Dimension Films, a division of The Weinstein Company, has acquired The Boat House for production in 2007.
According to Variety, "Iain Softley is aboard to direct and will produce with his partner Sarah Curtis through their Forthcoming Prods. banner along with Ehren Kruger and Daniel Bobker."
This site notes with great sadness the sudden passing of Edinburgh-born Ian Richardson, one of the most distinguished actors of his generation.
The Region 1 DVD boxed set of Eleventh Hour is available from Amazon.
Top X Serches in Myn Networke
9. woolen hose
8. discounte ale
7. Kent
6. Macrobius for dummyes
5. howe to thinly veil acquaintences as fictional characteres
4. arabic numerals
3. readynge %(%(%ing chancerye hand
2. Sheene palace dynnere guest listes
1. Katharyne Swinford nude
(recopyed from Februarie XVII, MMVI)
ROSEMARY & THYME SEASON FOUR
There won't be one, apparently. Despite higher-than-ever ratings for season three, "One of the strangest dramas in the small screen's history" (Victoria Segal, The Times) is not to be renewed.
"Although at first it seemed completely out of character for me to be working on a show about gardening detectives, in the end I had more fun writing the season 2 opener and last year's Christmas special than I've had on any other gig. As long as I hit certain buttons that the form demanded, I was completely free to take the material wherever I wanted.
"I had a couple of neat stories lined up for season four. One was a gothic-themed tale based around the life and legacy of author and libertine William Beckford. The other was essentially a Hope-and-Crosby 'Road' movie, starting out with the two leads being kicked out of jail after a night in the cells, dead broke in the middle of nowhere and squabbling over whose fault it was they got there. Both were to be shot back-to-back in Portugal.
"The research was a joy and the locations were fantastic. But alas, you won't get to see them."
THE PRISONER
Cult TV series The Prisoner could make a return after almost 40 years. Sky One is said to be planning a new series inspired by the original which had Patrick McGoohan as a former secret agent trapped in an isolated town.
I was offered this back in the early 90's. I was at a meeting with Debra Allanson down in Soho Square and her boss did a drop-by. He said they had access to the PRISONER rights and would I be interested in tackling a new version?I didn't even hesitate. I said I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. If ever there was a remake that you couldn't take on and win, this is the one.
I heard they went on to have a discussion with the late Lelan Rogers, record producer and brother of the more famous Kenny, about an Americanised take on the show. But that foundered. Then in the mid-90s all the ITC rights went to Polygram and there was talk about a feature with a Patrick McGoohan screenplay. Mel Gibson was supposed to be attached at one point. Then there was the version with the Christopher McQuarrie script.
I've thought about it since, obviously, and played those head-games where you imagine what you might have done with it. The lead character's grown-up daughter contrives to get herself sent to the Village as part of a plan to liberate the father she's never met, and who hasn't bent an inch in all those years. He takes her appearance as yet another trick to break him. She starts to wonder if he's right, and whether her choices have actually been her own. And at the end of the day, true to the core value of the original: no straight answers.
But I've never been sorry I turned it down. Talk about a poisoned chalice. THE PRISONER was a huge, flawed, sprawling, psychotic explosion centred on the personality of its producer/star. Take away the things that gave it unique life - McGoohan, the location, its 1960s psychedelic sensibility - and what you're left with is a story premise that, on its own, was good for one episode of DANGER MAN.
ON CREATING ELEVENTH HOUR
I'm trying to do something different this time. I think audiences are fed up of being told "all science is evil" by Arts graduates with BUPA plans.
Stephen Gallagher
ELEVENTH HOUR: THE FIRST REVIEW
In DREAMWATCH magazine, Richard Matthews writes:
...On its own terms it shows great potential, with Stewart sparking well with Extras' (Ashley) Jensen as his tough, sardonic sidekick... the tone is bleak and incendiary but the 'for-the-cheap-seats' explanations of the science can be a little patronising. Beyond that, this is an interesting detective show that foregrounds an aspect of life often sidelined in schools and culture.
"It's a nice one to start us off. I can be sanguine over the 'cheap seats' point as it refers to material that was added to the script, and that I didn't write!"
