Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 45

Isolation Tales 12: ‘The Night Museum’

Although the isolation is now guaranteed for a further three weeks, I have a feeling that full isolation wont be lifted until at least mid-June, especially with UK death figures still rising. In that case, the last story in this series of twelve Isolation Tales may not be the last. Meanwhile lets end with a []

Please, Spare Me Your Amateur Theatricals

I have some friends who think they live in the 1930s. They are delightful companions until after a meal, when, suddenly imagining that they reside in Downton Abbey, they arrange impromptu post-dinner performances that suddenly involve a stage, instruments and costumes. To make matters worse they are all talented, having had the right education for []

What Did You Do In The Great Lockdown?

  To the outside eye, America is a country now at war with itself. The trouble with the Lockdown is that unlike war its a passive experience. The writers who made capital of their wartime experiences are stumped this time. Theyre already complaining that it will be impossible to write about because its fundamentally boring. []

Isolation Tales: Cupped Hands Part 2

Heres the concluding part of Cupped Hands. The sun vanished behind the water truck, and twenty minutes later the land turned blood-red. A deep star-ranged darkness dropped with the falling temperature. They had both packed mylar travel blankets, because they were light and folded up small. Huddled in the cab, unable to sleep, Neil tried []

Thought-Provoking Lockdown Reads: ‘The World Of Yesterday’

Im embarrassed to admit that the first time I had ever heard of Stefan Zweig was in the credits of The Grand Budapest Hotel. That film has helped to push him back into the limelight and encouraged Pushkin Press to bring out new editions of his essays and his novellas. The subtitle to The World Of []

Isolation Tales 11: ‘Cupped Hands’

I once stayed on a Greek island that had no naturally occurring food or water. Everything had to be shipped in from the mainland. I kept thinking, what if the supply ship fails to turn up? This was the basis of Polly Hopes unsettling novel Here (Away from it all). I think the following story []

Thought-Provoking Lockdown Reads: ‘The Science Of Monsters’

This fascinating book is the kind I would usually prejudge and overlook; it would appear to be a patch-together job on a spurious and rather vague subject, but turns out to be surprisingly thoughtful. Kaplan is London-based science journalist looking at the monsters of legend with a serious eye. I was prepared for a rehash of []

Thought-Provoking Lockdown Reads: ‘The Anarchy’

Each day Ill be looking at one of the five books featured above. Today: The Anarchy by William Dalrymple. Ive enjoyed the Mr William Dalrymples insightful books on India since I read City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi, and once used it as a practical guide. The Anarchy feels like a subject he was []

Isolation Tales 10: The Scent Of Roses

Sometimes stories spin out of unresolved scenes in my novels. When I was writing my extremely niche novel Hell Train, mainly doing it for my own amusement, all sorts of sidebars and anecdotal stories were trimmed away from the main narrative. The book still ended up packing a ludicrous amount of material into a relatively []

Don’t Let Your Brain Die In Lockdown

On one level at least, lockdown has not been as awful as Id imagined. Suddenly theres time to focus and consider whats important, and as Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis pointed out, it had nothing to do with courage or fortitude but decency and respect. The importance of things has reshuffled itself into a new order. []