Jonathan L. Howard's Blog, page 15

My tweets

Tue, 20:54 : Saw #Dredd again today. Comfortably the best action film I've seen this year, and that includes "Avengers" and "The Raid."

My tweets

Mon, 13:17 : Despite the title, these aren't all board games, but it might give you a few ideas: http://t.co/bkDtq0sF (via @Glinner ) Mon, 13:19 : I also slightly resent its suggestion that, once one turns 50, one loses interest in all but the classic games, e.g. chess backgammon et al. Mon, 18:13 : RT @ChristianUncut: #Fantasycon highlights: the sessions with Muriel Gray - yes she writes horror + @MarkGatiss - genuinely witty + exce ... Mon, 18:14 : RT @2000AD: Anderson is a new kind of female action movie character - Olivia Thirlby talks about the gender politics in DREDD. http://t. ... Mon, 18:16 : @AnneBillson Good to see you at #FantasyCon. Enjoyed your Saturday night panel a lot. Mon, 19:41 : @Richard_Kadrey There's a bit of an MM vibe in "Aloha from Hell," I thought. Admit it, front mounted MGs and flame throwers to the aft. Mon, 20:53 : RT @strangechem: No romance and no talking down to its readers - yep, THAT is what KATYA'S WORLD is all about! http://t.co/XqhPhD5i Tue, 09:12 : RT @WeSatDown: Review: Katya's World by @JonathanLHoward http://t.co/5EBwUgu3 @strangechem Tue, 11:16 : RT @SarahPinborough: I want it. Although I'd call it 'Stories of the future.' “@MissPinks: Love this: The Writers Block Library... http: ...

My tweets

Sun, 14:16 : This interminable journey is finally showing signs of terminabling. Sun, 20:49 : Decided to ignore e-mails until #FantasyCon was over. Just looked at my inbox. Ye gods. I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Sun, 21:00 : RT @ALRutter: So... I am wondering (and please do RT this so I can get a decent idea) - is anyone wanting a YA con? Is anyone currently ...

My tweets

Sat, 13:01 : I have an author crush on Mary Danby, who's just about to start her Q&A. I am fighting the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl. Sun, 09:46 : Spilled some grounds from the cafetiere, and was so distracted that I poured coffee in the milk jug. Bit vague today. Sun, 11:09 : On the train waiting to depart Brighton. #Fantasycon was a great deal of fun. Met all manner of fascinating people. Sun, 11:11 : I'm also carrying approximately a metric tonne of books. Approximately.

My tweets

Fri, 12:27 : Hey, look what I found. The English Channel. It was just lying there. http://t.co/V3xKxF99 Fri, 13:36 : Hull section of downed Zen'ski-ashi scout ship. Brighton beach. http://t.co/gxTUOj8L Fri, 15:33 : I'm all Sandman Slimmed up. @Richard_Kadrey http://t.co/BoSaEbct Fri, 16:59 : RT @swinefever: Book review Johannes Cabal The Fear Institute by @JonathanLHoward http://t.co/n8ANGfiW @scifilondon

My tweets

Thu, 13:15 : No 'phone signal at Freshford Station at all. This must be what it was like in medieval times. Thu, 14:08 : Train trip update. Just saw some pheasants. Hoping to see some peasants, too. Thu, 14:17 : Oh! There's... Ah, no. That's a yokel. Smock's different. Thu, 14:26 : Breathlessly excited to discover Romsey's a real place and not fictional like, say, Casterbridge or London. Thu, 15:18 : Are parkas and button-up shirts back in? It's like an OMD revival across the aisle. Thu, 16:11 : Brighton, I am in you. I sense that we are both bemused by this development.

My tweets

Wed, 14:56 : Not a great fan of crooners in general, but Andy Williams was something special. Very sorry to hear of his death. Wed, 16:42 : Dredd. Yes. This. I agree. http://t.co/sIIbnLLb If you haven't seen Dredd on a cinema screen, you really should. Wed, 16:45 : RT @DrEoinClarke: New �97,478 job in NHS as a "Brand" manager confirms our worst fears about Tory intentions for the NHS. http://t.co/Pm ... Wed, 20:58 : RT @IDMclean: Photo: vampireadamooc: _______ The Further Adventures of Johannes Cabal and Leonie Barrow everyone…  http://t.co/bp7rdOd1 Thu, 10:07 : RT @Chadbourn: Road Kill: Why Mass Murderers Haunt US Highways. http://t.co/DEgXnTpk Thu, 10:32 : Off to Brighton soon for #FantasyCon but can't help thinking I've forgotten something. Oh, yes. Perhaps I should pack. Thu, 10:40 : RT @laurenbeukes: I'd rather you didn't torrent my books, cos you can get them really cheaply and DRM free, no-geo-locking at http://t.c ... </ul

