If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Synopsis: Exiled from the court of Queen Elizabeth for accusing a powerful nobleman of treason, swordsman-turned-spy Mal Catlyn has been living in France with his young valet Coby Hendricks for the past year. But Mal harbours a darker secret: [...]
At first it seems extremely odd to have a reboot of the Spider Man franchise. After all, it’s barely five years since the third in Sam Raimi’s series, featuring Tobey Maguire. And now, a completely new retelling of the Spider Man story with a new actor? None of it makes sense – until you watch [...]
(Note, this is a review of the “Authors Preferred Text” edition) I enjoyed reading the Sandman comics in the 1990′s. So when I picked up American Gods, and found it started like an extension of the Sandman universe through its use of mythical themes, I was happy. The first few pages were delivered with panache, [...]
If you’re sick of comic-book adaptations and film remakes, the last thing you might expect to get excited about is a new Superman film. That’s right: there’s a new Superman film scheduled for release in 2013. However, before you run off groaning at the idea of yet another mediocre cash-in, this one comes with caveats. [...]
According to the BBC, Pearson, which owns Penguin books among other things, has bought Author Solutions Inc in a £74 million deal. The deal means that Pearson now has control of a self-publishing interest. The news has raised concerns among some writers that intellectual property (IP) rights for new writers may be at risk, especially [...]
The War of the Roses is cited as a main inspiration for George R R Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, and as Sharon Penman’s novel is a highly regarded historical fiction of this period, I decided to tackle it. The novel covers the life of Richard III, from boyhood to death, and [...]
Joe Abercrombie’s “Best Served Cold” is a standalone novel set in the same world established in his “First Law” trilogy. Therefore if you’ve read that, some of the references and characters may be familiar. If not, you’re in for a treat anyway. The whole story is based on a plot of vengeance, which is established [...]
The BBC have confirmed that Matt Smith has signed up to play the character of Doctor Who for a third season. The new series will comprise of fourteen episodes and a Christmas special, with executive producer Steven Moffat tweeting “I’ve got a plan and I’m NOT TELLING YOU WHAT IT IS.” There are still six [...]
Congratulations for forum member Boneman for winning the April 300 word writing challenge in the chronicles forum. He wins a £10 voucher to spend at Amazon, our new monthly prize. As normal, members had to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired by something provided by our moderators. For April, this was [...]
George R R Martin’s epic Game of Thrones finally airs here in the UK on Monday, broadcast on Sky Atlantic. And chronicles was given the chance to take a sneak peek at the the first two episodes before they air. Verdict? It looks good, it looks as though it keeps very much to the spirit [...]
Great News for Discworld fans – a new Discworld Board game is well on its way to hitting the shelves this summer. Called “Guards! Guards!” it will be published by Z-Man Games in the US and will be distributed by Esdevium Games in the UK & Europe. The game was designed by Leonard Boyd & [...]
The rush to remake the 1980′s should be sign to lock yourself away from the world until it blows over. And the expectation is that the Karate Kid remake should be top of the list of cheesy cash-ins. Surprisingly, it defies all cynicism, presenting a fresh, invigorating, and highly enjoyable film. The plot is more [...]
It seems that Diana Gabaldon has caused a minor storm online, by launching an attack on fan fiction. What’s fan fiction? It’s where people create derivative works to share among friends. Usually entertaining, often funny, and also helps promote the originals. If you’ve been online for more than a few months, chances are you’re already [...]
The BBC have decided to not to commission a season three for Survivors. Despite peak audience figures of 5.1 million, the BBC has decided – for some reason – that it isn’t popular enough to invest in. Survivors as a series was a remake of the 1970′s series by Terry Nation – perhaps more famous [...]
When it comes to being an aspiring writer – ie, a writer to aspires to a range of publishing interests – the Miss Snark Literary Agent blog can serve as a valuable insight into the life of a literary agent. For one, she provides clear information on what – and what not – to do [...]
Good news – Fox has agreed to allow Warner Bros to release Watchmen on schedule. It comes after Fox won a recent court case in which the company claimed some of the original rights to Watchmen. The ruling came only months before Warner Bros was due to release their own blockbuster version of the popular [...]
The sequel to Tron moves forward, with little known actor Garrett Hedlund cast as the lead by Disney. The original Tron film was released in 1982 and received a mixed reception – on the one hand, it’s pioneering use of computer special effects was critically acclaimed, but Disney seems to have considered the movie less [...]
Andrew Hook has announced that Elastic Press is now closed to new submissions and is winding down. It comes after six successful years, in which Elastic Press published 31 books and won five major awards. Elastic Press was one of only a few independent publishers in the science fiction & fantasy genres that had with [...]
The BBC has finally announced Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor Who. The surprise is that Matt is both a relatively little known – and young – actor. At only 26, it will make him the youngest ever Doctor Who. The move to find Doctor Who no.11 came after David Tennant shocked audiences by announcing [...]
I picked up The Graveyard Book with a sense of trepidation. I was originally a reader of The Sandman comic series, starting at Issue #8. I also enjoyed his graphic novel work. However, I stopped my subscription to The Sandman two story arcs from the end because I felt characters no longer served as characters, [...]
Man of Steel teaser trailer released
If you’re sick of comic-book adaptations and film remakes, the last thing you might expect to get excited about is a new Superman film. That’s right: there’s a new Superman film scheduled for release in 2013. However, before you run off groaning at the idea of yet another mediocre cash-in, this one comes with caveats. [...]
Penguin owner buys ASI self-publishing company
According to the BBC, Pearson, which owns Penguin books among other things, has bought Author Solutions Inc in a £74 million deal. The deal means that Pearson now has control of a self-publishing interest. The news has raised concerns among some writers that intellectual property (IP) rights for new writers may be at risk, especially [...]
The Winner of our April 300 Word Writing Challenge is writer John J Brady, (known on these forums as alchemist). He wins a £10 voucher to spend at Amazon or The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As usual, the challenge our members faced was to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired [...]
Forum member Teresa Edgerton is the winner of our January 300 Word Writing Challenge. She wins a £10 voucher to spend at The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As usual, the challenge our members faced was to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired by an image selected by our moderators. For [...]
All Zombies Must Die hits the Xbox
At the weekend, All Zombies Must Die was unleashed on Xbox Live. As you can probably guess from the title, this is a rather tongue in cheek game developed by Doublesix with a focus on multiplayer zombie slaying. Set in the town of Deadhill, All Zombies Must Die offers a huge variety of weapons (such [...]
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