Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 473

London's New Gothic

Yesterday was glorious, a sharp blue Manet morning, a misty pink Monet afternoon, and I took the day off to walk around the city. I went to buy charity Christmas cards in St Clement Dane. The 'Bells of St Clements' church that provides an oasis of calm in the middle of the Aldwych is one [...]

Hidden London

To friends who say that London is losing its secrets, I say 'look a little more carefully.' I'm sitting in my local NHS centre in Killick St N1, waiting for my flu jab and annual medical. It's a modern building, simple and attractive, and I happen to look up to the top of the wall [...]

Writers' Tips No. 2 – Three Hours To Live

First drafts are the hardest. Once you've created something to work with, you can shape it, develop it – but at the beginning there's nothing on the page. Once you've put something down, though, an odd thing often happens.

You find yourself writing something you didn't really want to write, and aren't really interested in. This [...]

The Spirit Of Bialystock & Bloom

This clip is here for many reasons.
Because it's why my business partner Jim and I set up a company (originally to be called Bialystock & Bloom, but mercifully changed to Creative Partnership).
Because we both wanted to put on a show.
Because our partnership mirrored the frenetic relationship between Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.
Because I finally got [...]

The Glamour Of Hammer Returns

I worked on the rebrand of Hammer a few years back – their new logo was designed by my pal Graham Humphries, who you'll find elsewhere on this site. Every time Hammer got sold, the new owners promised to restart film production and never did; they were after the back catalogue of classic films, but [...]

Keeping Up Appearances

FYI, this week I'll be reading around town, with an appearance at Foyles on Tuesday evening for 'End Of The Line' with Adam Nevill and Pat Cadigan (6:30pm kick off), then at the Green Carnation Award Read-Off at Gay's The Word, Marchmont Street on Thursday evening at 7.30pm.

Shedding A Tear For Bryant & May

Well, I just wrote the final page of 'The Memory Of Blood', Bryant & May's ninth novel. In the last chapter I usually concentrate just on Bryant & May themselves, although I've been involving Raymond Land more lately. But it's always a chance to say a few things I feel about them. It's usually an [...]

Unforgotten Authors

For anyone who thought they might never find my column in the Independent On Sunday called 'Forgotten Authors' reappearing ever again, it actually restarted a couple of weeks back and seems to be back for the autumn. Here's the one from the most recent Indie. Hopefully you should be able to find it there in [...]

Celebrity 15: Goodbye Rehearsal, Hello Venue

Well, our intrepid actors have left their rehearsal room in the upstairs of The Pineapple pub, and are heading for our venue to start the technical rehearsals there. Next come the set, lights, props, costumes, hair & makeup (including a wig) and sound cues. So far everyone on the production team has been wonderful, but [...]

Baby It's Barbra!