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The Butterfly Cabinet cafe, Heaton Road, Newcastle.
Best English Breakfast in the world. Photo: David J Rodger. The Butterfly Cabinet cafe in Heaton – click full size
It doesn’t get better than this. Quality. Quantity. Price. And the consistency of this cafe’s state of perfection. Every time I have ever gone there in the past few years it is always, without fail, a perfect experience. I don’t get to Newcastle as much as I used to but it’s a great place to spend time, and the Butterfly Cabinet is always on my itinerary – indeed, I’d go so far as to say it is one of the reasons I make the 320 mile journey every few months. Click here to check out the breakfast menu for the Butterfly Cabinet. The food is undoubtedly helped by the ambiance of the cafe itself, which is a blend of hipster, student and locals. A good mix without a pretentious face in sight. Just good people. And great food. Top this off with coffee that’s fit for caffeine-junkie like me and well, I just sit there with a grin on my face. It’s the kind of place that leaves the foolish folks who think Newcastle is still locked in the days of Get Carter (1971), with their slack jaws of dismay hanging in their baked beans.
Talking of places with great atmosphere, if you get to The Butterfly and find it so busy there’s a 2 hour queue of folks snaking out the door – happens often so get there EARLY, then I highly recommend you wander 60 seconds down the road to the excellent alternative, a cafe called The Wild Trapeze.
Lone Pine playing Fury of Dracula (1987) in Heaton, Newcastle Upon Tyne
So it’s only 2 months since my good friend Pete, aka Lone Pine and I last hooked up. Not bad considering we live 320 miles apart. I travelled up to my old stomping ground of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and to Heaton – where I actually grew up between the ages of zero and 9 before relocating to the more verdant landscape of Jesus Mound. It’s late. Everyone has gone to bed. Pete and I crack open the whisky and set up the board. We also find Francis Ford Coppola’s movie Dracula – with Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins (as Van Helsing) – on YouTube and so have it playing in the background. It’s one of my favourite interpretations of the classic story. And with a fantastic musical score, the whole room came alive with the atmosphere and adventure of the movie. 3 games in a row. Some of the most perfect and memorable games ever. Ever.
St George’s Church tower – Jesmond. Photo: David J Rodger
I adore this church. I’m not a religious person but the structure itself holds a lot of meaning for me. Based on St Mark’s Campanile in Venice it is also the sole inspiration for the potent Cthulhu Mythos short story I wrote back in 2011 called Corrupt Moon – tapping into the sanity shattering consequences of the Influence of Hastur. The story available in the anthology Songs of Spheres.
The tower stands head and shoulders above the rest of Jesmond – a beacon and a landmark – visible for a couple of miles all around.
SONGS OF SPHERES: 15 short stories hand-picked by the author as his personal favourites and presented with a brief introduction to each story. There are monsters that squirm and slither through the dark spaces beneath our feet, our dead are like carrion to them; and us, the living, are often victims of their hunger for violence and their taste in blood and terror. There are men and women who prey on the predators – a rough justice or karma in action. Technology carries information beyond the wires but what else can ride the electromagnetic waves? Demonic forces that infiltrate the mind through the new technology implants of the cyberpunk era. In dream-like realms, brave souls adventure deep into the strange worlds conjured by far flung minds. What mysteries do they discover and what secrets do they bring back with them into physical flesh and the reality of Humankind? The King in Yellow regards Earth from behind a pallid mask of silk; reposed on a throne of madness, corruption and decay within the black tower that stands beyond Carcosa. Hastur – the Great Old One that must not be named – the bearer of the Yellow Sign, has been brought forth. In tales of Yellow Dawn the consequences are here for those who dare to see. WARNING: some of these stories contain scenes of a disturbing and sexual nature.
There’s nothing ahead of me except a lot more of the same hard work
Finally feeling some positive state of mind after a hellish few days; the overhaul of Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur (2.1) to create a new fandangled version 2.5 has been going 10 months now and it’s really dragging down my spirits. It’s not like writing a novel.
All Hail The Chaos That Stalks The Space Between the Stars
Sitting here wrapped in the woolly embrace of Starsky Cardi, supping first mug of tea – and ignoring the massive crack that’s now appeared in the outward sloping roof of this room. The Sky Bunker looks set to let the sky in! *rolls eyes*
Currently listening to a tribal electro trance mix put out by the very awesome blog, A Strangely Isolated Place. Check him out and subscribe if you want a range of electro flavours dropping into your inbox every few days. This
Azathoth
I can’t believe how long January seemed to last. It was the month of Forever-ember-uary.
However, January did see me manage to finally complete the edit for the overhaul of Yellow Dawn; after 10 months of painful progress and hard work. Now I’m wrapped in the evening tasks of formatting the document as I prepare version 2.5 for launch in the next few weeks.
I’ve also started prepping the next novel for launch; Living in Flames – a near-future (cyberpunk) horror story set in Bristol:
I think I’ve been burning the candle at both ends too long, and with a blowtorch. The final push to finish the 11 months of hell, re-writing Yellow Dawn; I’ve popped out the other side with a sense of grinning blissful relief… but also the (foolish) notion I can continue with the intense pace, switching to a raft of new shiny things I’ve got lined up to roll out. Instead… I’ve succumbed to exhaustion.
