Jared Shurin's Blog, page 27
November 19, 2016
Review Round-up: The SPFBO Finalists (Part 2)
I've reviewed four of this year's #SPFBO finalists already - you can find those here, as well as my (slightly whiny) approach to scoring. The best way to keep up with all the reviews is through this page, where organiser-and-author Mark Lawrence keeps track of the scores and reviews.
This set includes assassins and demons and all sort of fantastic goodies, so let's get stuck in.
Assassin's Charge by Claire Frank
A throwback! Huzzah!Assassin's Charge is easily one of themost readable of the f...
November 17, 2016
Stark Reviews: Lemonade Joe (1964)
Stark says: Wounds, shock, sore feet, Kolaloka will cure all!
Ever since I staggered headfirst into a clip from Lemonade Joe on YouTube, Ive been dying to review it. Who the hell is that? I thought, watching a man with a curly moustache prance through a musical routine, what is this film? Why are those Jan vankmajer-style wax heads spinning around? Wait, IS THIS A WESTERN?
Turns out, yes, Lemonade Joe is a Western: a Czech, Soviet-era, musical comedy Western to be precise. And nothing screa...
November 15, 2016
Villain of the Month: Stringer Bell
WARNING: This months post contains spoilers for The Wire.
Ah, String. Easily one of my favourite TV characters of all time, from one of the greatest television shows ever made, HBOs The Wire. Amid a large and stellar cast of characters, String stands out; only Omar Little gives him any real competition for Best in Show. This is down in part to the suave, physically imposing presence of Idris Elba; he literally towers over nearly everyone else. But its also because, like Omar, Stringer Bell is...
November 2, 2016
Review Round-up: The SPFBO Finalists (Approach & Part 1)
After months of tension and excitement and alot of reading, we're now in the final round of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off.
Ten bloggers read 30 self-published books each. Every blog selected one book for the final. Now, all ten bloggers are reading all ten books in pursuit of FANTASY EXCELLENCE (or, at the very least, a winner). We're eachmoving at our own pace,so the best way to keep up is through this page, where organiser-and-author Mark Lawrence keeps track of the scores and reviews...
November 1, 2016
The Extinction Event: The Last Word
We did so many things wrong.
In the introduction, 600-odd pages ago, Anne mentioned that we launched our first anthology, Stories of the Apocalypse without, well the book. A dozen authors, another dozen family members, a double-handful of supportive friends and a couple befuddled strangers all gathered at Tate Britain to awkwardly scan some QR codes and listen to vague promises of future delivery. We sold three ebooks that day. Not exactly the glorious march into literary history that we ha...
October 28, 2016
The Extinction Event: The Beginning of the End
Tate Britain, the redoubtable art museum, opened an exhibit about the 19th century painter John Martin on 21 September, 2011. Tantalizingly titled John Martin: Apocalypse, the exhibition was intended to bring this mostly forgotten painter, a flash-in-the-pan during his own lifetime, to the attention of a modern audience by associating his gigantic, Biblical paintings with an emerging cultural fascination with the end of the world.
It would be hard to mistake Martins paintings for anything ot...
October 27, 2016
Alex Spears on "Dodo Ink and Risk-Taking Fiction"
Dodo Ink are a new publisher of fiction set up in 2015 by the novelist Sam Mills, book blogger Thom Cuell and myself, with a mission to publish innovative, risk-taking, imaginative and experimental fiction.
We had each had experiences that lead us to believe that there was an audience for novels that didnt fit neatly onto mainstream publishers lists: Thom, onThe Workshy Fop, as a champion of fiction from indie publishers; myself, having worked in the industry for several years and seen an eve...
October 25, 2016
Radio Drama: "The Willoughby Obsession" (1980)
"The Willoughby Obsession" first aired in 1980 onNightfall.
Thoughts Before Listening
Hallo dears. Today I have decided to listen to something called "The Willoughby Obsession" from Nightfall. This show might be exciting because obsession is a very exciting word and so is Willoughby. Due to racism, I also believe that this will be Downton Abbey, Dr Who and Call the Midwife all mixed together. Im not sure if my Indian culture will prevent me from understanding all the words. It probably will...
October 24, 2016
Jurassic London - One week to go...
With The Extinction Eventbehind us, a reminder that extinction itself is only a week away!
Our books are going out of print on 1 November, so if you're looking for some of the universe's best fiction1, strike now!
A complete list of Jurassic bookscan be found here.
Or go shopping on Amazon.co.uk.
Our chapbooks are downloadable for free on Goodreads (and will remain soindefinitely)
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1: This is completely true. I'll totally provide references in, like, early November. Until...
October 21, 2016
Adam Kranz on "Fantasy needs more parasites"
In 1998, Spanish neurologist Juan Gomez-Alonso caused a flurry of bad science journalism by speculating in an academic journal that vampirism originated as a fictional extrapolation of human rabies. The traits were all there. Hypersensitivity to strong stimuli, like bright lights, garlic, and mirrors. Insomnia. Hypersexuality. A tendency to bite, potentially killing their victims or passing on the condition. Furthermore, the peak of vampire fascination in Europe came soon after a well-documen...
