Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 37

Escape From New York

Nobody did cynical like John Carpenter in his early work which explains Snake Plissken: the coolest anti-hero this side of Dirty Harry.

Escape From New York was made in the early 80s and set in the late 90s. The view of what life would be like almost twenty years after the film was made says a lot about John Carpenter and the pessimism of the time. New York's 1997 is a bleak place full of war, crime and dodgy fashions. But at least they didn't have to deal with Tony Blair becoming PM.

New York is one giant prison with the simple rule of once you go in, you don't come out. When the President's plane is hijacked and crashes in New York, the authorities offer war hero turned criminal Snake Plissken a choice: go in and get the President for a full pardon or go in and stay there. Of course, Snake goes after the President, kills lots of people, meets Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau's cleavage and so on. While some of it has understandably dated, its attitude and power are still as strong as ever. The cast (particularly Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef and Issac Hayes) are all superb, and the overall mood hasn't been beaten since. There's some decent bonus stuff on the dvd, but the film itself is the real reason to own this.

I hear rumours of a remake, but sod that. If you want to see how the future could have been and meet the man with the eyepatch, Escape From New York is a must.

Checking in/shortest blog update ever

I know my updates haven't been as frequent as usual lately. I cry your pardon. Been busy with Hospital Road and real life stuff. Normal service will resume shortly.

In the meantime, read some good books and enjoy the crazy English summer.

Working on Draft 2 (Hospital Road)

I recently started the second draft of Hospital Road after my read through and taking notes on its problems and issues. Got to be honest - I was worried about how the second draft would go as the first was weaker than hell. To give it some sense of scale, I'd written eleven books before Hospital Road and the first draft was easily the weakest since my fifth or sixth. I didn't know the characters; I didn't know the meat of the story, and I didn't know how to end it. But after leaving that draft alone for just over a month and reading through it, I saw where the problems were and how to fix them. The first draft was like the foundations for a new house. Now that I've got the base done, I can work on building from the bottom up.

One of the biggest helps for me is leaving that first draft alone for a weeks. It gives me time to recharge my batteries and it gives me some distance from the story. By the time I go back to it, it's easier to see what works and what doesn't. In this case, the characters have grown a bit and I can see where their stories go. I've also had not one but two of those ah-ha moments where plot points come together. The funny thing is if I sit down and try to work out a problem, it often doesn't work, but if I let the back of my head deal with it while I carry on with the rest of my life, it leads to the ah-ha moments and gives me two extremely cool fixes to a couple of problems. It also takes the story in a new direction and gives it some balls.

Anyway, Draft the Second should be done in about a month. Then I'll give it a polish to smooth things over and it'll be ready for its crits. Meanwhile, the back of my head is kicking about ideas for Book 13.

I'm sure it'll be unlucky for some.

The Red Girl - another review

A quick one this morning. There's a review for The Red Girl up here. As always, any and all comments welcome. And if you read it, tell your friends. Tell their friends. Tell strangers. And so on.

Film review - The Squad

I recently mentioned the film The Squad and promised to post a detailed review. Problem is it's a really hard film to review without giving everything away, so I'll have to be brief.

Sharing the occasional similarity with the Korean horror R-Point, The Squad is an effective film that manages to do a lot with a minimal cast and what I'm guessing wasn't a massive budget.

A Colombian military unit are deep in what looks like the middle of nowhere on a mission to get into a fortified hilltop building. While it's not stated outright, the building is base to guerrillas and the unit is ready to shoot to kill. Almost immediately, it's clear the building is dangerous but not for the reasons they expect.

Saying any more will spoil things so I'll leave the plot at that. In any case, it's refreshing to see a horror film that utilises atmosphere and location as well as The Squad does, and one that doesn't state everything outright as if the viewer is an idiot.

If you're a fan of a bit of gore that's in the film for a reason rather than being the entire film, characters with flaws and a great atmosphere, then The Squad is for you.

The Squad

In other news, today is Friday so I'm going to the pub and continuing work on draft 2 of Hospital Road (already much improved from the first draft). Whatever you do, have a good weekend, people.

My interview with This Is Horror

I've done an interview with the lovely people at This Is Horror. Have a read here.

This Is Horror interview

The Pirates and Bob

A couple of weeks ago, a writer came across their book on a particular site. If people who run this site are telling the truth and aren't just doing it for shits and giggles, they have uploaded that writer's book to be downloaded for free. Basically, they're stealing from the writer.

The writer (his name is Bob) is in the middle of a long back and forth with a particular company (who shall remain nameless) over the removal of the site address (which shall also remain nameless) from the results pages. Bob's also contacted the site admin directly and is, unsuprisingly, being ignored. Hopefully, this will all be sorted out pretty quickly and Bob can relax.

Bob's well aware that piracy is never going to go away just as he knows there will always be people who think they are entitled to whatever form of entertainment they want - the film that's not released to cinemas for another three months, the back catalogue of a particular band who've been around for years and so they don't really need any more money, or the debut ebook from a writer who'd like to make a couple of quid from their book, thanks. Bob knows all this. It doesn't stop him being annoyed by people who think they're entitled to something. Bob would like to tell those people that, frankly speaking, you're entitled to precisely fuck all of other people's work unless you're willing to pay for it. That's simply 1. how it works, and 2. fair. Bob doesn't think someone would go to a supermarket and decide they'll walk out with a frozen chicken because they're entitled to eat - without being aware there will be consequences of doing this. Bob would also like to point out the cliche of the starving artist producing their work simply because they have to and aren't concerned with being paid is bollocks that belongs in bad films. The painter, actor, singer, director, or writer creates work because they have something to say, because they hope others will like to hear what they've got to say and because they think it's only fair to have some payment in kind.

Bob knows the pirates won't read this or any other piece online that points out that they're thieves, but he hopes someone who might be thinking of stealing his book will think about the writer who likes to tell stories and would like to be paid for doing so. He also hopes the pirates will all fuck off and die, but that's another story.

Bob would like to thank Luke for letting him take over his blog and promises normal service will resume shortly.

The Red Girl - Amazon reviews

Chuffed to read a couple of reviews of The Red Girl on Amazon. So chuffed, in fact, I'm shamelessly plugging them here.

Amazon reviews

A couple of lines in particular stand out.

"If you like horror and if you like stories of good mates in bad trouble, you really need to read The Red Girl."

"The farther in I got, the harder it became to put down. This book really would make a great movie."

I can live with both of those statements. And as I've said, if you read the book, all reviews - good and bad- are welcome. They're not for me. They're for readers.

The Squad - Colombian horror film

Afternoon, all. Just a quick one today as I'm buried under a top secret mission which may or may not turn out to be cool. Anyway, I watched this last night. If you get chance, check it out. On one hand, it's a decent horror film. On the other, it's very interesting to see how this is done in comparison to mainstream horror such as Paranormal Activity. I'll post a detailed review at some point. For now, though, give it a go.

Ray Bradbury

I've been thinking for the last couple of days of something fitting to say about Ray Bradbury. I didn't want to post about him straight after I heard he died; I wanted to pick up the copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes I have on my desk at work and read the line the lightning rod seller arrived just ahead of the storm again and again. I wanted to open up one of Mr Bradbury's short story collections and select one at random. I wanted to smack people in the face with a copy of Farenheit 451 and tell them to make sure they read, that they always read.

Better writers than me have given fitting obituaries over the last couple of days. All I've got is gratitude for some of the best writing I have ever read, and all I can tell you is that you haven't read any of the man's work, get down to your library and get stuck in. You're missing a treat.

Thank you, Mr Bradbury.

"My job is to help you fall in love."
Ray Bradbury, 1995.