Black Ink Unreliable Information Since 1972

Posts from February 2008

Two Hundred Quid?

Topic: Hugh Hancock amongst other suggestions, gave me this one: “I’d never pay 200 quid for a meal. Discuss.”
I’ll state my position from the off: I have already paid over 200 quid for a meal. Twice. I hope to do it many times more. Having had three-Michelin-star food once, I want […]


Prometheus Rising

Topic: Squid challenged me to come up with a piece of fiction from the point of view of people watching the a human deliberately make fire for the first time. This was, politely, a total bastard (and it’s given me a whole new appreciation for the first chapter of The Voice Of The Fire), […]


1998

Topic: A meme - get someone else to pick a year of your life for you to write about. Sally Brewer asked me to write about 1998.
1998 started badly. I went to a New Year house party with some friends, and while I was assured there were no cats in the house, what […]


The Atom Waltz

Fiction, titled suggested by Alasdair Stuart. Some time around 2002, back when I wanted to, y’know, do this shit for a living, I came up with a character called John Dials. The basic idea was that he was a hyper-intelligent time traveller, shagging his way around various kinds of historical fiction, and solving […]


Starting In A Way With Kontroll

Topic: The one film I’d like to watch again for the very first time, suggested by Alasdair Stuart.
Kontroll, a 2003 Hungarian film, about ticket collectors on the Budapest underground, directed by Nimród Antal, who you might recognise as the guy that directed the more recent (and more mainstream) Vacancy. Which I forgot to see. […]