charity. This one is called The Unofficial Doctor Who Limerick Book and it's raising money for MIND.

It's available now to pre-order.

Yes, it does feature some limericks from yours truly.
 
And yes, I could have written this blog post in limerick form if I'd really tried!









Details on the book and how to order it direct from the publisher are here:
 
http://drwholimerickbook.strikingly.com/
 
Details on the charity MIND can be found here:
 
http://www.mind.org.uk/
 
Please do purchase a copy if you can.

World Book Day 2017

It's World Book Day - yay! This always provokes a mass of '10 Favourite Books'-type lists on social media. I can't pick ten, or twenty - or possibly even fifty. The best I can do instead is pick a favourite book per decade from the 1680s onwards, when my reading really starts. Yup... So here goes!

1680s Aphra Behn Love Letters Between A Nobleman and His Sister

1690s Nothing!

1700s Delarivier Manley New Atalantis

1710s Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe

1720s Jonathan Swift Gulliver’s Travels

1730s Eliza Haywood Eovaii

1740s Henry Fielding Joseph Andrews

1750s Laurence Sterne Tristram Shandy

1760s Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto

1770s Frances Burney Evelina

1780s William Beckford Vathek

1790s Mary Hays A Victim of Prejudice

1800s Thomas Paine The Age of Reason

1810s Mary Shelley Frankenstein; or A Modern Prometheus

1820s Samuel Pepys’ Diary (the first proper publication of the diaries written in the 1660s)

1830s Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers

1840s Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

1850s Herman Melville Moby Dick, or The Whale

1860s Wilkie Collins The Woman in White

1870s Lewis Carroll Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

1880s Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll & Mr Hyde

1890s Bram Stoker Dracula

1900s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of The Baskervilles

1910s Ford Maddox Ford The Good Soldier

1920s James Joyce Ulysses

1930s Aldous Huxley Brave New World

1940s Ernest Hemingway For Whom The Bell Tolls

1950s JRR Tolkein The Lord of The Rings

1960s Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange

1970s Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

1980s John Irving A Prayer For Owen Meany

1990s Irvine Welsh Trainspotting

2000s Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveler’s Wife

Authors I love but couldn’t accommodate: Virginia Woolf, Arthur C Clarke, Tobias Smollett, EM Forster.

 

Hopefully there are some oddities and surprises in the list, along with the predictable crowd-pleasers. 

Also this list ignores all the Doctor Who and associated spin-off novels from the 1960s onwards, as choosing between those is just impossible. 

Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour Show 43

Not posted a show here for a while - but then the guys at Cranked Anvil have been busy doing other exciting things in theatreland and not uploading their shows to Mixcloud. But here is Show 43, the next in line containing material by me.

With thanks as always to Paul Dunn, Vanessa Karon and Cranked Anvil Productions for using my material in the first place and then for letting me post these shows here on my Blog. For more information check them out at http://crankedanvil.co.uk/ or follow them on Twitter @CrankedAnvil.

Show 43. Sketches written by Paul Dunn, Stephen Philip Druce, David Foster, Tim Gambrell, Michael Monkhouse, Matt Watson, and David Metcalf Jamie McLeish & Andrew Kirkwood as MKM Comedy. Performed by Sarah Boulter, Carole Cooke, Paul Dunn, David Foster, Harriet Ghost, Michael Grist, Vanessa Karon, Wayne Miller, Dolores Poretta, Adam Ramsey, Craig Richardson, Jay Sykes, Stephen Sullivan, and Jordan Todd. Script editor was Paul Dunn. First broadcast 22.06.16.

Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour - the end

September 28th was a very sad day for me, and it's taken me nearly three months to get round to writing about it which I think is rather telling.
I received a tweet from my mate Paul Dunn on that day, asking if I (and actor / fellow writer David Foster who plays Murgala in my sketches) was going to tune in that evening to Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour - those of you who follow this Blog however fleetingly will know that this is the local radio show in Sunderland to which I have contributed comedy sketch material since mid-2015.
I replied in the affirmative - I'd made it a habit to tune in online each week, not just to hear my material performed but also because I really enjoyed the whole show. I rather facetiously tweeted to David that I reckoned we'd be sacked live on air. As it turned out this was almost true! September 28th's show was, very suddenly, the final edition of Paul & Nessa's Happy Hour on Spark FM and we didn't know until Paul announced it live on air.

