Very Short Review - Deadlock by Sean Black

Deadlock by Sean Black

I like a good thriller. Something where the pages disintegrate before your eyes and before you know it you've read the book in a few days. Deadlock was just this. Over too quickly yet so much happened. A good holiday or beach read.

Our hero, Mr Lock, must babysit a far-right witness inside the bleakest of penitentiaries the US has to offer. Of course the story moves on, twisting and turning through many surprises, it has to be said one was particularly unbelievable but I guess the story wouldn't have worked otherwise, ending in a fast paced climax.

CafeLit

The kind people at CafeLit have put up one of my 100 word stories - South Of The River After Midnight.

Linky is here

http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/100-worder-south-of-river-after-midnight.html

Raspberry Ice Cream

This is sort of half an allotment update. Everything, weeds included, have grown quite well. One of the results of this has been more strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries than we could possibly eat. Along came a reduced Ice Cream Maker.

Actually, Ice Cream Maker is maybe bigging the thing up too much. Like all so called ice cream makers around the £20 mark, it's basically a food mixer with a freezable bowl underneath. You place the bowl in the freezer overnight and then mix the ingredients until makes a partially frozen mass of cream and other stuff. Partially Frozen Desert Maker would be a more accurate name, but I guess it don't sound half as sexy.

Anyway, the bowl frozen overnight, we treated ourselves Saturday to Raspberry (partially frozen) Ice Cream. Recipe as below, it really was just a case of mushing it all up then pouring into the bowl and letting it chug around for twenty minutes until it's a half-frozen mass of nearly ice cream.

8 oz raspberries
200 ml semi-skimmed milk
200 ml double cream
2 oz caster sugar.

Have to say, despite it not really being frozen enough for my liking, it was fantastic. I guess the sheer amount of raspberries made it so. It would cost about £6 in the shops to buy all these ingredients and end up with only a litre of the stuff, so it's by no means cheap.

As for the allotment, here's the sweetcorn. Nearly ready.

Review - The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

It's hard to know where to start. Seven books (I haven't read book 4.5 or the ones by other authors, just the main series), a million odd words and over six months of my life has been spent in the company of Roland of Gilead and his Ka-tet. Okay so I'm not the fastest reader, but after receiving the first four books for Christmas, I embarked on the quest that is reading the series.

Obviously for such a large series, I've tried hard to not give anything away or ruin anything. You won't find out what happens, but my thoughts on each book in relation to the story as a whole.

The first book, The Gunslinger, introduces us to Roland and his quest for the Dark Tower. I read the revised version so have no idea whether the original was a raw as everyone says. All I know is that it hooked me into Roland and his quest. The combination of Horror, Cowboy and Fantasy sounds unusual, but it works. You don't fully know what his quest is during the first book, I guess Mr King himself didn't fully know at that point, he just knew he had a big idea.

The second and third books see Roland gain followers/helpers who are drawn into this slightly odd world to help the quest. While certainly easier to read than the first book, these set us up well for the latter books. New characters are introduced and the best part of an epic this length is we really get to know the characters. Like most of Stephen King's work, it's the feeding of small bits of information of the world and the characters that really make these not only page-turners but also book-turners.

Book IV, Wizard and Glass - I already partially reviewed here.

V Wolves Of The Calla - My favourite of the series. Whether it's because Stephen King's writing has matured enough by the point he wrote it or it's just a fantastic plot I'm not sure. The book is in some ways a sidetrack to the quest, a town where one of each twin child is abducted every twenty or so years by 'Wolves.' Again, it's a long read and again you can't stop reading. So much so that I thought it seemed rushed, which is an odd thing to say about a 700 odd pages book.

The least two books, VI Song of Susannah and VII The Dark Tower was a turning point. For some reason, both these seemed far two long and contained certain events and a character (not going to say what or who) that just took me out of the story. Reading the last book became a chore in the end rather than the finale it should have been.

I suppose, as a whole I really enjoyed the series, despite the last two books. Maybe the last two books were really one book that had 1,000 too many pages in? I'm not sure as a lot did happen in those books, maybe it was the 'other thing' as I'll call it. Don't know. If I had the choice of going back to Christmas and reading 20 other books or The Dark Tower again, I'd chose this. Life after the Dark Tower is going to be unusual for a while. I've got a shed-load of books I've been wanting to read for six months and I reckon at some point later in the year I'll be reading book 4.5, just to see if it stays true to the fantastic middle segment of the series. I've also started to think of the cat as Oy and keep expecting it to say Ake, which I guess I'm not alone amongst Dark Tower readers as doing.

Vintage comedy interlude - The Dangerous Brothers

Mid 1980's: Duran pissing Duran and Wham everywhere. British comedy was at a turning point. It's hard to believe that less than thirty years ago, saturday night television comedy consisted of vast amounts of sexism, racism and mother-in-lawism, but it did. The spirit of punk bought with it a new wave of, erm, new wave comedians. The Young Ones, The Comic Strip presents and a few years later, Saturday Live then Friday Night Live.

