This is where I post clippings, ephemera and suchlike, in no particular order.
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Terror at Bell’s End (film poster, November 2018): As cursed as the titular English village in this pastiche Italian horror trailer was, filming it proved more so. Just as we were about to shoot the final scenes, our female lead decided to quit acting and move to London, and we’d barely started to consider re-casting than the Covid panpanic hit. I had a cameo as her elderly father, whose grisly end can be seen in the poster above, designed by Chrissie Harper. [As of 2024, the project remains somewhat optimistically listed on IMDb as “in production”. A pity: we got some nice material in the can before the roof fell in.]
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Solihull Observer, 12 October 2017: Producing a short film was an interesting experience, but not one I’m particularly interested in repeating. The fact that we were able to assemble a cast and crew for All Bad Things…, and I could persuade a local restaurant to grant us access out of hours, was satisfying to solve as a logistical challenge, but I confess the final product fell short of our hopes in terms of dramatic impact.
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Solihull Observer, 3 December 2015: This second incarnation of the Birmingham Horror Group was a failed attempt to resurrect the kind of social gatherings popular during the 1970s through 1990s, but which had noticeably diminished with the advent of digital interaction. Our most successful meeting took place in February 2017, when I interviewed author Adam Nevill (the conversation was filmed and extracts aired on local television, plus a version appeared in the magazine Fear), but it became clear most folks were only interested in showing up when there was a ‘name’ guest or free movie screening, and would head home immediately afterwards rather than socialise in the bar. A disappointing lesson.
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Trap Door 7 (December 1987): This tongue-in-cheek portrait of my journalistic evolution was provided by my old friend Kev Dixon to accompany an autobiographical article in Robert Lichtman’s annual fanzine.
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Fantasy Advertiser 73 (May 1982): Originally intended for publication in Martin Lock’s comics fanzine Bem, my article ‘Coming of Age: A Personal View of Frank Miller’s Daredevil‘ was switched to Fantasy Advertiser when Martin’s deal with a US publisher went sour and he found a new home at FA. Pretty sure that’s the only time anyone gave me a namecheck on a cover, other than a front page newspaper byline.
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Ken Bulmer (autograph, February 1977): Ken was one of the first authors I ever met, a genuine gentleman from fantasy’s silver age, and at my very first convention, Fantasycon III. I’d attended my first Birmingham Science Fiction Group meeting the previous Friday, when the guest speaker was Brian Aldiss (who deserves an entry all of his own, arguably several), so that was quite a momentous month for 16 year-old me.