tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13768345479011967852024-03-05T07:14:55.683+00:00The Lost VictorianThe weblog of Mark A. Latham; the random musings of an English gentleman Writer Out of Time.Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-40312929318525571862021-01-27T09:48:00.003+00:002021-01-27T09:48:30.164+00:00Update Your Bookmarks...<p>Well, it's the end of the line for this good ol' Blogger page. You'll find my new website, complete with new-look blog, over at <a href="http://mark-latham.com"><b>mark-latham.com</b></a></p><p>Please update your bookmarks - see you on the other side!</p>Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-79505749805621567742019-12-19T14:15:00.000+00:002019-12-19T14:18:13.317+00:00The End of the Year as we Know It<br />
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This year’s Lost Victorian Christmas card was designed by
Jon Hart </div>
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(check out #jonhartsart on Insta and Facebook).<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s become a bit of a tradition that I write one final
blog post near the end of December, and this year is no different.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s been a funny sort of year. I think I’ve been busier
than ever since I started going freelance, but everything I’ve worked on is
either top secret and under wraps, or not out for a while yet, so I don’t have
much to show for my efforts. All of this groundwork should come to fruition in
2020 though, which will be a relief!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So what’s happening? Well, on the tabletop gaming front, the
third edition of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.knightmodels.com/en/batman-miniature-game-home.html" target="_blank">Batman Miniature Game</a></b> is about to hit the shelves. I’ve been working on the English
translation and editing flat out for a few months. Knight Models are also
continuing monthly releases for the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.knightmodels.com/en/harry-potter-miniatures-adventure-game-home.html" target="_blank">Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game</a></b> and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.knightmodels.com/en/dc-universe-miniature-game-home.html" target="_blank">DC Universe Miniatures Game</a></b>, so expect more stuff for those games
very soon. The New Year will see the release of my biggest project of the year,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.modiphius.net/collections/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms" target="_blank">The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms</a></b>.
This was a huge endeavour, starting out as a simple port of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fallout: Wasteland Warfare</i> system, but
growing into its own beast of a game as the development process went on. In
other news, I’ve just finished not one but two standalone board games, both top
secret licences, which will hopefully launch next year. More news as it
happens. Finally, there’s some really exciting stuff coming up for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.manticgames.com/games/the-walking-dead-2/how-will-you-survive/" target="_blank">The Walking Dead</a></b> (both <i>Call to Arms</i> – yes,
the other one – and <i>All Out War</i>). To find out what it is, you have to listen
carefully to the whispers…<o:p></o:p></div>
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From left: Sophie, Ali, James, and me!<br />
(Thanks to Sophie for the pic)<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fiction front has been ominously quiet, and I do
apologise for that (both to my readers, and to my long-suffering agent). I made
a decision about 18 months ago to try something new. Something… <i>gasp</i>… not
Victorian. In that time I’ve been working on a fantasy book, which is not only
taking me absolutely ages, but has been suffering a bit as I’ve toiled away on
the aforementioned games. It will be finished early next year, and then comes
the task of finding a publisher! I’ve managed a few appearances this year, however,
from seminars to panels. Staying in touch with the wider writing network is
helping keep me sane.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s not been a great year for many people, and I’m sure
lots of us will be glad to see the back of 2019. On a personal note, this was
the year the gaming community lost <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2019/08/in-memoriam-gustavo-cuadrado.html" target="_blank">Gustavo Cuadrado</a></b>, my friend, and creator of the Batman Miniature Game, and that came as a suckerpunch. Political
upheaval has made the world seem a bit grim at times. As much as I love a good
social media rant, I am resolving to try to do a bit more good in the world
next year, from charitable donations to simple acts of kindness. I don’t try to
moralise too much, because I’m far from perfect, but when times are hardest, I
think it’s more important than ever to grasp the nettle and help each other out:
be excellent to each other, as two very wise men once said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Which is a good place, I think, to end this post with a
simple wish: that you all have a very merry Christmas (and/or
non-denominational seasonal holiday), and a very happy new year.</div>
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-74490728324634322662019-12-12T11:45:00.000+00:002019-12-12T11:45:05.530+00:00Ghosts, Treat Them Gently<br />
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In blogs of days past, I’ve talked about <a href="https://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2016/10/ghosts-on-film.html" target="_blank">ghosts on film</a>,
<a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-ghosts.html" target="_blank">Christmas ghosts</a>, and various weird tales. A few times, I’ve promised to write
up a blog about my favourite spooky stories, but never really got round to it.
Until now… (Dun… dun… DUUUNNN!)</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s December. It’s my favourite time of the year, and I’m
reading loads of short horror fiction. I’ve even done a stint at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/derby/uk-ghost-story-festival/2378027152482507/" target="_blank">UK Ghost Story Festival</a>, where the following question was put to various panellists several
times: What are your favourite ghost stories?<o:p></o:p></div>
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(Note: I’m looking primarily at stories about ghosts and malevolent
presences here, not more broadly at horror and weird tales. That’s for another
day…)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve found it really hard to put together a top 5, and to
be honest if you ask me on another day, you might get a different list. But as
of now, here are the stories I would recommend to anyone wanting to scare
themselves silly on a cold winter’s night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Woman in Black<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Susan Hill<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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A modern classic, which has been turned into a stage play
and two decent movies (one of which spawned a mediocre sequel), The Woman in
Black is the quintessential ghost story. It’s told in the style of the masters
(notably M R James), and follows many of <a href="http://www.roberthood.net/obsesses/treat_them_gently.htm" target="_blank">James’s rules of the ghost story</a>. It’s
a short novella, so it just about qualifies for my list of short fiction, and
it’s brilliant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More by this
author:</b> Susan Hill has written a series of ghost stories now, some more
successful than others. If you liked this, you’ll also (probably) like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Small Hand</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Man in the Picture</i>. (Maybe steer clear of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dolly</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Printers’ Devil’s
Court</i> though. Even a writer of Hill’s quality can hit a dud.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from the 1966 film adaptation of Whistle and I'll Come to You, <br />
directed by Jonathan Miller who sadly passed away this year.</td></tr>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">M R James<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Regular readers will be aware that I love M R James
stories. It’s unhealthy. I re-read a bunch of them every year, re-watch the
excellent BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas, as well as the dramatic readings by
Nunkie Theatre (do check those out if you have chance). His most famous story
is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, Whistle</i>, and with good reason.
An all-time classic, cautionary tale, that’s perhaps rather too obvious for a
top 5 list…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More by this
author: </b>There’s very little by James that wouldn’t make recommended
reading, to be honest. I could well have picked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tractate Middoth</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalls
of Barchester Cathedral</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Number 13</i>,
or the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Treasure of Abbot Thomas</i> in
place of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, Whistle</i>. Just grab one
of the many collected editions (except that 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary edition
<a href="https://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-warning-to-curious-editor.html" target="_blank">I previously reviewed</a>, with its shlonky editing) – you won’t be disappointed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">All Hallows<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Walter de la Mare<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Walter de la Mare takes some getting into if you aren’t
used to the vernacular, because his prose is poetic and florid (probably
because he was mainly a poet…), and his stories are almost all ambiguous to a
fault. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All Hallows</i> is no exception. I’ve
read this story dozens of times, and there’s no ‘true’ reading of it. Are there
any ghosts in it at all? I think so, but it’s hard to tell. What you have here,
then, is a masterpiece of atmosphere and sustained tension. The titular
cathedral certainly leaves an impression, even if the spooks lie low.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More by this
author: </b>Another de la Mare story that doesn’t technically feature a ghost
(but I which the characters are certainly haunted), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seaton’s Aunt</i> is rightly regarded as one of the finest, most
unsettling short stories ever written.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Dark Matter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Michelle Paver<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Swiftly becoming regarded as another modern classic, and
without my favourite ghost story of the last decade, this has all the elements
of a really great unsettling story: incredible location, brooding atmosphere,
isolation, tension between a closed circle of protagonists, and a really
terrifying ghost! This tale of arctic exploration gone wrong is novella-length,
but never drags, and includes some real heart-in-mouth scenes rendered vividly.
Highly recommended.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More by this
author: </b>Michelle Paver is also responsible for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thin Air</i> – a ghost story of a similar length, swapping the desolate
Arctic Circle for a mountaineering expedition. For me, it’s a tad too similar
to Dark Matter, and I found myself comparing the two a bit too often. I have no
such qualms abour recommending Michelle’s recent full-length novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wakenhyrst</i>, however. A ‘proper’ Gothic
novel, with brooding locales, family secrets and malevolent forces at work – a real
gem.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Upper Berth<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">F Marion Crawford<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The only thing I like better than polar exploration
settings is seafaring stories. I’m an absolute sucker for them. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Upper Berth</i> is one of the very best
(and even recommended by M R James, which is how I originally came to read it).
Sure, the scares might seem thin on the ground by today’s standards, but the
pacing is fantastic, the setting wonderfully rendered, and the narration about
as evocative as it comes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More by this
author: </b>F Marion Crawford wrote several great ghost stories, most of which
can be found in the usual anthologies of great Victorian stories. Of these, a
special shout out to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Man Overboard!</i>,
which was <a href="https://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-lazarus-gate-easter-egg-hunt.html" target="_blank">one of the stories that inspired The Lazarus Gate </a>(in a roundabout sort of way), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dead Smile</i>, whose resolution seems ridiculously clichéd today,
but features some incredible lyrical prose.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Honourable Mentions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Just because I can never get my lists down short enough,
here are the stories that almost made the top 5, and probably would on a
different day!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Signalman,</i> Charles Dickens (what a denouement!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Inner
Room</i>, Robert Aickmann (none more ambiguous)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gateway
of the Monster,</i> William Hope Hodgson (one of Carnacki’s best cases)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Haunting
of Hill House</i>, Shirley Jackson (I mean, come on, it’s amazing)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florrie</i>,
Adam Nevill (a genuinely original take on the ghost story).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
(Wow, ten writers, and I didn’t even mention D K Broster
or Henry James…)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, naturally, if you find yourself in agreement with my
choices, you might rather like my own novelette, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Writer-Mark-Latham-ebook/dp/B016H0DUDA/" target="_blank">The Ghost Writer</a></i>, as well as the stories in the anthology <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantoms-Haunting-Tales-Masters-Genre-ebook/dp/B07GX7CNMX/" target="_blank">Phantoms</a> </i>(including my own modern ghost
story, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One New Follower</i>).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-50393737942983434682019-12-06T11:30:00.000+00:002019-12-06T11:30:10.602+00:00Ghosts of Future Past<br />
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In my second December ghost story blog, I’m looking back
at another panel from the recent <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/derby/uk-ghost-story-festival/2378027152482507/" target="_blank">UK Ghost Story Festival</a>. Entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">History in the Making</i>, this one compared
and contrasted classic ghost stories with the modern form, and asked not only
where the ghost story is headed in the future, but whether it’s even relevant
to modern audiences. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NCnoFkDTH5pdC6b7cum2rmflFz7PPIDf6CZpBNa4KVN5vihTgSpvBhfvC6jYTG-2TVLNKnLCkzDVhU5gLDMDS1YLTd-pMPHFUsmTJ2DUz-y5nL6McADtEgaztlt5mZ4g9a2J-KMd36Y0/s1600/71500211_10156821204168020_5245397469310746624_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NCnoFkDTH5pdC6b7cum2rmflFz7PPIDf6CZpBNa4KVN5vihTgSpvBhfvC6jYTG-2TVLNKnLCkzDVhU5gLDMDS1YLTd-pMPHFUsmTJ2DUz-y5nL6McADtEgaztlt5mZ4g9a2J-KMd36Y0/s400/71500211_10156821204168020_5245397469310746624_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(Like last time, I’m incorporating a summary of the
discussion into my own thoughts on the topic, so a big shout-out to fellow panellists
<b><a href="https://laurapurcell.com/" target="_blank">Laura Purcell</a></b> and <b><a href="https://www.shadow-writer.co.uk/" target="_blank">Paul Kane</a></b> for their insights, and to our wonderful chair
<b><a href="https://www.sophiedraper.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sophie Draper</a></b> for her thought-provoking questions.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophie asks an inciteful question, <br />while I make my serious pondering face.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Any discussion of the modern ghost story should probably
kick off with a look at the current masters of the form. For me, Michelle Paver
and Adam Nevill are really excelling right now. John Connolly’s Night Music
collections are truly superb. Meanwhile, aforementioned panellist Laura Purcell,
along with Alison Littlewood, are proving that the long-form supernatural novel
is very much thriving.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When you look at how the modern ghost story compares to
the classics (M R James, Walter de la Mare, Elizabeth Gaskell, etc.), the
parallels are really clear. In form and structure not a lot has really changed,
and that’s probably due to the shared origin – those fireside tales I talked
about in last week’s blog still form the basis of the <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuAL3poHUtRscQL9Zb_MWiGVEB9DeKNBN7bXudkDPitgnT_8g1jrrH-hSYK2nCYx-TkyjV7gKLUV3hnEQ6MyNTErzuofGJ7v5OmrZne189xd6t3gf3B9MlQ02isnHoY-VvZub5RGxka4S/s1600/78334964_2450771351700473_4972606624414826496_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="1600" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuAL3poHUtRscQL9Zb_MWiGVEB9DeKNBN7bXudkDPitgnT_8g1jrrH-hSYK2nCYx-TkyjV7gKLUV3hnEQ6MyNTErzuofGJ7v5OmrZne189xd6t3gf3B9MlQ02isnHoY-VvZub5RGxka4S/s320/78334964_2450771351700473_4972606624414826496_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left: Me, Laura Purcell, <br />and the greatest picture of Paul Kane ever taken.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
traditional spooky story.