On top of this, my house – Cosy Castle – is falling apart, or at least that’s how it seems. The big crack in the roof of the Sky Bunker continues to worsen and now leaks every time it rains, leaving trails of rusty water running down the inside of the wall – in one way appropriate for a writer who works with gritty horror and post-apocalyptic vistas, but living in it causes an acute sense of stress. Added to this, now have water getting into the kitchen through a flawed back-wall; electrics have blown again. So, phone calls made, contractors coming round to evaluate damage and work required to make repairs. The joys of owning a house that’s 130 years old.
The Alan Parsons Project – Eve – Soundtrack to the moment
I got down here Friday morning, took the day off work, hired a car (I’m wary of my Rocket doing long journey’s at the moment) and drove down here. Big Pete, who this house belongs to, was there to greet me with a 6ft 2″ hug and big grin. He’s been here since Wednesday. He lives in Newcastle and until recently was the neighbour of my parents place up there…. but that’s all dead now.
The drive down was fantastic.
The whole morning was shrouded in drifting banks of fog.
Completed Songs of Spheres, anthology of my short stories (horror, cyberpunk, and Yellow Dawn).
Arriving at Hayling Island there’s a palpable of excitement and relief. We’re here! Now we can decompress. All of us have been experiencing high volumes of stress with work. Abruptly we’re in a large empty and comfortable (blokey) house and there is no plan, no agenda, no schedule to keep to. The only thing we know we’ll be doing is playing Yellow Dawn tomorrow. This trip follows the rules of The Fellowship – a group of individuals and friends that I sometimes go travelling with… the rules are this: nobody tells anybody what they HAVE to do. Everybody is free to go off and do their own thing or join the group or… whatever. It’s easy. It’s relaxed and stress free.
Got hit by a weird strain of man-flu last week that had me nailed last weekend and most of last week. Morning’s would wake-up feeling OK but by time I’d gotten into the office in Bath, I’d be feeling like the walking dead and by time the evening swung round I was tripping out and feeling like I was drunk. Exhaustion was close on the trail.
Meanwhile I’ve been working on a super exciting new bolt-on for Yellow Dawn (The Age of Hastur) and a bunch of ideas that also fit snugly into the wider universe of my fiction writing.
Called Nanomech and Synthology, it facilitates characters buying pre-configured clumps of nanotechnology, but more importantly, clumps that can be re-configured by tech-heads into new and diverse creations, using deployment code templates. Of course, those characters with less skill than great ideas will experience the joys of aberrant technological mutations. Counter to this is the parallel technology of synthetic biology: splicing existing genetic code together to create new “things”; from bacteria able to eat up oil spills to larger and more complex organisms that can do… whatever you can dream of, so long as you can get past ethical and moral issues of intelligent and self-destiny.
Get to London. Short walk to Victoria train station but we’re early. Kill some time at a Pret Manger: standing there in the big window by a narrow bench, munching on a salmon cream cheese slice of heaven, I’m aware of the number of glances and stares I’m picking up. It’s the suit. Jo and I grin about it.
We return back to Victoria and find that the tiny little Orient Express check-in office is now open; tucked away beside platform 2. There are two impeccably dressed women outside, serving coffee from flasks; they’re smiling and genuinely welcoming and not at all what you would normally get from service. Everything is groomed to make YOU feel special. The personal egos (and mood) of the staff are subsumed within the larger identity of the company. It’s an immediate and enchanting effect.
Then the train pulls into the station and there’s an electrifying crackle of anticipation from all the gathered passengers. Local trains pulling into the station disgorge commuter passengers who pause or slow their stride to take notice of this spectacle of a bygone era: a platform of smartly dressed passengers making their way inside the Orient Express.
A tiny island 18 miles long by 9 miles wide with 7,000 years of human history crammed down on top of it in compressed layers. I had no idea how potent the history of the country is, and how vital a role it has played in so much history involving Europe and the Middle East since time immemorial – occupying a central position in the heart of the Mediterranean sea. It may as well be a floating fortress. A staging post for armies throughout history. From neolithic settlers who arrived 7,000 years ago from Sicily, to the Phoenicians with their “imperial” purple dye (20,000 Murex shells were needed for 1 gram of dye) and the Romans – with their Punic wars – and then the Muslims, the Knights of St John, the Normans, the French with Napoleon treating the Christian island like his own penny jar to raid to fund the campaign in Egypt, and then Nelson and the British. In general, the Maltese people are wonderfully friendly, hospitable and respectful. They go out of their way to make sure you’re having a lovely time and the price of things is reasonable, rather than being a tourist rip-off accompanied by cynical service. If you’ve not been to Malta before then I can’t recommend the place highly enough.
Strumble Head Lighthouse – evening view from remote cottage in Wales
The lighthouse was set dramatically against the night sky, a beam of light circling around it. This amazing sight sits a little over a mile from the cottage. It greeted me in the morning when I supped my first mug of coffee, and it enchanted me every night as I stood by the window, staring, supping wine and listening to “Montok Point” by William Orbit.
