strange and random happenstance

If you are a fan of British comedy if I were to randomly yell at you "Yes, I can hear you Clem Fandango!" you would hopefully laugh and then become my new best friend. The name Clem Fandango brings joy into the world. And the echoes of Matt Berry as Steven Toast screaming. Shazad Latif is Clem Fandango. Because, while he has been wonderful in so many shows, big shout-out to Penny Dreadful, I will forever refer to him as Clem Fandango. And yes, it has to be his full name. First and last, not just Clem not just Fandango. The whole Clem Fandango. Anyway, for this I will try to refer to Shazad Latif by his real name and even if I didn't I could totally cut and paste his name over my typing Clem Fandango before I posted this and you would never know the difference. What all this is in aid of is that because of my love for Shazad Latif I have been waiting for Nautilus for what seems like forever. This was a show in limbo. They finished filming over two years ago when it was going to be on Disney+. Dinsney+ shelved it because apparently that's what you do to make a buck these days, look to The Spiderwick Chronicles. A tax write-off is more valuable than quality entertainment. Then Amazon bought it and I was excited, because that meant to was totally, finally going to be released, and then nope. They weren't going to be distributing it. Finally it was announced that AMC+ had acquired it and that it would totally be coming out soon. Like the beginning of 2025 at the latest. January came and went, winter turned to spring and finally, FINALLY Sunday, June 29th, 2025 could be marked on my calendar as the day I could finally see this show I've waited for for so long. And, I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps something along the lines of The Librarians, a cheesy but fun show that had a stacked list of guest stars but was overall just a nice way to spend an evening. In other words, due to other recent H.G. Wells adaptations, yes, I'm looking at you Around the World in 80 Days with your white savior complex, and PTSD from seeing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in theaters, TWICE, over twenty years ago, I mentally set the bar very low. Which means I wasn't just impressed, I was blown away. I don't know if such a thrilling and modern adventure series with such high production values and incredible acting has ever been made like this. I didn't just enjoy the show, the weekly cliffhangers that reminded me of the best in serial storytelling made me wait with baited breath for each new installment. What's more, this is for an audience with modern sensibilities, IE, there is no white savior complex here. The cast made up of characters who were literally slaves and are almost exclusively minorities, save themselves and then set about to destroy their oppressors. And who were historically the worst oppressors? The East India Company! Down with that sort of thing! Bonus points if you know which British comedy that comes from. Nautilus is just such a wonderful show about survival versus domination and exploration versus destruction. It also examines what riches mean to those who were oppressed; freedom, safety, and, in the end, it can mean vengeance. There are so many levels on which this show works, but what I was left with most was wonder. There was a childlike wonder this show brought about in me. Dare I say that this show gave me hope? I dare say it did. It also brought me joy. Or, as others might say, Clem Fandango!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adventure, And the Emmy Goes To, Around the World in Eighty Days, Clem Fandango, East India Company, H.G. Wells, Nautilus, Penny Dreadful, Shazad Latif, Steven Toast, Submarine, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wonder

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Published by: NYRB Classics
Publication Date: 1922
Format: Paperback, 247 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Mrs. Wilkins sees an advertisement in The Times for a house rental in Italy for the entire month of April. The medieval castle of San Salvatore beckons to her. She sees herself there. But she couldn't possibly spend her money on something so frivolous, what would her husband Mellersh say? Anyway it's too expensive for one... but with two. Seeing Mrs. Arbutnot that day, looking at the same ad, something clicked in Mrs. Wilkins. She just knew that Mrs. Arbuthnot was just as dissatisfied with her life too. They could easily afford the place together. Mrs. Arbuthnot had the money that her husband sets aside for her, the ill gotten gains of his writing scandalous memoirs of famous mistresses, that she usually spends on God's work. It wouldn't be wrong, would it, to spend it on herself for once? Yet, to share this good fortune among only two seemed wrong. So soon they place an ad for two more people, and are joined by the elderly Mrs. Fisher, who just wants to be left alone in the Italian sun remembering her glory days, and Lady Caroline Dester, who just wants to escape her fame and infamy.

Once in Italy, they are all overcome with the beauty and the abundance of flowers. The burgeoning wisteria, the fragrance of the bushes. Mrs. Wilkins is the first to embrace the change the place has wrought in her, writing to her husband she was trying to escape from to join her. Her heart flowing over with goodwill and serenity that must be shared with all. Soon Mrs. Arbuthnot starts to unwind and see that perhaps she has been too hard on her husband and his writing. Mrs. Fisher remains obstinate and stoic, wanting everything her way, with her own space and her own memories, but she soon starts to flex, ever so slightly. Lady Caroline also begins to change, having all this time to just think and escape the pawing of everyone makes her come to some startling conclusions about herself. The house has a magic that changes all of them mysteriously and irrevocably.

