Author and Scriptwriter

'Among the most important writers of contemporary British horror.' -Ramsey Campbell

Friday 29 July 2016

Things of the Week: 29th July 2016

It's been a fairly ordinary week at Castle Bestwick. The last few days have been taken up with bits and pieces of work. A short story for an anthology I wanted to submit to. Rewrites on something I first-drafted a while back, a different project from what I normally do. I'll say more about that should it become relevant.
Also, I've been revisiting the MS of Black Mountain; my agent had a few suggestions which I'm putting into practice before pinging that particular tale back to him. After that, who knows? Hopefully Mynydd Du will rise again somewhere new...

My mental health is swinging slowly upwards (fingers crossed), which made this blog by V.E. Schwab particularly timely reading. It's also beautiful; sums up depression perfectly:

One of the most insidious things about mental illness is that it lies. It tries to convince you that this–how it is at its worst–is how it will always be. That the storm in your head is the new constant. That because all you can see is bad weather, that’s all there is now.
All there will ever be.
You will never see the sun again.
But that’s not how storms work. Which is why this metaphor is so important.
Because no matter the weather, the most important thing for me to remember–for anyone to remember–is this:
Storms pass.

Go to Victoria's blog and read the whole thing. Really.

On a sadder note - especially in the context of the recent rewatch of Babylon 5 I was inflicting on
poor Cate - this week also brought the news that Jerry Doyle, who played the station's hard-boiled, wise-cracking Security Chief Michael Garibaldi, has died at the age of 60. Cause of death remains unknown. A scary number of the show's principal cast have passed away since B-5 ended: Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Michael O'Hare... and now Doyle.

Babylon 5's creator J. Michael Straczynski pays tribute to Doyle here.

And here's a video of Doyle on fine tough-guy form as Mr Garibaldi. Apparently his first TV role was on the series Moonlighting, as a potential replacement for Bruce Willis' character. Given the resemblance between the two actors, that's no surprise...

Rest easy, Mr Doyle. Rest easy.

 


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