Archive for the 'Written Word' Category

Pratchett on Fantasy and Sci-Fi

14/11/2007

After finishing Hogfather recently I was hunting on You Tube for clips from the Hogfather special that Sky showed last year to see whether it was worth buying it (I probably will, but a cheaper single-disc version seems to be due later this month so I’ll wait). Anyway, I stumbled across a BBC interview [...]

Status Update

21/07/2007

Just back from my brother’s stag week in Amsterdam and the final Harry Potter book is now out. So:

Yes, I have bought a copy.
Yes, Asda are selling it for £5.00 despite the wholesale price being £10.74
Yes, Asda did still have plenty in stock, despite selling 250,000, half their order, before 9am (but a lot [...]

Children of Hurin

26/03/2007

A new book, based on Tolkien’s notes and written by his son Christopher, called the Children of Hurin is due to be released. The book will be illustrated by Alan Lee, who worked on the films. Parts of the story appeared in the History Of Middle Earth (and Hurin is mentioned in The [...]

Torchwood: Another Life

21/03/2007

I have mentioned my neighbors before, more specifically that one of them, Peter Anghelides, write Dr Who novels for the BBC (amongst other things).
Anyway, Peter kindly dropped round a copy of his latest book, which is based on the more adult spin-off of Dr Who called Torchwood (it’s an anagram of, you guessed it, [...]

Sci-Fi not Fantasy

10/03/2007

I’ve never understood why booksellers group Science Fiction and Fantasy together, I just can’t see the relationship. In fact, why do they split it out of ordinary fiction? According to Wikipedia, Science Fiction is defined as:
…a broad genre of fiction that often takes place in the future and usually involves speculations based on [...]

Spacey

10/01/2007

Mark Boulton has written an interesting article over on A List Apart concerning the use of whitespace in page and web design. Particularly interesting is the concept of micro whitespace, the space around words, letters, between lines, paragraphs and list items and how it can increase readability. There’s also some interesting points about [...]

Selecting a Book

16/12/2006

The Guardian has an article on how to choose a book from the growing number of yearly releases. The suggestions boil down to the use of the ‘McLuhan test’ — turn to page 69 and read it, if you like it, take it — check bestseller lists in other countries or pick rising stars [...]

David Gemmell Dies

9/11/2006

I’ve just found out that David Gemmell, one of my favourite authors, died earlier this year at the age of 57. He appeared to be recovering well after a heart bypass operation two weeks earlier.
I found out about this, strangely, from a comment on Amazon left against the second of his Troy trilogy, Shield [...]

Help Wikipedia

5/01/2006

Wikipedia are appealing for more financial help. If, like me, you find the site invaluable, please head over and splash some cash, it doen’t have to be much, as they say on the telly, every little helps.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Whales probably puts it best:
Wikipedia is based on a very radical idea, the realization of [...]

Cheap Books, Free Postage

2/01/2006

In an effort to try and clear some space for my new books (I could have tried to make it sound like I was being very generous, but I’d be lying) I’m trying to help grease the wheels for anyone willing to buy my old books, as such, for the month of January, I’m offering [...]