What has changed, however, is the subject matter. The old clichés are generally
best avoided (unless they can be subverted in a surprise twist). That’s not the
same as conjuring a sense of the nostalgic, however – the Gothic form still
thrives because its tropes are so familiar to the reader, and reading a good,
slow-burn Gothic ghost story can be like slipping into a comfortable pair of
slippers, voluntarily subjecting oneself to what M R James called a ‘pleasing
terror’. <br />
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One thing that has changed, however, is the form and
nature of the ghost itself. These days we find malevolent spirits inhabiting
social media accounts, transmitting themselves like viruses, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mbo5vHy8dw" target="_blank">etching themselves onto old VHS tapes</a>, or communicating through white noise on an untuned TV. It’s
hardly surprising – what’s scarier than having your everyday life invaded by a
malign presence? M R James said that a feature of the successful ghost story is
that the spirits themselves are contemporaries of the protagonist. In the essay
‘Some Remarks on Ghost Stories’, he said the modern idea of the ghost story had
‘setting and personages of the writer’s own day’. He was generally against
‘ancient’ ghosts – if a ghost ‘resembles a man in a pageant’, he didn’t think
it was very scary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Something we are seeing in the modern age, however, are
new and interesting ways to tell a ghost story beyond the traditional printed
or spoken word. The formalised short story is still pretty popular, but it’s being
slowly superseded by things like <a href="https://mashable.com/article/creepypastas/?europe=true" target="_blank">creepypasta</a>. Viral ghost stories – often
manufactured, like Slenderman – have had a huge cultural impact. The
ipad/monitor is the new fireside – kids are still scaring each other silly with
ghost stories and urban legends; they just don’t have to contain it within
their circle of friends any more. We tell ghost stories to strangers on the
internet rather than to our family on Christmas Eve. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I think we’re going to see more interesting uses of
modern technology and the ghost in the machine. Perhaps more of the blurring of
lines between SF and the ghost story (I really like Adam Christopher’s the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Burning Dark,</i> which is really a ghost
story set against the backdrop of an interstellar war). We’ve already seen lots
of overlap between transhumanism and horror – the idea that we can transplant
our consciousness into a server to live on after our bodies die (but then, is
the mapped program really us? Does it contain our soul? Have we literally just
turned ourselves into ghosts?) – these sorts of hyper-modern concepts are
taking the ghost story to new places. After all, the ghost story has
traditionally struggled to deal with modern technology – ghosts are less scary
if you can take out your mobile and call for help, so storytellers used to
simply use locations with no data or wifi. Oh no! But increasingly I think we’re
seeing the ghosts actively using tech like phones to scare the pants off
people. That text you received telling you to go to the spooky old house wasn’t
really from your friend… There’s a bit of a primal fear attached to communication
devices, where I suppose making a simple phone call could be a bit like
conducting a séance – you never know who, or what, is on the other side.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Even this isn’t a new idea, of course – the Victorians
were using electricity to commune with the dead 150 years ago.
Parapsychologists use gadgets to detect and monitor ghosts, so why shouldn’t
the ghosts use them back? Even my own story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GX7CNMX/" target="_blank">One New Follower</a></b>, features a ghost that used to get about when
people saw it, then advanced to photography, and finally embraced the freedom
granted by the Insta generation. Ghosts gotta move with the times.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMAkHk1aEFhPf7dpMWpHnkRVOTCZ59ycFW8Z54RdGB4ZgQNHBQE9EiH9xkF3cfLyBEvI9yR1V8IM1cuwJGGqNknl3dUqRHPJorFyE1nq28CRUtwqB4lN4sHRBvqVgr3PXBRH-yLFdXqQS/s1600/Phantoms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="379" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMAkHk1aEFhPf7dpMWpHnkRVOTCZ59ycFW8Z54RdGB4ZgQNHBQE9EiH9xkF3cfLyBEvI9yR1V8IM1cuwJGGqNknl3dUqRHPJorFyE1nq28CRUtwqB4lN4sHRBvqVgr3PXBRH-yLFdXqQS/s400/Phantoms.jpg" width="251" /></a>One theme that has remained surprisingly strong in the
ghost story is religion. In some respects, it’s understandable – after all, the
ghost story really exists to help us wrestle with the big questions about the
soul, and life after death, right? But society is growing increasingly secular,
so it’s a big leap for most people to thing you can call a Catholic priest to
exorcise the ghost. What if you don’t believe? What if the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghost </i>doesn’t believe? Hollywood in particular seems to have an
obsession with exorcisms, and the laying of ghosts by Christian priests and
ministers, and we kind of accept that as a plot device. I do think we’re seeing
less of that in British and world fiction. As soon as you can fix any haunting
by calling a priest, you take away the spirit’s power. However, most people who
read and enjoy ghost stories, and are scared by them, don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> believe in ghosts any more than
they believe in a god. So if you can suspend disbelief long enough to get
scared, I guess you can handle the old consecration cliché. <o:p></o:p></div>
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(Speaking of belief, the panel was asked if we’d ever had
a ghostly experience. We all had, in one form or another. I always say that I’ve
seen enough to not rule anything out, but not enough to be sure of anything… the
perfect amount to freak myself out).<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think the future of the ghost story is pretty healthy.
It’s such a part of traditional storytelling in so many cultures around the
world, that our grandkids will be telling them, and their grandkids, and so on.
Will they be told in the same form? Well, I think a lot of that will depend on
the creativity of the writers, and the power of changing trends. But our love
of the pleasing terror isn’t go away any time soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-68890148553466414532019-12-02T17:07:00.004+00:002019-12-02T19:01:20.853+00:00Scary Ghost Stories and Tales of the Glories…<br>
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If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know the
drill by now: it’s December. That means I’m about to start obsessing over ghost
stories, because in my weird ol’ head, ghosts and Christmas go together like…
well… like Scrooge and Marley.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This year I got a head start, because on November 30<sup>th</sup>
I attended the first <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/derby/uk-ghost-story-festival/2378027152482507/" target="_blank">UK Ghost Story Festival</a></b> in Derby. It was a really great
event, and I was fortunate enough to be invited onto two panels, and attend
several others, chat to readers and fellow aficionados, meet social media
friends in the flesh, as well as catch up with some lovely fellow writers who I
really don’t see often enough. Most importantly, though, I got to hear about
and talk about one of my favourite subjects: ghost stories!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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I figured my panels would make great blog fodder, as well
as give you a taste of what you missed out on if you couldn’t attend (it’ll be
back next year, bigger and better!). So this blog will look at ‘supernatural
shorts’ – this was a lively discussion about the short story format, and why it’s
particularly great for ghost stories. What follows is a summary of the
discussion, and my personal takeaways – big, big thanks to fellow panelists <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://jameseverington.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">James Everington</a></b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.alisonlittlewood.co.uk/" target="_blank">Alison Littlewood</a></b>, and our excellent chair,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://crimepieces.com/" target="_blank">Sophie Ward</a></b> (aka Rhiannon Ward).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgl0sP6GiIuq_blxyc17UyfRnuhhzp504WTMwqJDFpljzt1fnCj3sq83io6tx0x0sj_zAs3kYmv-DQp1PxDbt6H7bMMrc6RtbvPyQOWD-O7R6lJ2cGYk_1Sf4Wc5F5wo1OoB9DlS3LEPb/s1600/EKnwSUWW4AECAu2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1514" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgl0sP6GiIuq_blxyc17UyfRnuhhzp504WTMwqJDFpljzt1fnCj3sq83io6tx0x0sj_zAs3kYmv-DQp1PxDbt6H7bMMrc6RtbvPyQOWD-O7R6lJ2cGYk_1Sf4Wc5F5wo1OoB9DlS3LEPb/s320/EKnwSUWW4AECAu2.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left: Sophie, Ali, James, and me! <br>(Thanks to Sophie for the pic)</td></tr>
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So: why is the supernatural so effective in its shorter
form?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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The ghost story comes from the oral tradition (fireside
tales). In this respect, we could say the shorter the better – as an evening’s
entertainment, everyone sits around the fire and tells a story, and tries to
terrify their companions. Variations on this theme used to be the kick-off
point for many a tale – just look at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnacki" target="_blank">Carnacki stories</a>. It’s also the setup
for <b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/03/woman-in-black-susan-hill-book-club" target="_blank">The Woman in Black</a></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s delve into the classics of the form. My first ever experience with ghost stories was the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories – 1972
edition. I read it when I was far too young, and it gave me nightmares… but
turned me into the man I am today (i.e. a weirdo). This book contains two of
the best short stories ever written IMO: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Voice in the Night</b> (Hope Hodgson), and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Seaton’s
Aunt</b> (Walter de la Mare). These led me to track down more of the classic
writers, and that’s when I found M R James, who remains my main influence. I
also love really weird, ambiguous stuff – like Robert Aickmann’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Inner Room</b>, which I’ve read about
five times, absolutely love, but have no idea what it’s about…<o:p></o:p></div>
<br>Fast forward to the present, and I think Michelle Paver and Adam Nevill are at the top of the tree right now. Dark Matter is astonishing. Adam doesn’t write a lot of ghost stories <i>per se</i>, but there are some absolute corkers in his short story collections, notably Florrie. <br><br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSO-67w2fXaG2oufSVU2fFTBUC2frs1hAIqN4mCv9ySzxq3v6b594gq3RYifutoNXP4JMiX8C8JkdSTEU7DyR0qjc58nZSrJlaZ8TRP4gsBn78EXDBIza1vO8ue4_INRq4q48FKR95DxSk/s1600/20191202_170030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1021" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSO-67w2fXaG2oufSVU2fFTBUC2frs1hAIqN4mCv9ySzxq3v6b594gq3RYifutoNXP4JMiX8C8JkdSTEU7DyR0qjc58nZSrJlaZ8TRP4gsBn78EXDBIza1vO8ue4_INRq4q48FKR95DxSk/s320/20191202_170030.jpg" width="204"></a>M R James<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>wasn’t
keen on long-form horror. He described <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dracula</b>
as being too full of excess – it contained good ideas, but the ‘butter was
spread far too thick’. He described Maturin’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Melmoth</b> as ‘long – cruelly long – and we must keep our eye on the
short prose ghost story.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who am I to argue with the master? So I’ve tried to
identify the elements of the successful ghost story. I think we can all agree
on these three: Atmosphere; tension; suspension of disbelief. I add a fourth: Ambiguity.
(MR James says the best stories give us ‘plenty of clear-cut and matter-of-fact
detail, but when the climax is reached, allow us to be a little in the dark as
to the workings of their machinery’). These elements are very difficult to
maintain for a full novel, but can provide chills aplenty in a short story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If you look at the classic long-form ghost stories, they’re
really not as long as you think: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Turn of the Screw</b> is only 43k words. Wilkie Collins’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Haunted Hotel</b> is described by M R James as a ‘short novel’ (also,
cheekily ‘by no means ineffective; grisly enough, almost, for the modern
American taste’). <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Woman in Black</b>,
a modern classic, is really a novella.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The pitfall of the short story though is clichés – they can
be really hard to avoid when you don’t have many words to play with. Things
that were scary to Victorians and Edwardians have now been done to death (excuse
the pun). So we have to look at new ways to frighten, while still avoiding what
M R James would call ‘gory excess’. Tastes change. You can’t get away with
hanging a story around a bloodstain that won’t go away until the body of the
murdered maid is found – it was identified by Dickens in the mid-1800s as being
a common type of story still in use. It was becoming cliché even then, so now
you need an extra twist if you’re going anywhere near that device. And those
twists are what really help short story writers today. By all means take a cliché
or trope, but subvert it. The reader will be drawn in by the nostalgic air of
the familiar, and still be surprised and delighted (and, hopefully, terrified) by
a clever twist.</div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In a similar vein, we can use setting to do a lot of heavy
lifting in a short story. I think short stories thrive when you don’t have many
scenes, and ergo not many locations. If you can put a spooky twist on something
familiar, that also helps – that way you aren’t spending ages describing a
gothic castle or whatever – you’re picking something everyone can easily
visualise, like a boring stretch of motorway or a bedroom in the family home,
and playing up the differences (you’re surrounded by an unusually dense fog, or
there’s a strange, slender figure standing by the roadside, etc.). Finding the
unsettling in the mundane is pretty effective, and it saves the precious word
count. My last ghost story (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://titanbooks.com/9495-phantoms-haunting-tales-from-masters-of-the-genre/" target="_blank">One New Follower</a></b>) had: the pub, a muddy field, and a living room. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRYEU_nmbh65vQ8R1Vpcvt9Cfhl1gYQOO8q2Dcr171S9p3vU0tNeizlf7dqumUS0gZt_CnlLyY6jS9qiz0RiGiUr4MvJZqGqEG_Y8w1qJie1NUsukKAVOGXoVYmsgblcpC3p80tW3WBjQ/s1600/Phantoms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1256" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRYEU_nmbh65vQ8R1Vpcvt9Cfhl1gYQOO8q2Dcr171S9p3vU0tNeizlf7dqumUS0gZt_CnlLyY6jS9qiz0RiGiUr4MvJZqGqEG_Y8w1qJie1NUsukKAVOGXoVYmsgblcpC3p80tW3WBjQ/s400/Phantoms.jpg" width="251"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br>Finally, think about the ending of the ghost story. It
doesn’t always have to be a huge twist (sometimes that in itself is contrived
and expected). I always go back to that point about ambiguity. Ghost stories
aren’t often tied up with a neat bow – ghosts are scary and confusing. They’re
usually inexplicable, and while a character might turn to a priest or even a
local pagan group to come and exorcise the ghost, there’s no earthly reason why
this should actually work. A good ghost story should have a solid resolution at
least for the characters involved, but might not ever explain the nature of the
supernatural – after all, we only fear that which we don’t understand…<o:p></o:p></div>
<br>Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-70618538859171789302019-08-08T11:51:00.001+01:002019-08-08T11:51:42.039+01:00In Memoriam: Gustavo Cuadrado<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I lost a friend this week.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It’s weird how hard it hit me. We were colleagues really,
and distant ones at that, but in this solitary line of work you form unlikely bonds
with people you might not ordinarily have met. And so it was with Gustavo
Cuadrado.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I first met Gus maybe four years ago in Madrid, but we’d
been working together on and off before that. He was the designer of the Batman
Miniature Game, before I ever even came on board with Knight Models, and he was
my principle contact with the company. We always found it funny that his spoken
English wasn’t great, and my Spanish was terrible, and we both found it easier
to email each other than talk face-to-face. That’s language barriers for you.
But when I flew out to meet the Knight Models team for the first time, we hit
it off. It didn’t matter that sometimes we talked at cross purposes, or I said
something stupid while trying to order food at a restaurant, or he completely misunderstood me when I tried to explain an idea for Line of Sight rules. When the fluent
English speakers had gone home, it was Gus who came out for drinks with me at a
local bar or at the hotel so that I didn’t feel lonely in a strange land.
