Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 291

Five Unusual London Objects

The huge success of BBC Radio 4′s ‘History of the World in One Hundred Objects’ made me think about writing this some time back but…I forgot to do it. Writers, tch.

London’s rarities get harder to see as private interests hive them off – the most famous example was of Temple Bar disappearing onto someone’s estate [...]

On Being A professional Writer 10: The Long Game

So, you had your first book out and it sold quite well. Sales for the second one were a bit soft – already you’re not a new face. Many authors on second or third novels get branded ‘The New Jo Nesbo (or insert other name here)’, as if Nesbo, discovered by the mainstream just a [...]

If You Don’t Have A Company, You Don’t Exist In London

I Miss London. And somehow I keep missing it.

On the 12th September, the London Film Festival opened its booking to members online, and I was at my laptop with my list of films and a finger hovering over SEND on the stroke of 9:30am. As each green seat on the cinema diagram turned red, my [...]

Q & A

Here’s the text of a quick interview I just gave. I was also just interviewed by a Canadian journalist, Jamie Portman, who was very charming.

When was your first book published, and what were you doing before you were a writer?

I was only ever a writer. I ran a film company, writing documentaries and ‘making of’ [...]

Time Pronounces Hardest On Film

Here’s a double-bill I don’t recommend you try: ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ and ‘Hellraiser’.

I was going through stacks of old DVDs, thinking about what to chuck out as space is a premium, and somehow ended up watching these back-to-back. I used to be mates with Clive Barker and found him a perfectly charming man, and I [...]

My London Novels

It’s often been suggested that London is a character in my novels and short stories, but when I conceive the plot for a novel, I have to make a conscious decision about how much of a role the location will play, with the result that some novels could actually be described as ‘London novels’, while [...]

Re:View – ‘Blancanieves’

There’s been a sense of desperation about Hollywood’s hunt for new franchises in the last couple of years, so perhaps it was inevitable that they’d settle for remaking Grimm’s fairy tales. We’ve had takes on Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel and Red Ricing Hood, none of which have really worked because of [...]

The Middle Class Sweatshop

Lately the conversation around me has been obsessed with the subject. Punishing days, psychotic bosses, unfeasible targets, sleepless nights, zero hour contracts, stress-related illnesses, hours far exceeding statutory regs…welcome to the world of the middle-class sweatshops.

Our idea of bad working conditions used to extend to the image of 10 year-olds with bleeding hands making carpets [...]

Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart: First Look

Okay, here’s the rough we have of the next book’s cover. It’s getting some tweaking, but I think the artist David Frankland is terrific and it’s wonderful to have a consistent set of images for the series. Oh, and as there are several scenes set in London graveyards, it’s very appropriate.

London: Why The Disparity?

It’s the time of the year when cities are ranked in order of liveability, healthcare, education, life expectancy, happiness index, motherhood and various other yardsticks of sometimes spurious excellence, and one thing is clear: London ranks far down the scale, somewhere around the mid-thirties, out of fifty. It seems to be the happiness bit that [...]