I’ve been reading Stephen Lawhead’s Scarlet (Amazon), the second of the King Raven series. This is his retelling of the Robin Hood mythos and its very interesting.
Will Scarlet has been captured and is awaiting execution. Meanwhile his life story is being dictated to Odo and is the tale, like Hood, of a single man’s attempt [...]
Philip Reeve’s Starcross (Amazon) is perhaps one of the more nuts books I’ve read this year – the British Empire is under attack from fiendish top hats. In Larklight (Amazon) we were introduced to the Mumby’s when they saved the universe from the white spiders a discovered that their mother was a very old alien. [...]
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror (Amazon) is a collection of short stories interlinked by the eponymous Uncle. Its not afraid to traverse genres and styles in a way that adult horror does not. Tones, styles and voices change but the underlying unease never does. Each tale is charmingly illustrated by David Roberts in an Edward [...]
Driving to work in these frosty mornings has been a thoughtful process. The icing thin white layer is a reminder of the idea of renewal at this time of year, set amidst the shortening days (now thankfully lengthening again).
In Constance Babbington Smith’s biography of John Masefield, she argues that he began reading Dante’s Divine Comedy [...]
Those excellent folk over at Dark Horse has posted the first few pages of the new Abe Sapien (from the must-read Hellboy) on MySpace. Here is the trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army as well.
I’ve just heard a wonderfully dark and funny play on Radio Four called The Wooden Overcoat which features David Tennant. Mark Gatiss has adapted this tale of murder for the radio (and shamefully its only online for a week) but the tone and action are great and make for good listening.
Benji Cann has just got [...]
Peter Jackson, according to the Guardian, will be the executive producer for the Hobbit films, which is probably the only sensible solution after the wars of words. The director, I gather, has not been named yet.
The Guardian’s bookclub interviewed Philip Pullman last night and have podcast the result today. He talks about Milton, morality, plot and language.
If you have not read Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest trilogy then shame on you. Its a passionate plea for environmental awareness and also a good read (though I’m still in love with the Years of Rice and Salt). BLDG blog have a great interview with him about the books and the environment here.
I ran an [...]
According to SFScope, the author Brandon Sanderson has been chosen by Harriet Popham Rigney (Jordan’s editor and wife) to finish the final book of the Wheel of Time from the notes the Jordan left before his death. It is scheduled for completion by the end of next with publication in autumn 2009. The Dragonmount community [...]