By Neil Gaiman There's a quote on the front of the book from Diana Wynne Jones – 'The best book Neil Gaiman has ever written' – and she may have a point. Gaiman has written some great comic books, excellent short stories (as well as not so good ones) and…
I've really enjoyed the Joe Pitt cycle of books by Charlie Huston (see these four previous reviews), so I was really looking forward to the final book, My Dead Body (even if the title doesn't suggest a happy outcome). I was not disappointed. It was fantastic and a perfect ending…
I’ve had the pleasure of attending author appearances in smallish venues – I saw Terry Pratchett in a small hall somewhere in Canterbury back in the early 1990s, and Neil Gaiman (promoting the novelisation of Neverwhere) on the second floor of a Waterstone's in London in the mid-1990s (back before…
This was the book that nearly made me overcome my reticence to blog – wanting to share my thoughts on this novel and how much I enjoyed it almost roused me from my blogging slumber. Almost. Still, better late than never. I can’t recall the last time I bought a…
In addition to comic books and films, I've also been reading actual 'proper' books with no pictures or anything, so these few notes about them should not be seen as an attempt to impress you with the fact that I can get through entire picture-less books. Having enjoyed the Justice…
Or, the fourth Joe Pitt book by Charlie Huston. Having loved the first three Joe Pitt novels, it goes without saying that I was going to enjoy this book. It is surely the sign of a good book that it entertains you throughout but leaves you almost angry at the…
By Greg Rucka My latest 'Look at me, I read books with no pictures as well' post is still linked to comic books: it was comics that introduced me to the novels of Greg Rucka, and that is one of the many things I for which I can thank them.…
Chasing Dragons: An Introduction To The Martial Arts Film by David West I don't recall the day or date I first saw Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon, but it was one of those pivotal moments in my life, where something changed and future decisions about entertainment and exercise were…
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon When I was an impressionable youngster, BBC2 showed the Basil Rathbone-starring Sherlock Holmes films on Friday at 6pm – thus began my attachment to one of the five most well-known fictional characters. My favourite personification of Holmes was Jeremy Brett, which meant I had…
By Kim Newman Growing up reading Empire magazine, I was aware of Kim Newman as a film critic and journalist, usually reviewing the genre end of cinema and writing articles about movie monsters or fantasy. He is now a contributing editor, still reviewing, and has his own page of Direct…