The Enemy (books 4-7)

Charlie Higson
Puffin Books

I recently spent a couple of afternoons working my way through the first three books of Charlie Higson's fantastically bloodthirsty post-apocalypse series, 'The Enemy'.  It has to be said I enjoyed them immensely and so over the next couple of weeks I worked my way through the other four.

You can find my write up of the first three books in the series here.
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Book 4: The Sacrifice

The Sacrifice picks up after Small Sam and The Kid arrive at the Tower of London at the end of The Dead. Though Sam finds safety and friendship at the Tower with Jordan Hordern's crew, he can't settle down. The only thing he wants is to be reunited with his sister, Ella. Despite Ed's protests, Sam and the Kid strike out westward, through the no-go zone.

 Book 4 in Higson's 'Enemy' series continues with the overlapping narratives that have characterised the first few as we get to see  what's happening with another group of characters.  This time out we get to see the return of two of the series' most fun characters as Small Sam and The Kid return for the first time since book one.

Sam is still looking for his sister and as much as he likes Ed and the Tower of London crew he's eager to be off.  Into his life comes a girl from elsewhere in London who convinces him to brave the no go area thereby throwing them into terrible danger.  Alongside this we continue to see Shadowman's pursuit of the massive horde of adults that he's named 'The Fear' and his unsuccessful attempts to convince other kids of their danger.

This time out much of the book took a bit of a Stephen King turn as we are bombarded by all manner of religious bamboozle which has always been a bugbear of mine with King's work - the religious zealot endlessly quoting scripture - and it got on my nerves here too.  I know it was meant to but I just don't buy it, especially amongst modern British teens.

The book also takes a major change of direction with the addition of a major new character with the potential to change everything.

So, 4 books into the series and with the halfway point behind us 'The Enemy' shows no signs of slacking it's relentless pace.  The reappearance of The Kid lent this one a very welcome lightness as he's an joy to read whenever he's on the page but you can feel that Higson is winding himself up for his finale here which, with a trilogy of books remaining, means it's likely to be a doozy and I really do hope so as I'd hate to see this series embrace another King-ism and have a lousy ending.

Buy it here:  The Sacrifice (The Enemy Book 4)

   

Book 5: The Fallen

The Fallen by Charlie Higson is the fifth awesome book in The Enemy series. First the sickness rotted the adults' minds. Then their bodies. Now they stalk the streets, hunting human flesh. The Holloway crew are survivors. They've fought their way across London and made it to the Natural History Museum alive - just. But the fight will never end while the Enemy lives, unless there's another way...The kids at the museum are looking for a cure. All they need are medical supplies. To get them means a journey down unknown roads. Roads where not only crazed, hungry sickos hide in the shadows. Suddenly it's not so clear who - or what - they're fighting.

The perspective flips once again in Higson's post-apocalyptic series as we once again join the Holloway crew of Maxie, Blue, Ollie & Achilleus who have arrived at the Natural History Museum and found a group of kids actively working on a cure for the sickness.

Recognising their usefulness as fighters and scavengers the museum kids enlist them in a search for scientific supplies that leads to the discovery of something far more unusual.  Along the way we get to know some of the odd ways of the Museum kids that has echoes of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', and there's a sweet little love story of sorts.

With the Tower kids of Ed, Kyle, Small Sam and The Kid making a cameo near the end we are starting to see all the strands of the story draw together for the last two books in the series and the already furious tempo clicks up a notch.

Buy it here:  The Fallen (The Enemy Book 5)

Book 6: The Hunted

The Hunted is Charlie Higson's sixth terrifying installment in the thrilling The Enemy series. The sickness struck everyone over fourteen. First it twisted their minds. Next it ravaged their bodies. Now they roam the streets - Crazed and hungry The others had promised that the countryside would be safer than the city. They were wrong. Now Ella's all-alone except for her silent rescuer, Scarface - and she's not even sure if he's a kid or a grown-up. Back in London, Ed's determined to find her. But getting out of town's never been more dangerous- because coming in the other direction is every SICKO in the country. It's like they're being called towards the capital and nothing is going to stop them...In the penultimate book in The Enemy series, the survivors' stories cross with chilling consequences.

