F.R. Jameson's Blog, page 30

Doctor Who Reviews (Extra) – The Genesis Chamber

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As much as I looked catching up with The Fourth Doctor and Leela, particularly in a story produced by Philip Hinchcliffe – whose time at the helm in the mid 1970s produced the Gold standard of DOCTOR WHO – The Genesis Chambers is just a bit a dull.

Taking a similar idea as Leela’s first story ‘The Face of Evil’, two groups of human settlers find themselves at loggerheads on another planet. Beyond that though, the story just pretty much sits in its box and throws clichés about. There’s the star-crossed lovers, the old wise man who knows more than he’s letting on, even that most over-used of DOCTOR WHO tropes, an aggressive alien race with mining rights.

There really isn’t much that’s original here or interesting, and the fact that it’s dragged out to three hours makes it feel particularly turgid. At the centre of it Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are both on top firm, yet neither of them ends up with anything memorable to do. Indeed. there are substantial stretches where neither has much to do at all.

It does end with a big deus ex machina, albeit one with a quite good deus ex machina joke sellotaped to the side, but it still feels like a cop out.

So, a story that doesn’t have much going on, takes an age to get what little it has done and can’t be bothered to build up to a proper ending. I really did hope for more.

 

Fancy a free F.R. Jameson short story? There’s one available here.

Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead

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Bawdy, sexy, over the top, flirty and provoking: the Georgia Kinkaid novels may share a lot of the same DNA as the Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series and Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant series – a supernaturally inclined hero tackles occult based mysteries in a city they know so well – but the tone of it is so incredibly different. Indeed it’s pretty much the CARRY ON version.

The key difference though is that whereas your Harry Dresdens and your Peter Grants use the detective story as the template, Georgia Kinkaid feels much more like soap opera. There’s a bookshop as a place of work and various small dramas that arise from that, as well as an array of work colleagues with their own issues. Away from the nine to five, there’s a collection of various supernatural friends, and a mortal boyfriend Georgia is having an awkwardly chaste relationship with. Oh, and somewhere amidst these little dramas, there’s a mystery concerning drugs to be solved as well.

Really, it’s a hang-out novel. You turn to Page One and you just hang out with these characters and enjoy their lives. It means that the plot passes the time rather than grips, but that’s fine as you’re just hanging out and enjoying the scenery. I’m two books in and I’m sure I’ll be back for some more one day, as I now have some cool, demonic Seattle friends, as well as a sexy succubus to guide the way, and I know it’ll be fun to just call in and see what they’re up to.

 

Fancy a free F.R. Jameson short story? There’s one available here.

Me, Writing, in 2017 (the late, late edition)

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Okay, okay, this is a couple of days late this week, but that’s because I wanted to clear the space for the launch of CONFINED SPACES – which is available here, and FREE this weekend!

But you forgive me for my lack of punctuality, right? Good, I’m glad we’re friends again.

Actually, on the writing front as well it’s been a busy week.

Firstly, progress on the new novel continues apace. On Monday I still hadn’t quite finished the rough pen draft of the book, and had the typed draft rapidly chasing it up the rails. Of course I knew what was going to happen at the end of the book, but I hadn’t quite got the words down. I’m pleased to say that the rough draft is now finished, with the typed one itself not far from completion. Rewriting and editing starts in earnest next week.
Then, with that rough draft finished, I had a few mornings free on the train, and I wrote a short story. It wasn’t a long piece and it needs a lot of work, but the mere fact of doing it was important to me. I love that I’m now in the mindset now where every opportunity I get, I find a way to create. I really, really, really don’t want to waste any time anymore!
On the subject of short stories, I also edited three others. I have a short story permanently available on this website (SOMETHING WENT WRONG, which you can pick up here), but it’s lonely where it is and needs some company. As such I want to roll out an expanded version in a few weeks’ time – so instead of one story there’ll be four. There are numerous tales tucked away in my trunk, and I’ve brought out three which I think offer a lovely range of contrasts. So, Thursday and Friday I was polishing them up. If all goes to schedule, those who click the link will soon be able to read strange and exciting tales entitled SOUP, FYTE and AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT CANARY WHARF.
And finally, although perhaps most incidentally – I also joined Wattpad and started publishing some other stuff from my trunk which at the moment I have no obvious place for. The hope is that if I let these odd fragments of ideas out in the open, maybe see them in a new light, get some feedback. (Perhaps I’ll even see someone else do something interesting with them.) Currently there’s only one volume online – THE LAST BRAVO, which is kind of assassin flash-fiction, the doodles of which I’ve always thought might build up to something good, but I’ve never really found the way. If there’s a flaw in this plan, it’s that I’m not sure I’ll actually have the time to promote myself on Wattpad, but we’ll see what happens. Really, it’s just another way to get my creative sparks flying, a chance to take these old ideas that have just been mouldering away and see if they’ll lead into something interesting.

