Quite a strange novel that I felt started off well and then sagged somewhat in the middle but then redeemed itself in its final chapters.I found the relentless problems the visitors to the World House faced reminded me of that Doctor Who episode, The God Complex, and a little of 'Jumanji' for som...
TO DESCRIBE THE movement between outside and in is quite impossible as there simply didn't appear to be any. One moment I had been walking towards the town and then the next I was within its streets. I looked around, assuming that I would see Alonzo, or one of the many oth...
"It's all right," she shouted, leaning over him, "you'll be able to move soon!" "My dearest Miss Simons, I am quite sure deafness wasn't part of the transference process," said Carruthers. "Oh, yes, sorry…" The man was incredibly old, his skin a mess of soft wrinkles...
(An excerpt from the book by Patrick Irish) AND SO, TWO lessons were learned. Firstly, that casual, heartless pleasure I had taken in watching the stories unfold beneath me, as if they were nothing but fictions, was gone. It should never have been there in the first place. Arno and Veronica w...
‘What?’ Ryska jumped to her feet in surprise, looking around and reaching for a weapon she immediately realised she wasn’t wearing. ‘Can’t you see him?’ Ryska looked around her. There was nothing. They were alone in the room. ‘What are you talking a...
It was as if humans still possessed a race memory that insisted you were doing it all wrong. The sun isn’t up, so why are you? The clock on his oven said it was half past four. A ridiculous, unhelpful time that he tried to ignore by putting on some coffee. August would pic...
Agreeing to meet Silence at St Pancras for the four o’clock to Inverness, Holmes and I made our way first to Scotland Yard, then Liverpool Street and, thenceforth, for the country. Despite my love for London I do enjoy visiting the open country; the air is revitalising, the scenery enriching. Hol...
I didn’t know if Holmes had a particular destination in mind. His passage seemed entirely random as we turned left, then right, then left again, weaving our way through the narrow passageways and terraces. More likely, I realised, he was trying to ensure that our pursuers never had a clear line o...
AN OLD NEWSREEL BEGINS TO PLAY. SEPIA-TONED, OVER-CRANKED SO THE FOOTAGE MOVES AT ONE AND A HALF TIMES NATURAL SPEED. CROWDS OF PEOPLE GATHER AROUND GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEATRE. A TANGIBLE SENSE OF EXCITEMENT. VOICE-OVER: And here we are at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where crowds ga...
Night time in Florida and someone has finally switched the damned sun off. It's still hot enough to steam seafood in your pockets but at least you can breathe a little. In downtown Orlando the bars and clubs are still only coasting, the music light, the clientele friendly. Later, as the clocks ...