Matt Brown's Blog: Blobs from Matt Brown's Brain

I've read a lot of Gaiman's Sandman series, which I adore, but this was my first of his novels. Neverwhere is set in London. London Above and London Below. The story follows Richard as he saves a bleeding girl from the attentions of two nefarious gentlemen, an act which transforms his life. He falls through the cracks of London (Above) and descends into the dark, rat-infested sewers of London Below. Here he must help the girl again in order to try and find a way back to London Above and his old life.
Gaiman says in the intro that he wanted to give adults the opportunity to emmerse themselves in the kind of world that is the usual fare of children's stories. And he has absolutely done this. Neverwhere is brilliant and by turns dark and sinister and very funny. I would add though that but for a few mild bits of effing and jeffing and some moderate sex descriptions there isn't much here that would trouble a middle grade reader (10-12 YO). Richard is a very childlike character, as is Door, the other hero of the story. But these are not criticisms, merely observations. If you like NGs work, you'll love this I'm sure.

It must be a fine balancing act when you're writing in an already established and beloved world. Enough of the old to show the fans some love, not too much that the book descends into parody. I loved the first Holmes book by Anthony Horowitz and really enjoyed this one too (well up until the end).
Moriarty takes place just after the "deaths" of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls and follows the fortunes of a Scotland Yard detective (who is a total Sherlock Holmes fanboy) and a New York investigator (who likes chronicling their exploits) as they try and unravel an international crime syndicate. But that's about all I can tell you about Moriarty because I fear I might spoil it for you if I revealed any more. I have a BIG problem with the ending, which doesn't ring at all true, but that might because I didn't spot it coming and I'm just another flat footed plod. Worth reading though if you love SH.

Before we start I should say that I am a massive fan of Robert Harris. In fact, looking at his bibliography on the inside front cover of Conclave I see that I have read all his works of fiction. I think the only other author that I've got that kind of record with is Roger Hargreaves.
Conclave is a book about the voting of a new Pope and it says a lot of Harris's skill that a scene showing a mass made by a senior cardinal has all the tension and drama of anything in Fatherland or Ghost or any of his other thrillers.
The research and detail in the world illuminates the darkness cast by the Catholic church on this most secret of ballots. I fear that I'm not selling the fast-paced action enough because if you love a political thriller then I think you'll really enjoy this. I wasn't crazy about the ending but, you know, what are you gonna do?

The Imaginary is the kind of book that I wish I'd written, or at least had the talent to write. It is a beautiful, funny, heartbreaking tale of adventure, love and loss. The story orbits around Amanda, her imaginary friend Rudger and how they try and foil the wicked Mr Bunting. The rather too talented AF Harrold manages to punch through the wall that seperates the real world from the dream world and create a landscape both familiar and nightmarish in equal measures. Did I mention that the book is also as funny as hell? Well, it is. You should read it.

*This is an abridged version of a post I wrote on my website. For the full blog please visit http://mattbrownwriter.com/free-stuff/

This week an investigation by the BBC revealed that almost 8000 jobs in UK libraries have disappeared and 343 libraries have closed during the last six years. This stinky, fat nugget of crapola comes a few days after I was told by librarians in Merseyside and Buckinghamshire that libraries were “on the brink” after the latest round of cuts. In fact, the word ‘cuts’ doesn’t seem quite adequate, perhaps the phrase ‘slashes slashier than the Red Wedding slash-fest’ might be more appropriate (by the way, that's a Game of Thrones reference, you can pick up a copy at your local library).

The list of things libraries do is so long, I’ve come up with my own top 7.

Feel free to add to the list.

The Best Things About Libraries by Matt Brown

1. They have books that you can borrow… FOR FREE.
2. They have comfy seats where you can read a book… FOR FREE.
3. They are warm and so sometimes you will fall asleep on the FREE comfy seat while you’re reading the book that you borrowed FOR FREE but it’s okay and no one will wake you (unless the library is about to close or you’re snoring very loudly or you’re mumbling things in your sleep about Judith Chalmers).
4. Librarians are really lovely, happy people and they will help you find the book that you want… FOR FREE.
5. All the books are ordered alphabetically and categorized by genre. This is very helpful and means that you won’t have to look behind your sofa or under the fridge to find what you want.
6. Libraries are available to everyone, even the nobs who think that libraries are a waste of money.
7. Libraries contain the breadth of human knowledge and experience (unfortunately this means that you might find a book by Jeremy Clarkson or Donald Trump but if you leave it alone, you should be okay).
7b. Did I mention that they’re free?

I came to this book as a fan of Piers Torday. I adored his Last Wild trilogy and then read that he had completed his father's unfinished manuscript. The story (of writing the book) and the story (contained within the book) were too intriguing to ignore. In case you don't know, when Paul Torday died, his family found that the first two-thirds of the book he had been working on but the last act had not been written. Paul Torday had left a short synopsis and some notes and so Piers was asked by his father's publisher if he wanted to try and finish the story. Happily he did and the result is an electrifying and delicious examination of political power, spin and the awkward and difficult alliances that politicians make. A man with ambitions to lead the Conservative party accidentally runs over an owl (a protected species) and lies about it. Unfortunately his political advisor is a man compelled to tell the truth. I loved it and commend it to the house.

I love Christmas and I love Christmas traditions that seem to develop and reveal themselves slowly over time. You know the ones, like pretending to care what sort of shape Christmas tree we get when in actual fact I couldn't care less so long as we get out of this freezing car park in under an hour. Or having to get up at 5am for a complicated LEGO build when you only got to sleep three hours ago. Or having a blazing row with a mum/mum-in-law/wife about whether you should have cheese before or after pudding because you're exhausted thanks to the 5am LEGO-build alarm call.
One recent tradition that I do look forward to is one that has revealed itself over the last three Christmasses. Every year I am given a ghost story to read. Actually, the tradition is that I have been given a Susan Hill ghost story to read. During Christmas 2013 I read The Small Hand, last Christmas I read Printer's Devil Court and this Christmas I was given Dolly.
If, like me, you like Susan Hill then I'm sure you'll like Dolly. It has all the wonderful Hill hallmarks of intense creepy atmosphere, terrifying imagery and clueless bystanders caught in a terrifying supernatural choke-hold. A reading of a will causes two cousins to revisit a location of their youth. A location that has one or two nasty tricks to play.
I'd put it in the rank of slightly sub-standard Susan Hill as it isn't as good a yarn as The Small Hand or The Man Iin the Picture. However, I'll caveat that comment by saying that I did enjoy this novella greatly and it certainly made for creepy reading one dark winter's night when the wind howled and the rain lashed against my bedroom window.

Lucky is a boy who keeps having dreams that he can't control. When he wakes up one day to discover that his dream has burnt his bedclothes he begins a journey where the nature of the dreams will reveal themselves in the most dramatic way. Set against a backdrop of a war between aliens and humans that could tear the universe apart, Phoenix is an epic story of love, of longing, of belonging. I don't want to say more than this for fear of spoiling the journey for you. I will just add that as I was reading, I couldn't help but think of this wonderful mini-speech by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson when asked to reveal the most astounding fact of the universe. Read the book because it is beautiful... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05e...