Book 6 and the scope of series suddenly explodes outwards to encompass the countryside and towns around London as Ed and a few others head off looking for Small Sam's sister, Ella.

Through the course of the book we get to meet a character who we haven't heard from since book 2 and experience some of the other towns and how the kids there have adapted. It's a welcome change of pace as the book delves into a characters backstory for a large chunk and then goes exploring for the rest.

So, the next book is the finale as the sickos have begun converging on London and it looks like poor old Sam is in the shit once again but hopefully Ed's army will make for a lively finish to the series.

Buy it here: The Hunted (The Enemy Book 6)

Book 7: The End

The end is coming.
The sickness struck everyone sixteen and older. First it twisted their minds; next it ravaged their bodies. Now the sickos—crazed and hungry for young flesh—are gathered in the center of London, lying in wait.It’s time for all of the survivors—kids spread out across the city—to unite. They must come up with a plan of attack to end the grown-ups’ reign of terror before it is too late.One thing is certain: surprises abound in the bloody conclusion to Charlie Higson’s Enemy saga.

And so we arrive at the final part of Charlie Higson's series of post-apocalypse shenanigans as all the various storylines and characters finally converge for the great showdown, the battle for London that'll decide whether it's the kids or the grown-ups that will be the future.

The now massive horde of adults swelled by their diseased kindred flocking in from the countryside make their final move on the only thing that can stop them.  In their way are the various groups of kids from the museum, parliament, the cathedral, the street kids and those from the Tower of London.  Bonded under the less than sympathetic leadership of Jorden Hodern they have to find the courage to fight the horde and also those more interested in power than survival.  As we now from the previous book, help is on it's way but can it arrive soon enough.

The constantly overlapping narratives of the series has meant that it's often felt like one very long book and that's no insult.  Higson maintains a furious pace across the series and has created a cast of real and sympathetic characters who, for the most part, you find yourself rooting for.  It's no surprise that he can do the funny parts but that he manages suspense, pathos and dynamism all equally well is a real treat.  His dialogue is occasionally a little cringeworthy but adult attempts at mirroring 'youth' talk often is but this never really detracts.

After a bit of a false start a few years ago I had a real craving to go back and do this series again and I'm so glad I did.  It was unexpectedly and unrepentantly vicious and entirely enjoyable.

Buy it here: The End (The Enemy Book 7)

Knights of God

The Knights of God is a dystopian science fiction series made by TVS and broadcast in 1987.  It tells of the aftermath of a brutal takeover of the UK by the titular 'Knights', a fascist religious order under the control of Prior Mordrin (John Woodvine) and the creepy Brother Hugo (Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes).  Opposing the Knights is the resistance led by Patrick Troughton's Arthur and its various regional leaders like Owen Edwards (Gareth Thomas) in Wales and Colley (Don Henderson) in the Wasteland (formerly known as Lancashire and SouthYorkshire).

The story centres around Owen's son (and Uri Geller lookalike) Gervase (George Winter) who, along with much of the remaining population of Wales, is forcibly interned in a re-education camp in the north of England where he becomes increasingly embroiled in the machinations of the various factions vying for control of the country.

'Knights of God' is perhaps justifiably forgotten, it's obscurity not just a result of it's unavailability on home media.  The more recognisable faces in the cast are their usual reliable selves throwing themselves into the job at hand with aplomb but neither of the two young leads are particularly engaging or believable and at 13 episodes it's a little long.  As a Wyrd Britain artifact though it has it's merits not least in the casting of both the Second Doctor and Roj Blake but also as Patrick Troughton's last transmitted role.  It does have it's moments especially if, like me, you're a sucker for these sort of shows and wobbly sets and ropey acting have never been much of a barrier to enjoyment.

The Fenstanton Witch

I  recently stumbled upon this M. R. James story in an anthology called 'Tales of Witchcraft' edited by the late, great Richard Dalby which was the first time the story had appeared in print in a book.  Subsequent collected editions of James' stories have included the story but as mine predates 'Tales of Witchcraft' this came as a very nice surprise indeed.