It was the Royal Diamond Jubilee celebration. Rented a cottage for the week. A fantastic place, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms (master en-suite) and an utterly cosy open plan living room, kitchen and breakfast bar (which became my study for the entire week). Strumble head occupies a rugged headland on the far west coast, a region called Pembrokeshire. Insanely beautiful coastline, cliffs, blue sea crashing on rocks, wild birds and seals. Most wonderful of all was a lighthouse, sitting on a fang of rock sitting out in the surging sea – a stubby metal mesh bridge connecting it to the mainland.
Welcome to England. Summer and it’s pissing down. This was back on Thursday last week. The longest day of the year. I’d wanted to be with family up in the arctic, celebrating with a bottle of whisky sitting in a rowing boat on a fjord under the magical glow of the Midnight Sun. However events here have kept me UK bound for the next few weeks. Plus I’m getting near the end of a new novel - The Black Lake – and writing within a momentum is important at this stage.
A couple of good friends of mine suggested a return to Clifton Lido, a shallow outdoor pool surrounded by grand Georgian houses in the hidden heart of Bristol’s upper echelons. Last time I went there was back in November when the temperature was close to zero oC – swimming with steam rising off your body (swimming under the stars & cocktails). And like then, this visit was superb. A visceral experience, where your bare body is subjected to the raw elements. In this case – sheets of chilly rain. However, it comes with the blissful escape clause of luxury sauna, steam room and jacuzzi placed within trotting distance of the pool, walls of thickened glass providing a two-way view of both worlds; the external elements and the internal comfort.
Back in May, whilst watching the Olympic flame being brought into Bristol, I struck up conversation with a young couple sitting beside me on the edge of the river; instant friendship. One of those moments when you just “know”. Later I took them to the Grain Barge and in that busy crowded place there was only one free table – a solitary bloke sitting there minding his own business. I asked if we could share the table and we promptly took over – and included him in the unfolding of new friendships. This was Jeff – and like the young couple – Chesney and Ginny – became instant and very close friends. One of the most wonderful things to have happened this year if I think about it.
This was the weekend I was furiously working towards the end of the new novel, The Black Lake. Fingers blurring over the keyboard all Saturday – using my Da Vinci method (polyphasic sleep) to keep spiking my brain with freshness. Come Saturday night – I was so near to finishing and yet just not there. Close but no cigar. In a remarkable example of how I’m managing to fight back against the internal beast that tries to covet all my time, I closed down the laptop – got dressed up and went out and joined friends for a night of fun. Freaking glad I did. Awesome night. Which is pretty much the standard for any time I’ve gone to the Big Chill Bar. People rocked up with great costumes and wide smiles.
If Pete had chosen to live anywhere else, it wouldn’t have been so weird to go back. But now I’m walking through the echoes of my deepest past.
I went “home” to Newcastle last week. I say home, but I’m faced by the reality that the place I grew up in, the house that was my family home for the past 31 years now has a locked door. It might sound a little dramatic but ever since I could remember – every time I came back to Newcastle, my experience of getting home has revolved around the same routine – a bus or plane ride to Newcastle, then the Metro to (W) Jesus Mound and then the walk through familiar streets that I’ve pounded since being 9 years old. And always ending at the same destination. Kosekroken. My dad died when I was 36. But I still went home. My mum died when I was 39 – but the house then belonged to us (children), and I still went back.
August. My mate bought a hot air balloon for his company. And it was making a debut here at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. He invited us to join him in the VIP area. Getting there we found ourselves wading through 300,000 people in a tightly cordoned area. Freaking intense – but finally made our way to the gated entrance where we were able to step past security, through into the wide open space of the central field where several dozen balloons where lying deflated – waiting for darkness to come. Great atmosphere – especially being able to lounge around nice tables in the comfort and space away from the massive crowds.
Once it was dark, the Night Glow begins. All the balloons inflate over 30 minutes or so and then abruptly the darkness is swept away by the roaring blast of burners lighting up the night. Magical. Especially being so close to the action. Although we soon got much closer.
Krakow invites you to walk its cobbled and paved streets. It is a walking city. The Old Market is a VAST open space surrounded by beautiful buildings and even the large clusters of bric-a-brac stalls doesn’t rob any notion of the space that’s available to you. The edges of lined by rows of chairs and tables beneath umbrellas. And unlike most cities where the local establishments try to rip you off for sitting somewhere nice, here you can sit and enjoy a drink and some nibbles from bright and friendly staff.
I have a friend called Jake. I met him in Bristol in 1997 when he was bouncing between worlds with his wife (of that period). I gave them a place to stay when they needed one. Eventually they would be the couple who gave me their bed for a week in Vancouver (2003). After 2003 I didn’t see Jake again until he came to visit me in Bristol in 2008, this time with a new partner (Mags); meanwhile he’s been through the many ups and downs that the journey of life can throw you through. Toronto and Berlin have seen him arrive and go. And now here he is, living in Krakow. So, in line with our tradition of seeing each other every 4 or 5 years, we hook up on my first night in Krakow. I walk down into the old Jewish quarter: Kazimierz. There’s a bar called Singer’s – every table is an old sewing machine. And later we’re eating the most amazing Russian dumplings at a place that has 28 different types of dumpling on the menu. I could have lived there.
