Arthur Rackham's timeless illustration (from Wikipedia ) There was a big push a few years ago to rewrite fairy tales. Snow White and the Huntsman got a less than warm reception, but Maleficent was more kindly received. Not wanting to be left out, I also had a go at rewriting a fairy tale, although I think I was a little bit late to the party. Memories of the Grand Tour was based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel , and features my only female narrator. I don’t know particularly why I chose a woman’s voice for this one. Generally, I find men in Gothic Horror to be easier to write about, simply because they had more possibilities and options during the time in which I set most of my writing. A Victorian woman sitting alone in a pub, for example, would say a great deal about her character before the story even starts, whereas male characters in the same situation wouldn’t even invoke a raised eyebrow. Strangely, by contrast, both Gothic Horror novels which I am cur...
For more than a decade, Derek Philpott and his son, Dave, have been writing to pop stars from the 1960s to the 90s to take issue with the lyrics of some of their best-known songs. But then, to their great surprise, the pop stars started writing back... Dear Mr Pop Star contains 100 of Derek and Dave's greatest hits, including correspondence with Katrina and the Waves, Tears for Fears, Squeeze, The Housemartins, Suzi Quatro, Devo, Deep Purple, Nik Kershaw, T Pau, Human League, Eurythmics, Wang Chung, EMF, Mott the Hoople, Heaven 17, Jesus Jones, Johnny Hates Jazz, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Chesney Hawkes and many, many more. When I agreed to review this book and be part of the blog tour for the launch, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. This book's subject and way of writing is most unusual...but it works! What a great hobby to write to celebrities, and greater still that some of them would reply, often matching the cheek and wit that was init...