Bob Fischer – Wiffle Level To Full

Bob Fischer – Wiffle Level To Full: Daleks, Death Stars & Dreamy-Eyed Nostalgia at the Strangest Sci-Fi Conventions (Hodder paperback,  30th April 2009 £8.99)

Cover illustration: Joey Hi-Fi

Press Release

Publication coincides with the long-awaited return of cult comedy Red Dwarf for a 2-part Easter weekend special, 21 years after its initial launch.

When Bob, a sci-fi obsessed child of the 1970s and 1980s, discovered a Doctor Who convention taking place five miles from his front door, he couldn’t resist buying a ticket. Thus sparked a (mildly obsessive) marathon twelve-month journey around the country’s biggest and wackiest sci-fi and cult TV conventions.

`Behold the Sponge of Doom’

As Bob freewheels his way from Red Dwarf to Doctor Who, Discworld to Star Wars, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to Robin of Sherwood, he discusses the rules of ‘smeg’ with Craig Charles, is brought to his knees in Cardiff City Centre by Imperial Stormtroopers, Joins Douglas Adams devotees hell-bent on destroying Blake’s 7 fanatics with water-pistols, and unearths all kinds of hilarious childhood nostalgia.

‘Peter Davison is currently at the Chiswick Roundabout’

Part fun travelogue, part field report, part charming misty-eyed childhood memoir. it’s compulsive reading — even for those who don’t harbour an inner nerd …

Bob Fischer is a lifelong science fiction and Fantasy fan who has previously enjoyed careers as a record shop owner, a solo singer-songwriter and a short-lived Elvis impersonator (one gig). He now works as a radio presenter for BBC Tees, a job that has led him to spill tea over Jack Charlton’s antique fireplace and sing on a UK Top 10 hit single (Bunsen Burner by John Otway, No 9 in October 2002). Bob has also won a prestigious Sony Radio Award. He lives near Middlesbrough with a girlfriend who thinks old-school Doctor Who is ‘rubbish’, and a dog that doesn’t mind the Jon Pertwee era, but if pressed would admit to preferring Blake’s 7.

Kevin Carolan – Churchyard Whispers

Kevin Carolan (ed.) – Churchyard Whispers (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999)

Cover picture: detail taken from SC24848 Stoke Poges Church by John Constable (1776-1837)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK/Bridgeman Art Library.

Tales Of Mystery & Suspense

Introduction

W. E. Aytoun – The Man In The Bell
Guy De Maupassant – The Graveyard Sisterhood
Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum
Viscount De L’isle – The Torture Of Hope
Herman Melville – The Bell-Tower
Walter de la Mare – All Hallows
O. Henry – The Cop And The Anthem
Sherwood Anderson – The Strength Of God
T.F. Powys – The Hunted Beast

Tales Of Crime & Detection

Jack London – The Master Of Mystery
Melville Davisson Post – The Angel Of The Lord
Catherine Louisa Pirkis – The Sisterhood
H. Jenkins – The Gylston Slander
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Young Man In Holy Orders
J. MacLaren-Ross – The Episcopal Seal
E. C. Bentley – The Genuine Tabard
R. Ellis Roberts – The Narrow Way
H.C. Bailey – The Yellow Slugs
Kevin Carolan – Churchyard Shadows

Blurb:
Most of us must have walked around a country churchyard at some time or other, looking at the carefully laid-out gravestones, and felt a sense of peace and order. But there can also be movements in the shadows which make us uncomfortable. The desolation of many churches and cemeteries makes them an ideal spot to commit atrocious crimes. The vicarage can be filled with bitterness and religious frenzy as much as spiritual calm.

Churchyard Shadows draws together the best stories of crime and mystery that take the church as their backdrop, written by some of the greatest masters of the short story. Tales such as Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, T.F. Powys’ The Hunted Beast and Walter de la Mare’s All Hallows hold us in unbearable suspense. H.C. Bailey’s The Yellow Slugs sees spiritual cruelty lead to murder. Robert Louis Stevenson examines the corrupting effect of an enormous diamond on a young clergyman. On the other hand, we witness the celebrated Uncle Abner and Jack London’s tribal shaman solve crimes using their religious insights. This is an anthology to entertain and enthrall – but not to be read in a darkened churchyard!

These covers with embossed lettering are sent to try us, but the content looks very strong. Hadn’t heard of Kevin Carolan before, but, from the back cover, he “writes and lectures on a wide variety of subjects, and is the editor of the short-story collection Celtic Mysteries.”