The Blade Itself

I really like this book. Joe Abercrombie has taken the standard fantasy tropes, young heroes, wise wizards, bold barbarians and distressed damsels and twisted them into the kind of hyperdimensional pretzel shapes that quantum physicists use to describe string theory. I haven't enjoyed a book by an author I didn't know this much since the golden age of science fiction (aka when I was 12 years old).

What I like most about it is that while Abercrombie is going for seriously grim (ala Perdido Street Station) there exists within his work a rich vein of optimism and hope. While an iron determination to stick to the 'life is shit' zeitgeist keeps the plot spirally down to its nihilist conclusion Abercrombie's intent is undermined by his pesky faith in human nature.

The result is a wonderful tension between hope and despair that gripped me all the way to the end of the third volume.

Did I mention that the most sympathetic character is a professional torturer, and I don't mean he's the DESIGNATED HERO I mean genuinely sympathetic. Got to love a book like that. So I want both of you to go out and buy it right away.

When Vila Met Gan

Just a quick note to let both of you know that my Blake's 7 audio prequel 'When Vila Met Gan' is now available from some good retailers or via the B7media website. I've finished writing the Avon prequel and I'm working on the last episode of the second trilogy.

In related news; Simon the Strange and James the Green have both finished their prequels - so there's plenty of B7 goodness being squeezed down the narrow pipe of production. Andrew the Happy is even now rounding up the usual suspects and writing budget sheets.

When Ben met Micheal

Just a note to let the two of you know that 'When Vila Met Gan' my latest contribution to the Blake's 7 canon has been recorded and is now in post production.

The recording session was especially fun for me because not only is Gan being played by my brother Owen but I got to meet Micheal Keating as well - cool.

I'm currently finishing up another prequel, this time centered around Kerr Avon, and other talented writers have either written, or are scheduled to write, stories about Jenna, Cally and Travis.

Which of us gets to write the Servalan story has yet to be decided - presumably by single combat.

Conspiracy Theories

The beauty of conspiracy theories is that it's so easy to invent one. To prove it here's one I prepared earlier.

What has Robert Mugabe got on Thabo Mbeki?
President Mbeki's attitude to Robert Mugabe has become increasingly bizarre. I can understand his desire to pursue 'quiet diplomacy' and not to be seen to be doing the bidding of the former colonial power. I can understand the ties that bind men who have faced a common cause and the well of gratitude that ZANU PF can draw upon with the ANC but really...

President Mbeki is now acting contrary to the interest of his nation, his party and the region as a whole. Assuming for a moment that he doesn't have a cunning plan why does he continue to give succor and support to a bloody handed regime like the one in the process of fixing elections right now?

The only plausible explanation is that Robert Mugabe knows something about Thabo Mbeki that the President of South Africa doesn't want anyone else to know. I suspect it dates back to Mbeki's time in Zambia. It can't be a sex scandal, I doubt that Mbeki would warp South Africa's regional policy over an ancient indiscretion, it must be something terrible, something that would not just destroy his career, he is wise enough to know that power is fleeting, but also his reputation.

Working for the KGB wouldn't cut it, the cold war is old news and anyway that would fall under the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' get out clause. I doubt it would be a massacre of civilians or some other atrocity committed during the war against apartheid - such things have too many witnesses, we'd at least have rumors by now.

No the only thing that Mbeki would literally do anything to keep secret, remembering that this is all baseless conjecture, would be proof that he collaborated and/or worked for BOSS during the struggle.

So there you go - one conspiracy theory served up piping hot - enjoy.

On the Occasion of Colin’s Funeral

They played the Doctor Who theme as they carried the coffin in
But the coffin was too small.
It should have been bigger, huger, vast
A super star destroyer technological terror
Thundering over our juvenile heads
It shouldn’t have been there at all.

There were too many of us too fit into the chapel
But there should have been more
There should have been thousands, an army
An honour guard of cybermen, a massed choir of daleks
We did our best
But we shouldn’t have been there at all.

They held the wake in the pub across from the station
I mostly stayed outside with smokers in the last of the sunlight
We told stories to stop ourselves from weeping
We had a chuckle but there should have been more
There should have been such laughter that they could have heard us back in London
But there wasn’t, because he wasn’t there.

The Boy Scout and the Military Industrial Complex

Plowed through Marvel's Civil War arc last week and was struck by how sophisticated the story telling is. Unfolding, as it does, across a number of separate comic book series we get a chance to see important events from multiple viewpoints. For all that most of the character's wear tights for a living this spread of viewpoints, coupled with a subtle approach to the issues, lends an air of veracity to the story as events unfold.

Civil War also operates on multiple levels; for example the personality clash at the heart of the story is between Captain America, the 'Boy Scout', a living symbol of honour, liberty and apple pie, and Iron Man, industrialist, inventor and the embodiment of the Military Industrial Complex. Their rivalry is both personal and ideology and both, crucially, are operating from motives so pure you could drink them. Both of them realise that they have made mistakes during the conflict and both pay a terrible personal and moral price for their role in it.

I Have No Memory of this Place

Took the Evil Monster Boy to see the Golden Compass on Sunday. Despite some brilliant performances from Kidman, Fanning, Broadbent and the usual British character actor suspects I felt there was something missing. Perhaps it was the poor print (at the usually good Finsbury Park Vue) or the fact that I'd only had two hours sleep but there seemed to be problems with the narrative structure in the first half. Some of the transitions were mishandled, the Lyra in London montage in particular, and the choppy, unnecessarily exposition heavy opening.

