Preston Comic Con as seen by A.S.Chambers.

So, Saturday 25th September saw me at pedalling my wares in the Preston Guild Hall at the Preston Comic Con and I have to say that I had a mighty fine day.

From the outset I felt that the convention was going to be a success. I had signed books at a mini-con in the Harris Library earlier in the year and that small affair had been exceptional with minimal advertising, so I had a feeling that the good folks of Preston would rise to the challenge once again. I was not mistaken. Just as we were about to open, the word went round that there were 1500 people queueing outside. When the doors opened, it was as if Moses had let go of the Sea of Reeds; it was a torrent which did not let up until late in the afternoon.

The organisers seemed to have been on a roll. The guest list was well worth a look: Holly from Red Dwarf, Admiral Ackbar from Return of The Jedi and Peri from Doctor Who to name but three. Not only that, but they had chosen a most splendid venue. The Guild Hall was spacious and airy and the abundance of seating gave conventioneers plenty of time to rest before diving back into the fray. The local council had even chipped in by providing ample free parking for the day.

There was an all-round jovial atmosphere. Plenty of cos-players brightened up the day and visitors had come from all round the UK. I had one fan come to my stall who had travelled up from London!

In all, I had a fantastic day meeting fans old and new. It was great to be able to sign books on my home stamping ground rather than having to drive for far too long and feeling dead on my feet for the day.

I look forward to the next one.

A.S.Chambers is an author of horror and urban fantasy fiction.

He is the creator of Sam Spallucci: Investigator of the Paranormal and can be stalked in the following places:

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www.aschambers.co.uk

A Jolly NICE Time In Bedford!

A jolly NICE time in Bedford!

This was my first time down to the NICE comic con, organised by Close Encounters, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

For starters the venue was nice and spacious. Some conventions can feel small, dark and cramped; the Corn Exchange was large and airy with plenty of room for both traders and eager shoppers.

The only slight drawback was the lack of on-site parking, but with a couple of multi-stories just around the corner and friendly NICE staff happily willing to look after my stock while I moved my car, this was easily sorted.

The NICE crew were exceptionally friendly and helpful. There was the overwhelming feeling that they really enjoyed being there and being part of the event. They came round at regular intervals with bottles of water (not something I've ever come across before) and were always chatty and interested in what the vendors were selling. One nice chap even brought me some food!

There was a great deal of stalls/artists at the venue along with a multitude of comics for sale. Most of the customers I spoke to seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and wore satisfied smiles. I even managed to treat myself on the Sunday morning to a sketch from the talented Huy Trong.

Another thing which added character to the event was the amount of cosplay. True, there was not as much as I have seen at other events, but that which was there was great to see, from amateurs to professionals. It really added colour to the event. Some even posed with my latest book: "Sam Spallucci: Ghosts From The Past". I would love to see more of this next year.

So, without doubt, a great event. I look forward to heading down south once again next year and signing more of my books.

A.S.Chambers is an author of horror and urban fantasy fiction.

He is the creator of Sam Spallucci, investigator of the paranormal.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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Classic films you have to watch.... Hawk The Slayer.

Let me take you on an adventure, to a fabled land of long ago where the miraculous used to happen; films were once played on tapes. Yes, children: tapes! I know, as incredible as it seems, there was once a time before streaming and downloads (just forget DVDs and Blu-rays; they're being retconned out here) and this technology was so marvellous and amazing that you used to have to sell your aunty's kidney in order to purchase what was called a VHS or (even-rarer) a Betamax player.

Anyway, during this sepia-tinted time of wonder, little A.S.Chamber's mummy used to have a job cleaning at a clothing store in a small market town and above this store was a shop that sold and rented out such tapes. (At this point everyone under sixteen is looking at each other and shrugging in a manner that says “What is the old guy on about here?”) So it was that, during the long, hot summers of my youth, I was deposited in front of the TV in the video store and given two things: a remote control (attached to the player by a cable, no less) and free run of the rental stock.

After a few false starts (My mother sort of did not approve of me watching Friday The Thirteenth or I Spit On Your Grave, I wonder why..?) I finally latched onto a little gem which I still carry in my heart to this very day: Hawk The Slayer.

