Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 443

Speaking Of Foie Gras…

I had to do it. Don't start on about fattening geese (nobody complains about hitting a cow with a sledgehammer to make a burger), I had to run the shot of the world's foofiest starter, as produced by The French. Yes, it's lobster with foie grass and flowering thyme on a bed of lettuce.

Be still [...]

The Wrong Reading

Remember Borders, the toy shop with a few bookshelves attached? I like to think they went bust because readers saw through them, but they were probably just badly managed.
I think of them as I sit down to start a new book. How much longer can I keep getting away with it? This is what I [...]

Back To Work

(I wrote a shorter version of this before but can't find it on the site)

Today I'm siting down with a blank canvas and not an idea in my head. The plan is to come up with a novel synopsis by the end of the week. Fellow writers are always horrified when they see my writing [...]

Playing The Game

A snippet in today's Guardian interested me because of the graceful rebuttal a videogame maker issued to an outraged commenter who complained that, in 'Dragon Age 2′, when you change the sex of your player you can – should you so desire – flirt with those of the same sex. The stance of Bioware, the [...]

Going Toward The Light

I took this just before I left Nice. I'm beginning to see why older people move to sunny climes. Some of us clearly crave warmth and light as we age, just as the young love night. I write enough about darkness to not want it in my waking hours, and have always been drawn [...]

Incroyable!

Rather than snap the roller-skating grannies I went to see this, one of my favourite objects, a lightning-struck statue in the little garden of the Musee Picasso.

I whipped up the coast by train to Antibes to find – it was open! This museum is the Brigadoon of art, seemingly opening to the public once [...]

Nice In Nice

I'm in Nice for the weekend. For central Londoners, the South of France is easier to reach than Devon, and about the same price, and as I don't have a household full of cars – or indeed even move my car, unless there's a cat stuck under it – I don't feel too guilty.

The point [...]

'How To Write' Books

Do you think writing can be taught?

It makes economic sense to a lot of vested interests to say yes, it can. I'm not so sure. Yes, you can learn the structures, tropes and styles of writing, but without the innate ability to tell a story well, you're working at a disadvantage. Not that this stops [...]

Re:View – 'Betty Blue Eyes'

In a West End awash with Broadway musicals – itself, hardly going through a golden age – the arrival of a British original is to be lauded, and Cameron Mackintosh can always be relied upon to try something different (I still have fond memories his frankly bonkers St Trinians version of 'Moby Dick').

I've always had [...]

A New Wrinkle In The Miss Marple Story

It was obviously, really. Sherlock Holmes has recently been turned into a virtually teenaged TV heart-throb and we had a ludicrous Henry VIII in the form of Jonathan Rhys-Myers, so it makes sense for Hollywood to recast the venerable Miss Marple, who solves crimes through her great experience of village life, to be played by [...]