Category: Uncategorized
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SALEM RECOMMENDS: DAPHNE and VELMA
Before we get stuck into this review, let me start off by saying that yes, I am well aware that as a 50-year-old man I am most definitely NOT the target audience for this film. So what the hell was I doing watching it? My girlfriend and I are big Scooby Doo fans and we’d…
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SALEM RECOMMENDS: TIPPING POINT by MICHELLE COOK
In recent weeks I’ve reviewed two books that were published in 1960, and for this one I’ve bypassed the present day altogether and headed straight for 2035. The future in Michelle Cook’s TIPPING POINT seems close enough to reach out and touch. Climate change is ravaging the Earth, protest is outlawed, the police can brutalise…
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REVIEW: THE L-SHAPED ROOM by LYNNE REID BANKS
This is the second book written in 1960 that I’ve reviewed within the space of a week, and boy, they couldn’t be more different! Whereas Dennis Wheatley’s The Satanist was an adventure yarn about a bunch of fine, patriotic chaps saving the realm from a murderous Satanic cult who want to start WWIII, this is…
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REVIEW: THE SATANIST by DENNIS WHEATLEY
This was my first Wheatley and three things stood out… The incredible amount of exposition in the opening chapters. The incredible amount of drinking. The racism. That said, it would be remiss of me if I failed to state right from the off that Dennis Wheatley really does know how to write an exciting book.…
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REVIEW: LITTLE MONSTERS
Alright. I admit it. I’m a MASSIVE Lupita Nyong’o fanboy. I’ll watch anything that she stars in*, so when I got wind of a comedy horror movie that had her name above the title, I thought, “Yes please!” Rather disappointingly, Little Monsters bypassed the cinemas where I live so I was denied the pleasure of…
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“I actually wrote a good book!” – the week DEEP LEVEL went on tour
On Monday 22nd February my debut horror novel DEEP LEVEL packed a suitcase, said goodbye and headed out on tour, leaving his tearful daddy (ie me!) behind. It was a day of mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was keen to see what kind of critical reaction my baby boy would get from book…
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SALEM RECOMMENDS: THE CRY OF THE LAKE BY CHARLIE TYLER
If I ever meet Charlie Tyler in person I’m going to keep a safe distance. A lake on the surface is calm and serene, but underneath it is a dark and dangerous place. Perhaps the same could be said of Tyler. Friendly and accommodating on the outside but a raging hellstorm of murderous intent within.…
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ADVENTURES IN RADIO ADVERTISING pt.2
When you work in radio advertising, as I do, there’s a certain kind of horror that descends on you whenever a client says: “…and I’d like my niece to voice my ads.” Just to clarify, it’s not just nieces voicing commercials we fear. It could be any relative/friend/acquaintance of the client. Ads should always be…
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ADVENTURES IN RADIO ADVERTISING pt.1
When we do a celebrity voice advertising campaign in radio, this is how it usually works… A business wants to advertise. We come up with an idea. We think, “Hey! You know who the perfect person to voice this campaign would be?” We contact their agent and get a quote. We pitch it to the…
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SALEM RECOMMENDS: LATER by STEPHEN KING
In horror maestro Stephen King’s latest (see what I did there?), a young boy who lives with his single mother realises he can see dead people. Sound familiar? But don’t be fooled because The Sixth Sense this ain’t. This is far more visceral stuff. Our young hero is Jamie Conklin, but he doesn’t stay young…
