Welcome to the Cairns Writes Fiction Podcast. Every week I’ll be reading a short story or piece of serialised fiction.
This week’s story is called Lonely
Mind Meld is lonely. He’s been lonely a long time, but a chance meeting with a would-be criminal might be the very thing he needs…
Written, Read and Produced by Michael Cairns
The next episode will be available to download next week. Happy listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Welcome to the Cairns Writes Fiction Podcast. Every week I’ll be reading a short story or piece of serialized fiction.
This week’s story is called A Fairytale Ending
Rebecca ignored her mother’s advice and went for a walk into the woods. She’s found a very special place, occupied by people far worse than bears. But she’s come prepared, and maybe, just maybe, the porridge will be just right…
Written, Read and Produced by Michael Cairns
The next episode will be available to download next week. Happy listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Welcome to the Cairns Writes Fiction Podcast. Every week I’ll be reading a short story or piece of serialized fiction.
This week’s story is called Wrong Number:
Maz is having lunch with Carol. It’s the same as always but this time, Maz is determined to find out what Carol does for a job. Today, however, she’s going to find out just a little bit more than she should.
Written, Read and Produced by Michael Cairns
The next episode will be available to download next week. Happy listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Does this man never run out of ideas? I consider myself a fairly creative person, and I write a lot, but Bill Willingham creates at an astounding rate, and happily, this latest addition to the Fables canon, is top notch.
This one combines the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Ali Baba, along with a snippy and somewhat tricksy, Djinn, to great and hilarious effect. It covers all the things you expect from a good Fables stories.
The characters are wise beyond their humble beginnings, sharing wisecracks and insults, the women are strong willed, strong minded, and never averse to taking control, the art is stunning and drives the story on, and the story itself is compelling and filled with twists and turns.
I love Fables because it never takes the easy route, or goes for the obvious choice. This story is no different, zigging when you expect it to zag, and throwing the heroes into all sorts of scrapes.
If you read Fables, you won’t be disappointed with this, nor with the follow up, written by a different author, and in a very different style, telling the tale of Rapunzel in a very different way to the recent Disney movie!
If you don’t read Fables, then this is an excellent introduction. It captures a great deal of the magic and atmosphe
I should start this by saying that I’m a rabid Terry Moore fan, and will happily bore you for hours should you give me the chance to talk about his work. However, I will also say that, whilst I enjoyed Echo, the series that came before this, it never quite hit the height of Strangers in Paradise for me, so I approached this with excitement but also a little trepidation.
Horror and comics is a combination I haven’t had a great deal of experience with. The walking dead is great, but not scary horror. In fact, there aren’t any ‘proper horror’ comics I can think of, not since Sandman twenty years ago. I am thrilled, and a little creeped-out to announce that Terry Moore does horror as well as he does people, and relationships, and funny.
The story, in a winding way, introduces us to our heroine, who dies, only not really, and her friend, who does much the same. Through her, we discover that the town in which she lives has not always been the peaceful little place it now is. It has a history of terrible happenings, a history which is coming back to haunt it, quite literally.
The question is, why is it scary? Well, first off, the actual ideas are scary. The little girl who kills people, the old dude whose very dead wife still occupies her old armchair, waking up buried. These things work, and are drawn beautifully. It feel cold when I read these comics and walk through the snow with the people who inhabit them.
Secondly, the character reactions, are, once again, spot on. It’s not all mad hysteria, and each person has their own way of reacting, responding to the insane things happening to them. What’s key, is that you believe them, in who they are, and why they do what they do. Except the old dude, he’s just nasty.
Third, the comic medium is again put to excellent use. The more outlandish parts of the story are supported by wonderful breaking of the panels, whole page reveals and edgy, challenging artwork. Terry also excels in telling moments using silence, a page of nine panels revealing a very simple task that provides lulls in the comic. Even those, though, have my skin crawling as I wait for something to happen.
My best moment so far? The kindly vicar offering a hand to a poor little girl. Such love, such kindness. Hehehe.
I’ve said it before, but if you like comics, you should be reading Terry Moore, and if you like good storytelling, the same applies. I can now happily add to that, if you like horror, you should be reading Terry Moore.
This series goes from strength to strength and is a worthwhile addition to the Buffy canon.
To begin, a brief outline. Following the ending of Buffy on TV, Joss Whedon did a whole bunch of different things, including writing a comic called Fray, a futuristic take on the slayer. In this graphic novel, the fourth volume of collected comics from season 8, Buffy gets sent through a portal and winds up in the future, first fighting against, then fighting with Melaka Fray, said future slayer.
It’s rare that the magic created on TV through the combination of excellent scripts and perfect actors is successfully replicated in another format, as the plethora of Buffy books and comics that were released whilst the show was on-air demonstrated. However, Whedon, along with Karl Moline, get it just right. The dialogue is as idiosyncratic and effective as ever, the fights are just as good, only bigger, and the funny is still brought in a big way.
I found myself reading it out loud, trying to impersonate the actors and finding it easy. The atmosphere and strongest points of the show are all present. The great artwork helps as well, Moline getting the characters just right. This is shown when old stars of the TV show appear and don’t need to be introduced for you to know exactly who they are. It’s a brave move that’s carried off well.
The bonus story here, by comic guru and TV writer Jeph Loeb, takes Buffy back to school through some wonderfully Buffy-esque mojo. This gives Loeb the chance to have fun with all the original characters and tell a fun story at the same time. Once again the art, something entirely different, is great and adds another layer to the storytelling, as well as being perfect for the subject matter.
As you may have gathered, I’m a Buffy fan of old, but I would also recommend this series to anyone new to the world of the slayer. Whedon has developed his comic writing skills over time and now crafts a lean, gripping tale in this medium just as effectively as in TV or film.
If you enjoy comics with action, lots of emotion and lots of laughs, this is well worth a read.