Michael Bott writes to tell me about a new dvd, Standing With Stones. It’s a personal journey starting at Ballowall Barrow in Cornwall and taking in more than a hundred megalithic sites across England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, finishing at The Tomb of the Eagles on South Ronaldsay, Orkney.

Michael is a film-maker of some experience, and his partner in this project, Rupert Soskin, has been an expedition leader to various sites around the world, including a trip to the Colombian jungles to visit the Kogi Indians.

The original plan was to turn this into a TV series, but when that didn’t happen Michael and Rupert decided they were so in love with the project they wanted to produce it themselves. Filming began in November 2006 for four months, and the edit was completed in November.

Michael says, “In brief: we both have a love for standing stones and all things megalithic. This was a journey of a lifetime and we had the best time ever!”

I haven’t seen the dvd so I can’t recommend it, but you can check it out and order it at www.standingwithstones.com.

The film will get its premiere at Chipping Norton Theatre, Oxfordshire, on April 15th in aid of the Rollrights Trust. Rupert and Michael will be attending. Tickets are £10.00 from the theatre box office Tel: 01608 642350.

I’ve been eating curry and drinking beer at somebody else’s expense again. My publisher’s marketing supremo - hi, Claire - had a great idea to take six science fiction and fantasy authors to lunch, then film the subsequent outpouring of Wildean wit and scintillating conversation to entertain both sales reps and the wider world.

This probably looked very good on paper.

I have a sneaking suspicion there will probably be only a couple of minutes of useable footage, in-between Robert Rankin’s lurid and libellous accounts of XXXX doing XXXXX to XXXX with a XXXX, and several other off-colour stories from fellow diners Rob Grant, Adam Roberts, Joe Abercrombie and Tom Lloyd which would probably result in a multi-million pound pay-out if they ever saw the light of day.

But we had a great deal of fun, and the food at Covent Garden’s Raj restaurant was excellent. When the final “promotional” film is made available - the first one ever to result in a drop in sales - I will, of course, post it here. You have been warned.

Hellboy - big red guy, cigar-chomping, protects humanity from the hordes of the supernatural. If you haven’t read Mike Mignola’s brilliant, scary, funny, wildly imaginative series of comics and graphic novels, you’ve probably seen the movie starring Ron Perlman and directed by Guillermo del Toro.

I’ve been invited to contribute to a collection of short stories to coincide with the release of the movie sequel this summer. Hellboy: Oddest Jobs will be published on July 25 by Dark Horse and will also feature contributions from Garth Nix, China Mieville, Joe R Lansdale and others.

My story, Straight No Chaser, involves Hellboy on a quest through the zombie jazz, soul and blues clubs of London. Even the dead deserve a nightlife, right?

Personally, I found writing the story a blast. Hellboy is a great character and a testament to Mike Mignola’s unique imagination. You can pre-order the book here.

There’s a review of Jack of Ravens here which raises some very interesting issues.

What I’ve been working on for the last few years is an epic story covering more than two thousand years of human history, numerous mythologies, a huge cast of characters with complex motives and inter-relations, an enormous range of antagonists, monsters, creatures and Fabulous Beasts, each with their own history, and a fair smattering of mysticism, psychology and philosophy thrown into the mix.

Unlike, say, The Wheel of Time, where the books are successively numbered so you know exactly which one to read next, I’ve told this fantasy tale over a trilogy of trilogies - the Age of Misrule, Dark Age and Kingdom of the Serpent sequences.

I’ve attempted to provide background information so new readers can drop into the story pretty much anywhere, but I think I’ve got to face up to the fact that they can’t. If you’re a new reader to Jack of Ravens, you’re just not going to get the depth, subtelty and interplay unless you’ve read Age of Misrule. You’ll certainly get a rattling good yarn, but it will lack what I intended as the author.

The problem is, the trilogies have each been packaged in such a radically different way that the casual reader would find it hard to tell that they’re all part of this massive canvas - although the excellent design for the Age of Misrule Omnibus has brought it in line with Jack of Ravens.

What I think I need to do now is get the word out more that this is one big, sprawling story. I’d hate for a reader to come to the books under the false pretences of thinking they’re starting a standalone trilogy (and only in fantasy can you use those words…) and be disappointed.

Aren’t you sick of those author photos - nicely lit, the writer staring wistfully at camera, head rested on hand?

Here’s Keith Brooke.

Keith has just signed a deal with Solaris for his new science fiction novel, The Accord - full details here.

Oh, and nice rack, Keith…

Forget about sitting on a cloud - when you’re dead you are going to work! Hard! The Bishop of Durham is an erudite man and has spent a lot of time studying the texts of his religion, and he’s put some interesting thoughts on the topic of the afterlife (from a Christian perspective) to Time magazine.

