Sneak Peak: And Then There Were None: Or The Worst Holiday Ever

Murder, mayhem, borderline insanity, creepy and not so creepy goings-ons this latest version of And Then There Were None has got it all.

There's even a little bit - okay make that a lot - of sexiness in the form of dark, tall and handsome Aidan Turner who once again takes his shirt off.... and a lot more.  Be still my swoony heart.

Beautifully filmed and brilliantly acted this TV mini-series is so good and so addictive that once you start you won't want to stop until the killer is revealed.

And if you can't wait for it to screen here then why not check out the book or one of the older versions that we have got on DVD.

Blood and Guts: Or A Very Gory Christmas

I love a good thriller.  Whether it's reading one or watching one.  There is just something about a good crime story with plenty of body count, a headless corpse... or two, and lots of twists and turns that is highly addictive.

And the Holiday Season is a perfect time to catch up on all the gory, mind griping, can't-stop watching/reading-until-you-know-who-did-it crime.  Even better there is a fun of guessing who the real killer is.

Only thing is once you start you can't stop and you find yourself impatiently waiting for the next in the series.  Or at least you do if you're me.

At least I have Luther to get me through this Christmas while I impatiently patiently wait for the next series of Sherlock, Bosch, Broadchurch...

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound...

A shortish post from me this week.

The body as they say is willing but the brain has decided  to go on complete strike and be bloody difficult. Writer's block sucks.

Big time.

Still it could be worse.  This post could have started with "See Jane run.  See Dick run." which is just about the standard that my brain is capable of at the moment.

I'm going to blame it all on the BBC and Big Finish.

Now I never thought of myself as an audio book fan.  I had, of course, tried some many years ago but somehow I found them just a bit... flat.

Then I got onto Big Finish.  First with their array of Stargate audio books and then with their 8th Doctor Who adventures starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. Wanting to expand my horizons from just listening to science fiction I then discovered the BBC or more accurately BBC4.

It was like finding the holy grail.  Or least what I imagine it would be like.

The variety that the BBC produces is enormous.  From comedies to crime dramas to Shakespeare and Sci-Fi.  I have become hooked.

And like all addictions I just have to share.  So here's just a small taste of what I have been listening to and more.

Murder in the title [compact disc] : a Charles Paris mystery / Simon Brett.

I *adore* Bill Nighy.  So when I found that he featured in a series of radio dramas featuring an alcoholic, womanising actor who seems to constantly stumble across dead bodies where ever he goes I just had to give them a try.

And I'm so glad I did.  The Charles Paris mysteries featuring him are just marvellous with Nighy being... well Nighy..

Cabin pressure. Complete series 2 [compact disc] / written by John Finnemore.

A BBC4 find.  The appeal of this was that it featured Benedict Cumberbatch.  Or the Cumberbeast as he is known as to his many fans.  It also sounded really funny.

And it is. Gloriously so.

 In fact I guarantee this will have you laughing out aloud.

The adventure collection. Volume 2 [compact disc]

As a Doctor Who fan I just had to try these series of adventures read by David Tennant.

Though they don't have a full-cast like the ones above, Tennant's voice worked really well for me.

Then again I'm probably biased.


Torchwood [electronic resource] : the lost files.

The last story in this audio book made me cry.

Really.

I bawled my eyes out.

If that's not a recommendation I don't know what is.

Desert Island Discs [compact disc]

I haven't listened to this - yet.

But it's on my list.

The idea of famous people being interviewed about what book, music etc they would take to a desert island sounds fascinating, so how could I not give it a go.

The big sleep [compact disc] / Raymond Chandler.

I love the movie The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart so finding out that there was a audio-dramas - done by the BBC no less, I just had to add it my list of To Be Listened To.

It also features Toby Stephens (member of the RSC,  son of Dame Maggie Smith and the villain in the James Bond movie Die Another Day).

I can so imagine him as P.I. Philip Marlowe.

I can read, I can READ, I CAN READ!

Well you would bloody hope so since I am a librarian but what I'm really getting at is that I have finished NaNoWriMo for another year.  52,371 words submitted and validated.

And 2 days early I might add.

Yes, Yes, Yes.

I can finally get into the ever increasing pile of books that has been giving me accusing looks for the past 30 days.  So much so that I swear they have been talking to me.  Tempting me with their words of adventure and excitement and far off places.  It has been a real test of wills.  Me writing and doing NaNo or picking up one of the many alluring books that has been staring at me with bedroom eyes, saying read me, read me, read me.  Now, Now Now.

Thank god NaNo is over and I can get stuck in and read something other than my own writing.

Now the only hard decision is deciding which one to start with first…

The Axe Factor - nominate your contestants

It's hard to stand out from the crowd as an author. When there are fifty million other people all trying to make it in print, and now on their own blogs as well, how on earth do you get yourself noticed?

One way, of course, is to write something so kinkily filthy it outrages all demands of decency, plot, dialogue or character and makes a splash in the papers. Not mentioning any trilogies in particular.

The other way, of course, is to introduce a character so twisted, so monumentally and memorably evil, that it attracts an audience like a fire at the Playboy Mansion. Hannibal Lecter, I'm looking at you.

Mr The Cannibal aside, who is your favourite (or most hated) villain? Who sticks in your mind from all the nasties you've encountered? Now I read, or at least test-drive, more than 100 books a year. I really tried to squeeze my brain, but in fact, it wasn't the killers who got in my head so much as the general feeling of horror. I remember being positively sickened while reading Mo Hayder - but can I recall anything about the murderer? Nope.

Film villains are a dime a dozen. The T1000, Hans Gruber and the Joker are easy to remember, as are any of the Disney crew. No one does high camp like Disney - I can only think of the Bond villains to match them in literature. Anyone help?

Please - no spoilers if the villain's identity is supposed to be a secret!

Here are a few of my most memorable: