Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 48

Bulletin From A Hot Zone

The ramping of Covid-19 from mild flu to pandemic killing machine has taken a while in the UK, which was complacent after relatively few deaths and the national trait of bolshiness that encouraged street socialising. I suspect the PMs rather eerie Not Quite A Lockdown speech has a hidden agenda. Since it is hopelessly unenforceable []

Isolation Tales 3: The Man Who Wound A Thousand Clocks

I am an obsessive timekeeper. From the windows of my flat I can see two clocktowers in opposite directions, and if I wake in the night I can usually tell the time to within three or four minutes. I am never late for an appointment and get irrationally annoyed with people who are perpetually late. []

Not Stir Crazy Yet

Its been a weird week for me, because far from seeing nobody Ive seen more people than ever thanks to doctors, tests and hospital visits in the middle of a national shutdown. Suffice it to say, bad timing of the very worst order, but I shall deal with it. We shall speak of this no []

Isolation Tales 2: The Mistake At The Monsoon Palace

Changing the tone from the previous story, which was written very early on in my career, this tale was based on something that actually happened to me in India. It was first published in the collection Red Gloves in 2011. The edition was small press, but a very beautiful hardback volume of 25 new stories, []

Isolation Tales 1: Dale & Wayne Go Shopping

As we head into the steeply rising curve of Covid-19 Ive decided to publish some stories online, just in case anyone gets fed up with watching reruns of Dads Army. Heres one requested specifically for these troubled shopping times, set in a supermarket even worse than the ones in Kings Cross. It was first published []

Self-Isolating Stories 1: Dale & Wayne Go Shopping

As we head into the steeply rising curve of Covid-19 Ive decided to publish some stories online, just in case anyone gets fed up with watching reruns of Dads Army. Heres one requested specifically for these troubled shopping times, set in a supermarket even worse than the ones in Kings Cross. It was first published []

Two Cheers For Publication Day!

The Lonely Hour, Bryant & Mays latest murder mystery, is out in paperback from today. I wont be celebrating as Im fasting prior to a hospital exploration bad timing perhaps but life is full of bad timing, nest pas? If youre planning to buy a copy, you can help your local bookshop by ordering through []

The Really, Really Big Book Of Short Stories

When I decided to stop writing short fiction, it was for a number of reasons. I was overloaded with contracted novels. Short genre fiction was fun to do but financially worthless and too many anthologies were edited without any sort of critical judgement. A good editor can lift an anthology head and shoulders above the rest []

The Long And The Short Of It

Stuck indoors? Feeling cooped up? Day 4 of my self-incarceration found me asking what exactly it is I did when I went out so much. It couldnt just have been shopping and meeting friends, could it? Admittedly Im in an unusual situation; my home is half-inside, half-outside because everything inside faces out, so I am []

Self-Immolation More Like

Indoors with a cup of tea. SoIm undergoing an exploratory next Saturday in hospital and keeping myself germ-free in order to be admitted. As a result Im semi-self-isolating (ie friends are coming here for dinner). The British attitude to the virus is illustrative of our national character its all a bit half-hearted. The pubs, []