Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 378

Well, That Was Fun!

A great evening at the Kitschies with Hammer historian Marcus Hearn and a packed room of Goths and assorted mad readers resulted in plenty of bonkers trivia-packed tales from the golden era of Gothic horror last night. I swear they put the skeleton on the left to make me look fat.

Ruddy Hell!

This is a weird story. The last remaining one hundred Ruddy Ducks in England are to be shot at great expense by a government agency because the Spanish have complained that they interbreed with their own rare white-headed ducks. So far the Spaniards have killed 6,500 Ruddy Ducks at a cost of over £5 million, [...]

Visi, Astro or Gogo?

Goths,I mean – I think the last lot are Welsh. I rather like Goths, if there are still any around. They're gentle and read books.THE KITSCHIES are holding their Goth night tomorrow, presenting prizes in the form of tentacles to the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining genre literature.

The evening features a selection of [...]

Remake Rights & Wrongs

A friend of mine wrote a wonderful novel in the 70s which she can't get reprinted. Publishers suggest that the time is no longer right. Lately, though, I've been thinking; what if I 'remade' it for her? Hardly anyone remembers the book. What if I bought the original copyright and rewrote it for a 2012 [...]

How Much Do You Gentrify?

London has always been a scruffy place, a fat county lady who's come to the big city in the wrong clothes. Even the nice parts often look a mess. We're not Paris, with our spun-sugar cake shops and glittering handbagerias (mind you, we're not Clignancourt, either, which makes Camden look like Monte Carlo). We're not [...]

Middle Aged? Moi?

I think I have a fairly balanced opinion of myself. I'm a middle-aged, midlist author who was able to start writing full-time only because I surrendered my so-called best decades to hard work in a day job. I don't think I'm having a crisis, which I guess is a good sign.

But a number of new [...]

Taking A Stroll Around The Estate

Tonight I am trying to work out a very deranged plot for a novel that could run as another thriller in the style of 'Hell Train', and tend to blast videos around the corners of my screen, including this one by Wretch 32, which makes the once-notorious Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham, North London look [...]

Urban Narratives

A new exhibition, Urban Narratives, is opening at Sumarria Lunn Gallery in Mayfair on March 8th and apparently features a piece based on one of my books.

Matthew Picton humanises the city by deconstructing city maps and imbuing them with the unique history and culture of each place.

In 'London 1940′ four panels depict the different wards [...]

Your Suspicions Confirmed

Superheroes are real – best kites ever.

Northern Humour

This year I'm collecting and rewriting my 'Invisible Ink' columns into a book about once-popular authors who are now being forgotten (the weekly column continues in the Independent on Sunday). One noticeable group of writers is vanishing more quickly than others; the Northern comic authors.

The Northern comic sensibility is dark and dry. The above 48-sheet [...]