For the complete review, see issue 137 of DREAMWATCH which also contains a Patrick Stewart interview and a Q&A with Stephen Gallagher, conducted by John Freeman:
What was the inspiration for Eleventh Hour?
That's no small question. It was a bunch of things all coming together. Talking science with Jack Cohen and feeling the whole world opening up in the face of evidence-based thinking. The thrill of seeing Lord Winston lay into a would-be maverick cloner on the floor of the Oxford Union. Seeing the way my dad picked himself up and repurposed his life after my mother died. And wishing we could see story-led drama on British TV again.
What was your reaction to the casting of Patrick and has he fulfilled what you hoped for the character?
I was delighted. By writing the character as I did I knew I'd created a casting challenge - Hood had to be in his 60s, his life's work behind him, his wife gone and his children grown, but he had to combine all that experience with a young man's drive and vigour. I saw the character like one of those ancient Greek heroes, all wisdom and testosterone. Age him down and the entire show premise would fall apart. But on the other hand you don't want to get stuck with someone who looks as if he ought to be in LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE. When I started writing, there was no suggestion that Patrick would be in the UK or available. So it was happy timing.
The show's been compared with the 1970s BBC's series "Doomwatch" - is that accurate?
Not really. DOOMWATCH was about anticipation and I'd class it as contemporary science fiction for its time. ELEVENTH HOUR is science-based but it's not speculative in the same way. That was the defining decision behind the show and I fought long and hard to defend it. If you want a DOOMWATCH-style show you should seek out ReGENESIS , a Canadian team-of-characters series about near-future developments; it's well worth a look.
Do you think there's a demand for more homegrown SF on British TV? Could British tv companies ever create their own "Star Trek" type show?
The demand's there in the audience but what you have to bear in mind is that the broadcasters with major commissioning power regard themselves as 'family channels'. They'd only consider doing SF if they could somehow be sure that it would also play for that part of the audience that doesn't like SF! While niche channels for whom science fiction shows are a big draw don't have the money to make their own.
Of course, the revived DR WHO captured exactly that audience. But whether a lesson has been learned is anyone's guess. I'll be better able to answer that if we get DEFENDERS OF MARS off the ground in 2006...
ONE OF THE STRANGEST DRAMAS IN THE SMALL SCREEN'S HISTORY?
Of THE CUP OF SILENCE, December 23rd's Rosemary & Thyme Christmas Special, Victoria Segal wrote in THE SUNDAY TIMES:…Superficially it resembles Women’s Institute television, a comfortable shoe of a show, yet close inspection shows Rosemary & Thyme to be one of the strangest dramas in the small screen’s history… for all the intrigue you quickly believe this is written by people whose horticultural interests extend to high-end herbal exotics. Consider the evidence: gratuitous shots of mushrooms accompanied by sinister music; a group of B-movie fans re-creating Peter Cushing films in the hotel’s cellar; and best of all, a prog-rock reference so incongruous the writer must have had a bet. Forget Midsomer Murders and feed your head.
"She got it in one. Although much as I hate to disillusion a journalist, no exotic substances were involved. That's what my world looks like all the time..."
ELEVENTH HOUR FOR ITV WINTER SEASON
This new series of contemporary science thrillers has been scheduled to air on Thursday nights beginning January 19th, 2006.
“It’s great that people are finally going to get to see the show and find out exactly what it’s about… and that all the stuff about it being ‘ITV’s answer to Dr Who’ can finally be kicked into touch.
“ELEVENTH HOUR is a series of post-watershed thrillers about headline science.
“It started with a challenge from Sir Paul Nurse. At the time he was the research director of Cancer UK, and we’d been involved in a Wellcome-sponsored debate about the depiction of science in drama...
THE SPIRIT BOX
It's official! Subterranean Press reports the US hardcover edition sold out on publication.
VALLEY OF LIGHTS COMPETITION WINNERS
Thanks to a generous allocation of copies by Telos Publishing, and in response to the volume of entries, we were able to increase the number of prizes.
So congratulations to M P Lynch, Michelle Rollison, Sonja Curtis, Tim Neal, and Elliot Iles.
VALLEY OF LIGHTS is reviewed by Sue Davies in this month's .
