Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 72

Stranger In The South

My former agent lived in a small town called Gaucin in Southern Spain, and from her window you could see the coast, the rock of Gibraltar and beyond to Africa (she’s in my short story ‘The Caterpillar Flag’). I’ve arrived in the ‘island’ town of Cadiz, a place I’ve visited a couple of times before […]

Bryant & May: Dream Casting

For a while now I’ve felt that one day, long, long after I am such stuff as dreams are made on, they might make a Bryant & May TV series (funnily enough it’s back on the cards at the moment but don’t hold your breath), so I should have some dream-casting up my sleeve. Oh […]

A London Question

I should know better than to ask you lot a London question because before I know it we’ll be knee-deep in trepanning and taxidermy, but it’s hot, estoy muy cansado and need to push on with all possible despatch, so a short blog today as I’m taking a few days off. Ah, but where to, […]

Who Killed The Classic Murder Mystery? Verdict

The story so far: Critic Edmund Wilson damned the classic mystery writers, but it turned out that his verdict was biased against the British proponents. Discussion ensued here and in one mighty bound, courtesy of Snowy in the Comments of yesterday’s article, we went from bookbinding to foot fetishism, thus beautifully proving the point about […]

Who Killed The Classic Murder Mystery? Pt 2

Edmund Wilson had upset the apple cart with his comments on the perceived illiteracy of the mystery writers, but he wasn’t done yet. He followed his accusing article with another one after receiving outraged mail. This time he cast his net wider, but what he found gave him even greater cause for alarm. Published under […]

Who Killed The Classic Murder Mystery? Pt 1

In 1945 the clear-eyed and cynical Freudian/Marxist Edmund Wilson published an article in The New Yorker magazine entitled ‘Who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd?’ in which he excoriated murder mysteries for their poor literary qualities. It was not the first time he had done so; in October 1944 he had attacked them and started a […]

The Monday Song

Sorry, today you get a song because I took the day off! I worked until 2:00am and as it was a glorious morning thought I should get a long walk in. Later in the week there’ll be books, wordcraft, London, film, all the usual subjects, but now… What is it about musicals set in Scotland […]

Weird & Wonderful London 8

This is the last of the series for now as I’ve decamped to The Continent for the season, to write in a town where no-one wakes up until 10:00am. More to come soon… Wey-hey, music, laughter, booze and a glitter-covered boy in a big frock – it must be another party in London! Yes, except […]

Lit Up

Following on from the ‘Spitfire’ post, here’s another odd radio memory kicked off by Ian Luck, who knows far too much about this sort of thing. As the comments point out, it’s performed by chaps called Public Service Broadcasting. The above photo appears to have been taken in 1970 but I’m assured is recent. Got […]

Every Era Gets The Icons It Deserves

I read a quote somewhere that summed up the journey difference between the UK and the US; ‘When I went from my house to my old job across Texas I realised that the same journey in Europe would have taken me to two or three different countries.’ I love the fact that most of Europe […]