Travelling Light to Saint-Malo

The best flight I ever had was in a Cessna light aircraft only slightly larger than the car I’d driven to the airport to catch it. We flew roughly 300 miles, from Nottingham to Saint-Malo, and we had big grins on our faces pretty much all the way. The “we” in question was a group … Continue reading Travelling Light to Saint-Malo

When Dragoncharm went to Hollywood (almost)

Some years ago, my novel Dragoncharm was optioned for movie production. I’ve mentioned it briefly on my blog here, but enough people have shown an interest to convince me it’s worth talking about at more length. Besides, it suits my current nostalgic mood. Dragoncharm – a fantasy adventure novel with a cast made up exclusively … Continue reading When Dragoncharm went to Hollywood (almost)

Spaceships with thousands of tiny windows

When I was a kid looking for my next spaceship fix, there was no better place to get it than the local bookshop. All those covers! A riot of hardware! It was glorious, all the more so because the bookshop was pretty much the only venue you could see such things. Yes, I’m talking pre-internet, … Continue reading Spaceships with thousands of tiny windows

>Beneath the Loch video

>Some years ago I worked for a company that created theme park rides and visitor attractions. While there, I wrote a multimedia "history and myth" show called Beneath the Loch, aimed at families and children. The show used triptych video, surround-sound and animatronics to tell the story of a young otter who embarks on a … Continue reading >Beneath the Loch video

>Get your free comic strip here!

>I thought I'd kick off the New Year with a free gift.Digging around in my bookshelves over Christmas, I turned up a copy of Colossus, a science fiction comic strip magazine I self-published with my friend Andy Wicks way back in 1985. After leafing through it in teary-eyed nostalgia, I thought it might be fun … Continue reading >Get your free comic strip here!

>Talisman and Dome

>My appreciation of Stephen King started with the 1979 TV version of Salem's Lot, which had us all talking in the school playground about how we hadn't slept a wink after watching David Soul go up against Mr Barlow. After that initiation, my first reading experience wasn't that great. As a teenager I borrowed Pet … Continue reading >Talisman and Dome

>Opening the 8mm archive

>As threatened, here are a couple of bits of animation from those scratchy old 8mm movies I used to make back in the '80s. Since taking these first tentative steps I've had the joy of producing rather slicker pieces of work using pixels rather than plasticene. But hey, we all start somewhere!First up is the … Continue reading >Opening the 8mm archive

Dig the demonic dressing gown

Updated September 2021 with montage of stills and video clip One of my earliest adventures in fantasy film-making was the epic Fever, made in collaboration with my long-time buddy Phil Tuppin. It was a four-minute horror movie made with a Standard-8mm clockwork camera and entered for the BBC's Screen Test Young Film-Makers of the Year … Continue reading Dig the demonic dressing gown

>8mm planetary approach

>I've always been into visual effects in the movies. I have whole shelves full of ''Making Of' books and a pile of Cinefex magazines that may soon collapse under its own gravity. What better place to recall some of my own humble efforts at emulating the FX masters than this blog?I made my first SF … Continue reading >8mm planetary approach

>Masquerade remembered

>For all of you who, like me, once tried to fathom the secrets of a book called Masquerade by Kit Williams, check out this story on the Guardian website. Masquerade contained elaborate picture puzzles with a trail of clues leading to buried treasure. Apparently, Kit's finally been reunited with the golden hare that captured the … Continue reading >Masquerade remembered