Dreams With Sharp Teeth: Edinburgh Filmhouse, June 27th

To the Edinburgh Filmhouse with my old partner-in-crime-n-rhyme, Senor Peregrine Urban, for to see the Harlan Ellison biogesque movie, Dreams With Sharp Teeth. I first discovered Ellison’s work back in 1985 (about the same time as I read Gibson’s Neuromancer, it so happens) – or rather I should say that I rediscovered Ellison, because I`d [...]

This Week I Have Mostly Been Reading: The New Rulers Of The World by John Pilger

(Mood - resolute; Music – Monster Magnet (4way Diablo); Drink - coffee+biscuit)
 I`d read this before a couple of years ago, and I find myself coming back to it. Pilger needs no intro, of course, being a fearless journalist and writer dedicated to the cause of humanity. New Rulers was written 6 years ago, just before the invasion [...]

Graah! Hulk smash!

Went to see the new Hulk movie with Super-Susan, and was actually pleasantly surprised. The opening few minutes was essentially a series of mini-scenes depicting Bruce Banner and Elizabeth Ross and the General, and the origin of the Hulk, a kinda compressed intro sans dialogue, while the opening credits spooled over the top of it. [...]

Wordle: Story into Picture

Me old mate Gary Gibson posted a link to a website which turns blocks of text into this:
 
Well, at least I hope this comes out as a picturised representation of word frequency in my short story, `The Intrigue Of The Battered Box`, which appeared in the Scottish anthology, Nova Scotia, which appeared in time [...]

The Rattle of Pneumatic Drills

(Mood: teeth gritted. Music: the Jam – In The City. Drink: coffee)
Wherever I`ve lived, here in Glasgow over the last 20-odd years, roadworks have sooner or later arrived and set up camp. We live in the west end, on one side of a bridge which crosses the river Kelvin, and the bridge it seems is in [...]

Into The Lion’s Den

Nothing to do with dodgy Apprentice-style TV progs designed to make baby capitalists look cool, but….tonight, I venture forth to the regular meeting of the Glasgow SF Writers Circle wherein I shall lay down upon the altar and bare my chest to the authorial druids….okay, okay, I`m dramatising here, yet its a fairly daunting thing [...]

New Cobley fiction, emerging from nascence into the cold hard glare of reality!

Or, I got a short story coming out, in the small press mag, Midnight Street, edited by the doggedly persistent Trevor Denyer, later on this month. Info and copies can be had from Trevor’s website which is -
http://www.midnightstreet.co.uk/index.html
The story, entitled ‘Weapon Of Choice’, is essentially my anti-Iraq invasion story and will be appearing in issue [...]

Hey – what’s the worst that could happen?

Like Reggie M, I bury my head in my hands with despair. 42 days. 42 horrible, damning days detention without charge, as passed by the House of Commons yesterday, on a majority of just nine. I`m not outraged, in the sense of being taken by surprise; everything that New Labour has done in office since [...]

42 Days (1008 Hours or 60,480 Minutes) Detention Without Charge

And round it comes again. New Labour has been trying to extend the amount of time for detention-without-charge for years now, first under Blair and continuing under Brown. Back under Toe-Knee, the impetus and emphasis was all on extending it to 90 days to help in the Waronterra, essential, vital, crucial and other words designed [...]

This week I have mostly been reading….

Well, over the last few weeks, its been Christopher Brookmyre, a Glasgow crime/suspense/humour novelist who has written some astonishingly Glasgowicious stories! Quite Ugly One Morning has one of the most memorable beginnings I have ever read (I mean, ALL the senses are assaulted in that one); Boiling A Frog was a fascinating look at religion, [...]