For all those who I was boring on Saturday night – more info on Carrie: The Musical. Initially produced in Stratford Up Upon Avon for a month before transfering to Broadway – for four days. One of the most notorious stage flops, I have sl[…]

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MASTER OF MAGNETISM?
 

 
The other day I started thinking about Magneto. A summary of Magneto’s comics career (as understood by me) illustrates the qualities and perils of a character-led approach to comics, I reckon[…]

turner prize nomination:
Just 36 words long – good necromantic number that (not inc.three for title) – the Independent’s no-pix cover for its 15 July issue was the best, sparest, most forceful use of a newspaper front page i can re[…]

You Must Remember This – Joyce Carol Oates

I think there is an interesting comparison between this and Don DeLillo’s Underworld, which I reviewed a couple of weeks back. Maybe it says something about a male-female difference in approach[…]

Those Big Russian Novels
 
I’ve had both of Tolstoys big novels on my bookshelves for some years. I’ve used them as bookends, doorstops and once threw War & Peace at an ex-girlfriend. The only thing I haven’t done is read t[…]

I like detective fiction, but I’ve got to say I am not quite so keen on straight down the line mystery novels. It strikes me that what I like about my detective fiction is finding out about the detective, his/her methods and the lure of a stron[…]

Product placement: via Kultureflash comes news of (yes) an art show (yes) with (guess what?) a DIFFERENCE.
Presumably to promote some new motor which they want to position as ‘edgy’ in some way, BMW are sponsoring a group show on the the[…]

Battle Of The Books
I’d not seen this BBC4 show before I stumbled across it last night, and missing the first few minutes I was interested to see what happened to the book that lost. The format, not a million miles from the old Freakytrigger fe[…]

I have just given You Whores a cursory glance for the first time and I was amused soon enough. The idea’s seeming unoriginality quickly dissolves once you recognise the quality of craft and content (simple but stylish and effective design, very[…]

Timewyrm: – Apocalypse – Nigel Robinson (3/10)
  (TARDIS crew: 7th, Ace; VILLAIN: The Timewyrm, The Panjistri)
The third installment of the Timewyrm series was written by another Target novelization alum whose previous efforts focused o[…]