David A. Riley's Blog, page 96

Sherlock

Still the best ever Holmes The Daily Telegraph has asked: Is Benedict Cumberbatch the greatest ever Holmes?

A stupid question really, which anyone who has watched more than a few intepretations of the character would be able to answer No straight away. 

The only way I can enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock is by pretending that he is a completely different character to the Holmes created by Conan Doyle and that he just happens to share the same name - which I don't think is far from the truth. 

The best Holmes interpretation relating to Doyle's original creation must, of course, be Jeremy Brett. I doubt if anyone will ever outdo him, certainly in my lifetime. I do admit that, as a quirky genius criminal investigator, Cumberbatch's Sherlock is outstanding - even if I personally feel that much of what we get in the stories is too self indulgent a lot of the time and far too daft at others. It's a comedy, on a par with Robert Downey Jnr's equally self indulgent, equally daft films. 

"Death May Die" Lovecraft Scary Solstice New Year's carol

Audio version - Fish Eye

One of the great things about having a story published in the Lovecraft eZine is that they also do an audio version. I had a story, Fish Eye, published in the 16th issue. This is a link to download the audio version of this story, superbly well read by Vincent LaRosa: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/lajcaf

Lurkers - The Vault of Evil Advent Calendar 2013

One of the final offerings on this year's Vault of Evil Advent Calendar is a downloadable copy of my story Lurkers, a sequel of sorts forty years on of my first professionally published story, The Lurkers in the Abyss, which originally appeared in The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror in 1970.

Lurkers

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

I have never been a great fan of Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge persona, and despite what I'd heard about this film I watched it with no great expectations of liking it. How wrong I was.

Short enough not to be burdened with any self indulgent boring bits (I wish Simon Pegg would learn from this!) or outlasting its welcome, this 90 minute movie is one of the funniest films I have seen in ages. Steve Coogan puts in a superb performance as the shallow, self-seeking Alan Partridge, while Colm Meaney is perfect as the sacked DJ who turns hostage taker in revenge against the new bosses of the radio station they both work for. The comedy is genuinely funny, sometimes outrageously so. Not only is Steve Coogan on top form, so are the rest of the cast, including Sean Pertwee, Anna Maxwell Martin, Nigel Lindsay, Felicity Montagu, Simon Greenall, Paul Blackwell, Robert Whitelock and Simon Delaney.

One of the best British comedy films for years.

The Manchurian Candidate

I haven't watched John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, starring Laurence Harvey and Frank Sinatra for years. What a brilliant movie which to me hadn't dated since 1961. Still as powerful as ever. It makes me want to watch one of my other favourite Frankenheimer films, Seconds, which I haven't seen since it was last aired on TV far too long ago. I was impressed by how good both the male leads were. Sinatra was a surprisingly good actor.

An Old Rejection Letter

I don't suppose there are many rejection letters that most writers would want to hang on to, but this from June 2 1971 (which I only found again a few days ago) meant a lot to me at the time - and still does. It was from August Derleth, written less than a month before his death on the 4th July 1971. I wonder how many editors of his standing would have spared the time to write a detailed rejection letter like this? At the time, unsure how reliable airmail letters were and whether a submission to the great Arkham House would even get read and, more importantly, at a time before word processors had been invented and every typescript had to be individually typed , I was wary of sending my very best stories off into what might have been a void. I was ready to send off something better next time after receiving this letter, but it was too late.
 
Mind you, I did learn an important lesson from this letter and I never again used Lovecraftian names with such careless ease! And not at all for many years.

Awards

I don't take much notice of awards these days. Although I'm a member of the HWA I don't even bother to list any of my stories, etc on the dedicated area of the HWA's members' forum where members can make available pdfs etc and where they're literally asking for people to take a look at and maybe recommend their stuff for a Stoker.
 
So it irks me when someone who has already won an award elsewhere should ask me to recommend their stuff for a Stoker because they feel they "need to raise" their profile, at the same time letting slip they have already asked someone else to do likewise for them.
 
Perhaps because I rarely say anything about awards or make a big fuss about them I have rarely been approached by people like this, though I have heard that others have been pestered quite a bit. All it results in, to be honest, is to make me feel even more cynical about them. It certainly doesn't make me feel more inclined to recommend a certain person's books.

Before Dawn

Started to watch Before Dawn on the Horror channel last night after we got in from the night's entertainment at the Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre. Here was a British zombie movie starring Paddy out of Emmerdale (which I've not watched in years, by the way!). Had to give up on it, it was just soooo boring. And it was too late at night to stay up watching something as boring as this. Maybe someone will say I should have stuck with it, that it got better later on. If so, I'll give another stab at watching it again some time, but really - a boring zombie movie!!!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1928123/

McFall by Scott Nicholson

McFall
by Scott Nicholson
Published by 47North
ISBN: 978-1477849231

This is a sequel to Drummer Boy and The Red Church, though if like me you have not read either you can still enjoy this book.

A member of the villainous family that plagued the previous novels, the McFall of the title, has come to claim the land that belongs to him. But Larkin McFall is different to his predecessors, subtle, suave, a property developer who draws people to him through the promise of work and big profits. The infamous Red Church, in which his predecessor worked so much evil, he has destroyed by fire to make way for a high class development - though what is found within its burned out embers gives a dark glimpse that all is not as he makes it out to be.

Behind all the bon homie and the modern aspects of his wealth and power, lurks an ancient evil, well hidden by his designer clothes and his apparent desire to help people out. The local sheriff, nearing retirement and still raw from what happened years ago when a different McFall lived locally, is certain about this, even though he can't prove it. But bodies turn up and ghosts from the past are never very far away.

The main protagonists, looking forward to college, are Ronnie Day and Bobby Eldreth, best friends through thick and thin. Ronnie has a reputation for finding dead bodies - a reputation he would rather do without - while Bobby shines as the star baseball player for their high school team with hopes of turning professional if he is lucky enough to be spotted by a scout from a major team. Little by little, Larkin McFall comes into their lives, manipulating them both in what he likes to call a game within a game. Ronnie tries to resist, but he is outclassed. Bobbie, dogged by an over-ambitious father who sees him as a meal ticket to a better life, is easier prey.

This is an engrossing novel, with a fine cast of well developed characters, set within a realistic milleau. The sinister developments are skilfully introduced with cumulative ease as McFall spins his spider's web around  the township.

This is a first class thriller, whose supernatural elements are never crudely overdone. Deaths, intrigues, and betrayals, all play their part in a story that quickly sucks you in with consummate ease. A thoroughly modern, thoroughly intriguing horror novel.