So, the basic plot is: evil older brother stomps around a curious version of Middle Earth looking like a Tolkein version of Darth Vader whilst valiant younger brother rounds up a mythical Magnificent Seven to take him out, free the land and avenge the death of his beautiful wife.

Right, so not that imaginative, I agree. It was a blatant attempt to draw followers of Star Wars over to a more fantasy-based genre and, to be honest, it didn't really work for the masses. However, it has a core following which I could probably count on most of my body's digits, so that has to count for something. Surely that makes it a cult movie?

But all that aside, it had two things that just spoke to a young author in the making. First, the evil brother's last words were, “I'll wait for you at the gates of Helllllllllllllllll........” and, even better, it had a sword controlled by the mind of the younger brother, Hawk. I mean, this sword could FLY! I so wanted one then and I still yearn for one today. Admittedly, it was probably an idea conjured up by scriptwriters that would allow him to draw the sword from an unreachable scabbard across his back, but all the same, it was cool. So cool that, years later, I pinched the idea and utilised it in Fallen Angel a book due for release at some point in the future.

So, yes, if you haven't seen it yet, pick it up cheap as chips on Amazon, switch off the more cynical half of your brain and just enjoy Hawk The Slayer.

Thank you for reading this blog. If you like what you see, please click on the “follow” button.

Also feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading then please drop in on Amazon and purchase The Casebook of Sam Spallucci.

Whatever happened to... Juliet Landau?

“The pixies in my head whispered it to me.” - Drusilla.

Drusilla

Juliet Landau is probably best known for playing my favourite character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the deadly, alluring and incredibly mad as a bucket of frogs Drusilla the vampire. For those of you who are not familiar with the Buffyverse (shame on you), Drusilla was a virginally pure victorian girl who the vampire Angelus drove mad and turned into a vampire. She then became the paramour of another one of Angelus's offspring, Spike. Together, Spike and Dru rampaged around most of the known world before ending up in Sunnydale and confronting Buffy and becoming (in my humble opinion) two of the best characters in the series.

Juliet was no stranger to the acting world before she joined the world of the Slayer. Her parents were, in fact, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, the lead characters in Gerry Anderson's live-action sci-fi series Space 1999 and she had small roles in various tv series and films, the most notable being Loretta King opposite her father in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994).

However, after Buffy, whereas a lot of the other main characters found roles in other TV series and film franchises (Bones, How I Met Your Mother, Scooby Doo, Little Britain), Landau seemed to vanish, which seems quite perplexing for such an animated actress.

The main reason as to a lack of visibility is that she turned more towards voice acting in animations: Ben 10, Star Wars The Old Republic and Green Lantern to name but a few.

As well as this, she has been acting on stage in plays such as Awake & Sing, Failure of Nerve and Al Pacino's The Three Sisters. She has also been turning her hand to directing. In 2008 she directed Take Flight, a documentary film about Gary Oldman and has also written short films as well.

However, perhaps the biggest news for sci-fi and fantasy followers is that in July 2013, Big Finish announced that Landau was to lend her voice to a future incarnation of the time lord Romana in the Doctor Who audio story Gallifrey VI.

I can't help but wonder what The Doctor would think if his former travelling companion had come out with a line like, "Spank us till Tuesday, we promise to be bad if you do." I think it might have made both his hearts beat a touch faster, don't you?

Thank you for reading this blog. If you like what you see, please click on the “follow” button.

Also feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading then please drop in on Amazon and purchase The Casebook of Sam Spallucci. (It's only £1.53 on Kindle – what a bargain!)