SPIRIT BOX NEWS
According to The Subterranean Press, advance orders on THE SPIRIT BOX have been heavy. Some two-thirds of the print run has been sold in advance of publication, with orders still coming in.
Order direct from the publisher here with free shipping in the US, or from Amazon.com. Go to Amazon's UK site for discount and free shipping within the UK.
OUT OF HIS MIND - BRITISH FANTASY AWARD
OUT OF HIS MIND was voted Best Collection in the British Fantasy Awards, announced at Fantasycon on Sunday, October 2nd.
The results in full:
Best Novel (The August Derleth Award)
• Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
Best Novella
• Breathe by Christopher Fowler
Best Short Fiction
• 'Black Static' by Paul Meloy
Best Collection
• Out of His Mind by Stephen Gallagher
Best Anthology
• The Alsiso Project ed. by Andrew Hook
Best Artist
• Les Edwards
Best Small Press
• Elastic Press, prop. Andrew Hook
Karl Edward Wagner Award (special committee award)
• Nigel Kneale
Click here to read the acceptance speech.
PATRICK STEWART INTERVIEWED
Issue 136 of SFX magazine heads a selection of forthcoming British genre TV with an interview in which Patrick Stewart discusses his role as Professor Hood in ELEVENTH HOUR.
From the SFX website:THE NEW WAVE OF BRITISH SCI-FI
The state of British fantasy telly is looking pretty damn healthy! There's SF comedy Hyperdrive, time-jumping cop drama Life on Mars and Afterlife, starring Lesley Sharpe as a medium. SFX talks to the creators of all these shows, plus Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson, and Patrick Stewart on his new science thriller The Eleventh Hour.
COMPLICATIONS ENSUE
Over the past couple of weeks Alex Epstein's lively screenwriting weblog has run a four-part interview in which SG discusses the industry setup and working conditions faced by British screenwriters.
"I thought I was just giving a straight account of the way things are here. I was surprised to find it being read as a horror story by our opposite numbers across the water!"
The first part of the interview can be found here.
Parts two, three, and four can be... well you get the picture.
Other recommended screenwriting blogs:
I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing is the weblog of WAR OF THE WORLDS screenwriter Josh Friedman. Awesomely well-written and full of dark energy.
A Writer's Life showcases industry news and craft insight from novelist and showrunner Lee Goldberg.
At Johnaugust.com, the screenwriter whose credits include THE CORPSE BRIDE, BIG FISH and CHARLIE's ANGELS answers reader-submitted questions. You'll also find info on past, present and future projects.
And for a British angle, try Lee Thomson's The Light, It Hurts and the WGGB's News and information for writers.
CINEMA MACABRE
This collection of essays on horror cinema is edited by Mark Morris with an introduction by Jonathan Ross.
Contributors include Jeremy Dyson on NIGHT OF THE DEMON, Michael Marshall Smith on HALLOWEEN, Neil Gaiman on THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Simon Pegg on DAWN OF THE DEAD, and Stephen Gallagher on THE HAUNTING.
Click here for a full list and ordering information.
THE SPIRIT BOX - THE FIRST REVIEW
From Publishers Weekly:
The book is now available for pre-order at a discount from Amazon in the UK.In Gallagher's white-knuckle thriller, his first full-length novel since Red, Red Robin (1995), several experimental drugs have been pilfered from a North Carolina research lab and suspicion points to employee Rachel Young. Manager John Bishop investigates the theft to preserve the facility's reputation for security, but he has another motive: the day before, his troubled teenage daughter committed suicide, and some inexplicable experiences since hint that her influence is compelling his involvement. Whether John's experiences are truly supernatural or merely guilt-fueled fantasies is never clear, and Gallagher uses the tension this creates to masterfully propel his story forward to a harrowing finale. Gallagher's hard-boiled style is pitch perfect for the tale's grim events, but he leavens it with dislocating moments of powerful emotion that draw the reader irresistibly to the characters. The novel packs a wallop that should make an impact on fans of both suspense and horror fiction.
Amazon.com currently offers the novel at $26.40, a discount of 34% with free shipping within the US.
FROM SFX MAGAZINE ISSUE 135
SFX Updates you on ITV's new Patrick Stewart-toplining thriller
As we reported back in issue 131, Stephen Gallagher, he of Chimera and Oktober fame, is returning to SF with a new series, toplining Star Trek's Patrick Stewart.
