...as his killing career progressed there came a point where he was committing the murders in order to see hallucinations, feel weird, and hear voices. The murders, in other words, became his way of accessing an alien universe -- an altered reality.
There's a funny bit in a BBC interview with him where he's asked what he does outside writing: "I drink... and that's about it."i know ackroyd inspired sinclair a lot but he seems a very boring/straight writer so i've never bothered.
Seems a bit harsh... I enjoyed Hawksmoor, Chatterton, I think there is one called Fleet or something... admittedly he did one about John Dee which I struggled to get into. But in general he has interesting ideas and he writes well. His books are small and low-key... less grandiose than his obvious contemporaries as discussed, but I don't see that as a weakness necessarily. He writes historical fiction with interesting extra elements to it and he does it well.i tried re-reading from hell a few years back and it started to do my head in cos it gets very ploddy in the middle. but it was a proper brain breaker when i first read it, especially that bit where nettley pukes up after he reveals the pentagram and the final chapter where he ties it all up.
i know ackroyd inspired sinclair a lot but he seems a very boring/straight writer so i've never bothered.
Might give him a go sometime.Seems a bit harsh... I enjoyed Hawksmoor, Chatterton, I think there is one called Fleet or something... admittedly he did one about John Dee which I struggled to get into. But in general he has interesting ideas and he writes well. His books are small and low-key... less grandiose than his obvious contemporaries as discussed, but I don't see that as a weakness necessarily. He writes historical fiction with interesting extra elements to it and he does it well.
The guy at Chetham's talking about John Dee. Too clever. He could have been Archbishop of Canterbury if he had just kept his head down and did as he was told. But he could not shut up. He was sent up to Manchester in his dying days to investigate fraudulent activities at the library. He found out that the Crown was actually stealing from itself but trying to say it was someone else. They sent him so that it looked as though they were doing something about it, but who would have thought he would ever figure it out! But he did, so then they were really pissed... Then he was also being asked by thick northerners to cure them of ailments, due to his reputation as an alchemist.
Tell a lie, it's the only Ackroyd novel I've read. I've also read his London: the biography, which is compulsory reading for anyone who's lived in London I reckon, and another one about subterranean London, which was also good but not quite as epic in scale.The only Ackroyd I've read is Hawksmoor, but I remember enjoying it. Can't recall what the writing was like particularly, but it had some cool ideas.
sounds like you understand what Im doing exactlyWhat is a soft open? We say soft launch here and it means you don't do anything cos you're embarassed/can't be arsed etc but you dress it up as a strategy.