Paul Magrs's Blog, page 7

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

 

Another Little Book Review

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

A generous, sweet, gentle novel about loss and second, third and even fourth chances. A book that I first read exactly thirty years ago. Back then I remember saying that reading Anne Tyler was like eating smooth Galaxy Chocolate, and that still holds. This is a joyous novel about mostly miserable situations. Snappy dogs, sudden deaths, flooded houses, broken limbs – but also getting to know this wonderful cast of slightly crazy characters. Everyone is slightly odd when you look long enough at what they’re doing, she tells us.

Eccleston's return to Dr Who

 

I was chuffed as anything to hear about Eccleston doing Big Finish audio Dr Who. I think if I'd been asked to write for him... (I know! How could they not..?! Those crazy people!) I'd have set something here, in Manchester. It would be the time of Madchester - the autumn of 1991 and strange goings-on amid the vintage Gothic tat at Afflecks Palace. Or going further back to Granada studios in the 60s,or something to do with Dylan going electric at the Free Trade Hall. Or a story with LS Lowry! Or even back to the aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre. Lots of ideas whirling. Maybe I'd mix all of the above into one strange story and have Pat Phoenix or Sheila Delaney as his companion. It'd be nice to write something for him to get his teeth into.

(When he got the job in 2004 I bumped into him in the Arndale WH Smiths. We were literally both standing there reading Dr Who Magazine - and I overcame my natural quietness to say hullo and wish him luck for starting filming. He grinned at me so broadly.)

Fester Cat's Poem

 

A few friends have lost beloved pets lately, and some have said this poem has helped them. I read it as part of my Facebook Live Book at Bedtime last weekend for International Cat Day. Since the formatting of the previous time I posted it seems to have gone awry, I thought I'd post it again.

Fester Cat’s Poem

 

I want you to remember things.

These days of ours
Because I’ll only be part of

the story

I know your human lives are generally longer.
And you had all that life beforehand

And I was twelve when we met up…

And you’ll have more afterwards, I hope
And maybe even…
Other cats..!

There might be others

I don’t know

I can’t imagine the future

But I want you to remember this –
These long days together.
And don’t ever forget me?
Keep me separate
And special.

The human mind is bigger – with

More room
The cat mind seems smaller
But I won’t forget
I would never forget any of this.

All your life has been goodbyes

I really didn’t want to be another.
I tried my very hardest to stay.
I weighed myself down with all I could eat
I was digging my claws in as hard as I could
But I got lighter
And lighter

Thanks for keeping me going

Thanks for keeping all my stuff
Going along…

And one day, if you see me

Through the leaves,
On the fence,
Up the magnolia tree
I can’t promise to be there
I probably can’t come running anymore

But I did, didn’t I?

I came running for you
Like no one else ever did.

I want you to remember things.

These days of ours

 

 

 

 

Some More Little Book Reviews

 

The Bat-Poet by Randall Jarrell with pictures by Maurice Sendak

 

Someone once suggested this tiny book to me, and I’ve forgotten who, but they were right. The bat’s a bit different from his peers – he’s the colour of coffee with a dab of cream in it  - and he longs to write poems about the other creatures in the forest. These are met with blank incomprehension and confusion as much as they are delight. Only the chipmunk seems to understand what he’s up to in this lovely, subtle book.

Of Echoes Born – Stories by ‘Nathan Burgoine

 

I adored this collection of cleverly interlocking stories. They’re all very proudly Queer and Canadian, drawing together a cast of hot, gifted and often psychic men. Very sensitively and beautifully written, I think, conjuring up a kind of utopian village that I want to return to.

 

MAYBE THE MOON by Armistead Maupin

The umpteenth time I’ve read this in the last 27 years, but the last was 2011, so it seemed about time to pick up once again. It’s like spending some lovely, hectic, hilarious days back in 1993 with Cady and Renee and their circle of friends, enemies and lovers, trying to get by and making a living in the cheaper end of Hollywood. It’s last Cady’s chance to get back into the spotlight, ten years after starring as a rubber-encased elf in a classic children’s movie and the book is really about her resilience, wit and talent. Also, it’s a love story at heart, between Cady and Neil, and what really stood out for me on this read was their overnight stay on the island of Catalina. It’s a beautiful episode in a novel that’s sexy and remarkable book for so many reasons. It’s political in a cross and forthright way that I really appreciate just now. It’s Maupin’s best book by a long way, and I say that as a ‘Tales’ fan.

THE CURSE OF FANFIC edited by Paul Castle, from Obverse B...

THE CURSE OF FANFIC edited by Paul Castle, from Obverse Books

 

Here’s a new charity anthology of short stories that I hope you’re all going to want to pre-order straight away! It’s a wonderful smorgasbord of anarchic mash-ups. Each author brings together characters from wildly different TV shows and movies and plonks them into brand new, thrillingly absurd adventures. These are the kinds of stories you’d have dreams about, but never expect to actually read…!