Eleventh Hour focuses on Professor Alan Hood (Stewart), a sort of "science troubleshooter" for the government's Joint Sciences Committee. Ashley Jenson, Ricky Gervais's Scottish co-star in Extras, stars as Rachel Young, Hood's Special Branch bodyguard.
My premise is that we're now living in the world that SF has been mapping for us over the past few decades, Gallagher told SFX. So from the very beginning I established the principle that this is a contemporary science thriller series where we don't make up the science. It's not about stuff that may happen, it's all extreme headline stuff that actually is happening or has happened already.
Developing the stories involved a constant back-and-forth dialogue with our consultant, Steve Connor, who's science editor at THE INDEPENDENT. I'd rough out a scenario and he'd troubleshoot all the misconceptions and pitfalls, and I'd build on his feedback. The entire aim is to make science thrillers that stand up. They're mysteries with loads of peril and physical action, but the bottom line is that they have to stand up.
WIN A COPY OF THE VALLEY!
We've two paperback copies of the Telos Classics edition of VALLEY OF LIGHTS to give away.
From the Telos Publishing website:
This Telos edition of Valley of Lights is the author's preferred edition. It also includes a novella, Nightmare, With Angel, which was written using the original research materials before this novel was formulated, a diary detailing a trip to America to visit locations for an aborted film version of Valley of Lights, an interview with Stephen Gallagher, a new foreword by Stephen Laws and also a new afterword by the author.
The book is available in standard A5 paperback, or as a deluxe signed (by Gallagher and Laws) and numbered, limited edition hardback edition.
The paperback edition is £9.99 (UK) and the deluxe signed and numbered, limited edition hardback is £30.00 (UK) .
For a chance at a copy, send an email to webmaster@stephengallagher.com with the subject line VALLEY OF LIGHTS COMPETITION and the answer to the question Which American city and state provide the setting for Valley of Lights? An intellectual challenge which we reckon is at least worthy of a Richard and Judy contest.
Include your name and a mailing address. Two winners will be picked at random from those with the correct answer. Competition closes at midnight GMT on October 14th.
ELEVENTH HOUR
Shooting has now wrapped and Patrick Stewart has returned to the US for production on X-MEN 3.
There'll be a short interview about the show in the next issue of SFX magazine.
THE CUP OF SILENCE
Shooting is now completed on this feature-length series opener for Season Three of ROSEMARY & THYME.OUT OF HIS MIND
The collection has picked up a British Fantasy Award nomination. Click here to read a sample story.Update: From Hank Wagner's review of "this outstanding collection" in CEMETERY DANCE magazine...
"...you have to be impressed by the efficiency, economy and inventiveness with which Gallagher executes his short fiction. Time after time, the author demonstrates an uncanny knack for knowing the precise moment to begin a story - and for delivering a knockout blow in a story's last few lines.
"Only a handful of the twenty-one artfully arranged tales in this collection - most notably the memorable ghost stories "Lifeline" and "God's Bright Little Engine" - deal with the super/preternatural. The rest derive their considerable emotional impact from clever twists or Gallagher's deep knowledge of human nature."
For the review in full, see the magazine!
THE SPIRIT BOX
Chris Moore has now delivered the cover painting, and the novel is on track for publication in November 2005 by the Subterranean Press.
I said, "Let me get straight to it. You've got a twenty-two year old girl hidden in a cabin about seven miles out of town. She was kidnapped out of the emergency room at the Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte at about six o'clock last night. She's got five packets of unknown substances in her gut that she swallowed and she can't expel. The boy who took her mistakenly thinks they have a value. He's preparing to cut her open to get to them."
Now, here's the thing about talking to policemen. You can't shock or surprise them. If you did, it would probably kill them to show it.
Ben Steed said, "And how do you know this?"
"I've been tracking the drugs for the company they were stolen from," I said. "They're all experimental. I can't tell you what will happen if any of the packages bursts or leaks. Chances are it won't be good."
"Do these kids have names?"
"Rachel Young. Cyrus Behan."
"Cyrus?" he said, and I felt my heart sink a little.