With Ben Elton compering, and his political ranting style of comedy I'd never seen before, Harry Enfield and his various characters, and comedians from both sides of the pond. One of the comedians (Canadian Steven Wright) was responsible for the joke that led to this blog's title. - I bought some Batteries once, but they weren't included.

For me though the best bit was The Dangerous Brothers.

Suppose it was continuation of The Young One's characters that later went on to Filthy, Rich and Catflap and of course, Bottom.

 

If you haven't seen it, The Comic Strips' Mr Jolly Live next door is arguably their best comic work together, and it's got Nicholas bloody Parsons in it too. If you can be bothered to register, it's available on 4OD and no doubt also available at other, less official sites.

Ten Questions - Craig Saunders

I thought I could type quickly, but Craig really does write vast amounts of books as you can see on his amazon page. I first came across Craig's future-based comedy thriller Spiggot, which was memorable for not only the poo Olympics but also a cracking story line.

Tiswas or Swap Shop?


Ha...I'm a TV snob and always will be. I don't watch TV anymore, but back in days of yore it'd be Beeb all the way, so, Swap Shop!


What's your latest book about?


It's a slightly odd supernatural horror, concerning a guy who reaches rock bottom and makes a fateful decision to move away from the high life in London to quieter shores, by the sea in Norfolk. They move to The Estate (cunningly, the title of the book), and discover a dark and terrible entity has taken it over.

That's the nutshell version. It's an intensely personal book, I think. I wrote it longhand (the only time I've ever done that) and there's a lot of myself in it. It's close to my heart, being my first horror novel. I think my publisher Crowded Quarantine Publications and the cover artist Jethro Lentle have done me proud. It will be out in Hardback, Trade Paperback and Digital formats Halloween 2013.


Star Wars or Star Trek?

Time was, I'd have said Wars, but now, with the benefit of hindsight it's got to be Trek. The depth of character, the humanism, the invention, world building, longevity...ooh, I could go on for hours about Trek and it's various interpretations, but in short, Trek all the way.


Where do you write?


I write in the MAN CAVE! Or, to be more accurate, the shed. It's a little better than a shed, but yeah...it's a shed. I write on the 'puter, freeze in the winter, boil in the summer. There's a toilet and the kitchen's not far, plus I can smoke in my shed. And, I've got a rug.

Here's a picture of THE SHED: 

Ninja Turtle or Touche Turtle?


Can't say I've ever seen Touche Turtle, but I know what it is and it seems cute. Ninja Turtles? Don't like them - too violent, especially the modern iterations. I like to keep my kids' off things that make them all fighty!


Is your writing inspired by real events or does it all come from a dark place in your head?


Honestly? Boring answer is, I'm just typing. Stuff comes out. I guess I lean toward the dark, but then horror's not really about the dark, is it? It's just contrast, I think, in a greater battle  between good and evil. I'm quite nice, really. I like nice people and happy endings...but horror lets those 'good' characters shine in a way that other genres sometimes don't.

Plus, I think I'm a fantasist at heart, and my horror, I think, is just an excuse for me to play mental cosplay.

Does that make sense? I don't think it does.

Hehe.

Read G.R.R. Martin's Rretrospective collections for better explanation of 'why horror'. But...(checks question again!) Sometimes it's inspired by places, more often, it's just me, typing and telling lies.


Grange Hill or Harry Hill?


Harry Hill. I hate angst.



 
Physical book or e-book?


Physical! I have a Kindle, but I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of it.


Prisoner Cell block H or H from Steps?



Ha...that's a tricky one. Never seen one, and I think H is the blonde guy? I guess H from Steps, because I think Prisoner Cell Block H is probably some kind of drama, and I'm allergic to all but kids' TV!



Where can we find you?


In real life, I'm a denizen of Norfolk. But in the virtual world, you can find me by typing in 'Craig Saunders' in Amazon, or, as craigrsaunders on blogspot and my FB author page, or @petrifiedtank on Twitter.

http://craigrsaunders.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/craigrsaundersauthor
http://twitter.com/petrifiedtank

Bakewell Book Signing

Well, they were never going to be queueing around the block when I arrived. First book, first signing - it is, as everyone says, more a case of getting to know people and let the world know you exist.

I have to admit I was nervous in advance of it. I mean, apart from signing books, what exactly do you do at a book signing? Turns out that unless you've sold a few hundred thousand already, you wait patiently, talk to anyone who isn't avoiding you, hand out bookmarks and then sell a few.

The Bakewell Bookshop is at a corner of Matlock Street near the main roundabout.

I was in the window to the left of the picture just behind a little table. This ensured that as people walked by, they took a look in and read the poster on the window. There's a Bagpuss or Bakewell Tart joke in there somewhere, except the actual pastries are called Bakewell Puddings, but I suppose there's a joke there too.

After an hour or so of wishing the floor would open and swallow me alive, I sold some books. The first was to a very nice couple, who seemed interested in the story, and bought the book as a present for their friend. I suppose you never forget the first book you sign (I've signed a few others for friends, family, etc but obviously this was different). After that, the floodgates trickled open and at one point I even had someone waiting to talk to me.

Thanks to The Bakewell Bookshop for having me for the day, and for the Test Match updates, all in all it was a very enjoyable day.