Auschwitz. A deeply thought provoking place. Our guide got us inside and then left us to it. I cut loose and made my own route. What really got me was the built-up, almost urban structure of the place. Like the dormitories of some private school, or a government complex from the war era. But then you look at the twin rows of electrified barbed wire – enough juice to kill you, which is how some people ended their lives by just throwing themselves against the wires – and you visualise the thuggish guards with their sticks, machine guns and dogs. And so many people confined in this organised hell.
There’s a lot of contextual information placed there as you walk between and through the buildings. Auschwitz has become a museum. A record of human barbarism and atrocity in a time that is only yesterday. It is a beacon of warning to the new generations: may we never let it happen again.
Most chilling for me was the death wall. A courtyard between two blocks. A doorway in the side of one building (#11) led straight from the washroom out into the courtyard where people were summarily shot – or subjected to prolonged public torture. Black and white drawings, as large as life, give you a visual inkling of what it could have been like. But only a numb whiff of the true emotional horror.
It was my birthday the other day. I was trying to recall the last time I’d actually celebrated it – always away or “too busy” writing to bother. I think it was when I was 25.
So a last-minute text to a bunch of folks living in Bristol led to a fantastic night at the Grain Barge, an old boat moored up on the edge of the harbour loaded with smiles and the best local ales (Bristol Beer Factory) this side of the planet.
It was lovely to see disparate clusters of friends and new individuals come together in one place; many of them had never met each other before – only knowing me. So it was great to see new connections forming and conversations flowing. Fab cake from The Crew.
Everything changes <> My entire world seems to detonate – extreme personal trauma leads to acute insomnia
BOOM – Nothing Can Ever Be The Same Again
It started like just an ordinary day… new job – followed by decision to stop writing, which opened up deep hidden subconscious floodgates – fresh stress in the form of my parents house (£££) – going 5 days without sleep nearly drove me mad – a month later I went 10 days without sleep… and I did go mad. The horror show lasted from September right through into December.
Taormina – overlooking the sea as Vincent Brent would have done. Iconic image for me. Hope and dreams of the future.
Not Italy. That’s the way they view it. I was in Malta back in May. Toured around various archeological and city-based sites, hired guides, did the whole thing. Bloody amazing place. Getting back I was hungry for more of the same-same but different. Whilst visiting some of the neolithic temples on Malta the guide stated that the people who settled there 5,000 years ago came from Sicily. Bingo, great excuse to go there then. Booked the flights and accommodation near Agrigento and in the heart of Taormina.
Taormina was actually the primary reason for going to Sicily. I’ve never been there before in reality, but back in 1997 and again in 2004 I went there for a long period of time in my mind and imagination: I used the cliff-based town as a location for major scenes that take place in two novels, Dante’s Fool andIron Man Project. So I was super excited about the chance to finally go there in the flesh and walk in the footsteps of some of my favourite characters: Natalya Dorganskya, Vincent Brent and the ubiquitous Jean-Luc Korda.
Flew into Catania and caught a ride to just outside Agrigento. Not much happening there but it’s right next door to the Valley of the Temples and provided an opportunity to switch-off and chill out with a reasonable (and slightly random) hotel. Down-time was a big need, for taking a break from the punishing writing regime I’ve been under for several years.
I’m also delighted to find the Return of the Mood (my weird scrambled sensory phenomenon that occurs every few months).
Actor David Suchet (Hercule Poirot ) shakes hands with David J Rodger
Getting back to England the post-travel blues were swept away by a swift visit to Cheltenham where I got to enjoy an audience with the actor David Suchet, as he discussed his career to date, and the very special contribution he has made to the wonders of Agatha Christie. On the 15th October he’ll be starting filming of the very last Poirot story – roughly 23 days of filming; followed by filming of the previous and final four stories (The LeMesurier Inheritance is being bundled into The Labours of Hercules). Once completed, it will make David Suchet the only actor to have ever completed performances of every Poirot story in Christie’s canon of work. Something the man should be very proud of because he has done such a wonderful job of it. David Suchet is one of the few genuine heroes I hold in my mind. So it was an insane treat to be able to meet him at a little area later, shake his hand and share some words with him: I spoke about the Simplon Orient Express – his visible pleasure of being able to ride it to Venice, how I thought his performance in Murder on the Orient Express was sublime. The man is an absolute gentleman charmer – and a secret comedian. Very intelligent. Very witty. Fantastic to meet and talk to.
For hours later, I kept looking at my hand thinking… wow. I shook hands with Hercule Poirot.
New York – Freedom Tower Rises – Viewed from Staton Island Ferry
Against the backdrop of weeks of personal trauma and insomnia I take a trip to the great playground that is New York. It’s through this trip that I discover the core reason for the personal crash I’m going through is delayed grief over the death of my parents. Writing every hour I wasn’t working or asleep is what has kept this grief at bay for 3 (plus) years. I stopped writing in September – and VOOOMP – everything dark and painful bubbled up to the surface.
Despite this – the trip was good.
It was a Tuesday night, New York in late November – a chill wind blowing in off the river and my friends and I were hurrying from a rendezvous at Bryant Park, just behind New York Central Library, to meet another friend on 9th avenue. Fate had us trudging quickly along 38th Street between 5th and 6th avenues, racing to get to 9th. I pass this place and literally screech to a stop. Something about the interior, the design, the glimpse of the ambience registered on lots of levels. And then I saw the words: Chinese Dumplings. One of my favourite things.
