Isobel Blackthorn's Blog, page 11
February 10, 2020
A morning stroll in Puerto del Rosario
I had no idea when I booked an entire month in an apartment in central Puerto del Rosario that I would fall for this little port city. Little, as it has a population of 40,000, which is half the population of Fuerteventura. Formerly Puerto Cabras, the city has been the island capital since 1860.
The barrios of Puerto del Rosario fan out from the port up a steepish rise. Ribbons of one-way streets filled with a mix of shops and residential properties are constructed mostly in standard cuboid style, although here and there it is possible to commend the modern architecture with its attention to detail in the facades. So much of the housing stock on the island is relatively new, a boom in tourism and consequent migration has seen rapid expansion in the last few decades. Evidence of civic pride abounds in the street plantings of trees, the carefully designed parks and the plazas.
Pedestrians have right of way, so crossing the roads are not a hassle.
I headed down Calle Leon y Castille, cutting around the back of the church, grandly named Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, to the Museo Miguel de Unamuno, housed in a building that pre-dates 1877, when it appears in a property register.
Lecturer and Rector of the University of Salamanca, Miguel de Unamuno came to Fuerteventura in 1924, after being exiled by General Primo de Rivera for criticising Spanish politics. He stayed on Fuerteventura for about four months, visiting the inland towns and writing his impressions of island. After leaving for Paris, he continued to include Fuerteventura in his writing and for which he has been acknowledged as culturally significant. I am going to have to read this author’s work!
[image error]th Statue of Miguel de Unamuno outside the Museum in Puerto del Rosario
The museum comprises a number of rooms with 14 foot ceilings containing original furnishings arranged around a central courtyard. In the centre of the courtyard, an iron staircase leads to a cellar below. After taking in the heavy furniture, the intricate tiles and the beamed ceilings and having flashbacks to when I lived in a house equally grand in Lanzarote, it was the courtyard that held my attention. I am used to rooms in the old houses leading directly outside. I have not seen an enclosed courtyard created in this style before and find it intriguing.
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After a short dose of history, I headed down to the port, following a road so steep in places stairs had been provided for the faint of heart. I crossed another road on the designated zebra crossing – they are everywhere and very well-placed – and headed along a path beside the water, which soon widened and became a promenade. All along the promenade, just like in much of the city centre, are large sculptures in metal and rock. Here’s a snail.
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Looking back at the city, these buildings caught my eye. The one in the middle is obviously old and I wonder what its history might be. Beside it is one of the city’s famous murals. I have a lot of respect for a city bent on beautifying and creating interest out of its plain white walls.
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Something else that grabbed me was the way the local council had thought of every sort of comfort and enjoyment when landscaping the point sheltering Playa del Pozos. Beside the main walkway along Senda de los Cetáceos lie a series of sheltered and semi-private seating areas overlooking the turquoise waters of this most tranquil beach. I found the entire arrangement charming.
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I arrived on a cloudy day, but still, the water has a lovely hue to it and the chalky mountains make a pleasant backdrop. The beach has so much sand and at the head is a boardwalk for those who don’t want sand in their shoes. I read somewhere that this is not a beach used by tourists as it is close to the port. Still, I would be very tempted to take a dip.
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My destination was the limestone ovens, or hornos de cal. Enjoying an abundance of limestone, Fuerteventura exported lime to the other islands.
I walked up and around the twin ovens in their stout round edifice, and admired the view before taking a short cut home past the shopping mall.
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A two-hour walk and I feel I am getting to know this town just a little bit. Really, I have hardly scratched the surface.
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of two novels set in Fuerteventura: Clarissa’s Warning and A Prison in the Sun.
February 7, 2020
Arriving in Fuerteventura
Flying from the Gold Coast to Fuerteventura to arrive at the equivalent latitude in the north is a journey not to be sniffed at. It took 44 hours of travelling door to door, involving an airport shuttle, four planes, a lift in a car, a ferry and another lift in a car. Those car journeys were originally going to be buses; I was saved that ordeal by generous friends.
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It’s February, and the land is dry. This is my first visit in four years and this time, I am not staying in my old home of Lanzarote, but heading straight to Fuerteventura. I could have flown direct after an unexpected change of initial destination, but I am glad I didn’t. It was nice just to say hello and soak in the atmosphere of the mountains on Lanzarote.
