F.R. Jameson's Blog, page 3
August 12, 2019
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (narrated by Stephen Fry)
Listening to Stephen Fry’s superb reading of THE
STUDY IN SCARLET, I realised that I have never properly read the Mormon second
half of the story. At best I can be said to have skim-read it, and I’m sure
there were times when I just skipped it out completely. Moving straight – and without
guilt – to more Holmes at the end.
I’m surely not alone in this. Sherlock Holmes is
already a compulsive character from the first chapter we meet him. There is no
embryonic phase where he isn’t quite himself. And the mystery Holmes and Watson
are presented with here is so compulsive and crackling, that to leave it and
head off on a long digression with a bunch of people far less interesting is an
annoying diversion. I guarantee that I’m not the only reader who has never
given it my full attention.
Listening to it, however, I did pay attention and
– no matter how good a job Stephen Fry does with it (and he does a damn good
job) – there’s no avoiding that it really is a melodramatic slog. A tale of
evil Mormons, a beautiful young virgin and a love story snuffed out by death.
It manages to combine being both overwrought and dull. Of course, what went
before was so brilliant that virtually anything is going to suffer in
comparison, but the change here is particularly jarring.
We can perhaps see already the ambivalent tone
Conan-Doyle would cultivate towards his most famous creation. He creates
something brilliant, but would rather spend a large portion of the book writing
about something completely different. As if he didn’t really know what he had,
or didn’t really care.
Still, Sherlock Holmes is fantastic in this inaugural tale and Stephen Fry does do a great job narrating it. Without a doubt, this is a five star book, even with the longueurs.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
August 5, 2019
A Thing of Unspeakable Horror by Sinclair McKay
Contrary to
what some reviewers of this book say, I’m going to crawl onto the limb of a
creepy old tree and say that the author, Sinclair McKay does actually like
Hammer Horror films
I find it
hard to imagine that anyone would go to the time and effort to write a book
about Hammer films while disliking them, so I think he likes them fine. Besides,
he’s clearly invested enough time and energy in them to know what he’s talking
about,
There’s a flippancy to the book’s tone though, a need to constant make jokes and point out flaws, rather than necessarily extol the virtues. Being a Hammer fan is like being a classic era DOCTOR WHO fan, one loves the flaws almost as much as one loves the good bits. So, we can acknowledge those parts that now look cheesy and crap (and maybe always did look cheesy and crap), even laugh at them, but we don’t necessarily want the rubbish to be the main focus.
All that is to say I enjoyed the book more that some readers, but I just wished it had a clearer view on what was actually good about the films, as well as – and this is the more important point – that it had greater depth. I can’t imagine anyone reading this book who wasn’t already invested in the world of Hammer Horror. But it’s too superficial and skirts over too much to really please those of us who are already invested in Hammer and, since no one else is going to pick up, it made me wonder quite what the intended audience was. I for one would have liked to read more about MANIAC and PARANOIC, the supernatural thrillers of the early 60s – the entire set of which here gets one paragraph.
The whole is breezily written by a man who clearly knows a great deal about his subject and (despite what some online might say) manages a few good jokes. However, Hammer fans – and I can’t see anyone else ever pick this up – will probably be left wanting more.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
July 29, 2019
Seduction by Karina Longworth
The podcast that first hooked me into the
whole world of podcasts wasn’t SERIAL, I was too late to the party for that, it
was Karina Longworth’s YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS. A look behind the stories of old
Hollywood which was sympathetic, empathetic and offered a 21st
century perspective on these old black and white tales. I’d never really
listened to any podcasts before it, but it hooked me in completely.
(Interestingly, at the end of this book, she
says she got this book contract in 2015 when the podcast still only had a small
cult following. I am very pleased to have been part of that cult.)
It’s on hiatus now, but to salve my cravings
I made sure to download her audiobook of her Howard Hughes biography SEDUCTION
– read by Karina herself. For twenty glorious hours it was like having the
podcast back.
Whilst writing this book, she did do a short
podcast series on Hughes, but here we get the proper depth. The lawsuits, the
money, the planes, the glamorous actresses, the stalking, the downright creepy
behaviour and the sink into something like madness.
Longworth tells the tale beautifully.
Focusing on him through the women in his life, be they wives or girlfriends, or
the women he worked with, like Jane Russell. (Fascinatingly, busty, brown
haired Russell is the template of the type of woman he pursued from them on,
but he never seems to have tried to have a romance with her.) Also, the women –
and there seem to be dozens if not hundreds – that he stalked and then kept
under his control.