One day I stumbled on an idyll movie. There were lots of British actors whom I recognized and this feeling of beauty and release and joy. That movie happened to be Enchanted April. While I only caught but a few moments of the film it stuck with me and one day when I stumbled on the book while browsing the shelves of a local bookstore I bought it immediately. I thought if the book had but a fraction of the charm that I saw distilled in those fleeting moments I watched on the screen it would be a luxurious escape. But as is often the case with me I had some very odd ideas about this book I had found. I was adamant that I would only read the book in April. Yes, a crazy thought, but I just had to do it. The book was called The Enchanted April after all! And I wanted my own April to be enchanted. So every April I would think, "This April, I'll read it." Yet life would invariably get in the way. Work, school, something always happened so that by the time I had the time to read it, it was no longer April and therefore I refused to read it. Then finally the stars aligned. I had the time and I was totally disenchanted. I don't know if it was the years of build up or just that I wasn't in the right frame of mind, but I not only disliked this book, I openly hated it.

The Enchanted April is supposed to be an escapist fantasy. The, wouldn't it be lovely to be there with them in Italy. Instead it made me feel bitter and angry towards all the characters. Oh, their boring lives of routine are so hard, let them luxuriate in Italian splendor that you can't take part in as you toil through a crappy Wisconsin April with tons and tons of work. Oh, it cost us nothing to live in this magical place and isn't that just wonderful, grumble, grumble. Very shortly I wanted to go and kill them all. Their lives aren't so hard that they needed this getaway! I need this getaway and guess what? I don't have the time or the money, so shut it ladies. Mrs. Wilkins' knowing and seeing were a tad too much, too affected for me. Mrs. Arbuthnot, besides having a stupid name, should get off her high horse and embrace the fact that she has money. Mrs. Fisher, well, I kind of liked that she was bitchy most of the book, but that kindness from a young man could turn it so, blurg. Then poor Lady Caroline, men and women all just love her so so much she can't get a moment alone. Poor darling. I can't help but wonder what the enchantments of April will bring to the rest of their lives... they thought they where dissatisfied before? I'm sure the honeymoon will soon be over and their lives will be even more unbearable, I can just see it... now why does that make me so happy?

Yet what irked me most wasn't this fairy tale fantasy that changed their lives but the idea that change can only be wrought by uprooting your life. That they couldn't have become contented in their lives without this experience. So what does that say to us mere mortal readers who don't have this opportunity? Your life will suck forever? This reminds me of the tripe spewed by those who think that only travel can expand your horizons. A friend who goes off to China or Vietnam and spends the next five years starting every conversation "when I was in..." Or even worse the "you'll understand when you travel." I have traveled some and want to travel more, but responsibilities and economies are realities that I face as most do. And the truth is you don't need to travel to effect change in your life. You don't need to go somewhere else to expand your horizons. People who tell you these lies are small-minded and don't have the depth to realize that just looking at the world around you and reading can be the biggest catalysts for change. Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest observers of the human condition and she barely left her house! It's change that comes from within that lasts. Yes, a journey or a story can change you, but you have to internalize it, have it become a part of you. Will this change of life stay in place for these characters once they return home? Because in truth it seems a superficial change that can not hope to last. 

But let's play devil's advocate. Say that these characters have changed, that their "internal growth" has fixed them. The truth is this isn't shown it's just told to us. They are just soothed by their surroundings and made whole. From the readers point of view nothing happened. They were miserable and now they're not. We don't see their internal struggle, we don't see how this seismic shift has happened, we are just observers, we aren't even along for the ride. That is the key. Most people label this book as boring but the truth behind this truth is that someone else's personal journey isn't interesting, it's annoying, unless you are taken along for the ride. Insight, commentary on the experience, anything to forge a connection with the characters so that their personal journey becomes your journey. So that you have internal growth at the same pace as the characters. A lot of people say that this book is the middle-aged A Room with a View. While I get the comparison, I would like fans of this book to go read the other. Because A Room with a View forges this connection that is forever lacking in The Enchanted April. You become so invested in Lucy Honeychurch's journey to find herself that at times you are in pain simply hoping that her life will work out. I never once felt that for any of Elizabeth Von Arnim's characters. Not even for a second.