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I had lunch in a cafe in Yaiza and seated below the artworks are other diners. There is something mesmerising about the barren landscape and I love the way the island makes a big effort to present itself well to tourists. It needs to. There’s a competitive world out there.
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And then, with the sun low in the western sky, I headed to Fuerteventura on the ferry, crossing the sapphire water. What a charming introduction to this desert landscape. The shapes of the volcanoes and ranges, the creamy pale browns of the earth; it was as though the island was saying welcome. As the ferry approached Corralejo, I took in the sprawling development of this once tiny fishing village and understood why many here want some sort of reversal of the thoughtless development that has been taking place. As my new friends drove me down to the capital Puerto del Rosario where I am spending the next month, they explained that the road cutting through the sand dunes would soon be closed permanently to all traffic to protect the environment. Seeing a long row of cars parked up on the sand, and the occupants wandering around over the dunes like ants, I thought it about time things like this started happening. There are ways to corral humans and stop them wandering all over the place.
As we drove on, my gaze was drawn by the sapphire and turquoise water on this island of beaches, and also by the mountains. It is a natural landscape that in many ways would benefit from an absence of occupants. But humanity is what it is and the local economy needs to flourish somehow.
What has struck me most so far on the first hours of my trip is the hospitality. The people here are overwhelmingly polite and generous and friendly. They endure my broken Spanish with delight and help me to speak better. They exude genuine warmth that makes me feel at home. The owner of my apartment – which is spacious, clean and well presented – was here to greet me and show me around. A glowing 5 star review guaranteed! I slept well in a very comfortable bed, and I find I don’t mind the various noises coming from the other apartments and from the street and the little park below in this my inner city location. There is something warming hearing Spanish everywhere.
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Here is an example of Puerto del Rosario’s famous murals.
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As I wait for another friend to arrive, I penned this by way of capturing my first impressions. It’s winter. The day is set to reach 21 Celsius. The sunlight of this special latitude of 28-29 degrees is perfect and nourishing somehow. No wonder people from Europe come here for their holidays. No wonder they come here to live as well…
I’m here to write a novel. My third set on the island and my fifth in my Canary Islands collection. Although, I am too tired to make a start today…
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I ended up doing this…
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…with this wonderful man and local artist and photographer JF Olivares who I have been waiting to meet for over three years.
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Suffice to say my photos cannot do justice to the scale, the atmosphere and the incredible silence of the island away from the tourists. We talked and talked and my head bursts with fresh knowledge of the special culture of the indigenous people, the dark history of the Spanish overlords, and the lack of will of modern day governments at all levels to preserve the integrity of Fuerteventura and value it as so much more than a lot of dry dirt to be built on so that more and more can dip their toes in the ocean.
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of two novels set in Fuerteventura: Clarissa’s Warning and A Prison in the Sun.
January 31, 2020
Book Review: Follow Him by Craig Stewart
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About Follow Him
True love doesn’t die – it devours. Just outside the sleepy town of Dreury, a mysterious cult known as The Shared Heart has planted its stakes. Its followers are numerous. More join every day. Those who are lost and suffering seem to be drawn to it; a home for the broken. When Jacob finds himself in need of such a home, he abandons his dead name and gives himself over to the will of The Great Collector. However, love refuses to let Jacob go so easily; his ex-fiancé, Nina, kidnaps him in the hopes that he can be deprogrammed. As she attempts to return Jacob to the life they once had, a terrible fear creeps in: what if there isn’t enough of her Jacob left? When The Great Collector learns of his missing follower, the true nature of The Shared Heart is unleashed. Nina discovers what Jacob already knows: that hidden behind the warm songs and soaring bonfires is a terrifying and ancient secret; one that lives and breathes and hungers. And it’s coming for them.
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My Thoughts
Follow Him falls into that category of horror that draws on the paranormal in the form on an ancient evil, a metaphysical entity of enormous potency. The novel opens with Jacob coming out of a strange trance in which he saw for himself what the worshippers of The Shared Heart thought they knew. He could fly, he could soar, and he had come face to face with the beast. The experience was ecstatic, a privilege, only for the chosen few, and all who worshipped coveted the same. Jacob is lost, doomed and it remains for his ex-fiance to save him. When gutsy Nina appears on the scene, breaking into The Sanctuary to steal Jacob away, the story picks up speed in true thriller fashion.
