Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 333

Paying To See Dreams

This was Cinerama, UK-style – in what is now the Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, Soho. A triple-screen-wide experience served by mostly lousy films, it was a fad that didn’t last as long as the current one for 3D. With the cover of my ‘Film Freak’ book heading for press and plans for the [...]

How Writers Have To Choose

Yesterday, Amazon was accused by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee of bankrupting booksellers by using corporation tax avoidance schemes that made it impossible for them to compete. This is the latest skirmish in the war; Amazon’s publishing arm is also being challenged by established publishers. Last week the New York Times reported that [...]

Lucky Australia

Meet Kristen Neel – she’s on the webs a bit this week for her strongly expressed hatred of Obama’s second term, and she’s living proof of why it’s never a good idea to pop yourself onto Twitter without having a brain cell in your head.

Kristen’s had enough and is getting out of Godless America to [...]

Who Knows What’s On In London?

For anyone who doesn’t remember Time Out’s rival, What’s On In London was a listings magazine that leaned heavily on ‘gentleman’s entertainment’ in girlie bars and restaurants called ‘Pigalle’ and the like. It went, as did City Limits (moanier and more hard left listings mag) and of course Time Out dropped its listings to become [...]

Plastic Turns Fantastic

With a full nine months to go before my novel ‘Plastic’ hits the stands, my wonderfully energetic publishers Solaris have already managed to put the book’s cover up on Amazon. I’m amazed and humbled, and just sorry you have to wait for so long!

It feels so strange working with a house that launches long-term [...]

Is There Still Taxi Racism In London?

The other night some friends were out late for the evening, and missed the last tube home. One suggested getting a cab, and another, who happens to be black, shook his head, saying that he’d never be able to get one at this time of night.

Shocked, my white friends insisted the black friend proved his [...]

Could This Be The Secret Of ‘Englishness’?

I’m planning a novel at the moment that’s something new, yet wholeheartedly what you might have expected (or wished to see) from me – a traditional ghost story, with all the right elements in their place. Obviously there’s be a disturbing twist – but basically I’ll be taking on a format that has existed here [...]

Call This An Interview?

Recently I was interviewed by a wheezing old man who asked the kind of questions I usually only get asked in old folks’ homes, like ‘Where’s the toilet?’ and ‘Are you my son?’ But foolishly I agreed to do it, and the result is here, apparently. Once again, it seems that readers’ blogs are infinitely [...]

Films I’ll Be Seeing This Season

They haven’t even listed it on Apple Trailers, but it just opened in London and looks irresistible…

A Curious Collection

A new ‘Museum of Curiositiy’ has been opened by an old friend, the actor Sean Pertwee, that features the kind of Victorian objects you used to find at the back of local museums, including bat skeletons, false eyes and manufactured wonders of a distinctly ghoulish tint.

The galley exhibition was inspired by the ‘Wunderkammern’ of Renaissance [...]