As I stood there, gawping some random bloke walked past and called over to me, “Man! That place is AMAZING!” So…. a couple days later I return. This time not in a rush to meet anybody AND feeling rather peckish. The owner and I got talking and he just blew me away with his generous and energetic spirit. Great atmosphere. Great business. And GREAT food.
But those quibbles aside, The Black Lake was good fun: short, atmospheric and creepy. Having read tons of zombie novels, and horror novels, I’m surprised a publisher hasn’t snapped this one up, as it could definitely hold its own alongside more traditionally published genre material. If I had the time, I wouldn’t mind returning to check out some of Rodger’s other novels, set in the Yellow Dawn world.
If you’re the kind of person who considers the limit of board games to be Cluedo, Monopoly and maybe a little bit of Risk then hopefully this post will inspire you to check out and acquire (if you’re lucky enough to find a rare copy still available) a copy of what is, in my opinion, one of the most perfect games ever created.
Fury of Dracula was released in 1987 by Games Workshop following its creation by Stephen Hand. I purchased a copy in 1990 whilst living in Osbourne Avenue (Jesmond) in Newcastle Upon Tyne – I was 19 and enjoying the “perfect shared-house” experience. A blissful bubble period of my life that overlapped with the first few months of me starting out (rather wistfully and naively) to become an author of horror novels. That aside, the game came to dominate the sultry summer evenings of that year as my close friend Richy and I played session after session for weeks. To the point that whenever I see the lid of the box the game comes within, I’m always drawn back to potent memories of my small room within the eaves of the house and the garret window that overlooked the graveyard across the road – and the heat of those nights, despite the window being wide open. Candles burning. Spooky music playing. Perfect atmosphere for this game of gothic adventure.
A fantastic Christmas and New Year period – one of the best ever <> a period of healing and a gradual return to writing since I stopped in September
Christmas 2012 – photo by David J Rodger – All Rights Reserved
It wasn’t the kind of Christmas I normally have – but it was still perfect, for so many reasons. Friends and the comfort of another person’s family; warmth, people; Cluedo and Dominion; roast gammon victory.
Fury of Dracula (1987) being played in Bristol Grain Barge in 2012 – Pete struggles to find the Dracula character
If you’re the kind of person who considers the limit of board games to be Cluedo, Monopoly and maybe a little bit of Risk then hopefully this post will inspire you to check out and acquire (if you’re lucky enough to find a rare copy still available) a copy of what is, in my opinion, one of the most perfect games ever created.
Fury of Dracula was released in 1987 by Games Workshop following its creation by Stephen Hand. I purchased a copy in 1990 whilst living in Osbourne Avenue (Jesmond) in Newcastle Upon Tyne – I was 19 and enjoying the “perfect shared-house” experience. A blissful bubble period of my life that overlapped with the first few months of me starting out (rather wistfully and naively) to become an author of horror novels. That aside, the game came to dominate the sultry summer evenings of that year as my close friend Richy and I played session after session for weeks. To the point that whenever I see the lid of the box the game comes within, I’m always drawn back to potent memories of my small room within the eaves of the house and the garret window that overlooked the graveyard across the road – and the heat of those nights, despite the window being wide open. Candles burning. Spooky music playing. Perfect atmosphere for this game of gothic adventure.
When I moved to Bristol at the end of 1991 I somehow lost hold of the game. It vanished from my life until 2006, sitting in the kitchen of my good friend Richy (we’ve known each other since we were both 6) I reminisced about those halcyon weeks of the summer of 1990 and the game. He looked at me for a moment, suppressed a smile and then left the room. When he came back downstairs he was holding something behind his back. He handed me the copy of my game I’d left at his place 15 years earlier.
I was delighted. And this random rediscovery after so much time led to another moment of synchronicity. A bloke called Pete who up until this point was just some “older dude” who lived next door to my parents, rapidly became a wonderful and very close friend of mine; because 2006 was the year I went home for a week and stayed 3 months. During that time I got him hooked on my “new” game. He readily admits that before playing Fury of Dracula he hated board games. But this one is different. Every game is interesting and different. It’s you, versus the player running Dracula. And that leads to a lot of psychology, bluffing and tactics based on flushing out the deceptions of the Dracula player. This is because the Dracula player has a separate board, concealed behind a screen, where (he) gets to move around in secret. The hunter players have to traverse Europe by train and road or sea looking for signs of Dracula passing, lock onto them as clues and then track the creature down through sheer cunning with a good dose of luck. Without putting too fine a point on it, it’s bloody brilliant.
Fury of Dracula (1987) gothic board game with painted Call of Cthulhu investigator figures used as pieces
Six years later, Pete is still hooked – and every time we get together, whether it be me visiting him up North in Newcastle or him making the trek down here to Bristol, we always manage to find time for a game.
Recently, we broke away from the confines of my house and took the game to my favourite “local” pub the Grain Barge. It’s about 4 miles from my house so far from local but it’s such a damned fine place to spend time it makes the trek always worth it.
We found a large table. Ordered in large coffees and got on with it.