Stewart has penned a novel with a complex undertow very much pointed at the dangers of religious and spiritual cults. I enjoyed the Biblical overtones. It is no accident that Stewart named his protagonist Jacob – Jacob first appears in the Book of Genesis as the son of Isaac and Rebecca, he who wrestled with God and forced God to bless him. Jacob is said to have experienced a vision of a ladder, or staircase, reaching into heaven with angels ascending and descending, known as Jacob’s ladder. Stewart’s Jacob follows ‘The Collector’, the beast’s messenger, and has out of body experiences that change him forever in the most unpleasant of ways.
The complexities of this theme are cleverly buried beneath an action-led, fast-paced plot laced with sensuality. Well-crafted characters, excellent snappy dialogue, and a sharp and witty narrative style make Follow Him great entertainment. Yet this novel remains ultra-disturbing in every respect. Follow Him is Iain Banks’ Whit on steroids. Recommended to horror/dark thriller fans after their next fix.
About Craig Stewart
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Craig Stewart is a Canadian author and filmmaker who learned how to count from the rhyme, “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.”
He’s a creator and connoisseur of everything horror; never afraid to delve into the dark, and then a little further. His written works include short stories, film scripts, articles, and most recently, a novel.
He has also written and directed several short horror films that have enjoyed screenings across North America.
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: mybook.to/craigstewart
Don’t be afraid to reach out to him on twitter: @TheCraigStewart
Or visit his website: everythingcraigstewart.com
Read Craig’s interview with Fanbase Press here: FANBASE PRESS
Follow Him can be found here – https://www.amazon.com/Follow-Him-Craig-Stewart/dp/194831875X/
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey.
January 21, 2020
Responding to the Fires
It is now three weeks after a devastating bushfire tore through my old home town Cobargo, part of a fire apocalypse that has razed an area of Australia about the size of England. Fires in various locations in Australia are still burning. The fire season is far from over. Used to be called summer. These fires have come off the back of the hottest decade on record on Earth and the second-hottest year ever recorded. In terms of scale and intensity, and duration and frequency, these fires are unprecedented and primarily caused by the insane heat and the relentless drought and the kiln-dry winds.
In the last three weeks I have read countless articles on climate change, on the politics of climate change, and on Australia’s do-nothing while pretending to do something government skirting the climate change emergency. And I have hoped. I have hoped not for a transformation in Australian politics since both major parties are actively pro-coal. But I’ve hoped that the fires would catalyse radical change elsewhere. That governments faced up to their responsibilities. That the citizenry of those countries became roused into action and demanded that those responsibilities will be met. That people everywhere re-assess, and particularly those with large footprints. (In order not to appear a hypocrite, I checked out my own footprint and breathed a sigh of relief when I found it only takes one planet to support me. Only. I could do better and will endeavour to do so. Meanwhile I will carry on with a clear enough conscience helping to raise awareness.)
I had to hope in this fashion. I had no choice. Despite the groundswell of aware and switched on people in Australia, despite an enormous number of folk doing something to make a difference, we are hampered by the great weight of retrograde action and policy from on high. The only way this country’s government will change its shameful attitude is if it is shamed into doing so by other nations.
Therefore, it was heartening to hear that Greta Thunberg has vied for dominance with Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos. That she has a new weapon in her armoury; she can refer to the Australian fires. That she is far from alone in being a young climate activist and many others are gaining attention and taking to the world stage. Young people have plenty of energy and plenty to fight for. I stand in solidarity.
And today, when I read the newly elected Spanish government has stepped up to the challenge, declared a climate emergency and announced some targets I welled up. https://apnews.com/1e946085841af1e942659d4154d75d03
I know Spain has been suffering from a climate changed reality too. They have endured vicious heat waves and droughts and wildfires and storms. But it was this photo that really got me.
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Thanks to the Greta Thunbergs and the Spains of the world I can hope a little. I can hope that the hideous deaths by fire of my acquaintances in Cobargo and all those other human lives lost, that the destruction of homes and livelihoods, that the unconscionable annihilation of over a billion animals, that all that can mean something, can invoke change. Because if this apocalypse does not foster a massive scaling back on CO2 emissions, then nothing will, until the next apocalypse. By then, will it be too late?
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Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey.