On the other hand, Elizabeth Von Arnim herself sounds like a fascinating lady. She was a Countess (twice over!) with a husband in prison for fraud. They had a luxurious family estate in Pomerania where E.M. Forster and Hugh Walpole came as tutors. I would like to have the wherewithal to hire E. M. Forster as my children's tutor, wouldn't you? But now going back to the parallels with A Room with a View, which was published fourteen years prior to The Enchanted April I'm starting to question her morals. Like she was sitting around one day and thought I could do better than my children's tutor, and promptly failed. Oh, and she just happened to be the mistress to H.G Wells!?! Sister-in-law to Bertrand Russell! She fled her second marriage by going to America and taking up with a publisher thirty years her junior. I want to read a biography on her! In fact, with such a fascinating and full life, why is her writing so darn flat? I'd like to read more about Elizabeth... not necessarily more by Elizabeth.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Room with a View, Backlog Bonanza, Betrand Russell, British, E.M. Forster, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Emily Dickinson, Enchanted April, H.G. Wells, Hugh Walpole, Italy, Personal Journeys, The Enchanted April, Travel

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Published by: Book-of-the-Month Club
Publication Date: 1927
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Holmes is happily ensconced in his retirement and his study of bees, but that doesn't mean he has foregone the occasional mystery, sometimes they literally show up on his doorstep; or that all his past adventures have been told, there are metal boxes full of them. Watson is back to share a few of these adventures with us, more diverse in motives, but never beyond the grasp of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes himself even picks up the pen twice to give us insight into crimes that Watson wasn't around for, and in a rare moment admits that perhaps Watson's writing was more clever than Holmes had given it credit. It's harder then he thought putting one's exploits on the page in a way that captures the reader's attention and holds it, without spoiling the solution in advance. Yet what is most fascinating about these case files that Watson has culled is that they are almost beyond the ken of man. Vampires and apes! Fiery South American Brides. Lepers and creatures from the sea and lions killing their circus handlers! A client who might not be as innocent as they paint themselves to be. If this is to be the last we hear of Sherlock Holmes, one thing is certain, these stories are unlike any that have been told before. But the most surprising of all is Holmes being willing to change his mind... not just about Watson's writing, but about Turkish Baths. They're now all the rage.

While I have grown a little weary of the world's number one consulting detective, I question if I am not just channeling Conan Doyle himself. When reading a good portion of the works of one author you get keyed into them and their emotions. You can tell when they are enjoying themselves, when they are struggling, and most importantly when they are fed up and hate what they are writing. I quite sincerely believe that here, at the close of the Sherlock Holmes canon, that Conan Doyle quite fervently hated his creation. You can just feel it oozing out of the stories and permeating your subconscious as you read. If you were in any doubt, just take a gander at this book's introduction, I can clearly read between the lines Conan Doyle's message, which basically runs "fuck off, leave me alone!" Yet there's a weird benefit of Conan Doyle no longer caring, and that is his experimentation in narration styles. Before, during his first atrocious attempt at third person narration, which he still has yet to get the hang of here, I commented that perhaps Holmes as a narrator would be an interesting yet logical transition. My wish was granted. Twice! And what was the outcome of this? I really wanted Watson to return. It is odd, me and Watson, we've never fully gotten along. I called him a sycophant, he called me overcritical of his classic status, I went on to say his mentioning of cases he's not supposed to mention was an annoying tease, he went on about Holmes's reputation, you get the point. I forgive him everything after reading the alternatives! Please Watson, come back! Forget about your random new wife and live with Holmes again pretty please!

With his changing of narration styles, Conan Doyle also threw caution to the wind with the crimes. Instead of always being about money, we have far more complex motives than ever before. Seriously, one more about money and I don't know what I would have done. While you can tell this was all a result of Conan Doyle trying to revitalize his waning interest in his subject, I can't help but think if he had started these innovations earlier that the canon could have been more varied, more unique. Yes, yes, it's probably some sort of heresy that I'm saying this, but it's true! I'm looking at these stories not through rose-tinted glasses! As for the innovations, we FINALLY get to read a story wherein the client is the guilty party. I have oddly been longing for this day. Of course Holmes always suspected his client, so therefore it's not as interesting as if Holmes had been found fallible, but still, liking the change. The cases overall had a dash more romance. Jealousy, love, these are the cornerstones to these new set of tales. As well as real tails! Dogs play significant parts in two of the adventures! While these are a refreshing change, one of the two more sensational tales caught my imagination the most . These are really interesting in that they almost verge on pulp fiction, with death by sea creature, and notably, the heavily Poe influenced, with just a dash of H.G. Wells, "The Adventure of the Creeping Man." It's this second tale that I found most fascinating, while also very out of place. Seriously, this guy is injecting himself with a drug extracted from monkeys just to become young again for the woman he loves? Sadly it has some amusing though unintended side effects. This is so odd a tale that it instantly is the most memorable.