The world of reality faded as we sank into the gothic period and took turns playing the Dracula character, hunting and being hunted, across Europe. Looking for clues. Searching for signs of the vile creature that is Dracula before he can lay down his vampires and win.
The expansion pack I wrote contains two new characters: I used painted lead figures of investigators for Call of Cthulhu as character pieces; also new event cards and encounter chits which you make yourself with squares of cardboard. All very easy and very worthwhile.
They released an updated version of Fury of Dracula in 2006. Avoid this at all costs. It has none of the charm of the original; the quality of the production is rubbish – and the new version removes most of the pleasure of being the Dracula character.
Go on Ebay or wherever and find yourself a copy of the original 1987 version.
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Fury of Dracula (1987) Limited Edition boxed set
Taking this game to a pub (with a large table) with the right kind of atmosphere – with punters who are open-minded enough to look on with curiosity, rather than responding with stupid sarcastic grins – was really satisfying. We had access to strong coffee – and later, to the amazing local ales produced by Bristol Beer Factory and the “Willy Wonka” pies that the Grain Barge serve up with mash and gravy. FAB.
I had the pleasure of meeting Joonipah aka Johnny Phethean one night last weekend, whilst up in the not-so-frozen lands of the North of England; Newcastle upon Tyne. A friend told me he’d had some of his work played on Radio 1. A late night mix. Johnny, naturally gracious and unassuming about his work, said he’d been half-asleep when it came on and thought it might have been part of a dream. Until he finally sparked fully awake and realised reality had kissed him on the lips with the bliss of good fortune.
Any artist, regardless of covert demeanour, craves the acknowledgement of their talent by peers.
Johnny Phethean is one of those creative chaps that deserves such positive peerage.
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Joonipah aka Johnny Phethean & Zico MC Serenity – Image via Hogg On The Tyne
DJR: Hello Johnny Phethean. Thanks for taking time out to pen some words here. Where do you see yourself “at” right now? In the scheme of putting together tracks and getting yourself out there. Look in the proverbial mirror: tell us what you see.
Hi David, thanks for taking the time to ask me.
I see myself at a stage where I’m starting to understand my own sound & style. I think I’ve done a lot of experimenting up until now, which I still do, but I’m getting more comfortable in the way I work & write music. I don’t want to settle anytime soon though, I’ve still got much further to go in terms of production & experimenting with different techniques, hardware & software etc. but I’m gradually getting more music out and listened to at the moment, which I’m really proud of, and I’m just going to see how things go from here really.
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DJR: what got you to where you are?
Just enjoying music making as a hobby to start out with. I’ve always had my friends & family pushing my music, then as I got better & started networking and meeting other local DJs & promoters I’ve been given support & confidence to keep going further.
Local netlabel co-owner Tim Shaw (Triptik Records) really pushed my music to a lot of places and I was getting positive feedback from names like James Blake, Toddla T, MJ Cole, Meat Katie etc. then when my vinyl EP came out in June with London label Nixwax, I was getting support from others like Mosca, Alex Coulton and South London Ordnance.
So, I think a mixture of persistence and just general support has got me where I am, which I’m really grateful for.
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DJR: Where do you want to get to? What is your next milestone in your minds-eye for success / progression / development?
I haven’t got a particular goal in mind really, other than to keep going in the same direction, develop & broaden my skills and do as many gigs as I can! I eventually want to get a career going in sound design/recording, and I think this will be a good bridge into it.
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DJR: What do you need to do to achieve this? Blending into what advice can you give others who might be following the same path as you?
As I said before, persistence & promo. I’m not very good at self-promotion, but going out, networking and sharing music is the best way to get your stuff out to as many people as possible. If your music is good, you’ll eventually get somewhere with it.
Luckily I have a good network of friends in Newcastle who are all involved in the music scene in some way or another, either by promoting, producing, DJing or building sound systems. I’m proud to be part of it.
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DJR: Linking into what you want to achieve, why do you want this? What’s driving you – and, what is your inspiration? Other artists? Another lifestyle?
I think it’s just something that runs in the family, we’re all pretty musical. Music has been a big part of my life from a young age, and I wasn’t that great at school so I just decided it’s what I want to do, and all the support I’ve had so far is just pushing me further in the same direction.
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DJR: Are you all about cross-genre House or do you have a guilty pleasure in music? John Denver is not a valid answer.
I’m into all sorts, as far as DJing goes it usually revolves around the 130bpm mark. It’s a mixture of house, techno, garage, funky house and all the gaps in between, it all falls under the sort of ‘Bass music’ label that’s come about recently.
In terms of just regular listening music, I listen to a wide range of stuff. Boards of Canada, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Blur, Radiohead Bonobo, Flying Lotus, Gorillaz etc. are a few I listen to on a regular basis. Real guilty ones though would probably be something terrible like Craig David or Eiffel 65. Good because they’re crap.
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DJR: What has been your biggest challenge to date?
This question
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DJR: In your mind and gut, what is the future of the dance and clubbing scene? And is there a big new thing brewing in the wake of dubstep yet?
