"A strange anamoly is uncovered in the new top secret Crossrail extension being built under Buckingham Palace. It is an archealogical puzzle, one that may transform our understanding of history- and the origins of London itself. " so says the blurb on the book itself. Actually, so striking is the cover design, anyone handling this book has a pretty good idea they are already handling something special. (Oh-er, Vicar!) The haunting cover design, the pop art spine, the many intriguing interior illustrations and even the diversity of fonts used during the telling of the tale, it all adds up to an almost meta-experience.
I am not much of a one for cookery shows. No matter how interesting the cooking is, or how the cooks explain their culinary concoctions. There are just too many peripherals for my liking, too broad assumptions of the bourgeois nature of modern kitchens fore me to ever be comfortable watching a show the whole way through. Who has a kitchen stuffed with such a breadth of ingredients from all corners of the earth, or Tescos or Aldi, whatever? you know, its probably some sort of inverted snobbery on my part, an innate sense of thrift from someone who grew up in a house without a pot to piss in, if you will forgive my vulgarity. I cannot help it, a degree of feigned worldliness I do not actually possess. But when it comes to writing, or a writer's abilities, that intrigue me suddenly the great kitchen of creation opens its doors and I want to explore the ingredients that made it such a classic dish. Rian Highes lays those ingredients all before you.
And everyone is invited to the feast.
(An image, a piece of art, Rian Hughs created for The Doctor Who story of the same name.)
