Axel Scheffler was third choice illustrator for his initial debut collaboration with Julia Donaldson, back in 1993. Twenty years on it has proved a successful creative partnership that has resulted in such classics as The Gruffalo, and its sequel (both successfully animated for the small screen, by Magic Light Pictures), Stick Man, Room On […]
Can you imagine an ancient city where one’s place in society was determined by an annual lottery? Or an infinite library containing every book that ever has been, or will be written? What about a fictional nation imagined into reality by a group of conspiring intellectuals, or a certain point in space-time from which one […]
Not many authors would name a science fiction novel after a fictional piece of classical music and none that I can think of would do it as well as Iain M. Banks. The Hydrogen Sonata is Banks’ tenth novel set within his Culture universe and it continues the tradition of one of the great modern […]
After the excellent animated adaptation of Room On The Broom (produced by the excellent Magic Light Pictures) aired on BBC1 over Christmas 2012, it is worth taking a look back at the original book (since I have been reading it to my daughter every night for a bout the past month). And, given that this […]
Christmas Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley Published by Bloomsbury as an exclusive ebook: £1.99 Kindle download from amazon.co.uk Just when you were afraid of Boxing Day leftovers… Chris Priestley’s Tales of Terror series evolves for the Festive season, in a collection of Christmas themed short stories. For fans of his Terror series to date […]
With a cinematic release for the film adaptation of David Wong’s John Dies at the End just around the corner (January 25th in the US, March 22nd in the UK), now seems the perfect time to review This Book is Full of Spiders (TBIFOS), Wong’s sequel to that astonishingly good debut novel. Like the first […]