Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 46

And The 20th Bryant & May Will Be…

The handsome paperback of The Lonely Hour is out in the UK now, and I have copies to give away in a London treasure hunt, but sadly this is not the time to do it. Hopefully the future schedule wont change. In July the hardback of Oranges & Lemons arrives, to be followed in November by []

What Not To Watch During Lockdown

Everyones telling you about the streamers you should catch up with in lockdown, but what about the heavily hyped ones you should avoid? No, dont thank me, Im happy to share the three claustrophobic experiences below How many times have you asked yourself, I wonder what Alien would be like if it was remade underwater []

Isolation Tales 9: ‘The Lady Downstairs’ Part 2

Perhaps all new Sherlock Holmes stories are doomed to be pastiches because they only work with selected elements of the originals. Its why the Christie, Fleming and Wodehouse reboots feels so necrophilic. But the best Holmes stories are short, so its more fun tackling them. This is the conclusion to yesterdays Sherlock Holmes story.  Well, when []

Isolation Tales 9b: ‘The Lady Downstairs’ Part 2

Perhaps all new Sherlock Holmes stories are doomed to be pastiches because they only work with selected elements of the originals. Its why the Christie, Fleming and Wodehouse reboots feels so necrophilic. But the best Holmes stories are short, so its more fun tackling them. This is the conclusion to yesterdays Sherlock Holmes story.  Well, when []

Isolation Tales 9: ‘The Lady Downstairs’

Sooner or later every writer is tempted to have a bash at a Sherlock Holmes story, even if just for fun. Conan Doyles style is very easy to imitate and his Holmes tales have clear rules that you simply need to follow without bumping into anything its a bit like an Airfix kit. If []

A Cheery Showbiz Anecdote

In my old job we worked with a lot of screen legends and pretty soon you learn to keep your mouth shut about what they say or do, but a piece in the papers about Dame Judi Dench, now 85, being entirely unconcerned about how she was received in Cats, made me remember this tidbit. []

America & The Buccaneer Spirit

Can you have a water cooler moment without a water cooler? Why do we even have water coolers in Britain? Tiger King was a water cooler moment if ever there was one each new character as deranged as the one before, although for me the sanctimonious husband of Carole Baskin was the creepiest of []

Isolation Tales 8: Chang-Siu and the Blade of Grass

I wrote this short fable because I was crushing on Marguerite Yourcenars style of writing, and wanted to catch a similar tone. Ive written several fables and folk tales but wanted to tell a story simply and cleanly, as she does. Theres something enjoyable about writing a tale far divorced from the lives we lead. []

10 Books That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

Literary laughs for the lockdown era Im always wary of authors who write about the rich; it convinces me they secretly salivate about being part of the fast set, like Richard Curtis and Julian Fellowes. Charles Jennings is genuinely hilarious on the subject of the ghastly rich, but in Up North: Travels Beyond the Watford []

Isolation Tales 7: ‘At Home In The Pubs Of Old London’

This story came at a time when I was starting to experiment with form. Looking at it now, its clearly a guide to where we all used to drink in London. My business partner co-owned the Pineapple pub the photo I took of the exterior (above) looks like a movie set and was []