The story tells of the efforts of two teachers at King's College, Cambridge and their attempt to harness the powers of a recently killed witch for their own nefarious ends.

The recording is taken from 'The Complete Ghost Stories of M. R. James: Volume 2' (Buy it here) and is read here by David Collings who some of you may know as 'Silver' in 'Sapphire and Steel' and also as the English language voice of the titular character in 'Monkey', the theme tune to which I'm sure has just earwormed it's way into your head (it's in the link back there if you want to hear it).  He is an excellent reader and his many years of experience with companies such as the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company means his delivery is spot on and he gives the story (and the others in the set) just the right level of gravitas.

Enjoy.

Fuzzy-Felt Folk : Collection Of Rare,Delightful Folk Oddities For Strange Adults

Regular readers of Wyrd Britain will know that I have an abiding love for the label, Trunk Records.  Ever since Jonny Trunk became the first person to release The Wicker Man soundtrack back in 1998 I've been hooked.  That he followed it with things such as the Dawn of the Dead OST, music from the Clangers, Ivor the Engine, The Tomorrow People and so very much more only cemented my love of the label.

In amongst all this televisual shenanigans trunk has also mined a bountiful seam of outsider music from the forgotten corners of both this odd little country and others just as wonderfully weird.  A hunt through the archives will reveal music from BBC Radiophonic Workshop pioneers Daphne Oram, John Baker, Delia Derbyshire and Tristram Carey,  UK jazz creators like Tubby Hayes and Basil Kirchin who has become almost a centrepiece of the labels output.

One of Kirchin's compositions, 'I Start Counting', opens this collection of whimsical and sometimes obtuse music. Joining Mr. Kirchin on the album are such folk as the Barbara Moore Singers, Pierre Arvay with h

is classic 'Merry Ocarina' (which some of you will remember from 'Vision On'), Reg Tilsley, The Piggleswick Folk and more.

It is a frankly ridiculously cheerful and quaint selection.  As a CD it's one that has a tendency to come with me on long drives as it never fails to lighten the mood but equally it's just as good on a quiet summer evening with a glass of something tasty.

There's a lot more info on the tracks to be found on the Trunk website here.

And a full album playlist is here.

Or as just a taster...

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All Hold Hands and Off We Go

Keith Seatman
K.S. Audio
CD

We at Wyrd Britain are long time fans of the work of the estimable Mr Seatman.  Over on our old music blog - Wonderful Wooden Reasons - and here on WB we've sung his praises on several occasions with his last album, 'A Rest Before the Walk', being a real favourite around here that still gets brought out to play pretty regularly.

Keith's music, particularly of late, offers a twisted pastoral and darkly bucolic melding of electronic music and english folk, the latter in collaboration with North Devon Singer/Songwriter Douglas E Powell.

This is music that is redolent of place and time and like all good hauntological music the exact location of each is fluid and never entirely specific.  It's music of a lost Albion, a windswept land of steel skies and old ways, of dark, satanic mills built upon psilocybin drenched earth fertilised by the endlessly copulating ghosts of generations of cunning folk. Through it's hands runs a stream of British outsider music from Coil to Bowie at his most enigmatic and it feels like it's redefining the boundaries of what constitutes a truly British music.

The Enemy (books 1-3)

Charlie Higson
Puffin Books

Probably more famous in the UK as one of the stars of the comedy series 'The Fast Show', Charlie Higson has been a published author since the early 90s although it's the two series of YA books - 'Young Bond' and 'The Enemy' - that he's produced since 2005 for which he has become most acclaimed.  Being in no way a fan of the films I've little interest in the former series but as a fanatic for anything with a post-apocalypse setting I was very keen to give the latter series a try.  I read the first two in the series a few years ago and enjoyed but then got distracted by other things until a recent find of the first three as a pack proved too enticing to resist so I dived back in.

