Through a glass darkly
When I mentioned that I was writing a romantic vampire story to a group of writer friends recently, their collective snorts shook the windows. And it does sound like a bit of a weird mix. But in reality it's a popular genre in its own right, as this collection of favourite movies shows: Love at... Continue Reading →
I won a signed copy of this book in a Twitter contest run by The Writing Haunt, a wonderful writers retreat set in the Welsh countryside. Normally I never win things, but I'm delighted to have made an exception this time because it introduced me to a truly fantastic new author that I hadn't come... Continue Reading →
This book was a lucky charity shop find. I'd never read anything by Ann Patchett before, but I fell in love with the rabbit on the cover, and liked the sound of the blurb. I very nearly gave up on it after the first few pages (the idea of someone being allowed in to hold... Continue Reading →
We caught up on the end of this sequel/prequel series over the weekend and all I can say is wow, because I enjoyed pretty much every minute. The first series, set later on, was fun in a typical horror-trope 'and then there were none' way, but the characters weren't particularly likeable and there was too... Continue Reading →
If you'll pardon the pun, I'm a sucker for vampires. So when I saw Sky were doing a series based on Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches books, I was intrigued. The books themselves seem to have passed me by; I'd heard of them but never read any of them, and I'm not sure why.... Continue Reading →
These days the good old fashioned ghost story seems a bit overlooked, so it's always nice to find new examples, especially by well-thought of authors. And The Shadows Call is a great example of the genre. Penned by Matt Hilton, who's better known for his Lee-Child-style thrillers but who loves a good paranormal yarn, it's... Continue Reading →
It's taken me longer to read this book than I'd hoped. At first it all sounded fantastic, with an elderly bookseller hero and a plot involving spies, ciphers, hidden libraries and a missing (and extremely valuable) book. And at first, it bowled along with great vigour as Isaac Inchbold was asked to track down the... Continue Reading →
'The Leftovers' is an odd name for a TV series that isn't about cooking. It sounds more like a slightly congealed, cold roast beef sandwich than an engaging drama. However, in this case it's definitely not the former. We first discovered the series on Sky box sets, and have been binge-watching it for the last... Continue Reading →
This book isn't my standard reading fare, but I picked it up at a book swap at a recent writing event, mostly because the cover looked so atmospheric and chilling. It turned out to be Gothic horror, much of it set in Scotland, and all I can say is, who knew Edinburgh could be so... Continue Reading →