Book Review: Bullets, Teeth and Fists 3 by Jason Beech
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BULLETS, TEETH, & FISTS 3
She’s heavily pregnant. She’s handcuffed to a pipe. The clock is ticking. Belle, the heavily pregnant wife of an important man, is bundled into the back of a car, held against her will, and cuffed to a pipe in an abandoned apartment … and her waters are about to break. Belle is desperate for her baby girl to survive and live a better life than she ever had. All she has to do is get one of her kidnappers onside. All her husband has to do is pay the ransom. Will he? The latest in the Bullets series is here – 20 exciting, violent, and sometimes heartbreaking short stories of noir and pulp fiction. Put your gloves on, it’s bloody round here.
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My Thoughts
This short story collection opens with a confronting and fast paced tale of the survival of a pregnant woman protecting her baby in a kidnap gone wrong. From there, Beech takes his readers into urban and domestic settings, some seedy, others banal, and finishing off with a zombie tale. There’s Ross on his way home from the supermarket with the groceries, which should be an ordinary trip, but for the suspicious man pulling out in the car beside him. Then there’s a guy just released from prison, a guy with a dog in the pub. Some stories are flash fiction in length. Others are fully fleshed out. All of these stories plunge the reader straight into the action.
Jason Beech has a pleasingly gritty writing style, chiseled, polished, a touch literary which I enjoy, instantly engaging and perfect for the hardboiled pulp and noir genres. The author infuses his tales with irony and astute observation. Good characterisation throughout and clever storylines, each with a satisfying twist and an unexpected ending, make for a highly entertaining read. Recommended for those who want to switch off the telly and sink into some solid British noir shorts for an evening.
About Jason Beech
Sheffield native, New Jersey resident — writes crime fiction and interviews crime authors at Flash Fiction Offensive. His coming-of-age crime drama City of Forts was described as “tense, atmospheric, and haunting” by UK crime writer Paul D. Brazill.
You can buy Jason’s work from Amazon and read his work at Spelk Fiction, Shotgun Honey, Close to the Bone, The Flash Fiction Offensive, Punk Noir Magazine, Punk Noir, and Pulp Metal Magazine.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Bullets-Teeth-Fists-sometimes-heartbreaking-ebook/dp/B081J2H3SH
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Website: jdbeech.wordpress.com
Twitter: @beech_jason
Facebook: Messy Business
January 19, 2020
Book Review: 113 Hours by Zach Abrams
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133 Hours
Arriving at work to find she’s lost more than five and a half days of her life, Briony has no recollection of where she’s been, or what has happened. Has she been ill or had a breakdown – or could she have been drugged and abducted?
Doubting her own sanity, Briony is fearful of what lies beyond the surface, yet driven to discover the truth. Going through her scarce memories, she realizes that something terrible might have happened to her during the time she has no recollection of.
Assisted by her friends Alesha and Jenny, they team up with a retired detective to uncover the truth. But where was she for 133 hours… and why?
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My Thoughts
A mysterious attack on a young woman who was drugged and held captive for a week, and then finds herself walking through Glasgow train station, dopey and confused and unaware of what has happened to her makes for a compelling opening to this fast-paced, gripping read. Briony turns up for work and is taken in hand by a colleague who accompanies her to the local police station to report the apparent crime. Gradually Briony is reassured as the friend she was planning to meet the night she disappeared rallies around to support her. Suddenly she is surrounded by caring folk. Even her acerbic boss is being extraordinarily nice to her. Can any of these people be trusted? Briony isn’t sure. She also isn’t sure about the flashbacks she keeps having. Are they memories or just her imagination running wild?
Written with all the economy and up-close and personal of deep pov in short sharp chapters, Abrams never misses a beat. The plotting and pacing are terrific. The protagonist is fully developed and believable and I especially appreciated the effort Abrams took to nuance Briony’s emotions. He captures her feelings, the numbness and confusion perfectly, evidence of Abrams own depth and empathy. The police procedural aspects of this thriller are handled delicately and realistically too, something I was pleased to find.
The author keeps you guessing to the very end in this highly compelling thriller that can easily be read in one sitting. Recommended.
About Zach Abrams
Purchase Links:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZT9VRF3
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZT9VRF3
Author Bio –
Having the background of a successful career in commerce and finance, Zach Abrams has spent many years writing reports, letters and presentations and it’s only fairly recently he started writing novels. “It’s a more honourable type of fiction,” he declares.
Writer of the Alex Warren Murder Mystery series, set in Scotland, Zach has also written the psychological thriller ‘Ring Fenced’ and the financial thriller ‘Source’, as well as collaborating with Elly Grant on a book of short stories.
