Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 369

Cursed Are The Listmakers

I am afflicted with what I’m told is a deeply male disease; the need to collect, to catalogue, to alphabetise, to thematise, to build empirical data, to complete.

It seems I share this with many other writers (far more than with artists, who are often happily disorganised). Today six writers had lunch – we hang [...]

Forgotten Films: ‘Good Morning, Babylon’

This is an occasional series on the films I love which have vanished. ‘Good Morning, Babylon’ is flawed but rather wonderful – and I’d rather enjoy a ambitious flawed film than one that aims low and succeeds.

It was directed by the Taviani brothers. Like their wonderful “Night of the Shooting Stars,” it’s a very [...]

Spanish Flee

They say an Englishman spends one third of his spare time trying to keep his house dry, and having been through the roster of plumbers, roofers and damp preventers for the past eight weeks of solid grey is-it-actually-raining-or-has-the-air-changed-to-water-permanently atmosphere I’m off somewhere dryer – to the mountains of Southern Spain to see my former agent, [...]

More On ‘The Man In The Street Is A Moron’

See what I did there?

As if in answer to the post below, here’s how popularity works in the fabulous modern world we inhabit. There are several jaw-dropping moments in this…

The Man In The Street Is A Moron

Bit of a downbeat column today, but it’s something a group of us were discussing last night. The conversation began because they’ve just released the lineup for the Olympics opening concert, and as Grace Dent in the Independent points out, it looks like Sebastian Coe’s iPod set to shuffle. (Duran Duran? Anyone?) But Grace tweeted [...]

You, Ma’am! Yes, You!

You win the ‘Get surreptitiously photographed on the subway with a copy of one of my books’ competition, the compo I didn’t even know I was running! Now if you care to send me your name and address, I shall post you FREE and GRATIS a gorgeous signed copy of ‘The Memory Of Blood’ for [...]

Does This Mean I Didn’t Win?

Those lovely people at the Horror Writers Association have sent me a very attractive certificate naming me as a finalist for the 2011 Bram Stoker Awards ‘for superior achievement in the Fiction Collection category’. It’s signed by the very coolly named Rocky Wood. While I’m thrilled and honoured, is this the equivalent of the Crackerjack [...]

Re:View – ‘The Revenant’

I was recommended this by my ever-reliable arbiter of exquisite bad taste, novelist and film critic Kim Newman. Saying that he knows a thing or two about the movies is like saying Hitler was quite fond of maps. He reckoned ‘The Revenant’ because it did something so few films do now – it surprises at [...]

Tiny London

Whenever I return to England everything looks so small compared to other countries – OK, I haven’y flown into Heathrow from Lichenstein but I am always surprised by the low light and the small houses.

There may well be tinier buildings – I’m always surprised by the kiosks and bars that get squeezed in between [...]

The Return of the Raincoat Brigade?

As if to prove that erotica is back (see below) in London’s formerly in-yer-face sleazy Soho an underground Mexican restaurant and bar has appeared, hidden behind the facade of a defunct sex shop, so all that lairy neon is now post-modern irony. La Bodega Negra is *reads press release, stifles yawn* a ‘hip new hotspot [...]