My tweets

Tue, 15:43 : Definitely seeing Mary Danby's interview at #FantasyCon - hard to overstate the influence her Armada Ghost anthologies had on me as a child. Tue, 15:54 : Mary Danby will also be launching this http://t.co/i02STMYs I shall be buying one, and trying not to froth like a rabid fanboy. Tue, 17:21 : By the cringe, two blog posts in a year. This one's about #FantasyCon with a bit about #BristolCon and #Colinthology - http://t.co/p0raoElY Tue, 19:31 : King Kong? Godzilla? Mushroom people? Booze? Ohhhh... the temptation... http://t.co/KWHtb0PK @wshed Wed, 09:30 : RT @abaddonbooks: Today Pye Parr and I came up with Hideous Bouillabaisse and MC Gout, 19th century Parisian rappers. Clearly we should ... Wed, 11:30 : RT @LaureEve: These are just brills. I must start looking out for them. http://t.co/snm51KHO

FantasyCon 2012

Well, I'm off to my first convention in a while -- FantasyCon 2012 at Brighton this weekend. As is always the way, there are things I'd really like to attend that are dead opposite other things I'd like to attend, for example Mark Gatiss talking about TV writing is on at the same time as an interview with Mary Danby. Much as I'd love to hear Gatiss speak, Danby has been a literary heroine of mine since primary school (she'd probably be mortified to hear) when I started reading the Armada series of ghost anthologies she edited and wrote for.

Those books had a profound effect on me, to the extent where, with hindsight, I can point at a detail in Johannes Cabal the Necromancer that is inspired by one of the stories I read from those collections. I didn't write it as a nod to them, even though Necromancer in particular contains a great many wilfully obscure and very deliberate cultural references. I don't think it was a conscious decision at all. It was only later when happening across one of my surviving Armada books (I still have a couple and am loathe to part with them), that it struck me that I'd been holding an image in my mind all these years and it had finally expressed itself in my own writing. 

Which detail? Well, here's a fat sort of hint:



As an aside, while I was hunting down that image, I found the cover of book 5 on Mark Morris' site, and he, too, notes them as a formative influence. 

Morris will be there, as will assorted other folks of much awesomeness such as Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Volk, Kim Newman, Rob Shearman, Adam Christopher, and... well, look, there's a list at the bottom of the site's index page, you can see for yourself. As you can see, it looks to be more of a literary fest than general media (although there's some film stuff). I'm excited. 

And then... come October, I'll be at BristolCon. I went last year and it was good fun, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll write more about that closer the time, but I will point out that the hope is to launch the Colinthology collection then. This is a memorial anthology with profits going to the charity the late SF writer Colin Harvey worked for. The aim was to make it a collection of tongue -in-cheek or generally upbeat stories, and I have a bit of silliness in it that I hope will engender a least a faint sense of amusement in the reader. It also has a beautiful cover. Colin was, by all accounts, a sterling chap and I can attest to him being a good writer -- he deserves to be remembered. 

My tweets

Mon, 14:03 : As much a character analysis as a review, Chris Farnell writes on "Katya's World." http://t.co/Raxkf27U (via @thebrainofchris ) Mon, 14:07 : Not forgetting Katja on "Katya's World" http://t.co/wIQCWwhg (via @k_r_weinert ) Mon, 16:15 : Sign in window of local toyshop, "Furbys are here!" Like it's a good thing. Mon, 17:05 : A shadow over Brighton. The fear, the horror. I'm going to #FantasyCon. Yup, going to ruin it for everyone, 'cos that's what I do. Mon, 17:29 : RT @DailyGrail: Two skeptics see a 'chupacabra'. Excellent, honest piece that gives an insight into the other side of the coin. http://t ... Mon, 20:57 : My current playlist follows Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel's "Sick Man" with Ronald Binge's "Sailing By." Tue, 09:19 : Well, if I'm going to #FantasyCon, I shall need trousers. I think that would be best.