Andrew’s Blog:
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Literary adaptations don’t have to be a disappointment to fans of the book
Literary adaptations have always been a major source of material for the film and television industry. In the early days of cinema the first feature films drew on the classics and popular fiction of the time. Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe and Sherlock Holmes all came to the silent screen in the early 1900s. The…
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Jerome K Jerome one of many authors with a passion for cycling
On a walk through Ewelme last weekend I passed the grave of Jerome K Jerome. Jerome is best known for Three men in a boat which has never been out of print since publication in 1889. He also wrote Three men on the bummel, which follows the same three characters from the boat book as…
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James Sadler the first English aeronaut
I was walking along Dead Man’s Walk the other day when I came across a plaque commemorating James Sadler, the first English aeronaut. I’m just going to wind back a little to the beginning of that sentence. Dead Man’s Walk – what a fantastic name! And an intriguing location. You’d be hard pressed to come…
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I’ve just discovered audiobooks and now I’m a complete convert
Audiobooks are changing the way I, and many other book lovers, consume fiction. They’ve also made me rethink the way I write my own stories. It’s five weeks now since I listened to my first audiobook. That doesn’t exactly qualify me as an early adopter. But I’ve more than made up for this late start…
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The growing page length of the novel
How long is the book you are currently reading? If it’s a recently published novel, there’s a good chance it’s at least 400 pages long. It might even be considerably longer. A recent survey found that the average page length of a novel has increased from 320 to 400 pages between 1999 and 2014. My…