Tag Archives: Fantasy

Interview: Philip Reeve – author of Mortal Engines, Larklight, Goblins and more!

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Philip Reeve - a thoroughly nice chap

Philip Reeve – the nicest man in sci-fi

To celebrate our makeover, we’re very pleased to bring you an interview with multiple award winning author, Philip Reeve. Philip is the author of some of the finest YA sci-fi and fantasy literature on the market, including the magnificent Mortal Engines quartet, the Larklight trilogy, Here Lies Arthur and his new comic fantasy, Goblins.We’re big fans of Philip’s work, so it was a real treat to speak to him in-depth about the books and films that insprire his stories, his writing process, and why the current trend for dystopian fiction might be leading us down the wrong path. He also had a lot to say about the subject of Steampunk and why Doctor Who needs a bit of a rethink!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:43 — 58.3MB)

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Five Comics You Should Read

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It’s all fun and games until someone calls the Homicide Crabs

As the nation goes Dark Knight crazy once again, regular columnist Olivia Cottrell offers up some tantalising alternatives for those of you looking for more than just men in tights…

So, you like comic books, do you? Or maybe you’ve seen the big Marvel movies, or the Nolan Batman, and you want to get into the genre proper but don’t know where to start. Well, here are my top five comic books of all time: each one perfectly acceptable as a series on its own, but each, I hope, a great example of what the medium can offer in superheroes and beyond. There’s dinosaurs, cowboys, explosions and crime, serious comics and comics that will make you laugh your head off. They also probably say far more about me and my tastes than I intended.

Well, never mind. Onwards!
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Visual Memory #5 – ‘Discworld’

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In this month’s column, Christopher Bell revisits another comedy classic…

I’ll start with a quick question: What do Doctor Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Gavin & Stacy have in common (apart from the fact that they’re all well-known British TV shows)? The answer is that some of their stars (Jon Pertwee, Eric Idle and Rob Brydon) lent their voices to this point-and-click adventure based upon Terry Pratchett’s best-selling series of comic fantasy novels.

The game’s story is loosely based on two of the most popular books, Guards! Guards! and Moving Pictures, requiring players to fill the billowing robes of Unseen University’s most inept wizard (or should that be wizzard?), Rincewind, voiced by Eric Idle. A shady sect of hooded villains has managed to summon a dragon into the streets of Ankh-Morpork, and it’s running amok. The fate of the city now rests upon Rincewind’s shaky shoulders (because no-one else wanted to fry), forcing him to rely on his wits and sarcasm. Oh, and a piece of luggage with feet.

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Harry Potter – From Page to Screen and Beyond

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We’ve been promising you this for ages, and here it is at last – an in-depth discussion of the boy wizard.

Our resident expert Sarah Burrow is joined by special guest Suzie Nockles (last heard in our Hunger Games episode) to assess the sprawling universe that is the Harry Potter phenomenon.

Just what made J.K. Rowling’s books so successful and did their big screen adaptations actually improve on them?  Could the Pottermore website have yet more surprises in store for fans? Hogwarts may have conquered Florida’s theme parks but will it fare as well in Japan? And was Dumbledore gay just because J.K. Rowling says he was?

All this and more, in the latest Impossible Podcast!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:24 — 50.7MB)

Visual Memory #4 – ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’

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Welcome, ye scurvy landlubbers, to a rum-fuelled edition of Visual Memory!  The grog isn’t strictly necessary, but it’s rather fitting for the game Christopher Bell has loaded into the cannons this month.  Prepare to set sail for The Secret of Monkey Island!

This classic point-and-click adventure was created by a triumvirate of designers and writers, Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schaffer, as an alternative to heavy-handed adventure games where one slip meant instant death or inability to complete the game.  This was meant to be a more forgiving (there’s only one place you can die, and that’s by drowning), and thus more enjoyable experience.

Players take on the mantle of Guybrush Threepwood, a young scallywag out to prove himself as a mighty pirate on Mêlée Island. To do this he needs to complete three tasks to impress a trio of pirate lords. Along the way, he will meet the love of his life (the governess of Mêlée Island, Elaine Marley), as well as battling the ghost of LeChuck, an infamous pirate out to marry Elaine by any means necessary.

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Random Encounter #3 – Don’t Stop Believing

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Journey video game title card

Can video games be good for the soul? In her ongoing examination of the state of gaming, Olivia Cottrell wonders if we couldn’t all do with a bit more soul…

Video games and religion are not what you might call natural bedfellows. Even as games have grown up in the last few years and started to explore questions of race, sexuality and the more basic issues of morality (good vs evil, the needs of the many or the needs of the few and so on) religion has been a topic that most games try to avoid. As a gamer with a vested interest in religion (being a Christian), I find it frustrating that so many titles still shy away from a frank look at this fundamental aspect of the human condition. And that, when they do attempt it, they often fall very short of the mark.

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