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Book 1: The Enemy

Charlie Higson's The Enemy is the first in a jaw-dropping zombie horror series for teens. Everyone over the age of fourteen has succumbed to a deadly zombie virus and now the kids must keep themselves alive.
When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.
Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive.
Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait.
But can they make it there - alive?

Written very much in the spirit of Wyrd Britain literary hero John Christopher the first of Charlie Higson's post-apocalypse zombie horror series 'The Enemy' posits a world where a sudden outbreak of disease has turned everyone over the age of 14 into a puss covered, homicidal, cannibalistic maniac.  We join the action about a year after the outbreak as a group of kids living in a Waitrose come to realise that the way they've been living is not entirely viable and so, on the advice of a new arrival, decide to relocate to Buckingham Palace.  Alongside this we follow the adventures of 'Small Sam' as he escapes from the grown ups - variously known as 'Fathers', 'Mothers', 'Sickos' - that capture him at the books beginning as he travels across a ravaged London.

It's a brutally gory read written as a deliberate response to the lack of risk to the main character in the 'Young Bond' series and Higson has gleefully picked up John Christopher's apocalyptical torch and has taken the uncompromising desolation and isolation and grimness of 'The Empty World' and added the millennial monster de rigueur, the zombie, and created a truly fabulous piece of work.  One that is about friendship and tenacity, about madness and purpose and about hope and family whilst also being about adventure and gore.  Lots and lots of gore.

Buy it here: The Enemy

Book 2: The Dead

'The Dead' begins one year "before" the action in 'The Enemy', just after the Disaster. A terrible disease has struck everyone sixteen and over, leaving them either dead or a decomposing, flesh-eating creature. The action starts in a boarding school just outside London, where all the teachers have turned into sickos. A few kids survive and travel by bus into the city. The bus driver, an adult named Greg, seems to be unaffected by the disease. Then he begins to show the dreaded signs: outer blisters and inner madness. The kids escape Greg and end up at the Imperial War Museum. A huge fire in South London drives them all to the Thames, and eventually over the river to the Tower of London.

The second book in Higson's post-apocalypse zombie horror is a prequel of sorts as it tells of the early days of the outbreak and the journey of one group of kids from the countryside to the relative safety of London.

Through the course of the book we meet a number of characters who while not exactly familiar are folks that we've met in some form or other in the previous volume.  Higson populates his books with semi-believable characters who are sometimes maybe a little too indomitable but at the same time make for good action heroes as they work / fight for survival.  The characters grow as their journey progresses and in the spirit of the series many fall along the way including those you expect to rise to the top.

Another enjoyable non stop romp across a nicely ravaged landscape that keeps this series moving forward in a most enjoyable manner.

Buy it here:  The Dead (The Enemy Book 2)

Book 3: The Fear

He doesn't know it but Dognut is about to set off a chain of events that will affect every kid in the city. The sickness struck everyone over the age of fourteen. Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups . . . they're hungry. They're bloodthirsty. And they aren't giving up. DogNut and the rest of his crew want to find their lost friends, and set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?

The first of these post-apocalypse kids vs zombies books launched us straight into the action a year down the line.  The second was a prequel that began just after the outbreak and followed a group of kids from the country as they fled into the city to find safety.  This third book bridges the gap between the two and gives alternative viewpoints on some of the events from the first.

'The Fear' begins at the Tower of London almost a year on from the exodus from the fire that ended book 2.  Dognut, Courtney and some others have decided to leave the tower and head off in search of Brooke and the others who escaped in the Tesco lorry.  Along the way they meet up with some groups we've heard about and the Buckingham Palace group we already know.

We get a much closer look here at the backstage scheming of David and Jester and at the latter's journey across London looking for other kids that brings him to the Waitrose and Morrison's kids.  We are introduced to a new character, who takes one of the central roles here, who goes by the rather daft name of Shadowman, who takes it upon himself to spy on the adults as they begin to organise and form into an army.

The book is as easy to read, as unrepentantly bloodthirsty as the previous two and motors along at a similar pace.  I really enjoyed that he's widened the scope of his narrative offering different perspectives on familiar events with the 'History is written by...' truism being echoed by two conflicting characters.