I was, quite simply, gutted.

That's not me being selfish or egotistical by any means; I wasn't paid for any of the sketches, nor did my involvement earn me any particular kudos or further opportunities. But I did feel massively proud to hear my material performed and broadcast regularly - and even repeated (material must be half decent if producers want to use it more than once!), and Paul & Nessa were very generous with the thanks and credits on air. I always looked upon the whole endeavour as a collaboration: we were all doing it for the love of it, and if it helped bring light to someone's evening then that was a job well done.

No, I was gutted because I really loved the show each week and really felt a part of the team. I understand perfectly Paul & Vanessa's reasons for putting the show on hold; I assume it was a relatively quick decision, since plans were already in place for a Christmas Special with a return for Murgala and some new material which I'd started working on. We remain firm friends (as firm as anyone can be when at opposite ends of the country!) and I hope further opportunities may arise to collaborate again in the future.
There are about fifteen other unused sketches already written (not Murgala), which may see the light of day eventually, we'll see. In the mean time I'll continue to post the Mixcloud editions of the shows as and when they are uploaded so people can follow things through to the end.

Paul & Nessa have very publicly thanked me on a number of occasions. I'd like to thank them, and Cranked Anvil Productions again here for using my material in the first place and bringing a huge smile to my face every Wednesday evening from 21:00 - 22:00.

Thanks guys - and a Merry Christmas.
x

Stuck for Christmas gifts..?

These publications raising money for Charity are still available, to which I have contributed thus far:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Lord-Change-adventure-Drabbles/dp/1540336123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481149583&sr=1-1&keywords=a+time+lord+for+change

https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Else-J-R-Southall-Editor/dp/1519368240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481149638&sr=8-1&keywords=you+and+who+else

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blakes-Heaven-John-Davies/dp/151199438X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481149673&sr=8-1&keywords=blakes+heaven

All raising money for good causes.

Thanks.

Review: Evil UnLtd. Vol 2: From Evil With Love, by Simon A Forward

Evil UnLtd. Vol.2: From Evil With Love, by Simon A Forward

 

This is a solid sequel and, if I’m honest, a much better read that Volume One. Where the first book could be accused of having an over-enthusiasm of zany ideas, in places, From Evil With Love is much more tempered and restrained – and potentially funnier, where it needs to be funny; it punches where it needs to punch only, rather than constantly slapping you lightly. But also in its favour the hard work of setting up Evil Unlimited had already been done in Volume One, so the narrative is able to start off pretty much in full stride where the former book had left off. 

A note to begin with: not that I would expect anyone to start with Volume Two, but should that happen I don’t think the reader would get anything like as satisfactory an experience if they hadn’t already read volume one. So… 

This time Snide’s group are faced with a growing collection of ‘goodies’ who have decided that they need to be taken down after the culmination of events in Volume One: Salmon Templar from the Piscapalian Secret Service (*cough* Simon Templar, The Saint), Captain Semper Finion Arcoban of Sysfleet (Captain  S(weet) F.A. – look it up if you have to, don’t make me lower the tone). Unlike with Rolph Stengun in the first book, in Volume Two the author actually makes these goodie characters attractive to the reader - engaging and fun to read in themselves, be that Templar’s obvious James Bond-esque skill with women or Sysfleet’s reliance on email communication for everything (to provide an audit trail), which in the latter case creates some moments of purest comedy gold. 

The title From Evil With Love sets the tone of parody from the start; chapter headings pun further on James Bond films, and the book is merciless with the trappings of the franchise as well – natty vehicles, Miss Geldpfennig, gadgets, sexy women dancing in silhouette in the opening titles, ridiculous amounts of bullets wasted by henchmen who can’t aim for toffee…But the book is not dependent on its reader knowing or picking up on these puns and parodies, as with other victims such as The Saint, Doctor Who, Star Trek and others – they are there to raise a wry smile or even a chuckle if known, but otherwise they can be taken at face value and the story still works perfectly. 