The design was impressive, the high standard set by WETA in The Lord of the Rings , has now become the base line for big fantasy blockbusters - even if TV still lags - yes I'm looking at you Doctor Who.

However, the strangest thing for me was how much of the plot I didn't remember from the book. I read Northern Lights in 1998 and ground to a halt halfway through A Subtle Knife a little bit later but I had no memory of the armoured bears (panzerbjorn what a wonderful name). This is strange - for while I'm perfectly capable of forgetting the names of close family members my retention of plot detail borders on the savant.

Since the Evil Monster Boy demanded that I buy the books, on pain of pain, I'm going to reread them and see if they stick this time. I'm sure Kidman's performance as Mrs Coultor will help.

A Good Murder

Yesterday I got a chance to work on Princess, my completely speculative detective drama series, and finally came up with the thing I've been lacking so far - a good murder.

I think it's easy for industry people to lose sight of how important the central mystery is to a good detective drama. The temptation is always to believe that it's the character of the detective that drives the narrative. Hence the crude attempts to make the crimes 'personal' by killing off relatives, friends and, I'm looking at you Inspector Lynley, the odd girlfriend or fiancé. This represents at best a failure of nerve by the production team and at worse a lack of understanding of the genre they are working in. Look at the classic detectives, Morse, Frost, Holmes and you'll find that they have character traits not character arcs.

Morse was the same grumpy beer drinking, opera loving snob in his last episode as he was in his first. This is because the single most interesting thing about Morse was that he was a police detective, the opera and the expensive education were interesting only because they contrasted with his job. Likewise without their careers in detection Frost would just be an opinionated northerner in a pork-pie hat, Dalgliesh a failed poet and Holmes, well god knows what Holmes would be - dead probably.

A good TV detective is distinctive, charismatic and three dimensional but a writer must never forget that at the heart of every mystery must be a good murder.

A Joy Forever

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Keats

Marc Platt has delivered a wonderful first draft for the second episode of the second B7 Audio series. This follows on from an equally brilliant first episode by James Swallow leaving me with a tough act to follow for episode three.

Missing Adventures

I have another short story out soon. It's called 'The Evacuation of Bernice Summerfield Considered as a Short Film by Terry Gilliam', the title being a conscious echo of JG Ballard's 1970 novel 'The Atrocity Exhibition'. Rebecca Levene, the editor, asked that each story be written in a distinctive style or genre and Evacuation is my first stab at magic realism.

You can order the book from the Big Finish website and, just to freshen the deal, the collection also contains a preview of my next Benny novel 'Terra Incognita' scheduled for release in 2008.

Walking On Stilts

As I sat here biting my fingernails to the quick while I waited for the latest development on [CENSORED] it occurred to me that television and film production is liking walking around on a huge pair of stilts, you can make great strides but sometimes you have to lurch backwards to maintain your balance, the least little obstacle can bring you down and you can never, ever stand completely still.

This random thought was brought to you by the letter aghhhh!

The Confidentiality Bleep

Part of the problem with writing a blog when you're a script writer is that you are expected to keep your mouth shut pretty much until the start of principle photography...

... and even then it's advisable just to say what the publicity replicant tells you to...

...and god forbid that you contradict the producer in any way...

Or the director...

Or the caterer for that matter.

As a result I'm bubbling to let the two people who (alledgedly) read this blog that I this close to getting my first [CENSORED] which is what every script writer wants and what's more it's [CENSORED] and based on an original pitch by me - [CENSORED] meets [CENSORED] in fact. [CENSORED] at [CENSORED] says that they could have the deal signed by the end of [CENSORED].

Now you can see why I'm terribly excited - especially since this will be [CENSORED].

The £25 Autograph

Call me backwards but I never knew you could sell your autograph for £25. Well obviously I couldn't sell mine for 50p but Patrick Stewart can, so can main characters from Heroes and Lost. I discovered this while pushing product at the London Film and Comic Con where the queues for the Heroes' characters went around the block.
We all ended up in the same rather overheated green room though. I draw no conclusion from the fact that Nana Visitor and I shared a table merely that every time I think I've got a handle on 'fan' culture some new aspect of it surprises me.

The Great Comic Con

Yes I, large fat man, genius writer and reformed geek, will be at the Blake's 7 stand at this year's London Film and Comic Con where I will be available for chat, celebrity photographs (particularly if you are a celebrity) and to push as many copies of the Blake's 7 Audio adventures as I can.

Remember if you buy a writer's CD he eats for a day but if you teach your friends to consume product I'll be able to replace my kitchen cabinets sometime next year.

Secret Vices

I've just reloaded Campaign Cartographer 3 onto my newly restored computer. Although my official work was all backed up amongst the many personal things I lost were my maps. I like to create worlds but they have the most tenuous connection to productive work and so, until that glorious day when I become hugely rich, I try and discourage it. Still; bird gotta fly, fish gotta swim, I gotta to create fantasy worlds.











This is the first of my new worlds, I'm calling it Tradeland for now. I established point sources for certain vital trade goods and then trace out the trade routes between them. Secondary cities are placed where the trade routes intersect or pass over terrain boundaries (especially those on a north/south alignment). Then I'll link the secondary cities together and the intersections on those routes will provide me with the tertiary population centers. The idea is to create a convincingly 'organic' looking geography that maintains an internal consistancy that just happens to be my personal hobgoblin.

Now you see why I called this post 'Secret Vices' - still we can't all be as interesting as Simon bleeding Guerrier.