Even though Hughes is frequently seen through
other’s eyes, Longworth never loses her focus on him. Even as he does his best
to obscure himself from prying eyes, she still finds a way through his defences
and probably does as well as anyone can in working out what made him tick.
Absolutely he remains a fascinating man. It’s hard to imagine a public figure today – with all that money and looks – being allowed to behave quite this badly (although maybe I’m just being naive), or to hurt so many people (although for Hughes other people didn’t have much importance). And that’s what makes his slide into the kind of madness we now associate with Hughes (even if tissue box shoes and bottles of urine are never mentioned in this narrative) never come across as truly tragic. Yes, it’s sad for anyone that brilliant to lose their bearings in such a way, but Hughes behaved so badly throughout his life it’s hard to be truly sympathetic.
Much like the podcast this is a brilliant, sympathetic, empathetic book which is perfectly timely in this post #MeToo age, and is well worth a read/listen.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
July 22, 2019
American Vampire by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King
I’ll be
honest, it was Stephen King’s name on the front cover which truly swung me to
read this. Wanting to see what the great man would do in a different form
(although I have seen his film, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, which is also a different
form – but I try to forget about that). However, once I got into the pages, I actually
found that the King parts were my least favourite.
Telling
duel stories: one the creation of a new vampire in the old west – it’s
notorious outlaw with the name of Skinner Sweet (a wonderful name) who becomes
the creature – and the other, some of the adventures he gets up to at the end
of the 1920s, at the dying end of silent Hollywood. This character isn’t just a
new vampire though, he’s a new type of vampire – one who can walk in the
daylight and has abilities far beyond the staid European old vampires who
inadvertently created him.
King’s half
is the old west set story, the creation of the vampire. And whereas it’s good,
and horror westerns is a genre mashup I always feel there should be more of, I
wasn’t blown away by it. It didn’t feel like there was anything revolutionary
in it, all the beats of the vampire story and the western revenge story that
you’d imagine such a story would hit, it is happy to hit. No, what truly gripped
me more was Scott Snyder’s jazz age set sequel, bringing vampires to the age of
the vamp. Just before Bela Lugosi made a big impression in DRACULA, I honestly
can’t think of another vampire story in that place and time, and that’s maybe
why it feels so vibrant, visceral and surprising.
Rafael Albuquerque’s (another wonderful name, incidentally) art is superb throughout. The whole looks fantastic. I don’t read a lot of comics, but I’m glad I picked up this one. Going forward though, I’m more excited my Snyder’s version than King’s. And I wasn’t expected to be saying that.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
July 15, 2019
The Long Silence by Gerard O’Donovan
The death of William Desmond Taylor is one of those unsolved murder
mysteries beloved of HOLLYWOOD BABYLON and other conspiracy theorists. All
kinds of wild tales have been built upon it – from him being killed by one of
the glamorous actresses he was involved with, or his gay lover, or his old
butler (who may or may not have also been his gay lover) to gangsters he has
inadvertently insulted. There’s no way we’ll know, of course, but nearly a
hundred years later – the combination of movies, murder and mystery – means
that it’s a tale that we’re not ready to let go of.
Gerald O’Donovan here puts the mystery at the centre of a
detective fiction with a distinctly Irish feel. In the immediate aftermath of
Taylor’s murder, the case is investigated by an Irish cop turned movie studio
detective turned private detective, and his questions swiftly lead him into a conspiracy
involving other Irish cops who have gravitated west from New York. There are
more murders, frame ups and kidnappings and the peril never lets up. I’m a
sucker for this kind of Hollywood tale and this is highly entertaining stuff.
What I really loved about it though was the sense of place. This isn’t the Los Angeles of Chandler, instead it’s set pretty much twenty years before. So, it’s a town that feels at the edge of the world; one which still has the pioneer spirit. It’s so well captured and so well drawn (you can almost feel the desert sands on your face) that as much as Chandler’s L.A., it nearly becomes a character all on its own.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
July 8, 2019
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
In which Sherlock Holmes is reinterpreted by a young, wilful
girl who might just be as brilliant as he is….
Sherlock Holmes was a good deal younger than Dr Watson (and
their publisher, Arthur Conan Doyle) portrayed him as being, so that when he retired
to the countryside to raise bees, he was still fit enough and bright enough to
solve crimes and even take an apprentice in the art of deduction.
In the next cottage to him lives Mary Russell, a young
Anglo/American orphan whose mind might be the great man’s equal. Slowly the two
of them form an alliance until they become a crime fighting team of their own.
Just in time, as there’s a new criminal mastermind on the scene.