Sounds daft maybe, but it mattered to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The other weird thing was that he was a fan of mine. This
is a client who’d already risen from freelance designer himself to a senior
role at Knight Models. He helped run things in the studio, and between us Jose
(the owner of Knight), Gus and me would thrash out all sorts of ideas for new
releases and crazy games. I think some of those games might never see the light
of day, because they were very much Gus’ babies, and that’s such a crying shame
because man, they were out-of-this-world ideas, full of ambition and love for
the hobby. But this is a guy who’s about the same age as me, and he was already
doing great work in the industry. He stopped being a fan and became a peer.
We’d bounce ideas off each other, correct each other’s mistakes. He knew his
stuff.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Gus had real integrity, and humility. He wasn’t in this
for any kind of fame or glory. He was in it for the love. He didn’t care if his
name was in a book or not. When we worked on Harry Potter in the early days, I
flew over to help with a bunch of promo videos. He was behind the camera
feeding me lines while I sat there in a wizard’s robe doing interviews and
playing games (getting all the rules wrong). He designed the game, but he
wanted me to be ‘the face’ of it, maybe because he didn’t think his English was
up to it, but really because he didn’t care for the spotlight – he literally
only cared that people played his games and had a good time doing so.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Just over a year ago, I went back to Spain to talk about
future freelance projects. In a quiet moment, Gus took me aside and told me the
news, that he’d been diagnosed with cancer and was about to start his treatment
the very next day. He was practical and pragmatic in his outlook, as he always
was about everything. He was due to get married and go on honeymoon just one
month later. Talk about timing. The wedding went ahead as planned. Gus’s wife
is a treasure – that’s love, right? I can’t imagine what she must be going
through if someone like me, a British guy who only met Gus four times, is
literally crying at the loss.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One year. That’s all it took to go from diagnosis, to
chemotherapy, to realising the treatment wasn’t working.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
He got in touch with me a fortnight ago to tell me he was
dying. He’d come off the treatment so he could stop feeling sick, and maybe
just have some peace in his final weeks. And all he wanted to do was talk about
games. He was fascinated by my latest rules. He was reading new rulebooks on
his sickbed instead of novels or magazines. He was absolutely dedicated to the
hobby industry right to the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Less than two weeks later, I get a message from Knight
Models with the worst possible news, asking if I could write an obituary for
social media. It’s not because I knew him the best, or loved him the most, but
because I’m their words guy now that Gus is gone. That hit hard. I shed a few
tears and then had to write some words on behalf of all these guys who were his
friends, who’d known him for years, and worked with him every day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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My thoughts are with those guys right now, because they
have to carry on, and do so with the legacy that Gus left behind. When you play
BMG or DCUMG in particular, you can really see Gustavo’s own design style and
ethos, because he threw himself into his work with real passion. Now the torch
is passed on, and it’s our job to continue what Gus started. I find it weird to
talk about that – distilling this tragedy into ‘the job’. But at the same time
he was completely devoted to this crazy industry, and the best way we have to
keep his memory alive is to keep his games alive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Right now it feels raw, and I don’t even know where to
start. So I think I’m just going to step away, and think about Gustavo, the
man, not the games designer. About what a great dude he was, and how he was
taken way too soon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="ES-US">Adios
amigo mio, te envío un fuerte abrazo y mis pensamientos estan con tus seres
queridos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDYxtDpPIutthD4z-Vc2pUQI576gFNKss_ZokhhO5SGsYd8pLjEJntAeAq2FFm_rQizIwMdjsEGPWSPvSarUeoQERZgmvELDMedgLaQu5ARGDRWZaMEwGKlGUyV8y7TRXwRC1iLh7-qeF/s1600/IMG_8liw32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDYxtDpPIutthD4z-Vc2pUQI576gFNKss_ZokhhO5SGsYd8pLjEJntAeAq2FFm_rQizIwMdjsEGPWSPvSarUeoQERZgmvELDMedgLaQu5ARGDRWZaMEwGKlGUyV8y7TRXwRC1iLh7-qeF/s400/IMG_8liw32.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustavo on the far left; our first meeting. Rest in peace, buddy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-86522212303092251592019-05-20T19:20:00.003+01:002019-05-20T19:20:57.396+01:00Answer the Call to Arms!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCYXCFD_rDCXeW2CTadjzzAye1GVQd9wHe5rJEgGC5MYSbf10TtVw1oQW1h1XXU7Q-fJJ0ty3lUqIOJLWfJ7MGJvEiumqhbjKN8wfn1xTjCxVyYYMiIeMMYpxmPucZjuZwA-h_l4Sud5b/s1600/tes-modiphius-com-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="932" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCYXCFD_rDCXeW2CTadjzzAye1GVQd9wHe5rJEgGC5MYSbf10TtVw1oQW1h1XXU7Q-fJJ0ty3lUqIOJLWfJ7MGJvEiumqhbjKN8wfn1xTjCxVyYYMiIeMMYpxmPucZjuZwA-h_l4Sud5b/s400/tes-modiphius-com-banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For the last year or so I’ve been hard at work with the
guys at <a href="https://www.modiphius.com/" target="_blank">Modiphius Entertainment</a> on a very special project, and it’s been
hellish trying to keep it a secret! Well, I no longer have to, as today we’ve
finally announced my latest tabletop miniatures game – <b>The Elder Scrolls: Call
to Arms</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You can read the official <a href="https://www.modiphius.com/elder-scrolls.html" target="_blank">press release here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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My relationship with the Elder Scrolls goes back a long
way. I’ve played every version of the game since Daggerfall, and I count Skyrim
in my top three games of all time (right up there with System Shock 2 and
Paradroid, if you’re interested). I did a bit of work on <a href="https://www.modiphius.com/fallout.html" target="_blank">Fallout: Wasteland Warfare</a> with Modiphius, focusing more on planning and rules feedback rather
than design, and when they told me they had the TES licence I basically
harassed poor Chris Birch (owner of Modiphius) until he gave me the lead
designer gig.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f8Hjthne51FbdRcJBPzjJqpmidnC-wPgDqnaQAnp_x7U9s6Ex4KNeOdQr_Scz40oMn_aL0xo2oA_rfX-y2-ZZCrhec7Boew1bn7DL7hzEjXXn-Ml3WNn8KxbSL2dJqhlrT1vA2TT0gZN/s1600/Dragonborn+Miniature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="550" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f8Hjthne51FbdRcJBPzjJqpmidnC-wPgDqnaQAnp_x7U9s6Ex4KNeOdQr_Scz40oMn_aL0xo2oA_rfX-y2-ZZCrhec7Boew1bn7DL7hzEjXXn-Ml3WNn8KxbSL2dJqhlrT1vA2TT0gZN/s320/Dragonborn+Miniature.jpg" width="320" /></a>What you have here is a classic skirmish game, marrying
all the elements of customisable group-building and dynamic actions that
(hopefully) you’ve come to expect from my games, with the strong sense of
narrative and progression that Modiphius pride themselves on. There’s even a
solo and co-op mode!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Lots more details and reveals to come in the next few
weeks. But for now, feats your eyes on the Dragonborn, and prepare to write
your fate in the Elder Scrolls!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-43128799716957293452019-05-17T14:58:00.001+01:002019-09-13T11:17:22.992+01:00Planner or Pantser?<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fresh
off the back of a successful workshop session on<a href="https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/adults/planning-and-plotting?fbclid=IwAR3fEP6O3HLZLO30hrxEmbX664azogDyKDsKKt0pt6N-RCf1M9hYzBeE20I" target="_blank"> Planning Your Novel at Derby Quad</a>, I thought it’d be useful to turn it into a blog post, as part of my
occasional series on the writing process. This particular session was great
fun, taking the form of a Q&A with the estimable <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexDavis1981" target="_blank">Alex Davis</a>. The workshop wasn’t
just about typical writing advice, but specifically about the methods I’ve
devised to aid my planning, with the overall theme of: everyone’s different!
Find a method that works to you even if it seems weird…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you always an author who planned your
stories, or did you ever try the ‘pantster’ approach of just getting stuck in?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
I was a total pantser, and still am a bit. My first novel had the briefest imaginable
outline, although I was 100% set on the mid-point and the ending – it took a
lot of working out to get there. It also took me 2 years to complete…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
reasons I started taking planning more seriously were (a) I began writing on a
contract, and therefore had a deadline to hit, and (b) I started adding more
crime/mystery elements, which really needed more structured planning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What difference did you notice to your process
when you had a more solid plan for the book?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although
I still prefer writing the book sequentially, having a detail plan means that
if I get stuck on a section, I can skip ahead to another bit, because I know at
least roughly what needs to happen in any given scene. It doesn’t make me a
better writer or anything, but it does make me more productive when I can just
get on with stuff and not spend ages procrastinating, or trying to remember why
I wrote that random scene, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the very earliest stage of your
planning process?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
Premise – or concept, then premise, but the two are basically intertwined. From
the premise comes the question ‘is there a story there?’ If yes, I flesh it out
into at least a paragraph, and write some character notes, then bounce that
idea off someone – usually my agent. Usually I just know if the book will work
or not, but If he thinks it’s got legs, I can start work on it properly with
confidence. All of this is usually handwritten. I write things down all the
time in notepads, and sometimes when I read those notes back some ideas leap
out and take on a life of their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
leads to brainstorming, which usually takes the form of a mind-map on a big
flipchart page (or several! The mind-map for Iscariot Sanction spilled off the
flipchart and ended up being transferred to a roll of wallpaper…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. How does your planning process tend
to progress? What steps do you always take before you start writing?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
I’ve found a groove finally, which I’ve used on my last three books. This goes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Premise</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Elevator
Pitch – or, the story in a nutshell.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Flipchart
1: Mind Map. <a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.com/2018/09/flip-it.html" target="_blank">(See my earlier blog on flipchart planning!)</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Flipchart
2: The plot. Every scene gets a thought bubble, and these get linked with
arrows and character notes, and scribbled out and changed several times until
only my dog can understand it. From this is born:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Synopsis
(usually 2 pages) and character notes (usually a short paragraph each)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Long
synopsis with full chapter breakdown (not for dissemination). Some writers like
to plot a ‘beat sheet’ first, but personally I find that a bit too formulaic –
like, ‘this character moment has to occur exactly 75% through the novel’ etc.
Gets used in screenwriting a lot.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
any sections are particularly tricky, like a whodunit where you have to track
every character’s movements simultaneously, I do a third flipchart, which is
the detail map of one or more chapters. Some more technologically minded folk
use a spreadsheet for this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
then set up a fresh manuscript – my favourite part. It’s like sleeping in clean
sheets… Into this I paste each chapter header onto a different page. I bullet
point these sections, adding detail if necessary – which characters are
present? Whose POV is it? What clue do they need to find to get to the next
chapter? How do they find that clue? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
start writing under the chapter descriptions, crossing off each point as I
cover it. As I write, any additions I make (usually lots), or things I change
or delete, get added into those chapter descriptions, so that when I start the
chapter, it’s the most up-to-date version of the plan. If I do decide to change
anything during writing, I go back and add comments to myself to change it in
editing. I NEVER tinker with earlier chapters until editing begins – always forward,
never backwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. Some people find that planning and
plotting in detail can take the ‘fun’ out of the writing – do you ever feel
that? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
I can understand that, and it can be the case. For me, planning a story is
working out what story you’re going to tell. The first draft is then telling
that story to yourself. The second draft is finding the best way to share it
with the reader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
problem is, if you put too much detail into the plan, so there’s nothing left
to work out as you write, you sort of tell yourself spoilers, and it can make
you lose enthusiasm for the work. Once a story is on paper and out of your
head, your brain starts looking for new shiny ideas instead. This is probably
why GRRM hasn’t – and perhaps won’t – finish A Song of Ice and Fire. He’s sat
down with the TV execs and gone through his story in detail. He’s told the
story in full, and now he’s lost forward momentum on the actual hard graft of
writing the thing. That’s where a good work ethic comes in, because some days
you just need to grind out those words!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. Does the plan ever change as you go
along, or do you tend to deviate much?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
Every damn time. And that’s a good thing. I saw a thing on social media recently
that put the different types of ‘planner’ into <a href="https://twitter.com/cheyannealepka/status/1127622119381196800" target="_blank">a D&D alignment chart</a>. I am
a ‘lawful pantser’, which I suppose means that, no matter how meticulous the
plan, I always leave myself enough rope to hang myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. What do you do if the story does
suddenly starts going in another direction from the plan?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
This happens a lot, and you have to have honest conversations with yourself. If
this really a ‘better’ idea, or just a ‘new’ idea that’s turned your head. If
it’s genuinely better, then maybe look ahead to the next big milestone and work
out the butterfly effect: if you change this thing here, can you still pull the
story back on track, or do you have to alter everything? If it’s the latter,
then maybe you aren’t telling the same story any more, and that can be a real
problem, especially if you’ve sold the book and the editor is expecting one
thing but you want to deliver another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
rule of thumb is to look at the ‘beat sheet’ – even if you don’t strictly
follow the formula, every story supposedly has 15-18 traditional beats, and
it’s worth knowing what those beats are in your own story. If a change ends up
altering 5 or 6 of those beats, that’s a huge change to the synopsis, and it
might be a good idea to really stop and think before diving in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. What advice would you give to an
author who’d never tried to plan anything out before in detail?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
Don’t feel like you have to. I think if I wrote a less complex book, I’d do
less planning – the level of my chapter breakdown method for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frostgrave-Ghost-Archipelago-Destinys-Call/dp/1472832701/" target="_blank">Destiny’s Call</a>,
for example (YA fantasy) was about a quarter as detailed as <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Holmes-Tower-Mark-Latham/dp/1783298685/" target="_blank">The Red Tower</a> (Sherlock
Holmes pastiche). Do what works for you. I wrote my first published book with
barely anything except some incoherent notes in a pad. The second book had a
synopsis but not much more. It’s doable, you just might find you’re not as
efficient without a plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. Do you tend to think in terms of
three-act structure when you are planning?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
really prefer the four-act structure. The Lazarus Gate is the most obvious
example, where the mid-point of the book is really the point where everything
changes. The hero has to come to terms with this new situation before they can
find a solution. I think I always start with three acts when I’m writing that
initial synopsis, but it always comes back to four… The main difference is that
after the mid-point twist, you don’t just continue the rising tension, but have
to come up with a whole new set of obstacles because the twists was such a
game-changer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. Does the plan help where it comes to
things like writing synopses and ‘pitches’?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
I always start with those things, because for me the plan has to be born from
the pitch, which has to be born from the premise. BUT there’s a hidden second
stage of pitching if you’re selling a completed manuscript (rather than selling
on spec). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
pitch and synopsis that I bounce off my agent usually gives rise to lots of
ideas, which then go into a plan. Sometimes the synopsis will change a few
times as a result. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
the book is finished, there will almost certainly be differences between the
manuscript and the pitch. So, I retro-fit the pitch and short synopsis to
accurately reflect the content. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is where the chapter breakdown really comes into its own – because I’ve updated
the chapter plan as I’ve gone along, I can simply condense each chapter into a
sentence or two, making it as pithy and exciting as possible, and BOOM: instant
synopsis that’s fit for the publisher’s eyes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Q. Do you feel like you can change the
plan once the publisher has agreed it with you?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A.