Zach is currently producing a non-fiction series to help small businesses -using the collective title ‘Mind Your Own Business’. The first, ‘So, You Think You Want to be a Landlord’ is already available.
Social Media Links –
Website : http://zachabrams.wix.com/zach-abrams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zach-Abrams-author-463346010364540/
Twitter: @authorway
January 14, 2020
Blackthorn Book Tours: Death of a Young Lieutenant by B R Stateham
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About Death of a Young Lieutenant
Meet Captain Jake Reynolds – pilot, adventurer, art thief, spy.
In the opening weeks of World War One, and as a member of the newly formed British Royal Flying Corps, Captain Jake Reynolds is shipped off to Belgium.
Roped in by his squadron commander to prove the innocence of a young lieutenant accused of murder, Jake also wants to steal a 14th Century Jan van Eck painting.
The problem is both the evidence and the painting are behind enemy lines.
How do you prove a man’s innocence and steal a masterpiece while an entire German army is breathing down your neck?
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My Thoughts
Stateham has penned an intriguing and well-conceived story told mostly through the eyes of daring art thief and forger Captain Jake Reynolds, who is charged with finding out who murdered Sergeant Grimms. Young Lieutenant Oglethorpe, also deceased, is in the frame. Only Colonel Wingate is not so sure he’s guilty. Reynolds heads off to investigate, a task that means he must sneak behind enemy lines. While there, he plots another art theft.
There is much to love in this novel. I enjoyed Stateham’s punchy, rhythmic narrative style. Stateham has taken his literary chisel to his daring protagonist Jake Reynolds and sculpted a complex larrikin of a character that can charm his way out of the tightest of spots. The mystery elements combine in intricate ways that make for an engaging and entertaining read. And there is plenty of action to kick things along to a satisfying conclusion.
When it comes to stories based in history, anachronisms can easily slip in. World War One in 1914 was known as the Great War. But Stateham writes for a contemporary audience and perhaps made his choice accordingly. Death of a Young Lieutenant to my mind would not be classed historical fiction, the genre where such things matter, heaps, with historians quick to demolish a novel for getting a small point wrong. And yet the novel is packed with historical details and the author has clearly researched his subject, especially regarding the history of aviation. I appreciated the realism of the backdrop.
In all Death of a Young Lieutenant will please murder mystery fans who love to be taken on a journey to another time and place, to find themselves in amongst all the action. Recommended.
About B.R. Stateham
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B.R. Stateham is a fourteen-year-old boy trapped in a seventy-year-old body. But his enthusiasm and boyish delight in anything mysterious and/or unknown continue.
Writing novels, especially detectives, is just the avenue of escape which keeps the author’s mind sharp and inquisitive. He’s published a ton of short stories in online magazines like Crooked, Darkest Before the Dawn, Abandoned Towers, Pulp Metal Magazine, Suspense Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, Near to The Knuckle, A Twist of Noir, Angie’s Diary, Power Burn Flash, and Eastern Standard Crime. He writes both detective/mysteries, as well as science-fiction and fantasy.
In 2008 the first book in the series featuring homicide detectives Turner Hahn and Frank Morales came out, called Murderous Passions.
Also, in 2008 he self-published a fantasy novel entitled, Roland of the High Crags: Evil Arises.
In 2009 he created a character named Smitty. So far twenty-eight short stories and two novellas have been written about this dark eyed, unusually complex hit man.
In 2012 Untreed Reads published book two of the Turner Hahn/Frank Morales series A Taste of Old Revenge.
In 2015 NumberThirteen Press published a Smitty novella entitled, A Killing Kiss.
In 2017 a British indie publisher, Endeavour Media, re-issued A Taste of Old Revenge, and soon followed by a second Turner Hahn/Frank Morales novel entitled, There Are No Innocents.
In 2018 Endeavour Media published a third novel of mine, the first in a 1st Century Roman detective series, entitled While the Emperor Slept.
Also in 2018, NumberThirteen Press merged with another famous British indie, Fahrenheit Press. Soon afterwards, Fahrenheit Press re-issued an old novel of mine entitled, Death of a Young Lieutenant.
Now, after all of this apparent success, you would think Fame and Fortune would have sailed into my harbor, making me the delight of the hard-core genre world. Ah but contraire, mon ami! Fame and Fortune are two devious little wraths who pick and chooses the poor souls they wish to bedevil. I remain in complete anonymity and am just as bereft of fortune as I have always been. And apparently will continue to be for a long time to come.
