Category: Reflections

  • Why are the film adaptations of Harry Potter good but the novelisations of the Star Wars films not?

    I have this theory which has almost no justification or evidence to support it but which I hold to be almost inviolably true. Adaptations of stories from one media to another can be an improvement or a degradation of the story and whether the story is elevated or degenerated by adaptation is almost wholly dependent…

  • Hell: A Visitor’s Guide

    In our story, Satan has been fired from his diabolical management position and evicted from hell. In our current plans, one possible reason for his removal from office is that some other fiendish individual wishes to seize the reins of power in hell. But why would they do that? What kind of real estate are…

  • Archangels

    Inspired by Iain’s question below, I’ve become more and more intrigued by Archangel Michael. Archangel Gabriel is the one I grew up with. He’d be there every year in the nativity. If you said St Michael to me, I’d automatically think of M+S. It’s only latterly that I’ve come to realise some of the fascinating detail…

  • Andy Hamilton’s Search for Satan

    Just finished watching the BBC4 documentary “Andy Hamilton’s Search for Satan” Click here (only available until 7th November 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b016ptr6/Andy_Hamiltons_Search_for_Satan/ There were some really interesting nuggets in there about Satan’s qualities and his role. The most interesting to me was that Satan gives evil a public face and that, for a monotheistic religion like Christianity,…

  • Why it started

    I’d been wanting to do some collaborative writing for a while. After reading interviews with people like Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and Richard Curtis and Ben Elton it sounded like so much fun. Then in early 2011 I came across Draculas, a novel written collaboratively by four authors. The e-book included the emails that…