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So, with thinking about marketing as well (and I’ll write a post on that later in the week), a busy week. Writing is in many ways its own reward, but it is great when you’re finding ways to share it with other people.

Confined Spaces

Well the day has come!

My new short story collection, CONFINED SPACES. If you do get chance to download it, read it and leave a review I would be tremendously grateful.

It’s only a couple of clicks away, through these links: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, India.

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There are 7 stories, 7 rooms, 7 trapped individuals.

If I’m honest, it wasn’t a collection I set out to write, but when I started to pull together the short stories in my locker I realised just how many of them were on the theme of being trapped. This isn’t a surprise as I have been claustrophobic my whole life – with a fear of small, locked rooms, lifts and most particularly, potholing – and good little horror writer that I am, I write about what scares me.

Just over half the stories here have been published before, on the now defunct Spinetinglers website, as well as showing up in a couple of compendium collections. This is the first time I’ve brought them together under one banner though, and I’ve written three fresh tales to accompany them. Each of them about being caged, about being caught with no escape, about every exit being closed off.

I hope they give you the chill of enjoyment!

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(If you’re interested in my short fiction, by the way, I have another short tale available completely FREE right here…)

Available today – Confined Spaces

Well the day has come!

My new short story collection, CONFINED SPACES, is published on Kindle today and is available for free this weekend! If you do get chance to download it, read it and leave a review I would be tremendously grateful.

It’s only a couple of clicks away, through these links: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, India.

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There are 7 stories, 7 rooms, 7 trapped individuals.

If I’m honest, it wasn’t a collection I set out to write, but when I started to pull together the short stories in my locker I realised just how many of them were on the theme of being trapped. This isn’t a surprise as I have been claustrophobic my whole life – with a fear of small, locked rooms, lifts and most particularly, potholing – and good little horror writer that I am, I write about what scares me.

Just over half the stories here have been published before, on the now defunct Spinetinglers website, as well as showing up in a couple of compendium collections. This is the first time I’ve brought them together under one banner though, and I’ve written three fresh tales to accompany them. Each of them about being caged, about being caught with no escape, about every exit being closed off.

I hope they give you the chill of enjoyment!

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(If you’re interested in my short fiction, by the way, I have another short tale available here…)

Coming Tomorrow – Confined Spaces

Available for FREE download from Amazon tomorrow….

[image error] “Well, that’s just bloody typical, isn’t it?”

 

Coming Saturday – Confined Spaces

Available for FREE download on Amazon this Saturday…

[image error] “Was he sleeping? Was he alone? A moment can stretch in the dark, one blink of the eye can last hours. His doubt of whether he was asleep or awake, his confusion as to whether he was the sole occupant of his bed spiralled around him. It grabbed on to every nerve ending, bound him, twisted him, convulsed him.”

Coming Saturday – Confined Spaces

Available for FREE download on Amazon this Saturday…

[image error] “The walkie-talkie was a particularly sick touch, Scott thought.”

Coming Saturday – Confined Spaces

Available for FREE download on Amazon this Saturday…

[image error] “The wooden door was locked, seemingly bolted. Trevanion pushed at it, pulled at it, kicked his boots at it, charged it with his shoulder. There was no give at all. He looked around the room – it was solid stone, no other entrance or exit. There was only the door, which was now stuck shut and solid.”

Coming Saturday – Confined Spaces

Available to download FREE on Amazon, this Saturday…

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“Elizabeth strode anxiously back and forth across the hotel room’s thick cream, Axminster carpet. Perhaps it had been arranged that way specifically for her benefit, but the room sported a generous collection of gold-rimmed mirrors, and every so often she would catch a glimpse of her violet eyes peering back. They were horrifically nervous, like a small animal that’s just realised a steel trap has sprung tight around it. Hell! Why try to be so poetic? Her eyes actually looked fearful. When she saw herself in the mirrors, there was a woman unaccountably, but most definitely, frightened.”