Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 118

Where Can You Find Forgotten Authors?

The same question keeps coming up when I do Q&As; Where can I find more forgotten authors? Luckily, books seem to be going through a boom time in the UK, with many new bookshops opening.Electronic reading has found its rightful place, as a useful travelling companion, and has increased the sales of physical books. There […]

The Slow Death Of A Library

It should have had a poster in its window: Kids! Read Books Here Without Paying For Them! Instead were just warnings and notices of shorter opening times. A disfiguring red plastic sign had been affixed above the door, information without grace. Libraries always held a sacred place in my heart. They are utilities as necessary as […]

From The Slush Pile…

At this time of the year agents and editorial assistants heave a sigh and turn to the great stack of manuscripts that have been emailed to them over Christmas. The truth about the slush pile is that actually agents quite like them, but discard 95% of all submissions within a page or two because the […]

Cruel, Surreal, Disturbing: The Oddities Of British Humour

Two British things are especially hard to explain and often impossible to understand; cricket and comedy. My mantra on the subject is that slapstick travels across cultural barriers but wit does not. Reading Norman Collins’ ‘The Three Friends’, published in 1935, I find myself noting certain phrases he uses because they are funny while being […]

The Year I Finally Lost Faith In British Politics

There had been times before; notably, when Edward Heath’s electability as Prime Minister hung on his ability to win a yacht race for the electorate, and again when the grey accountant John Major filled the country with red tape-bound middle managers. And who could forget Gordon Brown, fine as a best supporting actor but useless […]

The Perfect Cocktail: Words, Music & Images

I play music while I work, to the point where I suspect I can’t work without it. First, its cadences seem to help the rhythm of language. Second, it masks my tinnitus. Lyrics tend to interfere, and I’ve often found them an annoyance. So, it seems, do other people; the lyricists of ‘La La Land’ […]

How Authors Were Shaped By Their Readers

I still search for reasons why men aren’t reading fiction, and wonder if the time-consuming habit of box set bingeing has made a difference. Apart from the vast difference between enjoying prose and watching images, is watching the whole of ‘The Night Manager’ different to reading the novel in one sitting? How does anyone find […]

My iPhone X Review

I know, it’s just a phone. But in the same way that Lyra, the heroine of ‘His Dark Materials’ has a daemon always at her side, phones have become our inseparable equivalent.  I have a very few bits of tech I keep up to date, but this is one. It’s already a cliche, but the […]

End Of Year Q&A

It feels like I did a million Q&As this year, but I realised I hadn’t done one for you. So today you’re the guest editor. You can ask me anything you ever wanted to ask about writers and writing, or any aspect of the arts, and I’ll try to give you some concise answers. Imagine […]

Advice From A Snapper

This post was inspired by a very good BBC article about David Hurn, a dyslexic Welsh schoolboy who through luck and good judgement became one of the world’s few elite Magnum photographers, taking some of the 20th century’s most iconic photographs. In the article Hurn, now 83, asks himself how he managed to reach this […]