If they’ve specifically signed off on a detail plan – often the case with
licensed fiction – then any changes to plan really should be run by the editor
first. Normally though, a publisher will sign off on a synopsis that doesn’t
include every little detail, so there’s some freedom. If you go really off-piste,
like kill the protagonist when the plan said they were going to ride off into
the sunset happily, or you decide they wake up and it’s all a dream, the editor
will probably have something to say. They’re paying for it, after all – they
should know broadly what their money is buying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s it –
hopefully you find some useful bits in there. Remember, this is just my own
planning journey and everyone is different!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-38702633360457190612018-12-22T11:00:00.000+00:002018-12-22T11:00:05.002+00:00The Most Wonderful Time...As always, in the traditional Christmas blog post, I'd like to wish all my friends, followers, fans and family the very best of the holiday season.<div>
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It's been a hectic year for me. I seem to have been working non-stop on a whole range of projects. In fiction we've seen <b><a href="https://titanbooks.com/8440-sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: the Red Tower</a></b>, <b><a href="https://ospreypublishing.com/frostgrave-ghost-archipelago-destiny-039-s-call" target="_blank">Destiny's Call</a></b>, and my short story One New Follower in the awesome <b><a href="https://titanbooks.com/9495-phantoms-haunting-tales-from-masters-of-the-genre/" target="_blank">Phantoms</a></b> anthology. In gaming, the <b><a href="http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/heres-negan.html" target="_blank">Here's Negan</a></b> board game has just been released, along with Wave 5 of <b><a href="http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/the-walking-dead/product/the-walking-dead-wave-five-complete-bundle.html" target="_blank">The Walking Dead: All Out War</a></b>, and, of course, the <b><a href="https://www.knightmodels.com/en/harry-potter-miniatures-adventure-game-home.html" target="_blank">Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game</a></b>. Quite a list...</div>
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But that actually isn't all: most of the things I've been busy working on won't bear fruit for a little while to come. There's at least one huge (Huge!) tabletop game announcement to come in 2019, and I'm currently working on my new novel... Lots of exciting stuff to come in the New Year.</div>
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Thanks one and all for your support. Season's greetings to you, and a Happy New Year.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2xS-1iN-f9AE5uE9iwYoWkfz3MdGMA9DYXMpHuXM3Y1HsiKHlAHWOnt0zc4yr4yK5pUzbuymdl0ktB6TbIiHVld5t_Z2R13nfv04Ks2D4V_vf6j9NPgvCdgtztuc16gXxOu9NfW5L9GE/s1600/Latham+Christmas+w+text.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1600" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2xS-1iN-f9AE5uE9iwYoWkfz3MdGMA9DYXMpHuXM3Y1HsiKHlAHWOnt0zc4yr4yK5pUzbuymdl0ktB6TbIiHVld5t_Z2R13nfv04Ks2D4V_vf6j9NPgvCdgtztuc16gXxOu9NfW5L9GE/s400/Latham+Christmas+w+text.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(This year's Christmas card is courtesy of the brilliant Dom Murray - follow him on Twitter @sinistersnowmen, or drop him a line - he's taking commissions! <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">sinistersnowmen@gmail.com</span></span>)</div>
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Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-15211013494706680962018-10-27T12:00:00.000+01:002018-10-27T12:00:03.777+01:00Beware! You’re in for a Scare…<br />
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In previous years I’ve written a bit about my favourite
spooky stories. This year, I realised that for the first time, I actually have
enough spooky stories of my own out there, in print, to blog about. WEIRD HUH?
AND SUPER EXCITING!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">*Ahem*<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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So without further ado, let’s have a Halloween round-up…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxm28Le36Pc9EhU8OE7giY9JnGBKgdX66y8pWzfqMBNW4tkeHML3gzAp1-bK_jzIms6T0U0BQkGUJi2KoEzBa5sD8WpO0q6xkZUP9vDaC_PCltRJmY-d_OcRJqtWcFiRMIayMXvBHD_MV/s1600/51m-qVKlrhL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxm28Le36Pc9EhU8OE7giY9JnGBKgdX66y8pWzfqMBNW4tkeHML3gzAp1-bK_jzIms6T0U0BQkGUJi2KoEzBa5sD8WpO0q6xkZUP9vDaC_PCltRJmY-d_OcRJqtWcFiRMIayMXvBHD_MV/s320/51m-qVKlrhL.jpg" width="213" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1. The Ghost
Writer<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the village of
Amblesford lies a house, known for miles around as a place of ill omen, where
the stench of death hangs in the air and the shadow of the hanging tree can be
seen by the light of the full moon. In to this fell place comes the ghost
writer, an antiquarian and writer of tall tales, whose curiosity leads him to
darker places than even his imagination can conjure…<br />
<br />
</i>The Ghost Writer is a novelette that I wrote for fun, and is my first and
only self-published work to date. Really, this was an exercise in replicating
the voice and style of the all-time greatest ghost story writer, M R James, and of all
my pieces of short fiction I think this one is my favourite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ghost Writer </i>is
available for e-readers <b><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Writer-Mark-Latham-ebook/dp/B016H0DUDA" target="_blank">here</a></u></b>. (If you enjoy it, do remember to leave a review).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<b>2. One New
Follower</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufPDW5ZO0yFCe4V3vlloIZ_LaiirtXhxjMdUoBgn_ooM8w5rDWdStmeQg965mUtbW0nhTwaalmx12VitpUsyW7I-jKJMlDTL34hC89EPKiiXoj708Lfur3JUcnS293IiCkoQ831ncQ1j0/s1600/Phantoms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="379" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufPDW5ZO0yFCe4V3vlloIZ_LaiirtXhxjMdUoBgn_ooM8w5rDWdStmeQg965mUtbW0nhTwaalmx12VitpUsyW7I-jKJMlDTL34hC89EPKiiXoj708Lfur3JUcnS293IiCkoQ831ncQ1j0/s320/Phantoms.jpg" width="202" /></a>The most recent of the bunch, this is a short story from
<a href="https://titanbooks.com/9495-phantoms-haunting-tales-from-masters-of-the-genre/" target="_blank"><b><u>Phantoms</u></b>,</a> by Titan Books, edited by the wonderful<b> <a href="http://www.marieoregan.net/" target="_blank">Marie O’Regan</a></b>. It was a real
honour to be included in this collection, alongside some incredible writers
such as Joe Hill, Alison Littlewood and John Connolly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One New Follower</i>
is another Jamesian tale, but this time set squarely in the modern day. My goal
here was to bring stories like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh,
Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Warning to the Curious</i>, kicking and screaming into the present
day, with social media providing a conduit between this world and the next.</div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sGbE8wjZnxnqhEyZzmwesCCuYdZ8zsVPXpQA1VMF1JH48BwJBuCtVkeR7R8fZBUFU7436Cn9l49Ag62CLiOJMUQsTlMXkcq9jSq1LklpyE0mENAfXFfiiGNQlapxqvnnQMI7vo2ViQBS/s1600/Red+Tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sGbE8wjZnxnqhEyZzmwesCCuYdZ8zsVPXpQA1VMF1JH48BwJBuCtVkeR7R8fZBUFU7436Cn9l49Ag62CLiOJMUQsTlMXkcq9jSq1LklpyE0mENAfXFfiiGNQlapxqvnnQMI7vo2ViQBS/s320/Red+Tower.jpg" width="205" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. The Red Tower<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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At this year’s FantasyCon I did a short reading
from this novel, which is my most well-received Sherlockian tale to date, and
second full-length Holmes pastiche. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This story centres on Watson, who spends the first third
of the book getting scared out of his wits by spiritualist séances and ghost
stories, before witnessing a terrible tragedy, prompting him to summon his
friend, Sherlock Holmes. In fact, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/product/sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower/" target="_blank">San Francisco Book Review</a></i> says: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“[Watson]’s
portrayed as super-competent, observant, and a worthy equal rather than a
witless sidekick — the character shines in Latham’s hands.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Red Tower</i>
is out now from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="https://titanbooks.com/8440-sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower/" target="_blank">Titan Books</a></u></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4. The Cuckoo’s
Hour<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbfMbA_uUGpuXNmC5xmYjopqFfB3A-3uuybs661fhz9TadsFt1c7jZ1tUULF669cgiH70Z8HzBaucPiX1Pq1b0EbUEWqVj7T5AImEi2Vv29IV5ABMQITyIw3i88QxU9XCsi7EDgeVJNvx/s1600/44559389_10156638030053329_4625274092361089024_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbfMbA_uUGpuXNmC5xmYjopqFfB3A-3uuybs661fhz9TadsFt1c7jZ1tUULF669cgiH70Z8HzBaucPiX1Pq1b0EbUEWqVj7T5AImEi2Vv29IV5ABMQITyIw3i88QxU9XCsi7EDgeVJNvx/s320/44559389_10156638030053329_4625274092361089024_n.jpg" width="207" /></a>Another recent story to feature in an anthology, this
time Edge Publishing’s Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes. This
is also the first time that I’ve included a genuinely inexplicable supernatural
phenomenon in a tale of the Great Detective.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Canadian Holmes</i>
say: “The collection starts off strong with a story by Mark A. Latham that
could have flowed out of Doyle’s own pen in a darker parallel universe.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publisher’s Weekly</i>
say: The best of this volume is “The Cuckoo’s Hour” by rising pastiche star
Mark A. Latham, featuring a murder committed in a manor “full of symbolism and
hidden chambers” and blamed on the Jack o’ the Green, who’s rumored to spend
his summers searching for “guilty men to drag away to his realm.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Who am I to argue? You can buy it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaslight-Gothic-Strange-Sherlock-Holmes-ebook/dp/B07F23MRHJ/" target="_blank">here!</a></u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f_hpgwV1KRsp-ElhGyVY1_dlmfRFvUefoOGSqGJOp1nNGOUVMRz3M4mVOPUxokKSRUzWuIuTZVf_RGv9_k3yen8I5gIQafGBUmmhhn4P9KTjKO3fbnnD8YPBM1dE020byix4Kkn41NTn/s1600/9781472807977_2_1_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f_hpgwV1KRsp-ElhGyVY1_dlmfRFvUefoOGSqGJOp1nNGOUVMRz3M4mVOPUxokKSRUzWuIuTZVf_RGv9_k3yen8I5gIQafGBUmmhhn4P9KTjKO3fbnnD8YPBM1dE020byix4Kkn41NTn/s320/9781472807977_2_1_17.jpg" width="237" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">5. The Headless
Horseman of Sleepy Hollow<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Okay, so this one’s a cheat, as it’s not really a story
per se. But Washington Irving’s modern legend is a quintessential Haloween tale
for me. And so this book is an alternate-history take on the story, asking ‘what
if it was real?’ and more importantly, ‘what if Washington Irving himself was a
ghost-hunter who roamed the world searching for headless revenants?’ Silly?