See the Subterranean Press website for full details and ordering information.
DEFENDERS OF MARS
From C21 Media.net:
Fox, Zenith ally for kids sci-fi caper
MIP NEWS: Defenders of Mars (26x30'/13x60') is a new live-action kids sci-fi drama being launched here that unites the UK's Zenith Entertainment and Fox World Australia.
The show comes from veteran TV scribe Stephen Gallagher, who previously wrote Rosemary & Thyme and Oktober, with the exec producer team including Zenith's head of kids drama and animation Julian Scott, plus David Maher and David Taylor from Fox TV Studios' Sydney unit.
The show, which follows a bunch of kids who are left behind on Mars after the failure of a colonisation project, continues Fox World Australia's strategy of partnering with UK indies on stand-out properties.
The full story can be found online here.
Fox's Sydney studios hosted the first season of FARSCAPE, STAR WARS Episodes II and III, all three of the MATRIX movies and Bryan Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS.
Executive Producer Julian Scott has worked for Disney and The Children's Television Workshop, and served as Production Manager and later Associate Producer on Grant Naylor's RED DWARF.
THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY CALENDAR
Following on from the success of their 2005 Fantasy Calendar, the British Fantasy Society is delighted to announce a 2006 Horror Calendar featuring:
Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, John Connolly, Christopher Fowler, Simon Clark, Muriel Gray, Stephen Gallagher, Kelley Armstrong, Poppy Z. Brite, Stephen Laws & Graham Masterton.
And artwork by:
James Ryman, Mike Bohatch, Lew Lehrman, Michael Ian Bateson, David Anthony Magitis, Ian Simmons, Russell Dickerson, Lizzy Shumate, Lara Bandilla, Michelle Blessemaille & Bob Covington.
With stunning cover and internal artwork by Lord of the Rings, Constantine and Sin City matte artist Paul Campion.
The price will be £8.99 and the calendar can be pre-ordered from the British Fantasy Society's online shop, where you can see the cover artwork in full.
FEEDING FRENZY
A new short story has been added to the site.
Titled Feeding Frenzy, it was written on request for the nonprofit collection Walking in Eternity, edited by Doctor Who fans to raise funds for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death.
VALLEY OF LIGHTS
From the Telos Publishing website:
This Telos edition of Valley of Lights is the author's preferred edition. It also includes a novella, Nightmare, With Angel, which was written using the original research materials before this novel was formulated, a diary detailing a trip to America to visit locations for an aborted film version of Valley of Lights, an interview with Stephen Gallagher, a new foreword by Stephen Laws and also a new afterword by the author.
The book is available in standard A5 paperback, or as a deluxe signed (by Gallagher and Laws) and numbered, limited edition hardback edition.
The paperback edition is £9.99 (UK) and the deluxe signed and numbered, limited edition hardback is £30.00 (UK) .
Cover artwork is by Martin McKenna.
For further details and to order online, go to the Original and Classic Fiction section of the Telos website.
ELEVENTH HOUR CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT
Patrick Stewart takes on the role of Professor Alan Hood in Stephen Gallagher's new ITV series of science-based thrillers.
The Yorkshire-born actor's CV covers an impressive range, from his award-winning work with the Royal Shakespeare Company to global stardom in the STAR TREK and X MEN franchises. Recent work includes THE LION IN WINTER, a Hallmark miniseries which he also produced, and he's currently appearing on the West End stage in an extended run of David Mamet's A LIFE IN THE THEATRE.
"I couldn't be happier with the way this has worked out. In Patrick I'm getting exactly what I always wanted for Hood - a mature, vigorous, heroic figure of visible intelligence and sensitivity. This would be a real champagne moment for any writer.
"Discussions started before Christmas but I was embargoed from saying anything while the fine print of the deal was settled. There was the always the danger of a scheduling clash with the start of shooting on X MEN 3, but there was a real will on all sides to make it happen."
The show's producer is Stephen Smallwood, whose credits include THE VICE. Script editor is Jenny Frayn, from PRIME SUSPECT. The director on the first two shows will be Terry McDonough who comes to the production from WIRE IN THE BLOOD.
The first of the feature-length ELEVENTH HOUR stories, Man Without a Shadow, centres on Hood's pursuit of a maverick human cloner.