As an environmentalist and someone who’s been regularly involved in political activism, one of the big gripes for me is when right wing, evangelical Christians use their religious perspective to justify doing nothing about saving the world…and in some cases to stand back in the hope of armageddon in other countries.

The Bishop of Durham not only says they’re wrong, but if they want to be true to their religion they need to be doing the opposite - protecting the globe and not bringing devastation to Middle Eastern countries being somewhere near the top of the list, as Heaven is not going to be up there - it’s down here.

First someone suggests the poor scientists at CERN could destroy the universe, now they’re getting the blame for potentially attracting balloon-headed, spindly-bodied future men.

(Thanks to Lizzy Hill for flagging this one up).

My short story, Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast, starring Will Swyfte, Elizabethan England’s greatest spy, has been selected as one of the best short stories of the year for the prestigious Year’s Best Fantasy anthology.

Edited by David G Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, the annual book - this one is number eight - also features work by Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Hand, Jeffrey Ford and more. Full list on the link above.

The story, originally published in the Solaris Book of New Fantasy has received a fair amount of pleasing praise from various corners, including media commentator and editor Lou Anders among others.

All of this bodes very well for more tales of Will Swyfte and his secret war with faerie.

A press release issued today by Solaris:

Solaris is proud to announce a new acquisition from popular British fantasy novelist Mark Chadbourn.

The Lord of Silence is a thrilling new epic fantasy. When the great hero of the city of Idriss is murdered, Vidar, the Lord of Silence, must take his place as chief defender against the mysterious terrors lurking in the dense forest beyond the city’s walls. But Vidar is a man tormented—by a lost memory and a vampiric jewel that demands the life energy of others. Now, with a killer loose within Idriss, and the threat from without mounting, Vidar must solve a three thousand year old religious mystery to unlock the terrifying secrets of his own past.

A two-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, Mark Chadbourn is the author of eleven novels and one non-fiction book. A former journalist, he is now a screenwriter for BBC television drama. His other jobs have included running an independent record company, managing rock bands, working on a production line, and as an engineer’s “mate”. He lives in a forest in the English Midlands.

Mark Chadbourn said, “After several years writing my own particular and peculiar brand of urban fantasy, I wanted to try something completely different. The Lord of Silence is me cutting loose and experimenting way out of my comfort zone—a completely new world, new characters, a twisted take on magic, and a mystery that spans several thousand years. It’s a sword and sorcery, noir, puzzle-cracking, romance, serial killer, adventure-mystery. With mad, dancing magicians.”

Publisher Marc Gascoigne added: “It’s always been puzzling to me why a writer of Mark’s immense talent, and with such a huge British fanbase, has rarely been offered the opportunity to release his books in the US. It’s time to remedy that, with the best book of his career so far.”

The Lord of Silence will be released in 2009 in the US and UK.

Please note – this book will be in addition to my regularly scheduled novels published by Victor Gollancz.

The Devil in Green has sold out of its latest printing. This volume of The Dark Age sequence is a key read if you’re interested in getting the full The Burning Man effect so if you haven’t got one yet, place an order with your bookseller, online or real world - a good load of advance orders will get my publisher to shift it up the reprint queue.

The Burning Man is published by Victor Gollancz in a few weeks. I’ve posted a brief extract on my MySpace blog.

New Line Cinema has finally come to its senses and allowed Peter Jackson to oversee the making of two films based on The Hobbit. (New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye not so long ago: “Peter Jackson will never make The Hobbit on my watch”. Hand that man the silver-handled revolver.)

But…two films? Compared to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit is essentially a pamphlet. Either we’re going to get lots…and lots…and lots of shots of Bilbo meandering across beautiful New Zealand scenery, or it’s going to be less of an adaptation and more of a jumping off point. There isn’t even an obvious spot in the book to break so the first film ends on a satisfying note.

Having said that, I have every faith that Peter Jackson will ensure a great experience that is both faithful to the spirit of the book and meet the demands of story-telling in the film medium. Unlike some spineless directors who cave in at the first sign of pressure from the philistine impulses of the Hollywood money-men (Chris Weitz, I’m looking at you), Jackson has proven that quality will never be compromised.

Philip Pullman is one of the greats of modern fantasy, not just for his exuberant imagination, but because he is one of the few fantasists prepared to confront serious matters. It is impossible to dismiss his work simply as escapism. As a writer with something to say, he can compete in the wider arena of ‘literature’ and that makes him an important figure for all those interested in imaginative fiction.