I think I might have to buy the rest of the series.

Buy it here:  The Fear (The Enemy Book 3)

Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural

Algernon Blackwood
Spring Books

Tales include The Doll, Running Wolf, The Little Beggar, The Occupant of the Room, The Man Whom the Trees Loved, The Valley of the Beasts, The South Wind, The Man Who Was Milligan, The Trod, The Terror of the Twins, The Deferred Appointment, Accessory Before the Fact, The Glamour of the Snow, The House of the Past, The Decoy, The Tradition, The Touch of Pan, Entrance and Exit, The Pikestaffe Case, The Empty Sleeve, Violence, and The Lost Valley.

This is the second of these massive anthologies of Blackwood shorts that I've ploughed my way through.  Like the last one this book has lived next to my bed for several months and picked up on occasion when I was between reads or simply needed a fix of the great man, as such much of it's a little lost in my memory.  Looking at it now as I sit down to write this, the over-riding feeling I have of the book is one of nature, of the outdoors and the spirits of place.  A scan through the contents confirms this feeling, at least to a point, as included here are such quintessential Blackwoods as 'Running Wolf', 'The Man Who The Trees Loved', 'The Valley of the Beasts', 'The Touch of Pan' & 'The Lost Valley'.

Amongst the other 17 stories we find Blackwood in full flow.  The skin crawling menace of 'The Doll', the heart tugging poignancy of 'The Little Beggar' and the strangeness and dread of the painting belonging to 'The Man Who Was Milligan'.  Then we have the brief connect with other realms along 'The Trod' and 'Entrance and Exit' other 'people' as in 'The Glamour of Snow' or simply elsewhere in 'The Pikestaffe Case'.

Not everything here works terribly well, 'The Terror of Twins' feels entirely underwritten and 'The Deferred Appointment' is merely a fairly cliched ghost story with little point to it other than a vague impression that a dull life leads to a dull afterlife.  The un-acted upon psychic premonition afforded to the protagonist at the heart of 'Accessory Before the Fact' lends a promising story a rather flat resolution whereas 'The House of the Past' with it's dream imagery and it's psychotic break seem merely to be playing around with one of the great preoccupations (and new occupations) of the times.

The remaining three stories - 'The Decoy', 'The Tradition' and 'The Empty Sleeve' - have little to recommend them, each being fairly run of the mill stories of ghostly weirdness, loss and shapeshifting perfidy.

As with the previous volume a slightly mixed bag of treats but one that definitely erred to the better and with the knowledge that even second rate Blackwood is superior to many of his contemporaries makes this a fun collection to hunt down.

Asterix in Britain (the animated movie)

There are few things in life that bring me as much joy as an Asterix book, there's a big stack of them that I've had since childhood on the shelf behind me.  I love them.  From the glorious art through the subversive naming to the sublime humour written with the outsiders perspective that allows it (and many of the other books in the series) to affectionately spear cultural stereotypes with lethal accuracy.

From the late 60s through to the early 90s various Asterix animated films were produced (at which point they, for some unfathomable reason, switched to live action) and they are a bit of a mixed bunch but when they got it right as they did with '...in Britain' it is a perfect accompaniment to messieurs Goscinny and Uderzo's book - Buy the book here. 

For those of you with an ear for these things watch out for Frank Welker ('Fred' from Scooby-Doo) as 'Anticlimax' and (The Simpson's 'Troy McClure') Phil Hartman as 'Stratocumulus'.

So please sit back, add just a spot of milk in your hot water and enjoy.

The Travelling Bag & Other Ghostly Stories

Susan Hill
Profile Books

From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the eerie perfection of 1950s suburbia, the everyday is invaded by the evil otherworldly in this unforgettable collection of new ghost stories from the author of The Woman in Black.
In the title story, on a murky evening in a warmly lit club off St James, a bishop listens closely as a paranormal detective recounts his most memorable case, one whose horrifying denouement took place in that very building.
In 'The Front Room', a devoutly Christian mother tries to protect her children from the evil influence of their grandmother, both when she is alive and when she is dead.
A lonely boy finds a friend in 'Boy Number 21', but years later he is forced to question the nature of that friendship, and to ask whether ghosts can perish in fires.
This is Susan Hill at her best, telling characteristically flesh-creeping and startling tales of thwarted ambition, terrifying revenge and supernatural stirrings that will leave readers wide-awake long into the night.