In The Sentinel Case, he has to corner the source of a decades-old hybrid pox while The Suicide Hour deals with the unexpected downside of the twenty-first century's newest and most radical medical technology.
But there's some big-hardware science too, when Hood takes on the defence industry and finds himself up against a ruthless hidden army and a global arms fraud of awesome proportions.
Click here for an account of the commissioning of the show in the Articles section.
RESTRAINT
As well as its selection for Ellen Datlow's YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR anthology, this story will also make an appearance in Stephen Jones's THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR #16 collection.
BUGS: THE COMPLETE BOXED SET
A boxed set collecting together all four seasons of BUGS, the BBC/Carnival Films Saturday night series, is released this month.
"The set includes an extras disc on which I set the world to rights while slowly sinking into hypothermia before your eyes on the South Bank of the Thames.
"When Revelation asked me to do an interview I thought I'd be making a few comments and telling a few anecdotes about the shows I was involved with. We chose a spot by the river which gave us a nice background including Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast, which served as a location for ASSASSINS, INC.
"But in the end we spent the whole afternoon there talking mostly about The Wonder of Me, which is a subject I seem to need very little prompting on.
"To anyone who's appalled by the vanity of the enterprise, it may at least offer the opportunity to point to the screen and say, 'There's where he got the pneumonia that killed him.'"
SHIVERS REVIEW
The short story collection OUT OF HIS MIND is reviewed by David Howe in the latest issue of The Magazine of Horror Entertainment.
"Gallagher has a way with words to draw you in, make you feel comfortable, and then start to trigger surprises like a master magician. Time and again I found myself smiling as I read, enjoying the worlds I was taken to, appreciating the characters, and then being shocked and moved by the endings."
The issue also includes Kim Newman on erotic vampire movies, a conversation with RING 2 effects coordinator Peter Chesney, and a Pete Walker interview by Jonathan Rigby.
THE SPIRIT BOX
Subterranean's William Schafer has set publication of the novel for November this year.
Bound proofs have now been produced and Chris Moore's rough proposal for the artwork has met with universal enthusiasm.
"Well, I love it and so does Bill, and that makes everyone who's seen it."
For full details see Subterranean's website.
BRUCE McGOWAN
We're sad to report the untimely death of cinematographer Bruce McGowan on November 26th.
As well as being responsible for the lighting and look of OKTOBER, Bruce DP'd features, commercials and short films. His work included LETTER TO BREZHNEV, BORN OF FIRE and BLONDE FIST.
"Bruce was a fine artist and one of the gentlest people I've ever known. He was also a perfectionist against all the odds... I've seen him light an enormous cave with just a couple of perfectly-placed lamps, and I've also seen him set a simple corridor scene using every lamp he could find on the truck! And both looked natural and fantastic. Goodbye, Bruce. Your very presence lit up any company."
Bruce died after a protracted illness and leaves behind his wife Lily and daughter Emily.
Any messages to webmaster@stephengallagher.com will be passed on to his family.
RESTRAINT
This story, which appeared in POSTSCRIPTS magazine earlier this year, has been selected by Ellen Datlow for inclusion in the eighteenth YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR collection to be published in 2005.
GALLAGHER AT 50
The month of October may have come and gone, but we couldn't let it pass without bringing you this image of the author surrounded by his closest friends on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday.
"There are worse things than passing 50. Give me a while and I'll try to come up with a few.
"Actually, that's not fair. I had a surprise party and a great night. It fell to my daughter to point out that I got the same presents as the eight-year-old brother of one of her friends. Not just the same kind of presents. Some of the exact same items.
"I fail to see the problem in that. What's wrong with gadgets, novelties and tin robots? And when Stephen Laws turned up for a surprise visit bearing a figurine of the Ymir from TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH... well, how appropriate was it that I'd been running the movie only the night before?"
In fact, Steve so enjoyed turning 50 that he's decided he's going to be 50 next year, and every year until the gag wears too thin.
OUT OF HIS MIND - NOW AVAILABLE!
The short story collection OUT OF HIS MIND is now shipping from PS Publishing.