Yet with this love and jealousy there's a consequence that I don't know if it's intentional or not. In "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge" both stories concern men who married South American brides whom they fell out of love with and the wives went a little bit crazy. Was it Conan Doyle's intention to have two stories be basically Jane Eyre? Well, technically Wide Sargasso Sea, but that came after and just fleshed out the back story of Rochester and his crazy wife in the attic, Bertha Mason. Because there is no other way these stories can be looked at. They are literally Jane Eyre meets Sherlock Holmes, but not in some weird story written by Jasper Fforde. Each of the stories even captures little personality traits from Bertha. In "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" the supposed vampirism and the biting can obviously be seen in Bertha's attack on her brother when he comes to visit Thornfield Hall. Then in "The Problem of Thor Bridge" the psychotic jealousy and eventual suicide just scream crazy wife in the attic! Why this bothers me so much is I don't know what Conan Doyle's intention was with these two tales. Firstly I don't like him perpetuating this myth about fiery and unstable South American wives, but more than that, was it an homage or was he taking the piss? Was he obsessed with and adored Charlotte Bronte, or was it something else? Was he just using the framework which was familiar to all readers to get a backstory without having to do the work himself? It's no wonder "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" was so radically changed when it was adapted for TV, because otherwise everyone would be in the same conundrum as me!

Speaking of TV adaptations... what I have always found odd is how the CSI episode "Who Shot Sherlock?" has stuck with me year after year. The episode concerns a man found dead who was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. He had even converted his basement into a recreation of 221B Baker Street with windows that utilized rear projection to show a Victorian street outside despite the fact that the room was underground. During the episode the victim is found dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. But there is no murder weapon to be found and the room was locked from the inside. Grissom and his team get to work to figure out whodunit. The obvious suspects are the victim's fellow Sherlock fanatics. They even have a club! Of course in the end it turns out it was suicide, the gun was attached to a band that pulled it up the chimney... which is basically the exact murder, down to a little nick, in "The Problem of Thor Bridge." So, as I've said, I don't know why this episode has stuck with me this long, but finally reading the original story that inspired this episode made me realize one major plot hole that I must now gripe about. IF these were Sherlock Holmes fans HOW did they not figure out how the crime was committed? It's in the freakin' stories! Seriously! Are they that freakin' dumb? Did it really need the all powerful mind of Gil Grissom to go, hey look at this it's right out of the books! Now I'm forever going to be stuck with remembering this episode not for it's Sherlock angle but for the stupidity angle.

But nothing in that CSI episode is as stupid as Sherlock Holmes retiring. Why? Because it's against character! The only reason Sherlock Holmes retired after only twenty-three years of active duty is because Conan Doyle tried to kill him and it didn't work, so banishing him to a life of bees seemed the next best option. Think of this logically, think of Holmes's personality, it just doesn't make sense! Watson time and again mentions how Holmes is fine in the country, but that he is a creature of the city. He needed to be enthroned at 221B Baker Street like it was the center of a giant spider's web where he could sit and listen and wait for a little criminal disturbance that would capture his attention and off he would go. Yet he's perfectly content to sit in a house looking at the channel, bathing and swimming there occasionally, and concentrating on bees? I could see him doing it for like a week or a month, learning all there was and moving on, of course writing that monograph on bees, but living there? Choosing that as his life? NO! I think this is the biggest crime in all the canon. The fact that Conan Doyle had grown to hate his character so much that he would give him an ignominious end. Of course, in fairness, he tried to give Holmes the ending he deserved but had to retract it... but still... to pour your spite out by giving an ending that was a whimper, not a bang. It's an injustice to the greatest consulting detective who ever lived and has resulted in way too much fan fiction concerning bees. Seriously. Why bees?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ape, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bees, Bertha Mason, Charlotte Bronte, CSI, H.G. Wells, Jane Eyre, Jasper Fforde, Poe, Retirement, Rochester, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, Wide Sargasso Sea

The Diamond Conspiracy by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 31st, 2015
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are reveling in each other as they return home from the United States. They are finally as one, on the field and in the bedroom. Though their luxuriant revels come to an end when Eliza gets a ping from the distress beacon she left with her maid Alice and the street urchins that are under her protection, known as the Ministry Seven. They race to their rendezvous point in France to discover that their situation is dire. Queen Victoria has decided that The Ministry is a danger to her reign, and in particular to her plans for her Diamond Jubilee, and is using her other secret organization, the Department of Imperial Inconveniences to eliminate the Ministry. The Department in their signature tweed has been dispatching Ministry agents around the globe with alarming efficiency. Though the Ministry is far from beaten. Director Sound has enacted Shadow Protocol and the disparate agents from around the world are gathering, to regroup and figure out just why they were such a danger to the Queen and how they can stop her.