It’s hard to tell what the future will be, there’s definitely loads going on. There’s enough variation going on I think for things to stay interesting for a long time. A lot of DJs are experimenting with live stuff now too, which is really exciting and something I might get involved with soon when time and money will allow it. I’m just going to try and keep experimenting with lots of different genres, styles and tempos so I don’t get boring.
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DJR: What’s coming up in your world that you’d like to shout about? Any links, events, promos you would like to share with the folks who look at this blog every month?
Yeah the usual spam… my debut vinyl EP is available from http://www.nixwax.co.uk/Shop but they’re running out so get one soon! I’ll also have my slow house track ‘Yellow & Red’ coming out soon on a vinyl compilation on Well Rounded records, so look out for that. As for gigs, the summer’s looking a bit slow, but I’m playing a night in London called CHURCH in August alongside Bok Bok, Dusky, Deadboy, Fort Romeau, Ossie and GoldFFinch. Also check my radio show every other Sunday atuStream.com/channel/joonipah the next one will be Sunday the 22nd July. Other than that keep an eye on my soundcloud for new tunes!
15:56 GMT, Christmas Day. Arctic winds are gusting around the house, making the whole roof above my head creak and groan ominously. I’m on my own now since everyone left this morning to go do the English thing with their families. I celebrate Christmas Eve. Last night Oj and I were joined by Sharky – who’s come over from Spain and by Miss Scarlet; both long time friends, officially part of the Fellowship and so by definition great people to spend time with.
I cooked up an absolute feast.
One long, whole fillet of salmon, stuffed with fresh crabmeat, folded over and oven roasted.
Sprouts mixed with onions caramelised with dark muscat sugar and fennel seeds, and a syrupy sauce made from a broth and herb reduction.
Rice in a zesty, cherry-tomato and broth, with cumin, chilli, thyme and freshly squeezed lemon juice
Baby charlotte potatoes tossed in butter and olive oil, glazed with marmite and oven roasted until golden brown.
Eggs, oven roasted in espresso cups with a fresh basil leaf and sliced anchovies to give it a salty taste; tip upside down to extract from cup and serve.
It came close to disaster at one point, but I’d already warned Oj and Sharky to expect a lot of shouting and swearing as I banged around the kitchen, furious that my timing was off and certain things were not reaching the state of being ready along with everything else.
Never mind, several large guzzles of red wine smoothed down my feathers.
The wine was a 2001, bought by Sharky and brought over from Spain to symbolise the 10 years he’s been joining me and my family for Christmas.
A bitter-sweet thought; parents are now dead and the traditional journey to the North, of being at Jesus Mound for Christmas, as per the past 31 years, is no longer possible.
It’s at this time of year that such realities come crashing down on you. Most of the year you can keep busy enough not to really think about it, but Christmas is a socially enforced phenomenon, a massive pause button pressed down on the track called LIFE. It’s now that you stop and look around and really feel what’s missing.
But last night for the most part I was wrapped up in the joy of cooking and the bliss of great friends and the lady of my world, Oj.
Early in the afternoon I’d chopped up a ton of wood and built up a roaring log fire in the lounge; cast-iron wood burner with ornate wrought glass facade… by time the evening swung round, we could turn the heating off in the main house and enjoy the heat radiating through the furnace orange glow. There’s something so primal sitting with people in front of flickering firelight. Ameretto sours in hand. Strong black coffee and a black forest buche from Heston Blumenthal for desert. OMG! Yum-city.
Eventually, long past midnight, we began to drift-off, slumped on sofas, wrapped in layers of thermal radiance.
Lovely.
Today’s been a little difficult. Everyone left to go do their family thing and I drove into the city in my rocket, roof down despite the arctic winds, big fluffy Russian tank hat flapping about my head; I did the harbour walk but my mind was in Newcastle. For the past 20 years since I moved to Bristol, Newcastle was the place I always went back to for the holidays, the place I considered home.
So I walked around the Bristol harbour and thought about Jesus Mound, the Dene, Lord Armstrong’s Banqueting hall and horse-shoe bridges made of sandstone crossing the river down there; of the handsome tower of St George’s church, based on St Mark’s Campanile in Venice and the inspiration of the incredibly atmospheric and eerie Cthulhu Mythos (Lovecraft) short story, Corrupt Moon; of Acorn Road and Osbourne Avenue; the city centre walk and the tour I’d always do of all my old haunts along the way. Memories and nostalgia swirling through my mind and my heart.
Tynemouth Pier hit by a huge wave - I come here every time I go back to Newcastle. Great to walk right out into the moody ocean, exposed to howling winds and the smell of brine
The house I grew up in - winter forest scene beyond windows
Tower of St George's Church in Jesus Mound - based on St Mark's Campanile in Venice and inspiration for the atmospheric and eerie short story: Corrupt Moon
Jesmond Dene the waterfall and bridge by the old mill: a place I often go to, standing with one leg resting on the wall, leaning forward, gazing at the thundering water.
David J Rodger at Tynemouth
My friend Big Pete and myself both lost our parents that year, so we drank whisky and lit a huge bonfire to remember the dead
Jesmond Dene view from Lord Armstrong's banquet hall - location of Iron Man Project
Jesus Mound, the Dene, has been an incredible shaping influence on my imagination. The dark and eerie woods behind my parents house at night, the view from my old bedroom window, and the alternative, uplifting, majestic atmosphere of the place during daylight hours. Also the location of several key scenes in the action-packed sci-fi (cyberpunk) novel, Iron Man Project – including a renovated version of Lord Armstrong’s Banquet Hall.
