Empire States: Kim Newman: Moriarty & Me
Posted on Thursday December 15, 2011, 12:06 by Kim Newman in Empire States
 One of the perils of writing novels in which you borrow – all right, steal – other people’s characters or premises or worlds is that if the original material is ‘open source’, as it were, you won’t be the only person doing it. Indeed, the popular kids in this playground tends to be mobbed. To qualify, they have to be out of copyright and loosed from the clutches of the estates of the original creators or else we get into the perilous terrain of ‘licensed’ work, which means being required to leave the property the way you found it.
For Empire readers who don’t know that besides writing the dungeon column and reviewing film, I’m also a novelist. My relevant crimes against literature include Anno Dracula and sequels (The Bloody Red Baron, Dracula Cha Cha Cha and Johnny Alucard – all forthcoming from Titan Books). Besides a raft of folk created by Bram Stoker, Anno Dracula features famous Victorians from history (the Elephant Man, Osc... Continue reading... Comment Now (2 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Quatermass And The Pit
Posted on Friday October 7, 2011, 16:45 by Kim Newman in Empire States
 In 1972, it looked like the United Kingdom was about to turn into a dystopian nightmare. The oil crisis and government on the verge of collapse led to the three-day week (look it up – it happened here!), power-cuts, strikes, economic disaster and austerity measures which would be unthinkable today. One of the government’s decrees to get through a dark winter was that television should shut down at ten-thirty every night. Any programs scheduled after that – and the Radio and TV Times listed what would have been on if the plug hadn’t been pulled – were cancelled or binned or postponed. However, on Christmas Day, as a special treat, television was allowed to go on a few extra hours. BBC2 chose to use their precious extra time to screen the Hammer Films version of Quatermass and the Pit. It’s when I saw the film for the first time, though I already knew the story from the Penguin editions of Nigel Kneale’s TV serial scripts I’d borrowed from t... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Why Don't Vampires Cast Reflections?
Posted on Monday May 23, 2011, 12:18 by Kim Newman in Empire States
 Empire contributor, horror expert and Anno Dracula author Kim Newman, upon the occasion of the shiny new edition of the first novel in his vampire series, has contributed this blog to discuss whether or not you can see vampires in mirrors...
It used to be among the most commonplace of undead traits – like drinking blood, sleeping in a coffin, having fangs, wearing evening clothes all the time, talking in a comedy Hungarian accent and combusting instantaneously in daylight. Now, the old not-visible-in-a-mirror trick has somewhat fallen out of favour. Indeed, even more arcane lore about not being able to cross a threshhold unless invited is now (thanks to Let the Right One In) more common in film and fiction. If you’re trying to fit vampires into something resembling our universe – representing vampirism as a blood disease, a lifestyle choice, a sexual kink or a parasitic species mimicking humanity – then the mirror thing... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
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