(Fragments of a diary found wedged between two bookcases in an IKEA store.) …It’s now been a month since we left civilisation to map Ikealand. I had heard the rumours, that no explorer has ever left this country alive or sane, but I blamed it on poor preparation and inadequate,…
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“All my tales are based on the fundamental premise that human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.” H. P. Lovecraft, letter to Weird Tales’ Farnsworth Wright, dated July 5, 1927. As quoted in S. T. Joshi’s introduction to Black Wings of Cthulhu…
Leave a CommentJust finished reading Robert Graves’ I, Claudius. What struck me through the book is how much of it is written as “Tell” (telling the reader what happened, as you would to a friend over the dinner table) and not “Show” (making the reader live the characters’ actions, by multiplying elements…
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As the New Year’s Eve celebrations draw near, I want to spare a thought for all non-French speakers who will celebrate at their new Gallic friends’ house, and puzzle over the fine prints on the invitation. In particular, you may have been asked to come “sur votre 31” (“on one’s…
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I saw La Traviata yesterday at the King’s Head Theatre, in a very interesting adaptation by Becca Marriott and Helena Jackson. In order to adjust the opera to the constraints of the theatre (the backroom of an Islington pub), the authors condensed the story to a 2-hour, 4-character show. But that’s not…
Leave a CommentAt the Beginning of the Internet, people made personal homepages. But it was a lot of work, learning HTML to make the pages look good — so blogs were invented. Yet with blogs, people still had to write long articles, and it took time. So Facebook was invented. Alas, with…
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The December edition of Liars’ League HK had not 2, but 3 concepts for its theme: Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll. I came up with the dark story of a boy, ready to sell his soul to become Hong Kong’s next music idol. Watch Daniel Levia give him life: …
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[This is a story I had written for Liars’ League HK’s “Inner Space & Outer Space” evening, back in December 2016. It wasn’t selected, but it still makes me smile when I read it. And feel ashamed, too. I thought I’d share, so you can tell me what you think.]…
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