B.R. Stateham has a blog called, In the Dark Mind of B.R. Stateham – http://noirtaketurner-frank.blogspot.com/
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey.
January 10, 2020
Fences for Farmers Fundraiser for Cobargo Area
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For the last ten days I have been thrust back into my old community of Cobargo after a devastating fire razed not only the town but the whole area. I wrote about it. Many friends have lost homes and farms. Many farmers have lost their herds. I have been told the area is scorched earth, like a massive bomb has gone off and flattened everything. Disaster aid is trickling in. People there are struggling and working hard to get themselves and the community back on its feet.
As Cobargo has been part of my personal history since the 1970s I could not stand by and watch. Neither could my daughter who went to school there. She wanted to do more to help. So I asked the community what they needed most right now and I was told fences. Farmers need fences. They need immediate help with basic infrastructure to help them and their animals.
I then phoned the local agricultural co-op and they have opened a special bank account to administer the funds we raise. https://www.cobargocoop.com.au/
We know lots of people all over the world are donating to the fire fighters and the Red Cross and we know there are lots of towns flattened. Our campaign focuses on one area, one group of people and their immediate needs.
Fences for Farmers
Here is our GoFundMe campaign – https://www.gofundme.com/f/fences-for-farmers-around-cobargo
Every little bit helps!
January 7, 2020
Blackthorn Tours Book Review: Hot Splices by Mike Watt
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HOT SPLICES features eight interwoven tales about the Film Addicts, the flicker freaks, the Cinephages – they devour film for the high, to connect to the art on the granular level…the bleeding perforations in their skin is just part of the game.
There are five forbidden films, when run together, can induce madness, or release the Dark Gods that created them, speaking through the psychopathic director.
There is a man on the run, with a lost movie that others would kill to obtain. He barely escaped with his life.
There is a tower, once housing for students, now a crumbling, rotting monument to film history, and the men and women who returned to the tower, to die watching their favorite films.
Beneath the tower, there lies something made of light and shadow. It does not love its worshipers…
If you do not love film…
If you do not wish to devour it as it devours you…
If all you seek from film is entertainment…
…This is not the book for you.
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My Thoughts
Mike Watt has penned an atmospheric and highly immersive horror novel that leaps at you with gore from the prologue’s first paragraph. The story then unfolds in a pleasingly noir vein, all taut clean prose, as Watt takes his readers behind the scenes of old-style movie making and on a journey through its history. The author knows his subject. But Hot Splices is less an exposé of film making and the industry that surrounds it – and there is plenty of that in this setting rich novel – and more a fantastical horror journey involving flixing, in which scenes of a movie are absorbed quite literally through allowing the emulsion on the celluloid to absorb on the tongue, somewhat like dropping acid.
Hot Splices is a fast-paced and compulsive read. At the end there are three short stories that relate to the main tale. The whole is original in conception and masterfully constructed. The characters are well-drawn and the pacing and plot twists executed with an eye on the ball. I especially enjoyed the concept of mixing the flixing, a bit like mixing your drugs, as protagonist Tom Boone, an addict from his teenaged years, imbibes various combinations of old films, a habit with startling consequences.
A unique, highly readable and provocative novel, Hot Splices is a must read for horror lovers and dark sci fi lovers alike. The sort of novel that warrants a second read. Highly recommended.
About the Author
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Mike Watt is a writer, journalist and screenwriter. He has written for such publications as Fangoria, Film Threat, The Dark Side, the late Frederick Clarke’s Cinefantastique, Femme Fatales and served as editor for the RAK Media Group’s resurrection of Sirens of Cinema.
Through the production company, Happy Cloud Pictures, he has written and produced or directed the award-winning feature film The Resurrection Game, as well as Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut, A Feast of Flesh, Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation and the award-winning Razor Days.
He is the author of the short fiction collection, Phobophobia, the novels The Resurrection Game and Suicide Machine, and from McFarland Publishing: Fervid Filmmaking: 66 Cult Pictures of Vision, Verve and No Self-Restraint. In 2014, he launched the acclaimed Movie Outlaw book series, focusing on “underseen cinema”. He is also the editor-in-chief of the bi-annual publication, Exploitation Nation.
