A paperback collected edition of our 2009 miniseries The Trial of Sherlock Holmes drawn by Aaron Campbell, coloured by Tony Avina, lettered by Simon Bowland and with covers by John Cassaday is out now.
Just like the hardcover, the book is crammed with extras including an afterword by world renowned Holmes and Dracula scholar Leslie S. Klinger,… Read the rest
Bob “NSFW” Byrne‘s brilliant, silent (well, mostly) GN Mr. Amperduke is now available world-wide through the magic of Diamond (order # NOV09 0705).
That means you need to get down to your local comic shop and order as copy as soon as possible (or you can order a signed and sketched copy direct from Bob)!
It really is a fantastic book and well worth checking out.
Told without words, through over 2,000 comic panels Mister Amperduke is a fast paced, dark and compelling adventure that offers a new mode of graphic storytellling.
Amperville is a miniature city built and maintained by Mr. Amperduke in his basement as a hobby. The tiny inhabitants (called Snodules and not unlike Lego men) live a blissful life in their manufactured utopia until Mr. Amperduke’s cruel grandson drops a large, vicious insect into their world.
The aging Mr. Amperduke is hospitalised while the enraged monster unleashes a devastating rampage on his model society.
Lots more info at www.clamnuts.com/comics/amperduke
Got any cash burning a hole in your pocket? Here are a few items definitely worth spending a few quid on.
Defoe 1666 by Pat Mills and Leigh Gallagher
London, 1668. It is two years since the city was devastated by the Great Fire, the inferno caused by a comet passing over the capital. But from the ashes rose the undead, hungry for the flesh of the living. Protecting the populace are zombie hunters like Titus Defoe, a former soldier who now makes it his mission to purge the ghouls.
In Leigh’s own words “This collection also features around twenty or so panels redrawn/retouched by me, so this is the “remastered” edition if you want to call it that!” so even fans of the 2000 AD strip have a good reason to pick up the book.
More info at leighgallagherart.blogspot.com
My Aunt Margaret’s Adventure - A Long Lost Tale of Mystery and Suspense, attributed by M.R. James to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
“My Aunt Margaret’s Adventure” first appeared in the March 1864 issue of the Dublin University Magazine, which was then under the editorship of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The DUM was a regular venue for Le Fanu’s work. The February issue contained the final instalments of his novel Wylder’s Hand, while the April issue saw the publication of “Wicked Captain Walshawe of Wauling”–”My Aunt Margaret’s Adventure” appeared in the interceding issue. Believed by M.R. James and S.M. Ellis to be the work of Le Fanu, “My Aunt Margaret’s Adventure” shares many motifs, themes, and effects found in the Irish author’s work. This new edition will feature commentary on the story and its authorship by two leading Le Fanu scholars, Jim Rockhill (introduction and annotations) and Gary W. Crawford (afterword).
Published by Brian J. Showers’ Swan River Press these A5, hand-sewn chapbooks are limited to just 200 copies. Order yours now from www.brianjshowers.com!
The Stuff of Legend by Mike Raicht, Brian Smith and Charles Paul Wilson III
The year is 1944. An allied force advances along a war-torn beach in a strange land, outnumbered and far from home. Together, they fight the greatest evil they have ever known. Never ending waves of exotic enemies come crashing down on them, but they will not rest. Thousands of miles away, the world is on the brink of destruction. But here in a child’s bedroom in Brooklyn, our heroes, a small group of toys loyal to their human master, fight an unseen war to save him from every child’s worst nightmare.
TSOL Book 1, Vol 1 has already sold out (and deservedly so)! Don’t worry though – they’ve gone to re-print.
Visit www.th3rdworld.com for more info.
My Aunt Margaret’s Adventure
I admit that I arrived fairly late in the 21st century where items of personal hardware are concerned. For example, I am only now just beginning to use my own mobile phone (a bog standard pay-as-you-go which formerly belonged to my Grandmother) as opposed to just using up all my wife’s credit texting “see you in the pub in half an hour” to my mates and then hoping nothing delays them or myself on the way. It should come as little surprise then that up until January of this year I had never owned an MP3 player.
The purchase of an in-probably small (to me at least) 2 GB Phillips Go Gear didn’t at first seem like anything more than a good way to use up some HMV vouchers but the micro machine has proved very useful indeed. I am a slow reader – I read to myself at almost the same rate I would if I was reading aloud (this may or may not have something to do with visualisation but that’s getting into a whole different thing and is a discussion author C. E. Murphy would definitely have to be involved with). I also spend all day in front of a computer screen typing and reading and typing and reading. These two factors combine to form a situation in which I do not get a lot of casual reading of novels or even short stories done. I read magazines, bits of newspapers and, of course, lots of stuff on the web but it takes me a long, long time to get through a novel these days.
