Month: January 2012

Book Review: The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

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The House of Silk: The New Sherlock Holmes NovelThe House of Silk: The New Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some of my favourite stories are of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. There have been many “non-Conan Doyle” tales since the last of the original stories was written, very few of those come close to the originals. The House of Silk, is however one of the few exceptions.

The language and writing style is much closer to the original, and certainly the story is well plotted. It did seem to lack some of the original excitement and magic of Sherlock Holmes, and I felt at times that some of Holmes’ investigation was a little clumsy. Something that Conan-Doyle would never have included.

Despite the above, I have to say I enjoyed the story, and there was still a little twist at the end which I didn’t see coming, even though I had managed to work out part of the main plot.

I look forward to Anthony Horowitz, writing more stories including Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

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Back To The Classics Book Challenge 2012: Anton Chekov – The Seagull

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Challenge_12

I kicked off this challenge with one of the books that I was most unsure about, I thought I’d get at least one of the ones that I thought I would be least likely to enjoy out of the way first.

This one sits in the Classic Play category, and is a play that I have never seen performed or read before but one that I have heard many people talk about. It’s a complicated tale between multiple characters set on a lakeside in Russia. As a straightforward read, it might be considered a bit dull, but I think seeing it performed would be something quite different. The dialogue is quite glorious, but as a play it lacks the scenery and intereaction between the characters that you would get were it say, a novel. However from the dialogue alone the complexities between the characters and their loves and losses kept me engaged.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars, I liked it.

Work In Progress

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After approximately thirty-five thousand words, my novella is finished. Well not finished exactly, there is still a considerable amount of work to do before you’ll be able to download it to your favourite e-reader or get a paper copy. Probably about another month to go before you can do that.

The Christmas break helped me finish the bulk of the writing, and versions have been passing back between myself and my editor, honing the words. We’re nearly there, and then there’s cover art, proper formatting for converting to ebook format etc. It’s close, just not quite there yet.

I’ll be setting up a dedicated page here soon with more details, and also some of my research pictures and other things to hopefully whet the appetite. I’ll also post the relevant links when publication day comes. If you’re interested to buy, I’m aiming to keep the price as low as I can, hopefully under £1.00, it’s a novella afterall, so should be a quick read that doesn’t break the bank.

More news,as and when it’s available.