Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 167

The ‘Wild Chamber’ of London parks

Certain geographical factors determine our creative lives. When you travel around Figueres in Northern Spain you quickly see why Salvador Dali painted in ambers and ochres; it’s in the landscape all over the area. Whole views look exactly like his paintings. Writers often explore the issues that surround staying or leaving a hometown to head […]

The New Bryant & May

This is the cover of the new Bryant & May novel, out in May, and here’s the full synopsis: BRYANT & MAY 15: WILD CHAMBER In which Mr May Takes A Walk In The Park And Mr Bryant Gets Lost In The Wilderness Our story begins at the end of an investigation, as the […]

Tech: Why We’re Not Always Keen To Change

We live in a world where everything, even buildings, now has a limited shelf-life (average lifespan of a post-2002 apartment building; 13 years, apparently). I think all creative people are collectors (well, it sounds nicer than ‘hoarder’) and we expect certain things to last. So it comes as a shock to read this about our […]

More Fast Food For Writers!

Steaming into the final furlong of my new (non-Bryant & May) novel, I’m working and eating (and occasionally sleeping) at my table, and as there were a lot of Guess-The-Ingredients comments about my 3-minute salad, here are some more very fast meals you can do wherever you have access to fresh ingredients. Tuna, mint, basil, […]

This Time London Sits By The Fire & Watches

350 years ago (well, not quite – on September 16th), the Great Fire of London destroyed nearly all of central London’s wooden buildings. Samuel Pepys famously watched the conflagration that not only followed the devastation of the previous year’s bubonic plague but also came in the middle of several other events; the Anglo-Dutch war, public […]

Sometimes The Only Way To Create Is To Hide

You know those books and movies where the writer secludes her/himself away in an isolated retreat in order to work? It’s an idea that has persisted for decades, but how useful is it? If you have children, live in a small flat, have a job or a partner and relatives, surely a trip to a […]

A London Bookshop Cornucopia

If there’s one thing I miss when abroad, it’s the quality of English bookshops. As someone who has not watched live television since Winston Churchill’s funeral it’s important to know these places are still around.I miss the bookshops of Charing Cross Rd, most of which have been replaced by cake shops , but there are […]

London Bookshop Cornucopia

If there’s one thing I miss when abroad, it’s the quality of English bookshops. As someone who has not watched live television since Winston Churchill’s funeral it’s important to know these places are still around.I miss the bookshops of Charing Cross Rd, most of which have been replaced by cake shops , but there are […]

Capital Crimes

The British Library has been unearthing forgotten murder mysteries from its stacks for a while now, all with delicious matching covers that look like the old paintings you used to get in separate railway carriages (Anyone remember? Bueller? Anyone?) To be honest they’ve been a mixed bunch, with some dated stinkers mixed in with the […]

There’s A Hole In My Bucket List

You know those books, ‘101 things you should do before you die’? I never get through them. I getbored halfway. That’s the equivalent of taking a gap year and getting stuck doing bar-work in Australia in Month 4 (so I’m told; I left school on a Friday and started work on the Monday, as we […]