Mark West's Blog, page 84

My response to George Lucas' latest plan...

not, of course, that he's likely to listen to me.More details here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainme...

This Is England '86

Genius. Absolutely bloody brilliant work - top notch acting and writing, beautifully constructed, difficult to watch at times but never less than gripping. If Vicky McClure (Lol) doesn't get awards for this, there's no justice.

Raft did crime too!

Who knew? Published through Pan Books in the 70s, going into the early 80s, horror writer Peter Raft branched out into crime. Apparently, all of the books are set in Miami (where Raft lived at the time) and just looking at the covers and titles is enough to make me want to read one. These two are my favourites: Don't forget, there's an online presence of sorts for Peter Raft - http://

From a Golden Age...

Just discovered this writer (well, I haven't read any of his stuff yet, but the covers and titles alone make me want to). They don't make them like this any more, do they? I can't tell which'd be the more fun, but I hope to track either of them down - and when I do, I'll let you know!Edited to add:There is an online presence of sorts for Peter Raft - http://peterraft.blogspot.com/

What I'm doing now...

No, I'm not writing a book based on this fabulous film, but rather I'm working on my first ever novel-pitch. It all started at FCon, with a conversation in the reception area and, suddenly, ZoQuNo is back on. I've already produced a (far too long) synopsis (which some of my pre-readers have been through) and now I'm working on the sample chapters. I'm going to open with a bang and a half and,

FantasyCon, Nottingham, 17th to 19th September 2010

After attending many Con's in the past, only for the Saturday, I decided to push the boat out a bit and stay for the weekend. And I'm really glad I did. I caught the train up and found my hotel, the Plaza, immediately (and thank you so much to Mick Curtis & Gary Cole-Wilkin for suggesting it - lovely room, plenty of space, very close to the Con itself).So much happened, it's going to be

Incidents In Quiet Places is now available

Incidents In Quiet Places is my new, digital-only collection, published by Ghostwriter Publications and contains ten of my previously published short stories. These are:A StirringA hiking holiday in the Canuris range of Wales goes horribly wrongRisen WifeA grief-stricken widower is surprised when he opens the door to his newly-dead wife.Cottage By The SeaA holiday cottage, a centuries-old

It's all happening at once!

I had my second meeting at the Northampton SF Writers Group last night and it was very successful - good material to critique (from Nigel Edwards and Tim Taylor), interesting chat and a terrific, creative atmosphere.The Lost Film novella is coming along very nicely. I'm past 12k words now, Bird has seen his first glimpse of the lost film (and experienced the first of many side-effects) and he's

The Lost Film novella's

I managed another 2k words on the Lost Film novella today - Eric Freeny has just had a mental meltdown at a big old hospital in the centre of Oxford. Very enjoyable.As things are starting to move now, my partner-in-crime on this 'collaboration-that-isn't' and I have decided to go a bit more public. My colleague on the project is Stephen Bacon, whose "Last Summer" was, for me, the best story in "

We went to the cinema (on our own)...

...for the first time in ages, since Matthew is at Sea Palling with his grandparents today.On the spur of the moment, we decided to head to Sixfields in Northampton and watched "Piranha 3D" and it was brilliant (the first 3D film either of us have seen at the pictures since the early 80s) - cheesy good fun, with great special effects, a cracking pace and more boobs in 3D than I would have thought