Like most of the seven-billion-plus people on the planet, I firmly believe that my opinions are important, unique and amazing. And as a self-aggrandising writer, I think that it’s necessary for others to be exposed to my excellent taste. To… Continue Reading
A long time ago my good mate Jamie gave me his copy of Moby Dick. The inside cover is inscribed by Jamie with the jocular but somewhat incongruent phrase ‘MELVILLE’S IN DA HOUSE!’ I appreciated the gesture at the time,… Continue Reading
How big a Tolkien fan are you? Sure, you’ve read The Lord Of The Rings. But have you taken in appendices A through F? Have you pored over the genealogies, including all eight generations of Samwise Gamgee’s family tree? Have you… Continue Reading
Question: When is a novel set in a grim post-cataclysmic wasteland with characters battling for survival not a science fiction novel? Answer: When it’s written by a literary author. My brother gave me a copy of The Road for my… Continue Reading
In light of recent world events it may be time to consider that letting people run countries based on their ability to get elected may not be the best way to do things. Perhaps it’s time to let computers decide… Continue Reading
So we come to the union of the Venn diagram involving the sets ‘Led Zeppelin’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’. Just as the lads from Iron Maiden are voracious readers, just as the Lovecraft-swots of Metallica peppered their oeuvre with… Continue Reading
As I confessed in an earlier post, as a teen I was a flat-chat metal head. I guess I could feel shame about this fact as I’ve since become a latte-sipping jazz snob. But the way I see it, I’ve… Continue Reading
I used to like CYOA books when I was a kid, but they were nowhere near as good as Fighting Fantasy. My dad used to get annoyed that all I ever read, when I was about ten, was FF, by… Continue Reading
The Fellowship of the Ring. The first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy takes a little while to get off the ground, it must be said, what with all of the faffing around Bag End that goes on. In… Continue Reading
Before I grew up, acquired taste and began listening solely to modal jazz recorded between 1961 and 1965, I was something of a metal head. And one of the first bands that won my teenage allegiance was the mighty Iron… Continue Reading