Through Happy Cloud Media, LLC, he edits and publishes 42nd Street Pete’s Grindhouse Purgatory Magazine, as well as Pete’s autobiography, “A Whole Bag of Crazy”.
In 2017, he edited the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD novelization by John Russo, and the 40th Anniversary printing of Paul Schrader’s TAXI DRIVER screenplay, featuring a new interview with Robert De Niro, published in 2018 by Gauntlet Press.
Links: www.happycloudpictures.net
www.happycloudpublishing.com
mikewatt.me
https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Splices-Mike-Watt-ebook/dp/B07HFM44VC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13L6LY94YZC3X&keywords=hot+splices+mike+watt&qid=1577484624&sprefix=hot+splice%2Caps%2C463&sr=8-1
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey.
Blackthorn Tours Book Review: Hot Splices by Matt Watt
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HOT SPLICES features eight interwoven tales about the Film Addicts, the flicker freaks, the Cinephages – they devour film for the high, to connect to the art on the granular level…the bleeding perforations in their skin is just part of the game.
There are five forbidden films, when run together, can induce madness, or release the Dark Gods that created them, speaking through the psychopathic director.
There is a man on the run, with a lost movie that others would kill to obtain. He barely escaped with his life.
There is a tower, once housing for students, now a crumbling, rotting monument to film history, and the men and women who returned to the tower, to die watching their favorite films.
Beneath the tower, there lies something made of light and shadow. It does not love its worshipers…
If you do not love film…
If you do not wish to devour it as it devours you…
If all you seek from film is entertainment…
…This is not the book for you.
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My Thoughts
Mike Watt has penned an atmospheric and highly immersive horror novel that leaps at you with gore from the prologue’s first paragraph. The story then unfolds in a pleasingly noir vein, all taut clean prose, as Watt takes his readers behind the scenes of old-style movie making and on a journey through its history. The author knows his subject. But Hot Splices is less an exposé of film making and the industry that surrounds it – and there is plenty of that in this setting rich novel – and more a fantastical horror journey involving flixing, in which scenes of a movie are absorbed quite literally through allowing the emulsion on the celluloid to absorb on the tongue, somewhat like dropping acid.
Hot Splices is a fast-paced and compulsive read. At the end there are three short stories that relate to the main tale. The whole is original in conception and masterfully constructed. The characters are well-drawn and the pacing and plot twists executed with an eye on the ball. I especially enjoyed the concept of mixing the flixing, a bit like mixing your drugs, as protagonist Tom Boone, an addict from his teenaged years, imbibes various combinations of old films, a habit with startling consequences.
A unique, highly readable and provocative novel, Hot Splices is a must read for horror lovers and dark sci fi lovers alike. The sort of novel that warrants a second read. Highly recommended.
About the Author
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Mike Watt is a writer, journalist and screenwriter. He has written for such publications as Fangoria, Film Threat, The Dark Side, the late Frederick Clarke’s Cinefantastique, Femme Fatales and served as editor for the RAK Media Group’s resurrection of Sirens of Cinema.
Through the production company, Happy Cloud Pictures, he has written and produced or directed the award-winning feature film The Resurrection Game, as well as Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut, A Feast of Flesh, Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation and the award-winning Razor Days.
He is the author of the short fiction collection, Phobophobia, the novels The Resurrection Game and Suicide Machine, and from McFarland Publishing: Fervid Filmmaking: 66 Cult Pictures of Vision, Verve and No Self-Restraint. In 2014, he launched the acclaimed Movie Outlaw book series, focusing on “underseen cinema”. He is also the editor-in-chief of the bi-annual publication, Exploitation Nation.
Through Happy Cloud Media, LLC, he edits and publishes 42nd Street Pete’s Grindhouse Purgatory Magazine, as well as Pete’s autobiography, “A Whole Bag of Crazy”.
In 2017, he edited the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD novelization by John Russo, and the 40th Anniversary printing of Paul Schrader’s TAXI DRIVER screenplay, featuring a new interview with Robert De Niro, published in 2018 by Gauntlet Press.
Links: www.happycloudpictures.net
www.happycloudpublishing.com
mikewatt.me
https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Splices-Mike-Watt-ebook/dp/B07HFM44VC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13L6LY94YZC3X&keywords=hot+splices+mike+watt&qid=1577484624&sprefix=hot+splice%2Caps%2C463&sr=8-1
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[image error]Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, dark psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey.
