Andrew Hook's Blog

As readers of the blog will be aware, my book on the 1980 film, "Union City", starring Dennis Lipscomb, Deborah Harry, Everett McGill, Irina Maleeva, and Sam Murray was recently made available for pre-orders. I'm glad to report that the book is now published and is shipping. This was an absolute labour of love for me. Look how beautiful it is!

Pop on over to the PS Publishing website now to grab a copy for only £20. The first 200 copies will come with a free signed 'cinema ticket'.

Although I've been writing fiction for many many years, my thoughts have only occasionally turned to filmmaking, usually deciding that it's too complex a business to get into, and being wary of relinquishing editorial control. There was a period a couple of years ago, however, where it was more to the forefront of my mind, and I was trying to think of ways to bring a short film together with the minimum involvement of others. Not because that input wouldn't be valuable, simply because I wanted t...

With publication of my monograph on the 1980 film, Union City, imminent, I thought I'd share a photograph about the signed 'cinema tickets' which will be included as inserts within the first 200 copies sold. I rattled through these last weekend and they have been returned to the publisher, so hopefully it won't be long before the books have been printed and will be posted with them inside. I'll update this when I receive my copies, but in the meantime feast your eyes on these little beauties.

Uni...

Exciting news! My monograph on the 1980 film, Union City, is available to pre-order from PS Publishing (via their Electric Dreamhouse imprint) from today.

The following is the official press release:

“Before Twin Peaks there was Union City” – Everett McGill

 

As soon as the first Electric Dreamhouse publications wereannounced back in 2018 I knew I wanted to write something for the imprint. Applyingmyself to an entire film seemed wondrously decadent. Devotion decided, the onlydecision required...

Well, it's that time of the year when everyone is doing their 'best and worst of' lists, so here is mine. I'm going to list the books and movies and records I read/watched/listened to in 2025 and then pick my favourites. This isn't restricted to what was new in 2025, but what I actually watched and read and heard - some of these items might be very old indeed.

Books:

I read the following in 2025:

Georges Simenon – Maigret Goes To SchoolChris Parker – Nameless LakeJunichiro Tanizaki – Some Prefer Ne...

Last year I wrote a post detailing the gigs I'd attended that year, and I think I'll make this an annual thing to keep my photos in one place. This year, it amounted to 27 gigs (more than ever before in one year). I don't take many photos as I prefer to be in the moment, but early on I like to get my phone out and take at least one snap (as a reminder more than anything else). And I do mean snaps, there's no professionalism here! Anyway, no doubt this might be of interest to someone, somewhere, ...

As has become annual, here is a quick blog post as to my literary achievements this year.

Starting with short fiction, I wrote nine short stories: "Little Miss Stillborn", "Other", "In Place", "That Which Remains", "A Token Of Grief", "Nether", "Both Today And A Long Time Ago", "When She Was" and "The Non-Conformists". The first eight of these stories are intended to form part of a future collection called "Tokens Of Grief". I also wrote and directed a short film, "Armadillotown", which was shot ...

My short story titled "Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" was recently published in Remains #3 and as usual I'm blogging a few words discussing how the story came to be written. There may be spoilers within.

"Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then" is one of twelve recently written stories which take French New Wave cinema as a starting point and then run with an alternative version of it. In this case, the film in question is "Hiroshima mon amour" (1959), directed by Alain Renais. In th...

My sixth novel, "Body and Soul", is published today via Elsewhen Press, an excellent independent publisher who have been great to work with and who I heartily recommend!

"Body and Soul" developed out of a simple idea which I realised would work well at novel length and which I wanted to write with a kind of old-style SF sensibility, whilst also ensuring it dealt with modern themes. I'm very pleased with the book, which sports stunning cover art from Alex Storer who perfectly matched and executed ...

My short story titled "Mont Blanc" was recently published online at House Magazine (Salt Publishing) and as usual I'm blogging a few words discussing how the story came to be written. There may be spoilers within.

"Mont Blanc" is one of twelve recently written stories which takes French New Wave cinema as a starting point and then runs with an alternative version of it. In this case, the film in question is François Truffaut's "Jules et Jim" (1962). I've seen the film many times but it wasn't unt...