CSI Preston 1740.

A truly brutal murder in the medieval charter town of Preston is just the beginning of a series of events that suggest the roots of evil run deep beneath its tranquil surface. Robin Blake, the author of the book A Dark Anatomy, overturns a clod of sleepy English turf to reveal a dark soil teeming with life and humanity itself red in tooth and claw. In the absence of modern investigative and forensic techniques Preston's coroner Titus Clegg must use all his wits to get to the heart of the mystery that threatens to tear apart the peace of his hometown. Aided by his Doctor friend Luke Fedelis he must overcome the medieval beliefs and religous prejudices which litter the path to truth with shards of brutality and ignorance.
                A Dark Anatomy is a defly written and wonderfully atmospheric novel with the principle cast and the whole unwashed humanity of the era coming alive between the covers. Mystery and clues abound, some more obvious to the modern minds of the average reader than the medieval minds of the fictional characters that people the village, most as yet unenlightened by the touch of any form of education. Clues that present themselves to those medieval minds as the footprints of the otherworldly or the supernatural. which in turn leads to greater acts of brutality as the climate of fear escalates.
               Clegg and Fedelis; it has a late smoky autumnal feel to it does it not? From an era when all acts of cruelty reeked of brimstone. At times the atmosphere of the book reminded me of such films as the awesome Blood On Satans Claw or the masterful A Field In England.
                Hellfire and brimstone, wit and wisdom collide in this defly composed and written novel based in a time and a location that would have induced a panic attack in the great Sherlock Holmes.
                The Game Is Afoot.
                Or perhaps a Hoof.

A Sting In The Tail.

The Green Hornets favorite publication is off course Playboy(He reads it for millionaire playboy lifestyle tips!) But Kato has altogether better taste. Top of his pull list is Noe the Savage Boy. Here is a photo to validate that life style choice. And in the words of the infamous Irish Poet , playwright and pugallist Orlando Dingle;If you cannot believe everything you see why not pretend you do.

Old Sixy Meets Old Yeller.

The coat that will never be lost in a crowd. Ha, Daryl,the guy in the Colin Baker costume told me a funny story how just that day he had lost a bet and the forfeit was he would have to sit through a screening of Fifty Shades Of Grey,on his own, in his sixth doctor outfit. I bet up until that moment the scariest thing he had ever seen was The Terror Of The Vorvoids.
              Gives a whole new meaning to the Baker story Timelash!
              Thankfully his sartorial eloquence allowed him to rise above the tawdry limitations of this peculiar burp in the shared cultural zeitgeist of this part of our century.

Carter Hall Of Thannagar.

                                                             (From my sketch book.)

Oh The Pain,The Pain.

Famous Monsters magazine #278 carries extensive articles and features and absolutely glorious pics from this beloved television show. This always enjoyable and hugely informative publication hits a high for me with this particular issue. From its small screen hey day to all that followed after for the cast and crew is recorded with affection and insight. Warning Will Robinson!Danger!Danger!Three seasons, eighty odd episodes, these were the voyages of the Star ship Jupiter Two with its crew of the space family Robinson, their loyal Robot and the unforgettable Zachary Smith as they searched for a way home.
             The opening credits with its cartoon cosmonauts drifting through space but tethered together with the electric theme tune really got my young heart racing and also the tone of some of the cliffhangers really left me wondering if I could survive until next time. Some of those episodes may seem quite goofy to more modern eyes but those were alien worlds to me.
              They never did manage to find their way home.
              Never Fear!Smith Is Here!

The Queen Is Dead.

In the summer of 1553 fifteen year old Edward V1 from his deathbed named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. The day after the young King passed Jane was officially proclaimed The Queen Of England. A short reign followed as she entered the history books as The Nine Day Queen and become a protestant martyr of The Reformation. This new book by Suzannah Dunn examines the period that follows beginning with The Lady Jane's incarceration in the dreaded Tower Of London leading up to a dreadful day on the scaffold of execution. You cannot go into this book without knowing the true end of the lady's life. That knowledge, as well as being historically recorded fact, lends the young witness to these events Elizabeth Tilney's a certain breathlessness. The contrariness of a teenagers thinking, the refusal to accept unfolding events for what they are, an emotional weight that would be lessened slightly if all worked out as she chose to percieve it. It is one of the strengths of Suzannah Dunn's writing that this is felt right up to the turning of the last page. Centuries may have passed since that day in 1554 but teenagers are as complex and perplexing as ever. Yes, the tapestries of history are woven with the illogical longing of the young and the cruel and ambitious plans of the old and power hungry. The young live in the moments their elders try to control.
               Jane Grey is escorted by one Elizabeth Tilney "a good catholic girl" to imprisonment in The Tower Of London. Tilney is not appointed to this position, she volunteers for the duty, requiring for her own reasons a bit of distance from the tangle of her own life. A distance not normally attainable for a girl of her background or station in life. The two young women, barely more than girls, must find a common ground in order to share the space they find themselves thrust into. Catholic Elizabeth and Protestant Jane; not the cliched two sides of the same coin, more different currencies altogether.
                To begin with all expect the young pretender to be released, that all accept in truth she is just a pawn in a struggle for power. This was a time when the game of thrones was played for real the price of failure was to lose ones head. A game where few hands were clean and innocence is a weakness.Suzannah Dunn really gets under the skin and into the contrary heart of Elizabeth Tilney, it is a very real voice that records the events as seen through those young eyes. It feels like an emotional unreliable narration at points built on the instinctive misdirection of a teenagers inflamed passions. In a world where children went from being children to adults in less time than it takes to read a red top newspaper. The author populates the rooms of The Tower Of London with what feels like realistic fictional ghosts, as all recreations of actual people are apt to feel in literature. For those who have been banging on the door of Wolf Hall this is a residence well worth a visit.
                 It is believed that Lady Jane Grey is the only English monarch in the last five hundred years of whom no portrait of proven authenticity exists. Physical descriptions alone remain. That young face existed only in the minds of those who saw her and in the memories of all who knew her.
                  For nine days only she was the Queen of England.
                  For over five hundred years she has looked back at us as if to say
                  I TOO WAS A QUEEN.
                  Yet we will never know her face.

A Vision Of Things To Come.

                                                          " ....Even an android can cry..."
                                                                Stan Lee/Avengers#58
                                                                           1968.