Comic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Novelist, geek, painter, doodler
Continuing on from the review of the Last Kingdom (here), The Pale Horseman is the second novel in the Saxon Stories, and the next book I've had the pleasure of reading. Continuing where The Last Kingdom left off, Uhtred returns to King Alfred of Wessex to share news of his glorious victory over Ubba Lothbrokson … Continue reading Review – The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell
Frankenstein is a story that I'm sure most people have at least a vague knowledge of. The basics; Dr Frankenstein creates a being constructed of pieces of of freshly dead people, stitched together, and brought to life using a jolt of lightning - I could use that first thing in the morning. The first Frankenstein … Continue reading Audible Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, narrated by Derek Jacobi
The Stainless Steel Rat - and its abundance of sequels - follows the exploits of James Bolivar diGriz, also known as Slippery Jim. In this, the first novel, we find Jim performing a daring robbery and fleeing from Special Corps - a kind of police unit comprised of former criminals - as he tries to make good … Continue reading Audible Review – The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
As part of my research into books around people's experiences in the military, I was pointed toward Chickenhawk, a novel by Robert Mason following his time as a Huey pilot in Vietnam. I can safely say 'Wow'. The novel starts with mason's account of helicopter training with the army. As my pal Kev said when … Continue reading Book review: Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason
Well, it's been some time since I last posted, mainly because of a recent arrival, but it has been a pretty busy time in other ways too. As such, writing has been on hold for a while, but thankfully, I'm back in the swing of things. At present I'm halfway through writing Slip Jevans book two, … Continue reading A long time quiet
Around the start of the Masters (it may have been the first or second semester...) we were asked to do a pastiche of a famous writer. For mine I chose Charles Dickens, and the piece I was writing at the time (and currently re-writing) was Slip Jevans - Hero of the Union. The pastiche is … Continue reading A cockpit according to Charles Dickens
A short review of Bram Stoker's Dracula audio book available on Audible.
Over the years, I've written an alarming amount of novels that I've never done anything with. They reside in Dropbox, dump drives, flash drives, etc, scattered and saved for the inevitable day when I decide, 'I'm bloody doing something with that'. The MA has prompted me to re-look at everything I've written, and has given … Continue reading To edit or re-write? The folly of re-working old stories and novels.
Another six gym days week, another audiobook down. I was recommended this one by our tutor (the magnificent James Friel) for the MA Creative Writing course late last year, when we were discussing different sci-fi via email. I'd not heard of it, and kept hold of the email until such time as I was able … Continue reading Audible – A Canticle for Leibowitz
At the moment, I'm currently studying semester 3 on an MA Creative Writing course, something which I wish I'd done decades ago. Okay decade ago, decades I was still doing adequately on my GCSEs. While I gained all my GCSEs and two A-Levels (Geology and Biology at a D - rock nerd!) I single-handedly left … Continue reading My scribblings and the MA Creative Writing at LJMU