Maybe. Fun? Definitely. Spooky? Hell yes! </div>
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As a bonus, this book is lavishly illustrated by the incredible <a href="https://ospreypublishing.com/alan-lathwell" target="_blank">Alan Lathwell</a>, who's really brought the subject matter to [un]life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Available from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="https://ospreypublishing.com/the-headless-horseman-of-sleepy-hollow" target="_blank">OspreyPublishing</a></u></b>. Also available in the US as a children’s hardback edition
from <a href="https://rosenpublishing.com/title/Hunting-the-Headless-Horseman" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rosen Publishing</u></b>.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-35170575700409679282018-09-28T11:30:00.000+01:002018-09-28T11:30:05.113+01:00Flip it!<br />
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It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog about my
writing process, and I promised ages ago that I’d do more of these. So today
I’m going to talk a bit about planning.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s get one thing straight right away: I’m not a
meticulous planner (much to the chagrin of some editors). In the spectrum of
<a href="https://thewritelife.com/what-is-your-writing-style/" target="_blank">‘Are you a planner or a pantser?</a>’, I fall pretty much in-between. I do some
planning – sometimes lots of it. But I know the plan will change once I start
writing – the plan is guidelines, more than actual rules. Yarr.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF3YSf5UfSRr0sIhgoWYYtO9Jwh-y841WbDgZv9b0-oXVyNIy3URUMLmQl_j6ZmrVqibqim8aAXsZDj7G1sQeIFB9_l7mUc1BxSsf5YQdtzxpSM05OKgbaPwAZLtLov2VES2Oq2wH-whD/s1600/20180924_092512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF3YSf5UfSRr0sIhgoWYYtO9Jwh-y841WbDgZv9b0-oXVyNIy3URUMLmQl_j6ZmrVqibqim8aAXsZDj7G1sQeIFB9_l7mUc1BxSsf5YQdtzxpSM05OKgbaPwAZLtLov2VES2Oq2wH-whD/s400/20180924_092512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My planning starts life in a notebook. I carry one
everywhere, so I can jot down anything that pops into my head about the current
project. Once I’ve got enough notes that a story has presented itself, the fun
begins. That’s when I take a pack of Sharpies (other brands are available), and
a big flipchart pad, and start <a href="https://simplemind.eu/how-to-mind-map/basics/" target="_blank">mind-mapping</a> story elements. I have one or more
flipchart pages for almost every book and short story I’ve written/am writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t always go about this process the same way, and
sometimes I do multiple pages for different purposes, so let’s take a look at
some specific examples.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">The Iscariot
Sanction</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This particular page is really just a plot chart, but
doing it this way allowed me to identify the gaps in the story, and add extra
scenes easily, then link them all with arrows later. The eagle-eyed amongst you
will see that <i><a href="https://titanbooks.com/8208-the-iscariot-sanction-the-lazarus-gate-2/" target="_blank">The Iscariot Sanction</a></i> changed quite a bit after the planning. The key points
are still there, but in this version John Hardwick started out in Alaska investigating
the thinning of the veil, while Lillian battled vampires in London, then I
brought them together at the midpoint. I also changed Sir Arthur’s name (which
we implemented in the final edits of the Lazarus Gate, too) from Cecil to
Furnival.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvYuUxve4OwRXW2YiJa794fL82AU2JJeuxYXSwP9fuvsrXQ7HAalsJ_QOmdpoivpOtPxY9xb8uDI6lxqcf1BH04EJZVZDpX6hw-17TrXbSmMRYN9Tzckm3p4l97UK0QORlJCSSN4VaLm_/s1600/Iscariot+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvYuUxve4OwRXW2YiJa794fL82AU2JJeuxYXSwP9fuvsrXQ7HAalsJ_QOmdpoivpOtPxY9xb8uDI6lxqcf1BH04EJZVZDpX6hw-17TrXbSmMRYN9Tzckm3p4l97UK0QORlJCSSN4VaLm_/s400/Iscariot+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">The Red Tower</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I do this type of chart occasionally for fine detail, and
I use a flipchart rather than an Excel spreadsheet so I can pin it up somewhere
over my desk and refer to it easily. This is an hour-by-hour breakdown of
character movements in <i><a href="https://titanbooks.com/8440-sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: The Red Tower</a></i> – absolutely invaluable
when dealing with multiple characters interacting over a short period of time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXCzHjTVgwBBxHIssFLOLXGx1_Lcf0U6wrtild-Bx1WnT5oB6yjSql_3O73aC0h0MA-u13DY6ohLvihz0_XKWVHrRohr3DkRqFkTuW_GwXikItauuXhpCm9I9Tb9hxaPR26Rl2Rh3cuH-/s1600/Red+Tower+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXCzHjTVgwBBxHIssFLOLXGx1_Lcf0U6wrtild-Bx1WnT5oB6yjSql_3O73aC0h0MA-u13DY6ohLvihz0_XKWVHrRohr3DkRqFkTuW_GwXikItauuXhpCm9I9Tb9hxaPR26Rl2Rh3cuH-/s400/Red+Tower+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As you can see, flipcharts don’t always survive contact
with #bdog…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oKr8M-Raqh28x5-1mb-S0UANHlItFtBd47-pktiaEUXJl6UzdVJpzdsyoFNGqQ2qNymCE2Wt1N4dNEdDY1Tl_HSt6I1H99DMzVYjTUUcBC_CNFJtCTqR8SAsWm6rclqSiqucEpr9irlb/s1600/Red+Tower+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1600" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oKr8M-Raqh28x5-1mb-S0UANHlItFtBd47-pktiaEUXJl6UzdVJpzdsyoFNGqQ2qNymCE2Wt1N4dNEdDY1Tl_HSt6I1H99DMzVYjTUUcBC_CNFJtCTqR8SAsWm6rclqSiqucEpr9irlb/s400/Red+Tower+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">A Betrayal in
Blood</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This is the more usual way for me to start my
flipcharting, but I’ve saved it till last because this particular example is
the most interesting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKt5QVbD20Xv-EksXexCvk9z_2dKlpSSHqYBYsIDlZEuisTFDulYMn9jBygO_mNMb48Zp86_JWg81k7g6EGrlwO_xaa3kt8V-vFGE5_Kv3HUNhApOyJOHCvEw9kWbDrVdKwfmBHT0rmgs/s1600/Betrayal+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKt5QVbD20Xv-EksXexCvk9z_2dKlpSSHqYBYsIDlZEuisTFDulYMn9jBygO_mNMb48Zp86_JWg81k7g6EGrlwO_xaa3kt8V-vFGE5_Kv3HUNhApOyJOHCvEw9kWbDrVdKwfmBHT0rmgs/s400/Betrayal+1.jpg" width="316" /></a>What you have here is the very first mind map for <a href="https://titanbooks.com/8438-sherlock-holmes-a-betrayal-in-blood/" target="_blank"><i>A </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Betrayal in Blood</i></a>, then called ‘The Trial of Van
Helsing’. There are loads of little details that didn’t make the final book. The
main reason was one of space. When I sold <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Betrayal</i>,
I’d assumed it would be a standalone book, and therefore length wouldn’t be an
issue. It was only after I’d started writing that I found out it was to be published
as part of an ongoing series of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, and therefore was
subject to a strict word count. Chapters had to be cut, characters had to be
conflated. A lot of my research into Stoker’s anomalous notes on Dracula sadly
went unseen – I never got to really characterise Aytown, singleton, Young and
Windeshoeffel, although I managed to put a little nod to them all in the book. There
was also no room for the royal conspiracy I had planned, and to save space I
ended up making Van Helsing far more villainous, and Arthur Holmwood less so.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX08i9HKz-8csRpIGS5NF_eh9yt7gV1js-5F26XEQaaN10jkiVmqRm7McYFbmhMIAUpPlZE8JWjoPE97sBFXjrVTxZnix7kZTogrC9Ch07k27g0_rltznl_ey7y8jcbcmlgjLI8LtJnws_/s1600/Betrayal+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1587" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX08i9HKz-8csRpIGS5NF_eh9yt7gV1js-5F26XEQaaN10jkiVmqRm7McYFbmhMIAUpPlZE8JWjoPE97sBFXjrVTxZnix7kZTogrC9Ch07k27g0_rltznl_ey7y8jcbcmlgjLI8LtJnws_/s200/Betrayal+2.jpg" width="200" /></a>Not all of these changes were to save space. Some became
apparent during the writing process as being overly complex, or exemplifying
the sin of showing too much research on the page. What we ended up with was a much
tighter, more action-packed narrative, with clearer-cut villains and less
ambiguity of motive. I’d love to revisit this plan one day, if only to write
the essay about the inconsistencies in the ‘crew of light’s’ story.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-79085296810771208732018-09-19T09:25:00.000+01:002018-09-21T11:25:11.507+01:00Nothing to See Here...I realised this morning that my blog has become rather neglected of late. Nothing to worry about - far from it, in fact. It's just that 2018 is the busiest year I've had since becoming a full-time writer and freelancer over five years ago, and finding time to blog, or even think sometimes, is getting hard!<br />
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Normal service will resume shortly. In the meantime, some quick updates:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_hPaONk0-cojIzvMLyFQ7TenRYNzMfluZFjLxg7E1w2Tss497spWQY3OJZctztfViU92x3tKWGSB_RJjTaPwZCfTqXHrC8L5HJgifP6mYbg1EutDTwFcnwwqtjLUDbFQ2KkaUKbZeCp-/s1600/9781472832689_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_hPaONk0-cojIzvMLyFQ7TenRYNzMfluZFjLxg7E1w2Tss497spWQY3OJZctztfViU92x3tKWGSB_RJjTaPwZCfTqXHrC8L5HJgifP6mYbg1EutDTwFcnwwqtjLUDbFQ2KkaUKbZeCp-/s1600/9781472832689_1.jpg" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>I'll be attending <a href="http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/event/fantasycon-2018/" target="_blank">FantasyCon 2018</a> next month, which this year is in the lovely city of Chester. Currently in the process of sorting out which panels I'll be on, and whether or not to do a reading. Would love to see you there!</li>
<li>Anthology news: First up, my new Sherlock Holmes story, the Cuckoo's Hour, is out now in the excellent <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaslight-Gothic-Strange-Sherlock-Holmes-ebook/dp/B07F23MRHJ" target="_blank">Gaslight Gothic</a> from Edge Publishing. Some words on that <u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/edge-science-fiction-fantasy-publishing/the-four-questions-mini-interview-series-talks-to-gaslight-gothic-author-mark-a-/10155375052666266/" target="_blank">here</a></u>. Secondly, I'm delighted to have a story in Marie O'Regan's ghost story anthology, <a href="https://titanbooks.com/9495-phantoms-haunting-tales-from-masters-of-the-genre/" target="_blank">Phantoms</a>, available from Titan Books just in time for Hallowe'en.</li>
<li>Next month also sees the launch of my first licensed novel (and my first published fantasy novel), <a href="https://ospreypublishing.com/frostgrave-ghost-archipelago-destiny-039-s-call" target="_blank">Destiny's Call.</a> Set in Osprey Games' Ghost Archipelago world, it's an action-driven tale about a young boy with mysterious powers, fighting the good fight far from home while the whole world seems stacked against him. Also, check out the fab cover by Dmitry Burmak, right.</li>
<li>Speaking of fantasy novels, I'm currently writing one! Yes, the next project is a bit of a departure from Victoriana, but will be recognisable to fans as a dark tale of intrigue and mystery.</li>
<li>The tabletop games side of my writing life has gone a bit crazy. I should have some big announcements to make over the next few months, including one tremendous, super-top-secret licensed property that I've been working on for months. Almost ready to come up for air...</li>
</ul>
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That's all for now: more updates soon. Do not adjust your set.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: Contributor copies of Phantoms arrived today. Pretty thrilled I got to be a 'cover author' this time, especially given the incredible line-up.<br />
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Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-48559251378843675342018-07-20T15:06:00.003+01:002018-07-20T15:06:38.457+01:00Here's Negan!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2lTnbhA9CoRLpA8Xj7rSaMQs5kHK1G1wqcrU_y_b1BX6t0dc7CrDzBQ5U_tb9IiRj3YLlAkJcBQLnmVkkKW_sa3fDSeBhQpXq6ustOp7ORZE2opP7MKVyzG1NS8qS-Jo_ljjnEuUAEwf/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="134" data-original-width="376" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2lTnbhA9CoRLpA8Xj7rSaMQs5kHK1G1wqcrU_y_b1BX6t0dc7CrDzBQ5U_tb9IiRj3YLlAkJcBQLnmVkkKW_sa3fDSeBhQpXq6ustOp7ORZE2opP7MKVyzG1NS8qS-Jo_ljjnEuUAEwf/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead and, in particular,
tabletop gaming, then some pretty exciting news broke this month. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://manticblog.com/" target="_blank">Mantic Games</a></b> have announced the
imminent arrival of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/07/17/the-walking-dead-board-game-inspired-by-heres-negan-comic-revealed" target="_blank">Here’s Negan</a></b>, a
board game (designed by Yours Truly) based on the popular TWD prequel comics.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxszJOwyTwlLWfusj-eed_ZWVGdB5q7-P2HbCq3OF2kz2CggVhfT6airuT882gpZv_0cGupqu7QZ11QF7a7fRoKa8Ypfx954ck0y28yluoC9spvzgi5C8TKEexf-ekr2Ov7fX3WO8es26f/s1600/Here%2527s+Negan+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxszJOwyTwlLWfusj-eed_ZWVGdB5q7-P2HbCq3OF2kz2CggVhfT6airuT882gpZv_0cGupqu7QZ11QF7a7fRoKa8Ypfx954ck0y28yluoC9spvzgi5C8TKEexf-ekr2Ov7fX3WO8es26f/s400/Here%2527s+Negan+Logo.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unlike <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/the-walking-dead.html" target="_blank">The WalkingDead: All Out War</a></b>, which is a wargame with board game elements, Here’s
Negan is a full-on board game experience, with players creating a
walker-infested factory using illustrated game tiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9QK7aQYY4cgS3pH-4YFNVclU9hcBikdHXj6Stcr7HbYftA3armZllciLCtG0-fmqjs4ZzskXPw0Gb0AZNzQd7_KsFVfNYET2pU8JPPvYgRCwu6AEk-FJGrjr2SejYzzXjxLlZEglgKcVx/s1600/heres-negan-contents-isolated-1531839146999_1280w.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="1280" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9QK7aQYY4cgS3pH-4YFNVclU9hcBikdHXj6Stcr7HbYftA3armZllciLCtG0-fmqjs4ZzskXPw0Gb0AZNzQd7_KsFVfNYET2pU8JPPvYgRCwu6AEk-FJGrjr2SejYzzXjxLlZEglgKcVx/s400/heres-negan-contents-isolated-1531839146999_1280w.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The game picks up right where the comic book leaves off,
with Negan becoming the leader of his fledgling group of Saviors, and leading
them into the factory to clear it out, ready to transform it into the
Sanctuary. In this game, Negan is not controlled by the players, but instead makes
his way through the factory layout towards the objective, while you and your
fellow players must clear a path for him, and achieve the mission goals at the
same time. It makes for some tense, frenetic situations, and failure at even
the smallest level means you’re dangerously close to getting a jab from Lucille…<o:p></o:p></div>
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The tricky balancing act for this game was to create that
sense of both a cooperative and a competitive experience simultaneously. You
want to win, but you also don’t want the other characters to die, because not
only will it make it that much harder to achieve the objectives, but Negan will
be most displeased! In order to measure your success, you must achieve
Reputation points by impressing Negan. But be warned – he’s a fickle son of a
gun, and he thinks you’re sucking up he might just bawl you out on the factory
floor, and attract a truck-ton of trouble in the form of ravenous walkers!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62LU6TPFIfNbz0v2HC1xCF68zhY5vQNhdAH0Uy1gCUGfBL-9u5l-Zofnzexuf4GzIDtAql0yIqaHwdw9qwkJsj5haEsjNieIkwqGwIj3K89ecxFH-pC-mQSJMVjEijCsTYGafAJvlA026/s1600/dwight.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62LU6TPFIfNbz0v2HC1xCF68zhY5vQNhdAH0Uy1gCUGfBL-9u5l-Zofnzexuf4GzIDtAql0yIqaHwdw9qwkJsj5haEsjNieIkwqGwIj3K89ecxFH-pC-mQSJMVjEijCsTYGafAJvlA026/s320/dwight.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dwight, when he was still pretty(ish).</i></td></tr>
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There are five playable characters in the game: Dwight,
Sherry, Tara, John and Laura, each with their own specialties and weaknesses.
