Authors Electric

When I was a grotty teenager, we moved from our council house to a dilapidated cottage in a couple of acres of its own grounds, on the edge of Ashdown Forest. It was in a hollow, down a quarter-of-a-mile of unmade road across a golf course (on Common Land, but whoever managed to swing it to put a golf course on it is lost in the mists of time). It had typical Sussex tile hanging on the outside, and oak panelling in the downstairs rooms, which we thought incredibly grand, although it was just thin ply. It had no electricity or gas, an outside lav and only two bedrooms, so until Dad built an extension, Mum and I had one room and Dad and my brothers the other – christened the Hennery and the Mennery. Much later, I set a series of stories for children in an imagined version of the place, weaving Sussex legends and folklore into them. They were called The Hob and Miss Minkin, the Hob being a household spirit who lived under the hearthstone and was invisible to the family. Such spirits wer...

Last month it took me far too long to discuss metafiction , though I must admit that I'm now halfway wishing they'd reboot Moonlighting . They're doing it for The X-Files and Twin Peaks , why not Moonlighting ? I mean other than that David's womanizing might seem creepy now. On a side note, I could toitally get behind a reboot with this new casting . Anyway , let's start right in on the countdown , shall we? 2. Fables - Bill Willingham (author) various artists This title is a shoo-in for this list. It's very premise about metafiction: Characters from fairy tales, fables, children's literature, and other folklore are  literally aware that they are characters in stories. They have moved into our "mundane" world as refugees from a murderous tyrant, known only as the Adversary, who has conquered each of their worlds (each of which is part of a loose conglomeration of fictional universes called The Homelands). These refugees, who call ...

Sorry, Folks - I am suffering from run-up-to-Christmas fever. I was just about to shut down the pc tonight when I saw it was 19th. Here I am without a coherent thought in my head, so I'm cutting and pasting a Christmas story for children. Please don't drum me out of AE - I promise to do better in the New Year! The Christmas Presents      The December moon swung high over Ghyllside Farm, bright as a promise and round as pudding.   The first snow of winter lay crisp and white over the fields.   The farm folk were all abed, snuggled down and fast asleep, dreaming of plumcake and presents.   Down in the kitchen by the fire, Hob and Miss Minkin were toasting their toes.   There was a smell of pine-needles in the air from the sparkling tree in the corner, and there were two large stockings hanging from the mantelpiece.   The stockings belonged to the farm children, and had their names pinned on them: Ben and Susan.   The children...