This movie adaptation of his book Northern Lights crushes the best of Pullman beneath the weight of spineless, bone-headed, superficial and incompetent direction. The sheer scale of its ability to suck the magic out of a book so brimming with a powerful sense of wonder is almost breathtaking. American Pie director Chris Weitz lumbers from disconnected scene to disconnected scene with no sense of how to build character, develop drama or menace, or draw out any of the magic that is inherent in Pullman’s inventions. Instead, every frame shouts out that it is a monument to the producer’s vision that only thick people watch these kinds of films, people who would throw their popcorn at the screen if time was wasted on developing character or mood, or who would walk out in anger at the travesty of character interaction when they simply want to gorge on fast-food spectacle - which Weitz also manages to ham-fistedly destroy. The final battle on the northern ice field is so poorly framed it looks like a dust-up in a provincial shopping precinct on a Saturday night.

Weitz was involved in a little fantasy invention of his own when he said in the film’s pre-publicity that for all the changes he made, he stayed true to Pullman’s original vision. He didn’t. Cut through all the Gyptians and warrior polar bears and dust and golden compasses, and this story is about one thing: the ability of organised religion to control people and their thoughts. The brooding, monolithic presence of Pullman’s Magisterium is barely evident in the film. The book’s great theme - the thing that raises it far above a simple children’s story - is diluted to such a degree that it is barely evident, and in the end only contributes to the incoherence that corrupts the entire movie. (And as an aside, Christian journalist Peter Hitchens wants parents to know that, ‘If you buy this book for your children, don’t imagine for a moment that you are handing over a neutral story; this author has a purpose’. As if a neutral story is a good thing. You know what: parents should be warned The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is not a neutral story; the author has a purpose…)

The really depressing thing about The Golden Compass is that it is blessed with such an excellent cast, all of whom are operating at the top of their game. Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra does a good job portraying a charismatic heroine, even though she occasionally stumbles over Weitz’s lead-footed dialogue. Sam Elliot as flying cowboy Lee Scorsby burns up the screen with the power of his presence, even though he too has dialogue which is cliche heaped on cliche. But the real revelation is Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter who does great work. In one scene she carries a huge weight of emotion, presence and back story in a simple glance that is quite electric (and the one point where Weitz shows he can actually direct).

The weight of the actors and Pullman’s imagination takes The Golden Compass above the screen adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with its wooden leads and ineffectual set-pieces. But it remains a crushing disappointment, stolen from us by people aiming for the lowest common denominator.

Do not play if you have an unnaturally weak stomach.

This happens all the time round where I live.

I’ve been knocking out a few of my likes and dislikes of 2007 for various bloggers here and there. You can find the first one up here.

I’m usually so far behind in my reading that my book of the year was normally published five years ago, but if it’s good it deserves a mention, although I did manage to hit the mark at least once in 2007. Mostly the questions are about books, films and TV so maybe I’ll mention my music top raters here.

The paperback version of Jack of Ravens: Kingdom of the Serpent Book One is on the shelves from today.

The hardback sold out in record time, and I know it’s been a long wait for people keen to get their hands on a copy. Advance orders are running very high, so if you want a first printing it’s probably a good idea to buy early.

The story: modern day archaeologist Jack Churchill wanders out of the mists into ancient Celtic Britain. Desperate to get back to his own time, he embarks on a long quest through more than 2,000 years of history. But the denizens of Faerie are a constant threat…and a dark force waits for him at the end of his journey.

You can buy it from Amazon here for just £3.99 (currently).

I’ve just signed a deal to publish a new novel in 2009. This will be alongside the final volume of Kingdom of the Serpent. More soon.

Another great review of the Solaris Book of New Fantasy and my short story here.

A few weeks back I wrote how our increasingly rational society was behind the growth of fantasy as people sought out their irrationality fix. Some people wrote to decry any idea that we were getting more rational, citing everything from medievalist religious views to the growth of New Age-ism.

But when the Society for Psychical Research starts to get worried, you know you’re on pretty firm ground. According to the SPR’s Tony Cornell, reports of ghost sightings have declined from two a week to none at all in just a few years. The SPR bizarrely blames it on the rise of mobile phone usage - read the article, I’m not going to begin to explain the ’science’.

But the interesting thing is, the number of ghost sightings has remained pretty constant for centuries, according to Cornell. And now…nothing.

The first review of my short story Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast from the Solaris Book of New Fantasy is here.

You may recall the story stars Elizabethan England’s greatest spy Will Swyfte from Jack of Ravens. There’s actually been quite a lot of interest in my swashbuckling hero. More soon, possibly…