I do a lot of work for the Doctor Who RPG. In fact I’ve just finished a chunk of stuff for the upcoming Dinosaurs & Spaceships book which allowed me to put something very odd under the Natural History Museum and give the Silurians their Richard III. I love this job. Not just because …
James Horner died earlier this week. Horner and Alan Silvestri were the first two film composers whose work I not only recognized but actively enjoyed and sought out. Horner’s relentless, driving score for Aliens in particular is a huge part of the movie’s success. But nothing, for me, is quite as perfect as this scene and …
I do a lot of work for Travelling Man, mostly comic criticism. It’s really fun too. I love talking about comics and I love the narrative elegance with which even an average book is executed. There are some amazing books being published right now and it’s an honor, and a pleasure to jump up and …
Gideon Smith works with his father as a fisherman. He yearns for adventures, wanting desperately to be like his hero, Captain Lucian Trigger of The World Marvels & Wonders. Trigger fights vampires and mummies in service of the Queen. Gideon doesn’t. Until, one day, all his dreams start to come true and he finds …
When are Apple Pie Bites not in fact bits of Apple Pie? When they’re bites of delicious datey apple cashew yumminess that don’t facekick your calorie count for the day but also don’t taste of sadness and dust either, that’s when! Let’s do this! Victor! The simple fact that the ingredients list is so tiny …
Mark Kermode is one of the reasons I’m a movie critic. His Cult Film Corner on Mark and Lard’s gloriously obtuse and eccentric Radio 1 show in the 1990s taught me so much about movies and story structure that I still lean on today. In fact, I wrote to him once, all of 17 at the time, …
The UK indie comics circuit is brilliant, in every way you can define that word. It’s a shining beacon of intelligence, energy and enthusiasm in an industry that’s regularly predicted the world ending since at least 1999. It’s crammed full of incredible talents and the work they produce and, bluntly, it’s a beacon that puts …
Stein and Bruce are engineers aboard the Argos, a generation ship 240 years into its trip to Tau Prius. They are a vital part of society, an elite pair of troubleshooters whose job it is to keep the ship running and the staff able to carry out their duties. Stein and Bruce are …
Mur Lafferty is a genius. Right now, right this SECOND she’s reading this and going ‘Alllll, no I’m not!’ Revel in your geniusness, Lafferty. REVEL. For it is a real thing. Mur’s work on I Should Be Writing and, with fellow genius and hard travelling word slinger Matt Wallace (Preorder his book here by the …
Trust me, the Squash is not done. That’s why it’s the icon for the column now. So when it is, I’ll know. We’ll ALL KNOW. Anyway, welcome to Al Dente! Let’s make burgers! But not! Victor! So here’s what we’ve got: -Salt -Pepper -Worcestercestercestershire Sauce -Olive Oil -Portobello Mushrooms -An Ipad -Some metal pans -A …