Half the fun of two strong leads is the will they won't they factor. More then one story has hinged on the sexual tension between the protagonists, or antagonists as it were. The problem that arises from this situation is that if you lead your audience on for too long they get frustrated. Likewise, if the relationship doesn't successfully gel after consummation, then you are in another dire situation, and sometimes go to drastic lengths to solve this problem, yes I'm looking at you Battlestar Galactica. An unsuccessful resolution has spelled the end for many franchises; it is what I like to call the Moonlighting factor, and yes, I know I'm not the only one to use this delightful eighties show as the case study for what not to do with a storyline. Moonlighting quite literally imploded when the leads, Maddie Hayes and David Addison, slept together at the end of the third season. The show spiraled out of control with a lame marriage plot and Maddie miscarrying her and David' child, till a show that was so bright ended with a whimper and the too appropriate epitaph "romance is a fragile thing." Therefore, while I have been delighting in the romance brewing between Books and Braun, I was also very wary.

Yet the time had more then come for Books and Braun to finally get their act together. The previous installment, Dawn's Early Light, was the tipping point with their antagonism and jealous acts. The Diamond Conspiracy opens up with the agents in full blissful coupledom. And here is where I say that thankfully they have avoided all the snares and dangers that were in their paths, huzzah! All gadgets and gizmos have been disarmed and dismantled and what has emerged is even sexier then before. Pip and Tee have managed to keep the tension between Welly and Eliza while simultaneously having their relationship develop into the next stage. Their blissful journey across the Atlantic and their stolen moments are what true sexual chemistry is all about. Yet, to me, the most romantic aspect is not their sexual chemistry, but the way they work as a team. They know the other one always has their back. They are a perfect unit and it is this connection that brings back the fresh dynamic of the first book in this series as it simultaneously sets a sturdier base for continued adventures.

With this consummation of their attraction and their developing relationship we have a very character driven story which spills out into the rest of the book. I think this is the best thing that could have happened for this series. The characters have always been the heart of the story, they have always shone while the plot flounders. The Diamond Conspiracy has stripped down this unwieldy universe that Pip and Tee have created and made it hinge on the human element. They have pulled in all the disparate elements and agents from around the globe that have featured in the Tales from the Archives and parred it down to a manageable amount. At times prior to reading this installment I have felt that their world with all it's tangential stories was almost too hard to hold onto, all the different threads of all these different stories turning to water in my hands and running away from me. This felt like a great spring cleaning, the house has been made new by brushing the cobwebs away. The Diamond Conspiracy feels like a new start for all our characters and it has invigorated me, in fact after finishing the book I felt so optimistic that I didn't want to pick up the next book I had ready to go and instead I started to clean my library, and yes, this is a very daunting task and perhaps shouldn't be started late on a Sunday night... what can I say, the book did it to me!

The feeling of this new beginning though needs to have follow through. The Big Bad of these books has gone a little blurg. While Doctor Jekyll does have a lot going for him as the ultimate puppet master, I seriously might go crazy if Sophia del Morte shows up yet again. In my mind she has never nor will never bring anything to these books. There comes a point when new evils need to be faced and the old evils put away. If there's one thing that I can't stand is the magical return of some long defeated foe. Pip and Tee have defeated quite a few, now let them all rest. Bring in a new villain to go with the new outlook on this series. Keep developing the villains just as Books and Braun's relationship has developed. But don't bring in new angles on old foes. Yes, that little twist that you end The Diamond Conspiracy with is interesting, but still, it's just the old with a twist of the new. The worst season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is easily season seven, because they brought back a villain who could also mimic every other villain ever seen on the show. Please. Move it along.

Despite my little rant there, the villains and their dirty deeds were really just a blip, they were part and parcel of the story and is more a warning rant then anything specific in this volume. The truth is this was a near perfect return to form if it hadn't been for the H.G. Wells factor. In previous volumes august personages have made appearances, as is logical for there are distinct people who unknowingly formed what we now know as Steampunk. From Edison to Tesla to Wells, their visions of the future formed the literature of the future, and the television shows, and the movies. The problem I have with Wells is that it comes too close to another Steampunk franchise I love, and that's Warehouse 13. There is no denying the similarities of The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences and Warehouse 13. With Wellington's archive and the Warehouse, we have two places that collect and store dangerous Steampunky artifacts, occasionally using them to solve their cases. One is present, one is past, I have no problem with them coexisting in my brain or in the world. What I do have a problem with is H.G. Wells being in both in such a similar manner. And H.G. was part of the Warehouse team over a year before the very first Ministry book came out. Just saying, even if Wells is so important to the Steampunk movement, perhaps Wells needs a little distance from the Ministry to not feel like a rip-off.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawn's Early Light, H.G. Wells, Moonlighting, Pip Ballantine, Steampunk, Tales from the Archives, Tee Morris, The Diamond Conspiracy, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, Warehouse 13

So, instead of inflicting more of my dream casting on you I thought perhaps you might want to hear a little from the author himself to whom the month of November has been dedicated. So without further ado, I bring you George Mann!

Question: The first memorable book from you childhood often extends its influence throughout your life. What is your favorite book that you re-read a million times from when you were little?

Answer: I was a very lucky child, in that I was read to extensively from an early age. I had the Hobbit, the complete Chronicles of Narania and all sorts, all before the age of 6. So I think I absorbed a lot of that, and it’s all still in here, somewhere.

A formative book for me, though, was The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. That was a real revelation. I’ve always considered it one of the first great science fiction novels, and I adore how the aliens are defeated at the end by the common cold, rather than the Victorians themselves.

Question: You have created your own vigilante superhero with The Ghost. What was your favorite superhero growing up?

Answer:  It’s always been Spider-Man, and, to be honest, is still is. There’s something about the web-crawler that’s always appealed to me. I think it might be because, at heart, he’s just a normal, geeky guy, who saves the day because he has to, and because no one else is going to do it. In many ways he’s similar to the Doctor in that (see below) – he finds himself in these perilous, fantastical situations, and although he’s handy with his fists, it’s usually through intellectual endeavour that he saves the day. At least, in my favourite stories.

Of course, I’ve always been a huge fan of Batman, too. I prefer him in his ‘dark detective’ mode, stalking the streets of Gotham to solve crimes in a way the police aren’t able.

Question: Growing up what was the television show that you most anticipated every week and why?

Answer: I think you know the answer to this one…it was definitely Doctor Who. It was just so different from everything else at the time. Weird, wonderful fantasy that had a huge and lasting impact on my psyche. I loved how the Doctor would just stumble into these amazing, colourful adventures, and always win the day through cleverness, charm, or wit. It was real fuel for the imagination.

Question: Victoriana and sensational supernatural stories are really making a comeback with shows like Ripper Street and Penny Dreadful. Why do you think people are continually drawn to these subjects?

Answer: I think it’s because the Victorian period is now distant enough to seem unknowable and strange (and therefore fertile ground for sensationalising), but at the same time close enough that it still feels half-familiar. I also think there’s something about the fact that the Victorian era feels like the borderlands between the modern world and the past, science vs superstition. There was a clear preoccupation with ‘occult science’ and superstition in that age, and a view that anything was possible, if only we could find the means to achieve it. Science would prove the existence of the spirit world, that sort of thing. So again, it’s great material for a writer to get their teeth into.

Question: You've written 34 books this year, or at least it seems that what with a new book on the shelves every few weeks. Seriously, when do you not write?

Answer: Ha! I’m always writing. At the same time, though, some of that is to do with scheduling and just a coincidence of when the books are published.

I do have trouble stopping, though. Some would say it’s an affliction. I’m not happy unless I’m working on a story of some kind, in one medium or other.

Question: With the future of traditional publishing avenues in limbo many writers are turning to self-publishing. What do you make of this trend, the advantages and the pitfalls, and how will it affect traditional publishing?

Answer: Well, first and foremost I’m a big believer in the adage ‘everyone needs an editor’. I think that editor can take many different forms, but you need someone who can cast an impartial eye over your work, who knows story and structure, and who will be honest with you about the quality of what you’ve written. That’s very important, I think. So I’d never want to dispense with that.