This lovely looking little collection came into my hands only recently but the inclusion of an occult / psychic detective story will always help a book to leap frog it's way up the reading pile.  As it happens that one was probably the least satisfying story of the four.

Opening the collection is the title piece with it's psychic investigator or as I'm going to think of him a 'psychic noticer' because he does little investigating in what is a fairly rudimentary sort of revenge tale with a nice ending but the framing device about the detective is a little pointless.

The second story is kinda lovely but feels entirely underdeveloped as we, perhaps, get to meet 'Boy Twenty One' in a jumble of comings and goings.

The longest story here, 'Alice Baker', again seems slightly lacking in development as a new worker joins a close knit team of office workers.  There's much to like and Hill builds the atmosphere beautifully but the crisis point is confusing (the sudden and rather pointless appearance of the child) and the newspaper revelation ending was just piffle.

The book ends with it's most successful story as a well meaning couple invite his malicious stepmother to live in 'The Front Room' only for things to go bad fast.  It reminded me of some of Joan Aiken's creepier moments as the children feel the full force of her malice.

A mixed reception then for the 4 stories most of which could have benefited from a strong editorial hand but equally none of them stay around long enough to bore - indeed I'd have liked the second story to have stayed longer - and the book itself was a nice accompaniment to a quiet evening with a glass of something tasty.

Buy it here -  The Travelling Bag: And Other Ghostly Stories

Sapphire & Steel: Counting Out Time

In the pantheon of Wyrd Britain TV there are a couple of shows that sit above them all; Sapphire and Steel is most assuredly one of them.  From the perfect casting of the two leads,  Joanna Lumley's icily, beautiful 'Sapphire' and the cool, unbreakable, inflexiblity of David McCallum's 'Steel' to Peter J. Hammond's gloriously inventive scripts and the isolated, claustrophobia of the settings.

We've discussed the show on Wyrd Britain before - here - so today I'd like to show you a short retrospective from the recent box set featuring the two leads, the writer and producer Shaun O'Riordan reminiscing about their time on the show.

Buy it here - Sapphire and Steel: The Complete Series (Repackaged) [2008] [DVD] - or watch it below.

Enjoy.

Delia Derbyshire

Today - May 5th 2017 - marks what would have been the 80th birthday of the composer Delia Derbyshire, the lady responsible for, as I'm sure you all know, that theme tune.

Delia joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1962 and stayed there for 11 years her music appearing on programmes such as 'Doctor Who', 'Out of the Unknown' (for which she wrote 'Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO') and later through her work for the Standard Music Library on shows like 'The Tomorrow People' and 'Timeslip'.

Outside of her television work Delia was also part of White Noise who produced the phenomenal and pioneering 'An Electric Storm' LP, for radio she collaborated with dramatist Barry Bermange on the hallucinogenic 'Inventions for Radio: The Dreams' and with film-maker Anthony Roland on the film of Pamela Bone's photography, 'Circle of Light'  the soundtrack of which has recently been unearthed by Buried Treasure's Alan Gubby and released by Trunk Records.

Delia died on 3rd July 2001 leaving a massive back catalogue of music, much of which remains unheard, unreleased and unappreciated.

So, in memory of the great lady here are two documentaries celebrating her work.

Happy birthday Delia.

 

The List of Seven

Mark Frost
Hutchinson 

Dark Brotherhood
As the city of London slumbers, there are those in its midst who conspire to rule the world through the darkest and most nefarious means. These seven, seated in positions of extraordinary power and influence, marshal forces from the far side to aid them in their fiendish endeavour.
Force of One
In the aftermath of a bloody séance and a terrifying supernatural contact, a courageous young doctor finds himself drawn into a malevolent conspiracy beyond human comprehension.
All or Nothing
The future is not safe, as a thousand-year reign of pure evil is about to begin, unless a small group of stalwart champions can unravel the unspeakable mysteries behind a crime far more terrible than murder.