Sysfleet, rather wonderfully, reads like The Federation from Star Trek as if it was run by the Vogons from Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. Everything is mired in procedure and regulations, and budgets have to be accounted for – biting a thumb at Star Trek: The Next Generation’s claim that humanity by their time had risen above monetary greed in its own particular cosy futuristic utopia.

What all this Sysfleet and Piscapalian Secret Service background does, alongside providing laughs, is add a lot of depth and texture to the book. One thing flows on from the next, and at no point does the action or plot feel forced or contrived – which is very much to the book’s credit. Forward is clearly growing in confidence as a writer and storyteller; From Evil With Love contains instances of non-linear narrative, or narrative that jump cuts without apparent explanation; this toys with and challenges the audience in interesting ways, adding a lot to the ‘readerly’ experience. 

If I had a grumble it would be that the Evil UnLimited crew are rarely gathered together in this story; instead they are split into smaller groups or operating individually. I felt that this diluted the effect of the team – or rather diluted the impact of the team. Having said that, it’s a more domestic setting for them this time around, largely in or about their headquarters on the great tree. There’s plenty for them all to do though - splitting them up allows for better character interplay and development, and means that some characters are less likely to be standing around idle as the more verbose ones hog the limelight. But I still found myself missing the group scenes. You don’t necessarily need four stories all going on concurrently, for example, but if you have four strands of action feeding the main story then it makes sense to split the group’s focus accordingly, if not evenly. 

The book is again split into three episodes, however unlike the first book where the respite from the chaos and humour was a relief the split here feels much less of a necessity. There is continuity of narrative and generally continuity of setting throughout and as the narrative is much more focussed on telling a great story rather than telling it through gags I never felt as fatigued as I occasionally did whilst reading Volume One. 

I should like to remind readers that these books are all written for charity – that’s a considerable creative investment on the part of the author and they deserve to raise as much money as they can for Cancer Research. 

Find out more about the range, plus purchase copies here:  https://4devil.wordpress.com/

You can follow the author Simon A Forward on Twitter on @prefect4d

 

 

I’m looking forward to volume 3…

A Time Lord For Change - unused Drabble for 'Alien Bodies'

As I mentioned in another recent post, I submitted a couple of Drabbles for Chinbeard Books' A Time Lord For Change that weren't used for one reason or another. Here then is the second of those. I had the temerity to propose one for Lawrence Miles' brilliant EDA Alien Bodies. The editors decided in the end they weren't going to go down the route of spin-offs or novels, to keep the book focussed on the TV adventures - which is a fair decision and probably makes the book generally more accessible. Including areas such as the original novels of the 'Wilderness Years' would most likely open a can of (Time)wyrms anyway.

You can find out more about Chinbeard Books and A Time Lord For Change, plus links to purchase it here:

http://www.chinbeardbooks.com/p-o-d-beard

Proceeds from the sale of this book go to the mental health charity MIND http://www.mind.org.uk/

You can follow the editors and publisher on Twitter on @cliffchapman, @eltownendjones; @BarnabyEJ; @ChinbeardBooks

My thanks go to Cliff for conceiving the project and allowing me to contribute, and also to Elton and Barnaby for picking up the baton when needed and pushing the whole thing through to fruition. I sincerely hope the book does well and raises lost of money for such a good cause.

So here then, for your perusal, is my other unused Drabble:

Alien Bodies: ‘Don’t Try The Slurry’

Scientific unit Delta reporting. Meteor F7 found unsuitable, mining resulted in breakup. No loss of resource, but structural damage to saucer. Emergency repair landing on planetoid designated K120t0Ω. Crystalline slurry discovered on planetoid surface. Substance inert, but exhibits high energy potential. Siphoned into hold for further investigation.

Report ends.

Supplemental: Substance shows signs of activity post-launch, bubbling and solidifying at edges. Operatives observing. Behaviour contradicts accepted change of matter states upon injection of energy. Unit leader advises caution.

Supplemental ends.

Further supplemental: Assist! Urgent assist! Slurry has invaded several Dalek casings and-

KROTON WARNING: THE HIGH BRAINS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED!