I’m sure you know by now that I love bookish events and meeting readers, but like most authors I also crave writing without thinking about logistics! I’m looking forward to a summer break. August 1st will see my final event for a while: the Leamington Spa Book Extravaganza the the Royal Pump Rooms. It’s the same weekend […]
One year ago I launched the second Nightmare Vacations novel: Blood Point — an Irish escape becomes a Midsummer night’s terror. If you haven’t read it yet, the ebook of Blood Point will be 99p/¢ until Lughnasadh, the ancient Irish harvest festival on August 1st. You’ll have to read it to find out why this […]
Last week I closed up Book vs Film: a season of reviews comparing eight novels to their big-screen adaptations. The books won, but as the cliché goes, it’s about the journey, not the destination. The working title for this season of The Book Corner was “good book, shit film”. As group-sourced projects often go, not […]
The Book Corner season 5: Book vs film. Episode 8: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones The whimsical beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’s hit 2004 animation of Howl’s Moving Castle has eclipsed the clever fairytale of Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 novel. Which one’s your favourite? The Book Corner The Book Corner is a regular break […]
The Book Corner season 5: Book vs film. Episode 7: The Colour Out Of Space by HP Lovecraft. Hold on to your sanity for 1927’s The Colour Out Of Space by HP Lovecraft, and its 2019 adaptation starring Nicolas Cage. The Book Corner The Book Corner is a regular break from critiquing for the writing […]
The Book Corner season 5: Book vs film. Episode 6: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Alice Sebold’s 2002 debut novel delivered a bold and uplifting take on a brutal child murder story. In 2009, The Lovely Bones became a film by Peter Jackson, but neither the critics nor the box office warmed to his […]
Most book reviewers do it to share their opinions. As a writer, I want to discover what I think about the craft so that I can improve. That’s where the Book Corner comes in. Book reviewers usually cover new releases and classics (because the algorithms love a classic). My selections are governed by the whims […]
The Book Corner season 5: Book vs film. Episode 5: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Ishiguro’s sixth novel was published in 2005 and its film adaptation, scripted by Alex Garland, was released in 2010. Read on, and I’ll explain why the novel is a great example of bad storytelling that the film fails […]
Amazon has updated Author Central and asked me to recommend five books for five questions. Here’s a few more for your TBR. If you’ve never heard of Amazon Author Central, it’s like a micro-site for every author. You can host a bio, photos, and now suggest books you like. For the update, Amazon asks you […]
The Book Corner season 5: Book vs film. Episode 4: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin vs Tales from Earthsea by Goro Miyazaki A Wizard of Earthsea became an instant classic of children’s fantasy when it arrived in 1968. It launched six novels exploring the wizards, peoples, lands and creatures of the Earthsea […]