 

Editor Paul Castle has put together a gallimaufry of treasures for the discerning fan – regardless of which fandom you belong to! It’s raising money for Parkinsons UK, so it’s well worth pledging your support to. ‘The Curse of Fanfic’ will only be available for a short while, so do make sure you pre-order from the link to Obverse Books, below.

 

Oh! And my own story is about those fearless investigators, Basil Brush and his butler Chummers from TV Comic, teaming up with Isla St Clair from the Generation Game. Isla has just discovered that her co-star Larry Grayson has been doppel-gangered for some nefarious reason by the Zygons from Doctor Who…

https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/the-curse-of-fanfic/?fbclid=IwAR3aPydHE03fyQREBTDqzHXT0dCJDA8t5E5-lHDM_tvGpcvJrrJOzqgCQ5Y

The Whole Brenda Series Together...

Brenda is Back!

It's August, and that means it's only a month until the whole Brenda and Effie series is relaunched in paperback and ebook by wonderful Snow Books. I'm going to be revealing the new covers over the next few days! Please get ordering your copies...! The ladies have had a few years out of print and they need your support!

Illustrating 'Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster'

If I was to choose one vintage Dr Who book to illustrate throughout, it would be The Loch Ness Monster by Terrance Dicks, from 1976

More Little Book Reviews

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu KawaguchiI found this slow to start, but do stick with it. It’s a deceptively slim time travel novel and, two chapters in, you find the floor opens up beneath you and suddenly you see the point. I love intelligent novels that take science fiction or fantasy tropes and use them for reasons that elucidate human stories. This time travel device – the particular chair, the cooling coffee, the terrifying ghost who nips to the toilet so you can steal her place at the magical table – it all coheres to tell lovely, heart-stopping, interconnected stories of lovers, parents, siblings and second chances. Yep, loved this.

A Book of Lists by Alex JohnsonA witty gift book with hidden depths. It’s a whole book exploiting the fact that so many readers simply love making, reading, poring over and adding to booklists. These are very quirky ones – the bookshelves of heroes and villains, real and fictional. Banned books and burned books and books that never existed but should have. Johnson’s short, digressive chapters are fun and informative and make you feel like you’re in good, chatty, erudite company in a library that’s not just huge but also somehow deeply silly.

Sunny Days and Sea Breezes by Carole Matthews
Carole never disappoints! This is something like the fourteenth of her many novels I’ve read and I’ve loved each one. I’m never sure whether I love the beachy summery ones or the cosy Christmas ones more, but this one is firmly in the summery camp. We follow Jodie as she flees from her awful husband to a houseboat on the Isle of Man. Soon she’s being coaxed back to life by a variety of colourful characters – my favourites being the chatty cleaner and the steampunky statue fella. Romantic but never mawkish and always extremely funny – this is a lovely romance featuring a sexy wood sculptor and his noisy chainsaw (!). I demand a sequel. (SURELY the heroine’s brother is going to visit and fall for the clearly gay statue fella..? I DON’T believe George is going to go off with that grumpy women from the café. No way! He’s Bill’s!)

Lockdown Library (so far...)

Lockdown library. (March 2020 – ongoing…)
The Wounded Sky – Diane DuaneAsterix the Gaul / Asterix in Britain – Giscinny and UderzoThe Hardy Boys: The Arctic Patrol Mystery – Franklin W. DixonThe Mersey Sound – Henri, McGough, PattenLove and Death on Long Island – Gilbert AdairThe ‘Lovely’ Old Dears – David RichardsMister God This is Anna – FynnThe Story of Harold – Terry AndrewsThe Puppet Masters – Robert HeinleinDead Famous – Ben EltonNight of the Crabs – Guy N. SmithThe World is Full of Divorced Women – Jackie CollinsRedhead by the Side of the Road – Anne TylerFearfully Frighening – ed. Barbara IresonIslands in the Sky – Arthur C. ClarkeI’ll Take Manhattan – Judith KrantzConsider Her Ways and Others – John WyndhamDamien Omen 2 – Joseph HowardThe Left-Handed Hummingbird – Kate OrmanOrdinary People – Judith GuestLet the Whole Thundering World Come Home – Natalie GoldbergLittle Me – Patrick DennisA Favourite Treasury of Children’s Stories – Puffin Books, 1996.Me, Cheeta – James LeverThe Thunder Girls – Melanie BlakeThe House at Riverton – Kate MortonDaughters of Rome – Kate QuinnFlavio and the Cats of Rome – Pamela BinnsAlbert the Dragon – Rosemary WeirThe River at Night – Erica FerencikCaligula – Simon TurneyLancelot – Giles KristianSunny Days and Sea Breezes – Carole MatthewsA Book of Book Lists – Alex JohnsonBefore the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Stand MagazineThe New Yorker