I had been aware of the fantastic z0mbieastronaut.livejournal.com for a good few years prior to my purchase but I soon realised that listening to audio books, stories and radio plays on a small, portable MP3 player was very different to listening to them on the PC.
So over the last six months or so I’ve been ploughing my way through some fantastic (and admittedly some not so fantastic) stories but it was only very recently that I realised how many of the really good ones were by Mr. Richard Matheson.
Matheson is, of course, a name that most people are familiar with these days thanks to his 1954 novel I Am Legend which was recently adapted into an episode of popular TV sit com The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The original Legend (I admit, I haven’t seen the Will Smith film) is a fantastic novel made all the more enjoyable by its very 50s, pulpy language and pacing – Robert Neville is a sweat soaked (anti?) hero who seems to manage to even think through gritted teeth. Steven King dedicated his 2006 almost-zombie novel Cell to Matheson and George Romero with good reason – Legend is unquestionably the birth of a genre but it’s much more straight and gritty than I expected.
Many of Matheson’s stories have made their way onto television and cinema screens. His short story “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet“, for example, was turned into that Twighlight Zone episode where William Shatner goes crazy on a plane! As a result the first of his works I ever came into contact with was Speilberg’s version of Duel. Matheson wrote the screenplay himself and (from what I remember of the film – it’s been a while) stuck very closely to his story. The original is, of course, all about the language however, and writing an engaging story with hardly any dialogue which is pretty much a car chase from start to finish is no mean feat. Matheson manages to make it work so well that you don’t even realise the complexity of the mechanics involved – the rhythm of the gear changes, the animalistic sounds of the engines. Like Legend it’s deceptively simple and effortlessly executed.
It turns out that Matheson also wrote a book called Comedy of Terrors with Elsie Lee which was later made into a gaudy E. C. Comics-esque film starring Vincet Price, Peter Lorre, Bris Karloff, Basil Rathbone (what a line up!) and the very lovely Joyce Jameson which I was moderately obsessed with as a younger man. One adaptation of Matheson’s work I’m surprised I’ve never seen however is The Legend of Hell House. The novel (simply entitled Hell House) is noted for it’s similarities to The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson published more than a decade earlier (another one to add to the “to read” list) but with a lot more sex, violence and bad language. I recognised in Hell House the seed of a lot of the horror stories I read in my teens written by the likes of James Herbert and Richard Laymon. Despite all the evil and depravity you could imagine sex is the big sin in Hell House which did make it feel a bit dated at times but the story is undeniably effective and enjoyable with a good few twists (maybe just one too many in the end though).
So, thanks to the internet and the MP3 player, I’ve discovered a new appreciation for an author whose work I already vaguely knew but wasn’t likely to start suddenly reading. I will now definitely be tracking down more of Matheson’s work however.
The audio book is a truly wondrous thing and more authors should embrace the concept. Whilst I am fully aware that I have not paid for the MP3s I downloaded, I definitely would have if there was an easy (and reasonably priced) way to do so. More publishers should make downloads available on their websites and on the likes of Amazon and it should be made as easy as possible to purchase the files. I don’t have iTunes so I don’t know what the availability of audio books is like on there (please do let me know) but I think we need something similar, but more simple and not so brand-centric, just for audio books and stories.
I’m probably way behind on this of course. Maybe I should ask my Gran?
That fine upstanding, pipe smoking, tweed jacketed, proper cup of tea drinking, cravat wearing, gin sipping periodical The Chap is in trouble. This from www.thechap.net:
Like many venerable institutions, The Chap has run into financial difficulties, due principally to a disastrous result in the 2.30 at Wincanton. But also the spiralling costs of paper stock, printing ink and distribution services, and of course the increase in tax on tobacco products.
The harsh reality of the current situation is that if the June issue doesn’t go to press, The Chap will cease publication for ever.
So, what can we do to help? Well, we can jolly well dig deep into our pockets!
A donation from any of our readers who feel moved to offer a small gesture of support. One pound from every reader would allow us to print the June issue. Larger contributions would of course also be welcome and would speed up the process towards getting this issue published sooner rather than later, leading to subsequent issues arriving on time and the entirety of our mission continuing apace.
Don’t delay, donate today!
Head over to http://www.thechap.net/content/section_contact/save-the-chap.html and send whatever you can spare.
We simply cannot stand idly by and let this great British institution die.
Bryan Talbot is a man I could quite happily spend a good few hours in the pub with (in fact I have on several occasions which should explain the story about me and Charisma Carpenter which appeared in his book The Naked Artist) . He is also a genius and a fantastically talented artist who can, it seems, master any style he turns his hand to.
Some of you may remember that, back in the mists of time (well, June last year), I interviewed Bryan about his forthcoming graphic novel Grandville (amongst other things).
Well, now there’s a spangly trailer for the book on You Tube.
Personally, I really can’t wait to get my hands on this!
For more info visit www.bryan-talbot.com/grandville/
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