On Christmas Eve, whilst at home reading, a young doctor named Arthur Conan Doyle is surprised to find under his door a letter asking him to attend a seance the next day in order to help the writer, a young woman.  So begins an exhausting adventure for the Doctor as he is saved from attack by an enigmatic young man who, along with a small crew of 'Regulars' is involved in an investigative hunt for the shadowy figure who lurks behind all the crime in England.

Now, I'm sure much of this sounds very familiar and the book is framed as Doyle's inspiration for the creation of his most famous character.  The story is an exhausting ride that reminded me very much of the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock movies and also G.W. Dahlquist's 'Glass Books of the Dream Eaters' series.  The latter in particular as they share a mix of science and magic without seemingly knowing what to do with either and ending up not doing much with them at all.

The plot never sits still and neither do the characters. The ending when it comes is sudden and a little unsatisfying but I was mollified slightly by the various codas that take the stories further but at a remove.  Frost's writing is dense but easy and with little to remind you of his TV background in the deluge of reflection and puzzlement that makes up Doyle's internal monologue.

I often found myself thinking that the book essentially was just Frost entertaining himself playing with some favourite characters but luckily along the way he managed to entertain me too.

Buy it here: The List of 7

The Shadow-Cage and Other Tales of the Supernatural

Philippa Pearce
Puffin Books

A collection of stories, both haunting and mysterious, created from everyday life and ordinary things.

Philippa Pearce is probably far better known as the author of classic children's book, 'Tom's Midnight Garden' than for anything else which, if the contents of this little Puffin anthology are anything to go by, is a real shame.

The 10 tales here show a lively and inventive imagination able to be macabre ('The Shadow-Cage'), funny ('The Dog Got Them' & 'Guess'), gentle ('Miss Mountain'), poignant ('At The River Gates'), strange ('Her Father's Attic'), brutal ('The Running Companion'), sentimental ('Beckoned'), vicious ('The Dear Little Man With His Hands in His Pockets') and a little bit silly ('The Strange Illness of Mr Arthur Cook').

As a book it is the quickest of reads - an afternoon - but that doesn't detract from the enjoyment of running around in the lady's imagination for a while. 

Available here: The Shadow Cage and Other Tales of the Supernatural

The Changes

The Changes is a 1975 BBC serial based on the trilogy of books by Peter Dickinson.  It tells the story of a sudden, intense noise that triggers a terror and a hatred for all technology more advanced than cutlery, and which, after an orgy of smashing, reverts the country to the level of mediaeval times.  Through this bleak new (old) world we follow schoolgirl Nicky Gore (Victoria Williams) in her travels to find safety, family and ultimately the cause of 'the noise'.

After becoming separated from her parents Nicky briefly attaches herself to a Sikh family who, unaffected by 'the noise', are very sensibly leaving the desolation of the cities to find a safe haven in the countryside, before striking out on her own.  Along the way she is involved in a deadly battle with bandits, is accused of witchcraft, and is involved in a cross country tugboat chase all of which she endures with a calm, practical, stoicism that shows such events were par for the course for a young girl in 1970s Britain.

Having been shot on film 'The Changes' still looks as good today as it did at the time and the 10 episode run means the story is allowed time to develop, although it maybe could have maybe done with being pruned by a half hour or so.  The first half of the story - mostly taken from 'The Devil's Children', the third book in Dickinson's trilogy - is arguably the more cohesive but this is no surprise as it's the closest to the source material - the only one in the series to feature Nicky.  The second half which takes much of it's story from the second novel, 'Heartsease', feels a little wobbly in places and lacks some of the conviction of the first half but still moves the story along admirably to it's rather odd conclusion.

This is classic 'Wyrd Britain' television that easily stands alongside not just other kid friendly shows of the time such as 'Children of the Stones' but, with it's darker hued moments of murder, xenophobia and religious tyranny, also with more adult orientated shows such as 'Survivors', and that the whole thing is soundtracked on synth (and occasional sitar) by BBC Radiophonic Workshop stalwart Paddy Kingsland is a very welcome added bonus.