Again, you really need to work as a team, but at the same time you don’t want
to let the others steal your glory.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As you scour the factory, you can pick up new and
improved equipment and weapons, as well as triggering random events that might
be detrimental or beneficial. All the while, as in All Out War, the Threat
Tracker ticks along inexorably, ramping up the tension and bringing more
walkers into play. If it reaches its max level before you achieve the scenario
goals, it’s game over!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Walking Dead: Here’s Negan is available from Mantic
Games and all good stockists from November 2018, and you can <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/heres-negan/product/the-walking-dead-heres-negan-pre-order-exclusive.html" target="_blank">pre-order it now</a></b>!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-83037216974943843742018-07-18T15:59:00.002+01:002018-07-18T15:59:56.194+01:00Cloud Cuckoo Land<br />
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<i>When Holmes and
Watson are visited by the young Miss Harding, they cannot guess that they are
about to embark on one of their darkest and most mysterious cases. Miss
Harding's late uncle has left his entire estate to one of four cousins,
but only the cousin who solves an elaborate puzzle can claim the prize – a
puzzle contained within the very fabric of the bizarre Atreus Manor. The house
has already claimed the life of one of the cousins, and drove another to
madness, and Miss Harding will happily give up her claim if Holmes can get to
the bottom of the secret. But is she really ready for the revelations about her
family that the world's greatest detective will unearth?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyHK8yYZUk_CgCJ8FfKbj3sfbLpYhuzJOWdf1wEkftgH7UAOq7vtL89s-FYW5reDynzQEkMX54aIeIgqWsGGDq5S7BbqCMC5rAs_bxf1h3ma8MWHl4SUEDbtUr1-dLPZBa3Sw6w52LTJ2/s1600/thumbnail_GaslightGothic-270w-300dpi-C12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyHK8yYZUk_CgCJ8FfKbj3sfbLpYhuzJOWdf1wEkftgH7UAOq7vtL89s-FYW5reDynzQEkMX54aIeIgqWsGGDq5S7BbqCMC5rAs_bxf1h3ma8MWHl4SUEDbtUr1-dLPZBa3Sw6w52LTJ2/s1600/thumbnail_GaslightGothic-270w-300dpi-C12.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">Cover art by Dave Elsey</i></td></tr>
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<br />Really pleased to have an original Sherlock Holmes story
published in the wonderful <b>Gaslight
Gothic</b> anthology, edited by JR Campbell and Charles Prepolec. It contains
stories by some of the finest horror and Holmes writers around, including Mark
Morris, Steve Volk, James Lovegrove and Angela Slatter, so I’m delighted to be
in such fine company.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My
story, <b>The Cuckoo’s Hour</b>, is partly
inspired by the recent trend for 'Escape Room' puzzles, though it’s
really born of my obsession with Gothic fiction, especially Poe, and
livened up with a healthy dose of classic Horror inspiration from the likes of
Hammer and Amicus, that I've loved since my teens. Indeed, some
of the same themes were used in my recent Holmes novel, <a href="https://titanbooks.com/8440-sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Red Tower</b> </a>(no surprise really, as I wrote them concurrently),
although The Cuckoo’s Hour is rather more ‘sensational’ as the Victorians would
have it.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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But don’t take my word for it: the first <a href="https://scifiandfantasyreviewer.wordpress.com/2018/07/10/gaslight-gothic-strange-tales-of-sherlock-holmes-j-r-campbell-charles-prepolec-eds-review/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">review is up already</a><b> </b>at Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The opening story by Mark A. Latham, The Cuckoo’s Hour, is not
only a strong opening story and one of the best in the anthology, but also one
of the best Sherlock Holmes stories I’ve ever come across. Latham seems to have
an innate understanding of the Holmes canon and characters, as well as how to
write gothic fiction, to the extent that there are times when the story feels
less like a pastiche and more like a piece of fiction Conan Doyle might have
written in his later, more spiritual years. It’s effective as both a detective
story and a piece of quiet horror, and features an ending that is genuinely
unnerving, both in terms of its implications and the subtle way that Latham
introduces such a twist. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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If you’d like to know more, there’s a webcast with the
editors <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/EDGEfbpage/videos/10156394479643329/" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaslight-Gothic-Strange-Sherlock-Holmes-ebook/dp/B07F23MRHJ" target="_blank">Gaslight Gothic is available now!</a></div>
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-7455624714348691962018-05-11T15:27:00.002+01:002018-05-11T15:27:47.415+01:00Chosen Men Update: Russia 1812It's Freebie Friday here at Lost Victorian Towers. And this week, it's Chosen Men in the spotlight.<br />
<br />
I've been asked for a Russian army list for Chosen Men probably more than any other game content, but finding the time has been tough.<br />
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At last, you can find the <b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ONw2RYtTjgeC_eHx-XeIKfDrdUjyAN-W/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">download here</a></b>.<br />
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As always, let me know what you think in the comments below, and hopefully it won't be so long before I can produce more gaming content for you!<br />
<br />
<span lang="RU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b>до
скорого</b></span><br />
<span lang="RU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span lang="RU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvrDPyF80ky9DR7gq1svA_Tdo62LNGj-pCS5RB_yo8XxzWdHIdqwI1OZZUZUtgRdQRPJ7Ip-m_mcFPwWEPAUT1pMOmTnBG6pIvfPBBBZEi31VfBXDLJGdovka9vyv-9qiZ7CUHUHnSNEJ/s1600/russia_1812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="1600" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvrDPyF80ky9DR7gq1svA_Tdo62LNGj-pCS5RB_yo8XxzWdHIdqwI1OZZUZUtgRdQRPJ7Ip-m_mcFPwWEPAUT1pMOmTnBG6pIvfPBBBZEi31VfBXDLJGdovka9vyv-9qiZ7CUHUHnSNEJ/s400/russia_1812.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="RU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b><br /></b></span>Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-71440882707000161052018-03-20T09:43:00.001+00:002018-03-20T09:43:04.016+00:00There's No Place Like Holmes...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh3ky3wc2jntEaUUJOOqRkgTDO4uTPk1W3YXNxAU7sZmuLkr7K8xeJnhbSBVnnOvApQpb6J6AHiqcLMtW3YUEbWyeXDfeoniOTjChMApQhgsBQe9-475YO8UvRnPcrw78GO6coQcutSR-/s1600/Red+Tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh3ky3wc2jntEaUUJOOqRkgTDO4uTPk1W3YXNxAU7sZmuLkr7K8xeJnhbSBVnnOvApQpb6J6AHiqcLMtW3YUEbWyeXDfeoniOTjChMApQhgsBQe9-475YO8UvRnPcrw78GO6coQcutSR-/s640/Red+Tower.jpg" width="410" /></a></div>
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Hurrah, and huzzah (as they only say in the publishing world, so who am I to judge?). Today marks the official launch of my latest Sherlock Holmes pastiche, <i>The Red Tower</i>. Available <a href="https://titanbooks.com/sherlock-holmes-the-red-tower-8440/" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a> from Titan Books.<br />
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<br />
From the jacket:<br />
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<br /><i>
A FAMILY SECRET<br />
<br />
It is 1894, and after a macabre séance at a country estate, a young woman has
been found dead in a locked room.<br />
<br />
When Dr Watson is invited to a weekend party where a séance is planned, he is
prepared to be sceptical. James Crain, heir to the estate of Crain Manor, has
fallen in with a mysterious group of Spiritualists and is determined to prove
the existence of the paranormal. Confronted with a suspicious medium and
sightings of the family ghost, Watson remains unconvinced – until James’s
sister, Lady Esther, is found dead in a room locked from the inside. Holmes is
called to investigate the strange events at Crain Manor, but finds that every
guest harbours a secret. Holmes and Watson must uncover the truth, and test the
existence of the supernatural…</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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This was a particularly fun book to write, and one of my best mysteries to date, I think. I've played a little fast and loose with the format, taking elements that one might normally expect to find in an Agatha Christie country house mystery. But the reason for this will hopefully all become clear by the time you reach the finale.<br />
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Before we depart, here's the intro quote from the book, just because we all love a good quote, don't we? (And what a run-on sentence that is, from Dickens, master of the form).<br />
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-14861247046557401112018-03-16T08:53:00.001+00:002018-03-16T12:11:37.450+00:00Here Be Monsters...It's been a while since I've posted bonus content for my various games. To be honest, it's been a while since I last had time to write any! Time to redress the balance, with a little trip to the alternate-history Roman Empire of <b><a href="https://ospreypublishing.com/broken-legions" target="_blank">Broken Legions</a></b>...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOTdiTeQqRSRwhvhbDw7v2Sa_AxmnIqFIhFf_HC1hQb0kzx9_tKTWm6FxeDNdj1vbqENvXp-NKzXa42NXLh-WMVY8aTtigYhx0M8eSKX9e7RueNT01Z73KusirH1mJk1EQTcWZ-vaUy6m/s1600/28907127_10156395779869474_1669776642_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOTdiTeQqRSRwhvhbDw7v2Sa_AxmnIqFIhFf_HC1hQb0kzx9_tKTWm6FxeDNdj1vbqENvXp-NKzXa42NXLh-WMVY8aTtigYhx0M8eSKX9e7RueNT01Z73KusirH1mJk1EQTcWZ-vaUy6m/s1600/28907127_10156395779869474_1669776642_n.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman legionaries explore a temple of the Black Pharaoh.<br />Illustration by ªRU-MOR, (c) Osprey Publishing 2016</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Last year I wrote three articles for Wargames Illustrated Magazine, essentially a mash-up of Broken Legions and my Osprey sourcebook,<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cthulhu-Campaigns-Ancient-Rome-Osprey/dp/1472816005" target="_blank"> Cthulhu Campaigns: Ancient Rome</a>. Although part two of those articles appeared online, part one only had a limited release in the magazine, and part three never saw the light of day at all. And so, I've set to work making the rules available, so all Broken Legions fans can enjoy them. Taken together, this makes a free expansion for your games - pretty neat, huh?<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZP4Ou3DCENZYz3J-ZdmAmLGL2whzta6O/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Part One</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZWW08giqkTIVGVshtjZ_MiypgLUVJLp5/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Part Two</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uTpV-wDGbqqxLd0kMITLFyDdwns0-PXg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Part Three: Monsters</a></b><br />
<br />
That's all for now. Until next time: For the glory of Rome!<br />
<br />
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-64486175084012325772018-02-14T12:46:00.001+00:002018-03-13T12:15:32.778+00:00A Magical, Miniature Adventure...For the last year, my friends at <a href="https://www.knightmodels.com/" target="_blank">Knight Models </a>in Spain have been working on something big. Initially announced as the Harry Potter Miniatures Game, a whole raft of behind-the-scenes 'stuff' has led to some big changes to the project.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Today, they've announced the <a href="https://www.harrypotterkickstarter.com/" target="_blank">Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game</a>, and I can finally break my radio silence!<br />
<br />
Designed by Gustavo Cuadrado and Sergio Garcia (with a little help from Yours Truly), the new-look Harry Potter game is a tabletop board game, combining strategy and magical battles with teamwork and problem-solving.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpmN3_9hgq6wKRi-Sirv5qRkcVVKETmer3Kyy1HNwXT6JTrVMUVePOTJhns2rbJ6_yRgG8bo-PfWI043AVqvohQwQ-hbeTIkiI36myQguT3-a5fG86fXFRHXcyCZL01dhQMaObkAK5a3I/s1600/4306d4_b4776f271b424bfe9cf7b1c1d5f6bac5_mv2_d_4000_2664_s_4_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="841" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpmN3_9hgq6wKRi-Sirv5qRkcVVKETmer3Kyy1HNwXT6JTrVMUVePOTJhns2rbJ6_yRgG8bo-PfWI043AVqvohQwQ-hbeTIkiI36myQguT3-a5fG86fXFRHXcyCZL01dhQMaObkAK5a3I/s400/4306d4_b4776f271b424bfe9cf7b1c1d5f6bac5_mv2_d_4000_2664_s_4_2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaqiSEZTDmkdd-NoWCi_ws68tkUQ7jiEBZsevUGBK_i9AUnzRuGdd3sNrttLmZozrmFn-cyY1X4c2FOJJEtW8jlVz8OM1-Fs_faYSfjv_KwNCprl8SuZZqefB3zpNRuYoNFuVnZQ5n3mO/s1600/27545495_10155626604028402_7243811843619695838_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="917" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaqiSEZTDmkdd-NoWCi_ws68tkUQ7jiEBZsevUGBK_i9AUnzRuGdd3sNrttLmZozrmFn-cyY1X4c2FOJJEtW8jlVz8OM1-Fs_faYSfjv_KwNCprl8SuZZqefB3zpNRuYoNFuVnZQ5n3mO/s200/27545495_10155626604028402_7243811843619695838_n.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the studio in Spain, with ace figure <br />
painter and community manager <br />
Borja (aka Hagrid Potter).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I visited Knight Models in February (a year to the day since my <a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-visit-to-knight-models.html" target="_blank">first visit</a>, incidentally), and I've never seen a team so busy - it took me back to my days on White Dwarf when the monthly Deadline Week was in full swing. It was an honour and a pleasure to be involved in this project. They're gearing up for this Kickstarter in a big way, and have invested in some incredible talent to make the launch as seamless and professional as possible. this is going to be huge for them, and for Harry Potter fans.<br />
<br />
So yeah, this is a biggie. Pretty soon I'll be able to spill a few more details, but for now just check out this video and get some goosebumps...<br />
<br />
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<br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/js5itLKVXn8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/js5itLKVXn8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-17362743501283364682017-12-20T11:00:00.000+00:002017-12-20T11:00:14.104+00:00Ding Dong!In what has become my customary final blog of the year, I'd like to wish all my friends, family, fans, readers, supporters and clients all the compliments of the season. 2017 has been a pretty good year at Lost Victorian Towers, and I think next year will be better still, with at least two novels, a few short stories, and some stonkingly exciting top-secret gaming projects all in the works.<br />
<br />
And it's you lovely people who make it all possible. So Gawd bless yer, ev'ry one!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvh66pY1deIOCaBK9Ith_AkcMNCPpZoBvuTiHeJIg4e0SkBTBpXP-xj_uZge6ZbA2H57hz7s7Yp7MvwvlV_5Ty0FMr4mmhvpFkTuYiVrzBYDSFbMRBucw0wKtADST9v9o9l-Xn6ceckf8/s1600/Christmas2017-medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="510" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvh66pY1deIOCaBK9Ith_AkcMNCPpZoBvuTiHeJIg4e0SkBTBpXP-xj_uZge6ZbA2H57hz7s7Yp7MvwvlV_5Ty0FMr4mmhvpFkTuYiVrzBYDSFbMRBucw0wKtADST9v9o9l-Xn6ceckf8/s640/Christmas2017-medium.jpg" width="444" /></a></div>
<br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(This year's Lost Victorian Christmas card created by Dom Murray - @</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>sinistersnowmen on Twitter. (c) 2017.)</i></span>Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-15883063543067281292017-12-15T12:00:00.000+00:002017-12-19T16:12:59.260+00:00Festive Frighteners<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Every year, I carp on about <a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/christmas-ghosts.html" target="_blank">spooky short stories for the festive season</a>, but I realise I haven’t talked about another little tradition