I think digital self-publishing has a place, though. I love the idea of serializing a Newbury and Hobbes story at some point, for example, over a number of parts, like an old story paper. And clearly people are making a great success of it. Personally, though, I find the interactions I have with my publishers very, very helpful. And it helps to have a team of salespeople and publicists working on your books – if I had to do that stuff myself it would never happen, and I wouldn’t sell any books!

Really, for me, it comes down to the fact that I’d rather be writing new stories than worrying about formatting an ebook, promoting and selling it, etc etc. But I know it’s a great tool for other people, and I’d never rule it out.

Question: When you started writing the Newbury and Hobbes series did you intentionally write them as Steampunk or did you just write what you felt and it fit perfectly in the Steampunk Genre?

Answer: I’m not even sure they are steampunk! (Shock! Horror!). I definitely didn’t set out to write in any genre. In fact, The Affinity Bridge was quite the opposite. I’d spent years trying to write a big, sprawling space opera, because I thought that was the genre I should have been writing in, and it was so depressing. I just wasn’t getting anywhere with it. I wrote The Affinity Bridge for me, and just threw in everything I was interested in or loved. They’re Victorian fantasias, really, rather than steampunk. There’s not very much punk about them. They were the aesthetics of steampunk, sometimes, but they’re at least as concerned with the supernatural.

Question: With your books being interconnected we have had glimpses of the future of many of your beloved characters. As for the Newbury and Hobbes Series specifically, do you have an end in sight or is your plan to just keep writing? And when will we see The Revenant Express?

Answer: I tend to work in story arcs, rather than planning to the end of the series. So the first big N and H story arc will end in book 6, but I have no intention of retiring them. They may have a little break, but I have lots more stories to tell, if people want to keep reading them. I might also go back and write some more stories with Newbury and Templeton Black, as I enjoyed writing ‘The Dark Path’ very much.

There’s a whole bunch of N and H stuff happening next year. I’m really excited about it. New stories in three different mediums! The Revenant Express is one of them. The others, I can’t quite reveal yet. But soon!

Question: Many authors don’t think of their characters in terms of actors, but I’ve been having a little fun doing the dream casting for the hopefully one day forthcoming miniseries (fingers crossed) and I was wondering if you’ve ever thought of who could bring your characters to life?

Answer: Ha! Yes, I’ve been watching your casting with interest. I don’t feel I can say too much about casting at the moment, for reasons that will become clear later (and it’s not a TV series, alas – at least not yet), but I will say that I originally had Tom Ward in mind when I first wrote about Newbury.

Question: With the hugely successful Engines of War you are the first writer to tackle The War Doctor. How did it feel to be basically given a Doctor with a blank slate (well, minus that stuff in “The Day of the Doctor”)?

Answer: Oh, it was amazing! A dream come true, in fact. A little daunting, but so exciting, and so inspiring. I still can’t believe what they allowed me to get away with in that book. To this day, I still can’t quite actually believe it happened.

Question: In my opinion it’s unfair to ask people who their favorite Doctor is (how can I ask someone to choose when I can’t choose between Tom Baker and Matt Smith myself), so I’ll give you a twist, who is your favorite Doctor to write for? It can be one you haven’t written for yet.

Answer:  I enjoyed writing for the Eleventh Doctor a lot, but really, it has to be the War Doctor. I had SO MUCH fun with Engines of War. I’ve always wanted to write for the Eighth Doctor too. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity at some point.

Question: You are now showrunner for Doctor Who, we won’t go into details as to how you secured the job, there may have been a cage match to the death with Moffat and Gatiss, that is unclear, but what are the top three changes you would make?

Answer: That’s a tough question. I really don’t know! Bring in more new writers, perhaps. Introduce a new male companion, maybe someone who isn’t a love interest of one of the leads. Try to persuade the BBC to do additional Easter and Halloween specials. More two-parters. I don’t think there are any silver bullets and I think it must be one of the hardest jobs in TV.

Question: What’s next for George Mann? 

Answer: The Revenant Express! Finally! And a bunch of other exciting N and H projects, as mentioned earlier. A new Ghost novel, Ghosts of Karnak, some more Doctor Who, and maybe some new things that I’m toying with at the moment…

Question: Favorite movie you’ve seen this year?

Answer: Guardians of the Galaxy. Without a doubt.

Question: Point Break or Bad Boys 2?