More from the introduction by Brian Clemens:
"In this marvellous collection, Steve Gallagher's circus has certainly come to town... with a vengeance.
"I always knew he was a good writer but I never dreamed he was this good. I'm jealous as hell."
Available from all good book dealers or direct from the PS Publishing website
MAJOR NEW ONLINE INTERVIEW
"I never really had a conscious approach. I kind of fell into it backwards. I can remember writing a prose story and sending it to THE WIZARD when I was about nine, and getting back an encouraging rejection note from the editor. THE WIZARD was the last of the story papers, a complete anachronism amongst all the picture-strip comics. Nothing much then until I wrote a short for a SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY readers' competition ten years later and got no response at all, which felt like backwards progress. In between times I did stuff for the school magazine, wrote the teachers' Christmas panto, sent fake letters to the local papers. One was one from a local ex-Colonel complaining about the export of British-bred Arabian stallions to Saudi Arabia, a trade which existed nowhere outside my head. They printed most of them. So I suppose the basics were all there in a scattered form, but they didn't come together in any serious way until I did my first radio piece."
To read the full interview, go to The Zone.
The site also carries comprehensive reviews of VALLEY OF LIGHTS, the tv adaptation of CHIMERA, and the DVD release of OKTOBER.
NEWS FEED ADDED
If you have newsreader software, you can receive updates on additions to this page.
The 
icon links to a file which your browser can't read, but which contains information for a newsfeed client such as Tristana. It's a quick way of getting a roundup of headlines from your chosen list of sites without having to check each one regularly for new material.
Copy the URL into your news client to create a new channel, and you're away.
For more information on newsfeeds, click here.
ELEVENTH HOUR
Steve Connor, science editor of The Independent, has joined the show as science consultant.Eleventh Hour is produced by Granada Television. The first of the ninety-minute scripts has been completed and delivered, and the other stories are now in hand. Casting discussions for the principal roles are under way.
From the proposal as pitched to the network:
ELEVENTH HOUR is a popular investigative series set against a background of contemporary science. Every story involves a human crisis, and every crisis arises out of a current scientific development. Our stories are tales of suspense, races to avert disaster, the stories of individuals caught up in the unforeseen consequences of progress. It's smart, pacy and sharp, as modern in its style as in its issues.
"The main character's an emeritus physics professor named Alan Hood. He made his first appearance in a novella that I wrote for Ellen Datlow's supernatural anthology THE DARK, although the show that I've built around him stays firmly this side of the speculative line and doesn't stray into pure sf or horror. In my own little way I wanted to create a kind of Bernard Quatermass de nos jours. In his first stage direction I describe him as 'a bull in a rumpled raincoat'. He's rubbed so many people up the wrong way that he needs a full-time Special Branch bodyguard. OK, in my own little way I wanted to create an Emma Peel de nos jours..."
Steve will be reporting on the show's progress on this site and in an occasional column for DREAMWATCH magazine.
An official Eleventh Hour website will be created at www.eleventhhour.tv.
ABOUT THIS SITE
You're looking at the news section of stephengallagher.com, the official author website carrying detailed career information and a full list of writing credits, along with a selection of stories, interviews and articles. Use the navigation buttons on your left to find your way around - move the mouse pointer over each to bring up a summary of what you'll find in the relevant section.
Under BIO you'll find a short author biography and a long, unabridged interview originally conducted for MYSTERY SCENE magazine by David Mathew. BOOKS will take you to capsule summaries of the published works along with cover scans of selected international editions and links to purchase copies. SCREEN covers film and TV work and includes a link to THE OKTOBER EMAILS, an onset account of the shooting of the ITV miniseries. STORIES carries a full list of short fiction first appearances and a continually-changing selection of titles for online reading. ARTICLES offers a selection of non-fiction pieces, many of them first published in the CRAFT NOTES column of the Writers' Guild Bulletin. RADIO is a full list of the serials and plays for ILR and BBC Radio Four in the '70s and '80s along with first transmission dates, while CONTACT lists site credits and contact information as well as a list of recommended links.
Also note that somewhere on this site is a hidden Easter Egg page of "embarrassments and unlikely attributions"... it includes a hitherto unpublished excerpt from the suppressed WARRIORS' GATE novelisation.