in my house: spooky films for Christmas! Not necessarily Christmas movies, you
understand, but the celluloid equivalent of that old English tradition, the
Christmas ghost story. I have sort of an essential viewing list for the
Yuletide period. Some of my festive favourites aren’t scary movies at all (for
instance the Peter Cushing version of <i>The
Blue Carbuncle</i>), but the following list represents my top five, must-see
haunting films for the season.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZJQJPObMKw1Tw5iTwfr5lCFW2cfxxwIPopw8pTM3KNwgbGVo_c4mZbMHoJKxOHa0PdXHh2j6BYlpqOUOkQC0refu3duiiH5rDDq35vVK3PElIyXT9kMquPNp6xE_S30TshbSDSJG-Mpz/s1600/whislte.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="352" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZJQJPObMKw1Tw5iTwfr5lCFW2cfxxwIPopw8pTM3KNwgbGVo_c4mZbMHoJKxOHa0PdXHh2j6BYlpqOUOkQC0refu3duiiH5rDDq35vVK3PElIyXT9kMquPNp6xE_S30TshbSDSJG-Mpz/s320/whislte.png" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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For me, this 1968 film from the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Christmas-Expanded-6-Disc-Collection/dp/B009XD7M2Y/" target="_blank">BBC’s <i>Ghost Stories for Christmas</i></a> series is one of the finest adaptations
of a Jamesian story ever committed to celluloid. The haunting location and
amazing soundscape create an unsettling atmosphere throughout, offset by the
comedic bumbling of Michael Horden’s Parkins. The finale, whilst not quite [ahem...] meeting modern standards of special effects and execution, is still as fine a portrayal of
someone being scared witless as you’ll ever see.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An honourable mention should go to the Nunkie Theatre
company’s dramatic reading of this story, which is really masterfully done, and
is available <b><a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whistle" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Signalman (1976)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW54sa2vget0XQgEXuPNnMx677WB6DlSwdpwYNRvK9ry4tnWhcT3n5ba_777PBkh56P3usPzri4gO0wymCVtj8yAig_-JHNXDd73HxlKaBYEJ9UdlXErfrsQOgwLkXGrmd8A9EeBHgeROC/s1600/ipdn4zmy25yaomf24kd49h8n1qu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW54sa2vget0XQgEXuPNnMx677WB6DlSwdpwYNRvK9ry4tnWhcT3n5ba_777PBkh56P3usPzri4gO0wymCVtj8yAig_-JHNXDd73HxlKaBYEJ9UdlXErfrsQOgwLkXGrmd8A9EeBHgeROC/s320/ipdn4zmy25yaomf24kd49h8n1qu.jpg" width="320" /></a>Adapted from the 1866 Dickens short story, this is
another of Andrew Davies’ BBC <i>Ghost
Stories for Christmas</i>, and one that I love more than is reasonable. This is
the film I watch in front of a fire, with a glass of scotch in hand and the dog
curled up next to me. It’s an intimate performance, carried by two brilliant
actors in Denholm Elliott and Bernard Lloyd, with such a great atmosphere. Like
most of the series, it’s quite a slow, gentle haunter, with just a few momentary
blasts of violence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqnfz03I40b6fTG6JTgsIZggoXKXoOhCF8c2I_o8CbyNGA_niv8xYoj2dQut3Wn7exL48X_6E4yVdu_Q3XxsE3Eow0-xa78c-4GLGO20DEd7dXVbzZmZWu2fB8ke47cDD0yjL5cI9HgUp/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqnfz03I40b6fTG6JTgsIZggoXKXoOhCF8c2I_o8CbyNGA_niv8xYoj2dQut3Wn7exL48X_6E4yVdu_Q3XxsE3Eow0-xa78c-4GLGO20DEd7dXVbzZmZWu2fB8ke47cDD0yjL5cI9HgUp/s320/hqdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Children of Green Knowe (1986)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Okay, this is a bit of a cheat, as it’s a kid’s BBC mini-series,
and isn’t really that frightening for grown-ups. But god, it’s great! I loved
this as a child, and the scene of a statue of St Christopher coming to life and
wandering about the grounds of the spooky old house haunted me for years, until
finally I tracked the series down and rewatched it. Now it’s a firm favourite,
although it by no means meets the flashy standards demanded by the youth of
today. Don’t know they’re born, etc. Until recently, Youtube was the only way to watch this children's classic, but it now finally has a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Green-Knowe-Complete-DVD/dp/B01ATQW9RQ/" target="_blank">DVD release.<o:p></o:p></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Woman in Black (1989)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9SD9KabCwJu8yI5doKCQafHZejNy-HStWU-0M3EUydqaUjTNcUFB37KbyDmnJtZLraB9ZAagsH88OebQhAmNpPAKXJsX4xlNzBCap3QDPYLw480e91672zoUCrszoqOnPhlNd4G1wF0U/s1600/womaninblack1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="447" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9SD9KabCwJu8yI5doKCQafHZejNy-HStWU-0M3EUydqaUjTNcUFB37KbyDmnJtZLraB9ZAagsH88OebQhAmNpPAKXJsX4xlNzBCap3QDPYLw480e91672zoUCrszoqOnPhlNd4G1wF0U/s320/womaninblack1.jpg" width="320" /></a>Regular readers of the blog will know already that I
really like this ITV adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel (far more than the
big-budget Hammer remake). It doesn’t have the money for flashy effects, so it
uses great locations, costumes, music and camerawork to promote a really chilling
atmosphere – it’s certainly the most outright scary movie on this list. And it
contains, of course, ‘that’ scene, which gave me nightmares as a kid. Sadly,
due to a dispute with Susan Hill, this version is no longer available to buy,
but you can watch it <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWgz4nRe0Q" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutp2kCXPeO12tARf7vVx6VhVGYPgkOe8AkRNqRv3_ZpM874EFm_p47HjIS-36G9GTayoG7aXoPa5AJb6lnur9Wpq4zf9QaAG31KE-9i_pXWSqtWSk98ItADLIWql47ERjTYLiAsk5JFPP/s1600/scrooge-1951-slider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutp2kCXPeO12tARf7vVx6VhVGYPgkOe8AkRNqRv3_ZpM874EFm_p47HjIS-36G9GTayoG7aXoPa5AJb6lnur9Wpq4zf9QaAG31KE-9i_pXWSqtWSk98ItADLIWql47ERjTYLiAsk5JFPP/s320/scrooge-1951-slider.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Scrooge (1951)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Alright, this one isn’t really renowned as a scary movie,
despite it being all about ghosts, but it is an all-time classic. It also does
contain some rather unsettling scenes (particularly in the segment of the Ghost
of Christmas Yet to Come) that set this classic movie aside from the rest of
the over-sentimental, mushy adaptations of the tale. If you only watch one version
of <i>A Christmas Carol,</i> make it the
Alistair Sim one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Honourable Mentions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You can have pretty much any of the BBC’s Ghost Stories
for Christmas if I’m honest – I only listed my favourites above, but I also
watch <i>The Number 13, A View from a Hill</i>
and <i>The Stalls of Barchester</i> (starring
the late Robert Hardy) every year without fail. There’s also a wonderful
collection of M R James dramatic readings by Robert Powell, which I’d highly
recommend. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If you fancy something a bit more modern and sensational
as a seasonal frightener, the recent(ish) movie <i>Krampus</i>
isn’t terrible (now there’s an endorsement). But the real gem for me in recent
years was the William Shatner-fronted anthology movie, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3688406/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_21" target="_blank">A Christmas Horror Story</a></i>. A few missteps in the collection, but
overall a great little horror movie that’ll make you block up your chimney.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Finally, if you're after general scary movie recommendations, rather than just my seasonal favourites, try <b><a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/ghosts-on-film.html" target="_blank">this list</a></b>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuQ5T6O1aGuttF6WV52ioXbkYG-IPVIC17k05YlT9MEd_xIIVSyZfVeiDltkE8RraA_n9wqxN_QSJmTSNLxoheNXVKneXPuWo00n28IuuT42Q6bAWr5QDu3GS50cAgGEsXCs-OxJMV9_Q/s1600/580751d90bde74d6538689f1217bbf376cd372fa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="620" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuQ5T6O1aGuttF6WV52ioXbkYG-IPVIC17k05YlT9MEd_xIIVSyZfVeiDltkE8RraA_n9wqxN_QSJmTSNLxoheNXVKneXPuWo00n28IuuT42Q6bAWr5QDu3GS50cAgGEsXCs-OxJMV9_Q/s400/580751d90bde74d6538689f1217bbf376cd372fa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-36298580035404403262017-11-20T11:29:00.000+00:002017-11-20T12:15:56.399+00:00A Foot in the Door<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Recently I
took part in an event at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/derbyuni/" target="_blank">University of Derby</a> called ‘Foot in the Door’, a
panel-based workshop aimed at aspiring writers, with a view to providing
practical information on making writing a career.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It was a
really cool event, and I think a lot of the students (not just from the
university) got something very worthwhile out of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some of
the questions put to the panel crop up regularly in any writer’s life, and I
think it’s worth sharing some of the discussion here. Note that these aren’t
just my responses, but a general consensus between myself and fellow panellists
<a href="http://www.annezouroudi.com/" target="_blank">Anne Zouroudi</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/JaneLinfoot2" target="_blank">Jane Linfoot</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<b>How did you first come
to be published?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There are quite a few variations on this theme, and we
all agreed that you can ditch the usual protocols if you plan on exploring
digital routes to market, or even if you’d rather work on licenced fiction
(like novelizations of movies, or Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint, for
instance). But the usual way to get published is this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Write
a full manuscript. Finished, edited, polished as best as you can make it, and
make sure other people have read it and that you’ve listened to their feedback.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Only
when that’s done can you start to look for an agent. Buy the latest copy of the
Writers & Artists’ Yearbook. Identify a handful of agents (maybe half a
dozen to start with) who are specialists in your chosen genre. Follow their
submission guidelines VERY carefully to avoid ending up in the trash. If they
want a covering letter/email, spellcheck it to death. If they want 3 chapters,
don’t send them the whole book, and so on.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Give
the first batch of agents a reasonable length of time (up to 3 months) before
submitting to further agents.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Do
not take rejection personally – fiction is subjective, and it’s all part of the
learning curve. I had one well-known agent tell me<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lazarus-Gate-Mark-Latham-ebook/dp/B01412PH96/" target="_blank"> <i>the Lazarus Gate</i> </a>was ‘boring’. The very next week I had two other
agents say they loved it and were interested in seeing more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->If
you have more than one offer, pick the agent you like the best, but also bear
in mind their stable of authors. Check the contract. Sign on the line. And wait…
The agent will go away and sell your book. It might take a week. It might take
a year. You might get offered a six-figure sum. Most likely it’ll be four.
Patience, padawan. Your time will come.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Was there a change in
attitude – necessary or voluntary – that you had to take once your first book
was out?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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God, yes.
Once book one is edited and prepping for publication, there’s a very good
chance you’ll already be writing book two. Now it all gets very real: whether
you’re a full-time writer, or propping up the writing with a full-time job, you
need to hit your deadlines. Worst-case scenario, there are financial penalties
for being late (although they are rarely enforced, best not push it by being
unreliable).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Most
people write their first book in their spare time. It takes ages (Lazarus took
me 2 years). But when you sign a multi-book deal, publishers want one book a
year, same time every year. No excuses. Get cracking. NOW!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I worked
in magazines for nearly 15 years before becoming a full-time writer. That means
I feed off the energy of deadline week. But if you’re the kind of person who hates
pressure, then the best favour you can do yourself is to get organised, and
write steadily rather than do it all in a frenzy at the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>How did you find that
marketing side of things once the book was released? Is there any advice you
would give to aspiring authors in that respect?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Be prepared to spend a *lot* of time promoting the book.
Publicists might support and facilitate, but they won’t do it for you. In this
day and age writers need a social media presence. You’ll probably be invited to
panels, and readings, and book launches. As most writers are introverts at
heart, this bit can be terrifying. Thankfully, event organisers and more
experienced writers will almost always take you under their wing, and honestly,
you might never grow to love it, but you’ll learn how to do it, and that’s nine
tenths of the battle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One note that came up: Also be prepared for sales
department pressure on your book content, sometimes more so than editorial.
Comments like ‘readers really liked that character, can you bring him back from
the dead in the next book please?’ are sadly all-too common. And not always negotiable…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Is there anything about
being a professional, published author that has come as a real surprise?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Multiple contracts are no guarantee of further contracts –
it’s absolutely true that you’re only as good as your last book. Think several
books ahead – where is your next sale going to come from? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What words of advice you
would give to authors looking to get published and established?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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My word of advice was this: It’s very hard to get rich in
the writing game these days. The days of the ‘mid-list-author' are pretty much
finished, and it’s quite telling that many of the superstar novelists we know
today have been superstar novelists for decades – they made it big when it was
still fairly commonplace to do so, and the marketplace wasn’t so packed. This
isn’t meant to be negative: there’s still room to carve your niche. But don’t
write just to make money. You’ll only end up following trends and writing stuff
you think will sell, rather than make good art. Write what you’d like to read,
and what you’re inspired by, and you’ll find an agent and editor who love it
and are also inspired by it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There you
have it – a whistle-stop round-up of the discussion, and only my personal recollections.
Similar events take place up and down the country on a fairly regular basis. If
you’ve been thinking seriously about turning writing into a career, I’d highly
recommend checking them out. <o:p></o:p></div>
Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-25614635407537483422017-11-06T08:56:00.000+00:002017-11-06T14:30:31.998+00:00The Lazarus Gate Easter Egg Hunt<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In<a href="https://www.leftlion.co.uk/read/2017/august/mark-latham" target="_blank"> an interview earlier this year</a>, I was asked about ‘easter
eggs’ hidden in my books – those little nods to pop culture, historical figures
and wry in-jokes that many writers like to seed into their work. And as I’m no
exception to those writers, it got me to thinking just how many times I insert
some vague references, or make myself smile with a line that calls to mind some
classic Victorian novel. Now, a lot of these references get edited out. Some
are unconscious, and I end up removing them when I realise what I’ve done.
