Taking Aim at the Police Van DVD review
Seijun Suzuki’s Take Aim at the Police Van (1959), stars Michitaro Mizushima as the prison guard looking after a prison bus full of prisoners when it is attacked. The beauty of the film lies in its taut simplicity, which I liked. Suzuki is the master of identifying a subtle truth that only cinema can capture.
Comedic writer Emma Kennedy shares the art of baring all on her website while maintaining dignity
Emma Kennedy’s homepage includes a slightly pensive looking shot of Emma, but the rest of the site is anything but pensive. Easy to read with plenty to read is a winning combination, and with Emma Kennedy’s down-to-earth and unerringly amusing outlook sported on every part of the website, it’s a joy to visit.
Show of Strength Theatre Company brings free writing workshops to Bristol and Exeter
What is the purpose of a theatre? To provide actors with a place to act, to entertain the masses? Perhaps, from a writer’s point of view, it’s main purpose is to showcase the work of playwrights. Show of Strength Theatre Company takes this a step further by providing free scriptwriting workshops, and helping aspiring playwrights to emerge.
Diane Walton of On Spec magazine invites us to “push the envelope” of the sci-fi genre
Diane Walton is the managing editor of On Spec, a Canadian Sci-Fi magazine. She co-founded the publication 20 years ago as an antidote to U.S. sci-fi mags that demanded neat endings and heroic protagonists. Diane tells us how the urge to help others’ improve their writing keeps her interested in short story submissions.
On Spec review – fairy tales for grown ups, with many an uncertain ending
Contained within “The Canadian magazine of the Fantastic”, you’ll find fairy tales for grown ups, dark and eerie, with many an uncertain ending. The stories and poems unfold on the edges of shores, in woods, between everyday cities and dreamland, with inspiration drawn from myths and legends from a plethora of cultures.
Kate Pullinger’s website offers an insight into the mind of a truly experimental writer
At first glance Kate Pullinger’s website seems completely at odds with her fiction writing. While sumptuous descriptions kept me reading The Mistress of Nothing, her homepage is unexpectedly stark. However, through the blog she shares insights into the world of writing, providing a wealth of experiences for us to soak up.
Book review: Summertime by J.M. Coetzee
Summertime was on the shortlist for the 2009 Booker Prize and follows the interviews of a young English biographer with the deceased J.M. Coetzee. The book itself is described as a ‘fictionalised memoir’ and Coetzee does fictionalise the biggest element of all – his death. It begs the question as to why Coetzee would write of himself in this way.
Lance Schonberg of Library of Sci-fi & Fantasy Press, advises us to focus on character and plot, not genre
Lance Schonberg is the editor of the Distant Worlds and Distant Realms novella anthologies produced by the Library of Science Fiction & Fantasy Press. In his own time he writes genre fiction short stories. He tells EssentialWriters.com how getting involved in a forum thread led to him being employed by the Sci-fi imprint.