Films You Have To Watch: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

As anyone who has read my vampire western short story entitled High Moon will know, I'm a big fan of westerns - especially the spaghetti westerns. There's just something that grabs me about them. Perhaps it's the wide, open vistas. Perhaps it's the sound of pounding hoof beats. Perhaps it's the random sporadic killings. I'm not sure, but out of all this genre my ultimate favourite has to be Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I can just crash out on my well-loved sofa with beer and freshly microwaved popcorn and let the whole epicness of the masterpiece bathe me in its panoramic beauty.
It starts off with perfect introductions to the main characters, painting a precise picture of their individual, flawed, characters and then progresses to knit their progressing narratives together against the background if the brutality of the American Civil War in the hunt for buried treasure. What more could you ask for?
And as for the music... I have this soundtrack on my music system and every time it randomly blasts from my speakers my living room is transported into the Wild West and I'm Clint Eastwood riding my horse through the sun-baked desert of New Mexico.
Then there's the acting... I just can't begin to talk about this without drooling in rapture! Eastwood as the enigmatic Blondie, Van Cleef as the ruthless Angel Eyes and Eli Wallach as the wheeling dealing Tuco; they just work together perfectly. The final Mexican stand-off in the centre of the midst of the graveyard is cinematic history.
But perhaps the thing that blows my mind about the film is that it was actually a prequel and set before the Dollars movies in order to flesh out the story of the Man With No Name (towards the end we actually see him obtain his eponymous poncho). There wasn't a Gungan in sight. Perhaps George Lucas should have studied this before he penned Phantom Menace?

Thank you for reading this blog. If you like what you see, please click on the “follow” button.

Also feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading then please drop in on Amazon and purchase The Casebook of Sam Spallucci. (It's only £1.53 on Kindle – what a bargain!)

Classic films I love to watch: Young Frankenstein

Classic Films: Young Frankenstein.

Back in 1974, there would have been a conversation that went something like this:

Film Director, “I want to remake Frankenstein.”

Guy with money, “Okay. Been done to ad nauseam that one. How are you going to make it different?”

Director, “It’ll be a comedy.”

Money Guy, “Riiiiiight….. A comedy, you say?”

Director, “Sure. It’ll be a hoot! I’ll parody loads of the original material, stick in a few double-entendres and silly accent – people will love it!”

Money Guy, “I’m not so sure… I mean, Frankenstein is a classic.”

Director, “Okay, if you’re worried, I’ll shoot it in black and white; make it more authentic.”

Money Guy, “Okay. Okay. That might work.” Laughs nervously. “I mean, it’s not like you’re gonna have the monster dressed in top hat and tails singing Putting On The Ritz.”

Awkward silence from Director.

Money Guy, “Oh, dear God…”

Okay, so the conversation between Mel Brooks and the guys at Fox may not have been precisely like that, but I can see there having been some raised eyebrows when he raised the idea. As it was, he got the go-ahead and a movie gem was born. I first encountered Young Frankenstein about twelve years after its release when it was screened as part of a Mel Brooks season on TV and I immediately fell in love with it’s insane frivolity and it’s ability to throw all common sense to the wind in order to grab a belly-full of laughs. Even now I struggle to watch serious adaptations of the book. Two years ago, I went to watch the Danny Boyle production of Frankenstein starringBenedict Cumberbatch. When they reached the scene with the blind man all I could think of was Gene Hackman setting fire to Peter Boyle‘s thumb! I got some very annoyed looks as I had to stifle my giggle loop.

The film just works on so many levels, especially with the casting. Boyle played the towering creature with such believability. Gene Wilder, as Frankenstein (sorry, Fronkenshteen), was as hapless in love as he was in re-animation. The sadly-missedMarty Feldman was just perfect as Igor (Loved the Abby Normal gag, and the movable hump had me on the floor it fits). Even the side characters seemed to fit together perfectly as a complete comedy jigsaw with no annoying missing pieces.

For me, the overall quality that Brooks brings to this film is that it is okay to laugh, even when the subject material is what many would consider to be dark. This has influenced me a lot in my own writing, especially in The CaseBook Of Sam Spallucci. Yes, we need serious moments in our lives which we have to ponder about and stroke our proverbial beards over, but we also require moments that reduce us to tears of complete and unadulterated mirth. This is why I regard Young Frankenstein as a classic film and why I have watched over and over again, sharing with anyone who happens to listen. I say to you now, if you’re feeling blue, just watch the following clip. You’ll never listen to the music of Irving Berlin again without smiling.

Thanks for reading this blog. If you like what you see feel free to visit my website(www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.