What Hamilton does here is reimagine the Holmes character while keeping him the same. All the traits are present, the violin, the pipe, the air of condescension and even the opium. But seen through Mary’s eye, he becomes a more dashing figure. Obviously intelligent, but not some irritatingly cerebral. Whereas Watson was frequently left behind, only for Holmes to return later and tell him what he’d been up to and what he’d found out (see THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES), Mary is smart enough to accompany him and so here we see Holmes at the heart of the fray. We witness his brilliance not only in action, but being inspired by a mind just as marvelous as his.
Dr Watson does show up and it’s slightly to the book’s
discredit that he’s in bumbling Nigel Bruce mode, but then compared to Mary
Russell, the old man is going to seem a bit slow.
A spirited, entertaining read for all Holmes fans.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
July 1, 2019
Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb
It’s truly
great to be back in the world of Fitz and The Fool. Over the last six novels,
these are characters I have come to love, inhabiting a world that seems so real
and vivid and thought out. I am unapologetically a fan and will probably always
read these books, even if there’s eventually three dozen of them. So, I love
being back here and this is a book that sets things up beautifully for the next
entry (the ending is, without a doubt, superb), I just wish that for most of
this long novel, more was happening.
Fitz has now retired top Withywood with Molly and is largely out of state affairs. Although Chade does continue to bother him and ask for favours. One day Molly announces she’s pregnant. Given her age, Fitz (and their daughter, Nettle) think that her mind is wandering. That senility has struck. But they get into the habit of humouring her beliefs, of going along with her even as the pregnancy seems to stretch two years. But then, one day – astoundingly – a baby arrives.
There’s a lot
to admire here and there’s a lot to frustrate as well. Fitz continues to be a
great central character and the world around him is getting deeper and richer.
Hobb as always realty knows how to tug at the heartstrings and delivers a
couple of crushing moments. But in what narrative there is, this reader joined
the dots much quicker than Fitz, and waiting pretty much half a book for the
lead character to catch up with you isn’t all that brilliant an experience.
Particularly as there is nothing else to distract the reader. This is a book
which desperately needs a subplot, something to engross and distract away from
the main action – as there simply isn’t enough main action to go around.
Absolutely I will be back for the next installment, as the way it’s set up, I’d imagine it to be brilliant. I just wish there was more to this installment.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
June 26, 2019
Doctor Who Reviews (Extra) – Last of the Gaderene by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss makes no secret of his love for the
Pertwee era of DOCTOR WHO – the incarnation he first saw as a child – and that
affection is everywhere within these pages. The Doctor and Jo are not only
captured beautifully, they feel so vibrant and alive. The Brigadier and The
Master of course both make appearances and Gatiss’s joy in both these icons is
apparent. And what’s more, the book seems to have noticed that Sergeant Benton
was always a better character than Captain Yates and deploys him accordingly.
Whereas most of these novels use the unlimited budget
of the page to create the kind of story that the BBC of the 1970s could never
have pulled off unless they invested the entire licence fee, this one has a
nice homespun feel. It isn’t low stakes, but with its villains walking around
in the bodies of men and its giant worm monsters, it does feel like something
that could have been slotted into 1972 with no questions asked.
There are mysterious happenings in an East Anglian
aerodrome and The Doctor and UNIT arrive to investigate. The local villagers
are behaving strangely, there seems to be something nasty in the marshes and
there’s a strange wind tunnel that seems to be aimed into the sky…
Cracking fun.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
June 23, 2019
Funny Man: Mel Brooks by Patrick McGilligan
Interestingly,
as he remains such a public figure – there’s the guest spots on TV shows,
newspaper interviews, he’s still there with his musicals – the real pinnacle of
Mel Brooks’ career was forty-five years ago. In 1974 both BLAZING SADDLES and
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN were released. Okay, that would be the highlight of most
people’s careers. You’d have to be Alfred Hitchcock or Steven Spielberg to
claim you had better years, but the thing with Mel (and after spending over
twenty hours listening to his biography, I feel I can call him by his first
name), is that not only do the works that follow not reach that pinnacle, they
all have a faint whiff of disappointment about them. It’s not just that they’re
not good enough to match those heights, it’s that they all could have been
better. They all could have been that bit funnier and better crafted.
This
biography reflects this in that we reach 1974 about two thirds through the book,
and even though half the man’s life is ahead, everything after is more rushed than
what went before. Part of that seems to be that the friends he had earlier are
more eager to dish the dirt, while the friends he has now are more loyal – and
so there’s more material to work with from back in the day. But also, it’s probably
the case that there’s as lot less to linger on. Yes, the musical of THE
PRODUCERS is a massive hit, but it’s still a re-tread of what went before,
isn’t it?
Much
like what seems to happen in real life, Mel in these pages seems to be forgiven
a lot because he’s funny. He’s an awful husband (certainly to his first wife
and possibly less than faithful to his second), a neglectful father to the kids
from his first marriage and a man who’ll quite happily screw over his
collaborators. There are frequent temper tantrums and grudges held and there is
perhaps a sense that knowing Mel – even if it’s through twenty hours of an
audio book – is frequently a wearing and trying experience.
Patrick McGilligan does a great deal of capturing the man’s life, even if some things (what his friendship with Gene Wilder was like all those years they weren’t working together, for instance) are beyond the author’s ability to find out. Stephen Hoye’s narration (yes, I listened to the audio version) is superb and really captures Mel’s voice when dialogue (and yelling) is needed. I’m glad I listened to it and it made me think back fondly to THE PRODUCERS, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and BLAZING SADDLES – the last of which I haven’t seen in thirty years and really should revisit – but after so much Mel, I also feel the urge to lie down.
My debut novel, THE WANNABES – which has been out of print for a little while – is now available for free. A supernatural thriller of beautiful actresses and deadly ambition in London town, it’s well worth your time. You can get your copy here!
June 21, 2019
Certain Danger & The Widow Ravens published today!
Today, I need a big celebratory cheer as I have not one, but two new pieces of fiction published. My new novella, CERTAIN DANGER and my new short story THE WIDOW RAVENS are both available now! This weekend, the first is 99c/99p, while the second is absolutely free! That’s two pieces of FRJ fiction for less than a dollar or a pound.
Hopefully you’ll consider that well worth the
investment.
(And as always if you do read them, a review on
Amazon would be greatly appreciated.)
So, without any further delay, let me tell you about CERTAIN DANGER.
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I’ve always wanted to start a book with a car crash.
A big auto smash that is loud, violent and nasty. An
incident to really begin a story with a bang. The old Hollywood maxim of you open
with an earthquake and build from there.
So, here it is: Chapter One there’s a big, gruesome car crash. The singer of 1970s rock band, Certain Danger, dies in a Mini driven by his girlfriend in broad daylight on Cheam Cross.
It’s witnessed by the central character, Alice, and
awakens terrible things within her. Sensations which are not only dreadful for
her, but possibly for the whole world.
What did the singer’s strange final word mean? Who is
the little boy who has invaded her dreams? And how does it all connect with the
dilapidated, mysterious private clinic out in The Surrey Hills?
Even if I do say so myself, this is a gripping story,
one filled with tension and growing dread. With the added bonus of a character written
to be portrayed by the late and absolutely wonderful Peter Cushing.
As I say, it’s only 99c/99p today and is well worth your time. Click here for your copy!
But before I let you go off and start ploughing
through the narrative (and hopefully leaving a lovely review), I want to talk more
about the car crash.
The rock band, Certain Danger actually features in the fourth of my ‘Screen Soren Noir’ series. This is a book which exists in rough form at the moment and which I aim to finish next. If you haven’t delved into it yet, this is my series about beautiful femme fatales and the British film industry of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. It’s the one part of my writing which isn’t horror focused, but there are overlaps and the books – which are crammed full of danger and suspense – are well worth checking out.
In that still to be finished book, it is the lead
guitarist rather than singer who plays a part. Neither of whom is actually in a
good way though.
The other thing I want to mention about the car crash
is the locale.
Cheam isn’t actually that far from where I live in
London, but that isn’t the sole reason I chose it.
Back in 1977, T-Rex lead singer Marc Bolan was killed in a car crash, when his girlfriend lost control of the Mini she was driving. That car crash happened in Sheen, which is also in South West London. But I have seen more than one newspaper/magazine article over the years state the location as Cheam.
However, it wasn’t Cheam at all, it was it’s rhyming
near namesake, Sheen.
So, this book is my opportunity to give Cheam its own
rock star car crash. Its own careering mini and headline grabbing fatality.
Of course, mine is fictional, but in the pages of the book this accident could have dreadful consequences for all of us.
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Also out today – and absolutely free – is THE WIDOW RAVENS. My short story about an interview with the wife of long dead horror author, Jacob Ravens.
All three of my Ghostly Shadows Shorts this summer
are about, Jacob Ravens in one way or another. So, I will have more to say
about him over the next few weeks. But he was a Lovecraftian figure; a pulp
horror author, but one whose writings might not be all that fictional…
Completely free today, it’s time to introduce yourself to the world of Jacob Ravens.
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So that’s a CERTAIN DANGER and THE WIDOW RAVENS, the first 99p/99c this weekend and the other completely free. I hope you enjoy them both!