Answer: Point Break. I’m not sure I’m even aware of Bad Boys 2!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Batman, Doctor Who, George Mann, H.G. Wells, Hot Fuzz, Newbury and Hobbes, Penny Dreadful, Ripper Street, The Affinity Bridge, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Ghost, The Revenant Express, The War Doctor, Tom Ward

Ask the majority of Steampunk fans and they will say their favorite author is George Mann. It's easy to see why, his Newbury and Hobbes books have a quirky Britishness that I would compare to The Avengers but as easily appealing to fans of Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes. Not to forget strong female characters, go Victoria Hobbes! He is also amazingly nice and polite and generous, can you think of many authors who would not only put up with answering silly questions but also write a little piece of new work for a blog, that isn't their own, I think not, you are the man George! If that hasn't yet convinced you of his awesomeness, he's not only written a 11th Doctor Who book, Paradox Lost, he's met the 11th Doctor! See, that's real geek and Steampunk cred right there!

Question: What is the definitive Steampunk book for you?

Answer: Not strictly steampunk, but for me you have to go back to Verne and Wells. Wells's 'The First Men in the Moon' is a particular favourite.

Question: What drew you to this genre?

Answer: I love the freedom that steampunk offers, how it makes a fantasy from the past. There's something very honest about exploring 'what never was'. Plus I get to play with all the things I love - clockwork robots, airships, tentacled beasties, occult secret societies...

Question: How do you take your tea?

Answer: Assam in the morning, Earl Grey in the afternoon, with a dash of milk in both

Question: Must have sartorial accessory?

Answer: A sword stick, of course. Preferably with an ornate silver handle.

Question: Sartorial leaning: Street Urchin, Tinker, Explorer or Aesthete?

Answer: Aesthete.

Question: Top hat or bowler hat?

Answer: Always a top hat, obviously.

Question: Subgenre you most identify with: Boilerpunk, Clockpunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Romance, Mannerspunk, Raygun Gothic or Stitchpunk?

Answer: Clockpunk with a dash of Gaslight Romance.

Question: If there was one thing that could truly exist from the world of Steampunk what would it be?

Answer: Veronica Hobbes ;-)

Question: If there was one element in the Steampunk genre you could remove forever what would it be?

Answer: The naysayers ;-)

Question: Favorite movie or television series with Steampunk elements?

Answer: Doctor Who.

Question: Preferred mode of transport: celestial, aether, terra firma or aquatic?

Answer: Aether.

Question: Favorite Queen to have had a diamond jubilee, Victoria or Elizabeth?

Answer: Victoria.

Question: Victorian or Wild West?

Answer: Victorian.

Question: Would you like an automaton butler or ladies maid, considering that it might be the first step in the robotic apocalypse?

Answer: No! Have you READ The Affinity Bridge? Those things are dangerous!*

*Yes George, thanks for the nightmares!

Question: If The Doctor showed up at your door, where would you go?

Answer: 1880s Monmatre, for a glass of absinthe and a visit to the Moulin Rouge.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Doctor Who, Earl Grey, George Mann, H.G. Wells, Monmatre, Moulin Rouge, Paradox Lost, Sherlock Holmes, The 11th Doctor, The Affinity Bridge, The Avengers, Veronica Hobbes

Ever wish that you lived in Victorian times, but with a little bit more Wellsian sci-fi? Perhaps just that little extra something to make it more like an episode of Dr. Who but with that splash of Charles Dickens. Well enter Steampunk! That fantasy and speculative fiction genre that posits, what if steam had really become widely used, what if people had parasols and wore goggles on their top hats, what if cybermen helped a wicked lady who ran an orphanage...no, wait, that last one was an episode of Dr. Who...but it does perfectly epitomize the genre. Victorian manners melded with steel. An amped up future but in the 1880s. From the aforementioned Dr. Who episode, The Next Doctor, to books such as Gail Carriger's Soulless, to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Steampunk is getting quite a following, and quite the fashions too. Like a costume drama and Marilyn Manson had a car crash and what came out you can now buy and wear on such sites as Clockwork Couture.

Personally I have Steampunk on the brain...must be because I'm currently reading Soulless and thinking how cool dirigibles in common use would be...or maybe because it's Steampunk month over at Tor...or perhaps it's because my home town has their own Steampunk group, Steam Century, and they're having a Darke Carnival...for one reason and another, Steampunk is very big at the moment. So, if you're interested in this interesting blend of possibilities, pick up a book, put on some clothes, or head over to the Darke Carnival at the Inferno in Madison, Wisconsin this Saturday, October 10th!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:33 AM 6 comments  

Labels: Clockwork Couture, Darke Carnival, Dr. Who, Gail Carriger, H.G. Wells, Marilyn Manson, Soulless, Steampunk, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Next Doctor, Torchwood, Victorian London