Some, however, are obscure enough and personal enough to me to make the final
cut.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For this blog, I’ve gone right back to book one, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lazarus-Gate-Mark-Latham-ebook/dp/B01412PH96/" target="_blank">the Lazarus Gate</a>, and picked out my top five easter eggs. There are lots of others –
if you spot them, drop me a line here. There’s literally a No-Prize for
guessing…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Charles Dickens References</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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There are many Dickens riffs in the Lazarus Gate, because
more than one character has a passion for his work – notably Rosanna. Ever the
one for an oblique reference, for example, I adapted two lines from the short story ‘<i>The Queer Chair</i>’ as simple descriptors
in the text. The originals are: ‘If any Bagman of that day could have caught
sight of the little neck-or-nothing sort of gig…’ and ‘The wind blew… sending
the rain slanting down like the lines they used to rule in the copy-books at
school, to make the boys slope well.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4dNfsoomQV6I3ISfUce-jQSmRM0wbMqtwWuhcJcgMHt3gcbFR098B7SQ9VXT8Lkxs38fZUf9F_AJgBqVVD-N9mxK1aL6l1l_HRqutD7vKnQ_u9weexJxSHXP0v5SdeyYtw8IbOiEvVC6/s1600/p03knk3j.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4dNfsoomQV6I3ISfUce-jQSmRM0wbMqtwWuhcJcgMHt3gcbFR098B7SQ9VXT8Lkxs38fZUf9F_AJgBqVVD-N9mxK1aL6l1l_HRqutD7vKnQ_u9weexJxSHXP0v5SdeyYtw8IbOiEvVC6/s400/p03knk3j.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">John’s Boarding House</span></b><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIusb4fiF6OkrDV7KXOcBEgf-IbNTpT6uf7Ph6pg1qj9r6aopV5ycYPJLkDtXUc1K9HDa4LnSV-rZR6tfYf-Iewy2lr-YmzKqthFL-PD2jaao81AWUCY6rQ3O3rYPh-UYtJ72aD5pgwjST/s1600/ImageGen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="565" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIusb4fiF6OkrDV7KXOcBEgf-IbNTpT6uf7Ph6pg1qj9r6aopV5ycYPJLkDtXUc1K9HDa4LnSV-rZR6tfYf-Iewy2lr-YmzKqthFL-PD2jaao81AWUCY6rQ3O3rYPh-UYtJ72aD5pgwjST/s320/ImageGen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It won’t come as much of a shock to learn that Hardwick
is inspired by several Victorian characters, notably Sherlock Holmes and Dr
Watson (he has a little of both in him). I wanted a Sherlockian nod in the book,
and decided to have him staying at a boarding house, run by a Mrs Hudson-esque
housekeeper. The address, however, is the fun bit. Because the real-world 11 George Street is situated next door
to the building used as 221B Baker Street in the BBC <i>Sherlock</i> TV series, better known today as
‘Speedy’s’ sandwich shop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">You Can Take the Boy out of Stoke…</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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When I was a youngster growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, I
was a big fan of Stoke City Football Club, and even though I live in a
different city now, I still follow their fortunes (and, mostly, misfortunes).
But I’ll never forget my first match, which was at the old Victoria ground in
Stoke during the 92/93 championship-winning season, which saw us promoted to
the first division (later ‘the Championship’, for reasons). The point of this
story? Well, the winning team comprised players such as Regis, Gleghorn, and
Cranson – and a whole bunch of other names that have cropped up throughout the
Apollonian Casefiles trilogy as hard-pressed policemen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGmesQUrukhfww53MpEAXLrkIDDvjZCDzU6RgL1Fl-ZhZRi7slGgxDvmw96ntrFSzCk3LGbMjmyqWCYQvn36uEeq7xQz9uXJQg5d5GKSxjQ5lFNy-ktsfscNborNkw2lEc7Fq_XJa42GP/s1600/DM2KlSoXkAYZmYV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="1200" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGmesQUrukhfww53MpEAXLrkIDDvjZCDzU6RgL1Fl-ZhZRi7slGgxDvmw96ntrFSzCk3LGbMjmyqWCYQvn36uEeq7xQz9uXJQg5d5GKSxjQ5lFNy-ktsfscNborNkw2lEc7Fq_XJa42GP/s320/DM2KlSoXkAYZmYV.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Big Dave Regis, right; one of my boyhood heroes.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tsun Pen</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IZCjGMaLzh3ZM9G6TOGhrJF5NreWctWUE02PFAJdDud6Hk5FnIa1BJrEoew3OeA7TS6soh0L5TZLzAJj82i56-QiRIKa3Xa9TSkyQMCF5a7F13zLlVbFY2nrg8YpPoZh9lWSNmTRfWMZ/s1600/R-1433234-1219317261.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IZCjGMaLzh3ZM9G6TOGhrJF5NreWctWUE02PFAJdDud6Hk5FnIa1BJrEoew3OeA7TS6soh0L5TZLzAJj82i56-QiRIKa3Xa9TSkyQMCF5a7F13zLlVbFY2nrg8YpPoZh9lWSNmTRfWMZ/s1600/R-1433234-1219317261.jpeg.jpg" /></a>The Artist’s true name is Tsun Pen, and his namesake is
Ts’ui Pên, the ancestor of Doctor Yu Tsun from <i>The Garden of Forking Paths</i>. This story had a profound influence
on <i>The Lazarus Gate</i> far
beyond the character of the Artist; the uncanny string of coincidences that
leads John to the Artist, the circle of circumstance that makes the Artist able
to interpret all fates but for his own, and the strange environs of the House
of Zhengming, are all inspired by Ts’ui Pên’s great work—a hypertextual novel
that represents his unnavigable, infinite labyrinth. It’s a strange and
wondrous short story, as trippy as a trip to Tsun Pen’s opium den…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The USS Helen B. Jackson</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The ship name comes from the four-masted schooner in the
F. Marion Crawford novella, ‘<i>Man
Overboard!</i>’, a supernatural tale that centres on the story of identical
twins putting out to sea. This is a really great story, and some of the themes
were just too perfect, so I knew I had to give a wink to it in the <i>Apollonian Casefiles</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsxN3N0RF048Q2091kcTo0h5_rt5qLqQn1_qf6XqVwzoGOvFoDXRz2N6HgDI8S0dAs0oKeozXtFAlE-b35dq6xJYk3qBtFumoWVnA2T4IBu-f81DpoGEEZ0vLKbYba_Gang7brnRIgbGZ/s1600/william-pierce-stubbs-the-four-masted-schooner-marguerite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsxN3N0RF048Q2091kcTo0h5_rt5qLqQn1_qf6XqVwzoGOvFoDXRz2N6HgDI8S0dAs0oKeozXtFAlE-b35dq6xJYk3qBtFumoWVnA2T4IBu-f81DpoGEEZ0vLKbYba_Gang7brnRIgbGZ/s400/william-pierce-stubbs-the-four-masted-schooner-marguerite.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-84714327608521677772017-09-15T11:46:00.003+01:002017-09-15T11:47:42.927+01:00The Blog Tour Was Foreseen...To accompany the imminent release of <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-legion-prophecy/mark-a-latham/9781783296842" target="_blank">The Legion Prophecy</a>, I'm delighted to announce the latest blog tour! Please do check out these wonderful friends of the Apollonian Club and join us on a walk between worlds...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtK9G4K7stUDlQb5dM44rGptM20YPf8aEENaKQlgKp5NM8LVd8ysYNGwTOqjtgXLNXdVOobLxTiFYVs-0jrtFiOfpYyAgEslG3SUJ6yh0lLa3FIMrryjXHAn-TdMjX_r1eCRiI9uw3VCI/s1600/Legion+Prophecy+blog+tour+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="890" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtK9G4K7stUDlQb5dM44rGptM20YPf8aEENaKQlgKp5NM8LVd8ysYNGwTOqjtgXLNXdVOobLxTiFYVs-0jrtFiOfpYyAgEslG3SUJ6yh0lLa3FIMrryjXHAn-TdMjX_r1eCRiI9uw3VCI/s640/Legion+Prophecy+blog+tour+%25281%2529.jpg" width="355" /></a></div>
<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-76375021243699976902017-08-24T11:00:00.000+01:002017-08-24T11:00:03.485+01:00Review: The Blackcoat's Daughter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzbM_cxjVF136M_jFQHsCVXTnuqn4ycHNZqpUEia_TFhWyXA06lHtPJNix0vJF64nbdJVx8RaLaRPZV4gQX1d9RdJpzx8acyewNXC9VvgePPLHNhw2V7vOAfBCtFvW4jEDQQ-Wzk9pIKs/s1600/february.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzbM_cxjVF136M_jFQHsCVXTnuqn4ycHNZqpUEia_TFhWyXA06lHtPJNix0vJF64nbdJVx8RaLaRPZV4gQX1d9RdJpzx8acyewNXC9VvgePPLHNhw2V7vOAfBCtFvW4jEDQQ-Wzk9pIKs/s400/february.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Today’s horror movie review is an odd fish and, to be
honest, not really what I expected from the blurb or the trailer. Read on…</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_PiznC4wyDWRxHkDdpYE3S7fwRtHxSIeMubeuHpizjbp_-MCqF3anSkQJyn4yGXhIl_SgGfE6wl4XEEZeuimLUnQ1fBQLJNSTwHRfiBZlzKGn83bdqvg4r_a0atOwi0zauW0GWTEnaZC/s1600/MV5BMTEwZDg4OTItYmI3OC00ODIxLThhYWItODQ2NGUyYzQ3NDc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI%2540._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="620" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_PiznC4wyDWRxHkDdpYE3S7fwRtHxSIeMubeuHpizjbp_-MCqF3anSkQJyn4yGXhIl_SgGfE6wl4XEEZeuimLUnQ1fBQLJNSTwHRfiBZlzKGn83bdqvg4r_a0atOwi0zauW0GWTEnaZC/s200/MV5BMTEwZDg4OTItYmI3OC00ODIxLThhYWItODQ2NGUyYzQ3NDc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI%2540._V1_.jpg" width="136" /></a>I actually watched this one as an import under the
alternative title ‘February’ – a far better name, actually, because as far as I
could tell the ‘Blackcoat’ only really appears in the first few minutes of the
film, and it’s never made clear if the girl at the centre of proceedings is his
(or maybe her) daughter or not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The setup has great potential. Two girls at a religious
boarding school are left behind when school breaks up for the holidays, because
their parents don’t collect them. The older girl, Rose, is instructed to
babysit the younger, Kat, until their parents turn up. The remote location, and
the idea of these two kids being alone in a huge empty school with something
sinister roaming the halls is a great premise. Elsewhere, we have a mysterious,
troubled girl, Joan, hitching a ride toward the school, although it’s not
explained at first what her connection is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What we have here is a slow-burn, psychological movie,
which may or may not be supernatural in nature. In fact, nothing much is made
very clear to the viewer at all, with the movie’s predilection for non-linear
narrative, jumbled, juxtaposed images, and very little dialogue. It’s almost
art-house at times, beautifully shot, and sometimes poignant. In style and
atmosphere, themes and location, and certainly in terms of the soundtrack, it’s
very similar to <a href="http://thelostvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/ghosts-on-film.html" target="_blank">one of my favourites, Session9</a>. However, although not a terrible film, it does fall a long way short of
that particular horror gem.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CWeCOhtl4sbPCn9F1uLLnG_9w_Wpei7NcxKc3-6roMhNekJyOhcCmnSzk24jyqVlmc75C3xqUsUfLOF7uH_JGpArtz5RVT69PGBjuGwRBYyAT4blQLmxkVh3bbjPkUJ4-G1zDRCEL1BE/s1600/1200x630bb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="420" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CWeCOhtl4sbPCn9F1uLLnG_9w_Wpei7NcxKc3-6roMhNekJyOhcCmnSzk24jyqVlmc75C3xqUsUfLOF7uH_JGpArtz5RVT69PGBjuGwRBYyAT4blQLmxkVh3bbjPkUJ4-G1zDRCEL1BE/s200/1200x630bb.jpg" width="133" /></a>Where Session 9 genuinely fills every frame with a sense
of unease, The Blackcoat’s Daughter attempts to artificially wring that sense from
its scenes through a jarring soundtrack overlaid onto the most mundane shots.
It’s only later when director Osgood Perkins fills in the blanks through
flashbacks that we see what he was driving at, but by then I fear a few people
may have switched off because, aside from a few truly creepy moments, the movie
is almost unforgivably dull. It’s not helped by the fact that the biggest twist
is rather clumsily handled – the only reason you don’t guess it right from the
start is because the on-screen captioning – the thing you look to for concrete
information such as location, character name and/or timeframe – deliberately
misleads you. That doesn’t sit well with me – I’d rather have no captions than
ones that fib. And sadly, it’s not an original twist – it’s been done much more
successfully elsewhere, and very recently (not wanting to post spoilers, but
see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series)" target="_blank">HBO’s <i>Westworld</i></a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Blackcoat’s Daughter is eerie, hauntingly beautiful
in parts, and does have a rather poignant ending, with serious questions about
diminished responsibility. The possession aspect is pretty original, and rarely
resorts to tired tropes. While she doesn’t have a huge amount to do, Emma
Roberts further cements her acting credentials, and I reckon it’s a matter of
time before she becomes a box office draw in her own right. It’s just a shame
the pacing is so cretaceous, and the whole doesn’t mesh slightly better.<o:p></o:p></div>
Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376834547901196785.post-84403418280592088912017-08-15T10:38:00.001+01:002017-08-15T10:38:51.806+01:00The Red TowerVery pleased to reveal the rather spiffing cover of my next Sherlock Holmes novel for Titan Books. Released in spring 2018, <i>Sherlock Holmes: The Red Tower</i> is a Gothic mystery for Holmes and Watson, featuring a medieval tower, a ghostly red lady presaging a family curse, a seance on a stormy night, and dark deeds afoot.<br />
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<br />Mark A. Lathamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10818969735148964229noreply@blogger.com0