All 10 episodes can be found below (I couldn't get the playlist to embed).

Enjoy.


THE CHANGES épisode 1/10 (1975) V.O... by nicholas-dubreuil

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

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Revbjelde LP

As regular readers of Wyrd Britain may know I've spent large chunks of the last 2 years fairly immobile having badly broken the same leg twice within a year which in both cases has required surgery, metalwork and months of physio.  This being the case I've had plenty of time to do three things.  I watched an awful lot of really crappy daytime TV until my television mercifully died and I decided not to replace it - please trust me when I say not even morphine can make most of it watchable.  The other two things were to read copious amounts of books and listen to a hell of a lot of music.

As I'm sure is the case with many of you I have shelves full of books here waiting to be read so each morning  my partner would put a few of them on the table next to a thermos of tea and head off to work leaving me to work my way through them.  Music was a different problem though.  I've always been a magpie for music, constantly looking for the next shiny thing to catch my eye, and so I quickly got bored of the few CDs that were to hand and had no way of getting to the record player - or even the room it was in for that matter - so I started trawling eBay and the like for new CDs to buy.

I started by filling gaps in my collection like Einsturzende Neubauten's 'Lament', Boards of Canada's 'In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country', solo albums by members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop such as Peter Howell & John Ferdinando's 'Alice Through The Looking Glass', Trunk Records releases that I didn't have, Adrian Corker's 'The Way of the Morris' OST being the stand out which sent me down a long and winding path of soundtracks including Bullet's 'The Hanged Man' and a whole clutch of fantastic ITC multi-disc sets of things like 'The Prisoner', 'Strange Report', 'Jason King' and 'Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)'.  I grabbed a few jazz classics that I'd neglected over the years, a couple of folk things and a whole bunch of the weird and wonderful experimental extravaganzas that have been my aural bread and butter for the last 20 odd years.

In amongst this all, via hearing about an upcoming John Baker album called 'The Vendetta Tapes', I was pointed in the direction of a label I'd not heard of before by the name of Buried Treasure and oh what a day that was.  There was only a few things available at the time and within half an hour (and with one exception because I'm a sucker for 7" singles)  I'd bought everything they had that didn't require me to climb stairs to the record player.  It was all gold - and Buried Treasure dominated the Wyrd Britain Best of 2015 - but the one I kept returning to again and again was 'The Weeping Tree' ep by the implausibly named Revbjelde.  It's gently exploratory electronic folk music seemed to encapsulate the type of things I'd been buying and listening to all the time I'd been laid up.

2016 saw them release another ep - 'Buccaboo' - with it's slightly more aggressive and experimental bent it was a more intense experience than it's predecessor and again proved that it's makers were a prospect well worth keeping an eye on.

Now, as we slowly emerge from what seemed like a particularly grey winter Revbjelde have blessed us with a full album that is bursting with colour.  For those of you who've grabbed the ep's a few of the tunes here are going to sound a tad familiar as the album features tracks from both of it's predecessors alongside some shiny new tunes but you're not going to mind because they all sound so damned good together.

'Revbjelde' - the album - is a pot pouri, a smorgasbord even, a veritable cornucopia of styles and sounds.  Revbjelde - the band - wear their influences proudly and the album shifts from ethereal (almost Clannadish) folk - 'The Weeping Tree' - to Volcano the Bear style freak-folk experimental improvisation - 'Port of Arundel'.  They bring a laid back and filmic lounge jazz vibe to 'Out of the Unknown',  there's a fantastic Angelo Badalamenti feel to 'Buccaboo' and 'Tidworth Drums' is Neu!-tastic krautrock gold.

The end result is that rarest of things, an album that effortlessly crosses boundaries and blurs distinctions without ever feeling like it's forcing itself into ill-suited or poorly conceived shapes, it has a flow and an internal logic that feels both natural and honest and above all it's beautifully played, immaculately presented and just a frankly ridiculous amount of fun to listen to.