Back home, I’m now settling down to a few days on my own. I’ve got the overhaul of Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur (2.1) to keep me company, currently working my way through the chapter on the Occult and Cthulhu Mythos. I’ve got a stack of H.P.Lovecraft audio stories lined up on my MP3 player to entertain me through my 15 minute power naps whilst I push on using polyphasic sleep patterns (my da Vinci technique). My company closes down over Christmas and New Year so I’m not due to return to reality until 3rd Jan. I’m suspecting Oj will return in a few days to find me wild-eyed, hairy and dressed in crumpled house-clothes and my Starsky cardigan.
The fridge is stacked with great food. I’ve got enough whisky to see me through several nights of chilling out with Skyrim, Sherlock Holmes and Poirot.
All in all, a great place and mental space to be in.
Superb little review of God Seed, a sci-fi & dark fantasy novel that blends Cyberpunk with the Cthulhu Mythos
Available in paperback, kindle and iBook
Just spotted this wee review on Amazon. Very pleased.
A really entertaining read but not for the faint-hearted.
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This novel moves along at a fast pace, crossing genres from crime/political thriller to sci-fi and full blown horror… My heart thumped as, halfway through a gory scene, an electric power cut plunged me into pitch blackness and I scrambled to find a torch wondering what might be lurking in the dark… You’re constantly kept guessing as you follow the main characters on their global journey to the final destination. A really entertaining read but not for the faint-hearted.
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Social trends and game play: pervasive gaming – the next techno bubble or just an emerging snowball from the 1980s?
Language evolves and with it the meaning of certain words and phrases. Around the mid-noughties a number of techno boffins were alluding to the concept of pervasive gaming.
Pervasive gaming is one where the participant is within their normal environment but also within the game; it’s an overlap of fantasy and reality, the former sitting as a layer above the latter.
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The boffins talk from the point of view of game-play that is enabled and augmented by digital devices, wireless networks, GPS location, image capture to allow re-rendering of reality. They categorise pervasive games in terms of “acting out classic computer games” or “stimulating social interaction and role-play between real people”. More recently with the explosive growth in mobile-apps and augmented reality, there is a new frontier for getting people to run around…whilst looking at some kind of screen.
So that’s pervasive gaming. But I feel there’s a significant omission from this description, and it’s an interesting one because I wonder (and hope) that it signifies a backlash against the rising tide of overwhelmingly smart technology that wants to batter our nascent imaginations into submission, making us nothing more than passive “zombies” hooked into primal responses of our reptilian brainstem.
Ubiquitous computing and mobile network technologies have fueled a recent proliferation of opportunities for digitally-enabled play in everyday spaces. In this paper, I examine how players negotiate the boundary between these pervasive games and real life. I trace the emergence of what I call “the Pinocchio effect” – the desire for a game to be transformed into real life, or conversely, for everyday life to be transformed into a “real little game.” Focusing on two examples of pervasive play – the 2001 immersive game known as the Beast, and the Go Game, an ongoing urban superhero game — I argue that gamers maximize their play experience by performing belief, rather than actually believing, in the permeability of the game-reality boundary.
- Jane McGonigal
The key statements here are “the desire for a game [to transfer] into real life” and “maximise their [...] experience by [acting that they believe] rather than actually believing”.
I can relate to both of these in respect to thirty years experience with tabletop RPG and some poignant personal moments in the kind of games some people call live-action, but I think should be included within the fold of “pervasive gaming”.
Role-playing dice
With tabletop RPG, when you get a good GM, every player experiences a state of detached hyper-reality. It’s more than the suspension of disbelief. It’s an overlay, built by your imagination as it feeds off the narrative descriptions and hooks provided by the GM. In reality you might all be sitting around a table in a cold and draughty house, with sheets of paper, stacks of pencils and a boxes of fantastically shaped dice (pyramids, dodecahedrons, decahedrons), but in your mind… you’re wherever the GM is describing. And more than that, you experience vivid visuals, heightened emotional states of trauma, stress, horror and exhilaration. To the point that the fictional experience can embed itself in your memory as deeply as a real-life episode. This is highlighted when old gamers get together and start recollecting scenarios they played together, five, ten or even twenty or more years ago, and the quality of recall is identical to talking about any profound incident that has occurred in life. When was the last time you were able to talk about a session on an X-box or PS3 with much clarity, especially a decade or more after the event?
The imagination is king. When fused with a heightened emotional context and the willingness to surrender to the fantasy fiction, there is no greater game playing experience.
Tabletop RPG’s include the classics such as Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Gamma World, Bushido, Warhammer, and Delta Green, followed by a cascading series of spin-offs and “Hollywood style” genres. It’s a fantastic realm to get involved in but this isn’t what I consider to be part of the pervasive gaming revolution (or evolution).
A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by a producer for a German-French TV show called Tracks. A lot of the conversation was focussed on the exciting, and still rather new, street-based game called 2.8 Hours Later. I’d taken part in the one run in May 2011, in Bristol: a whole night of joining 300 or so people running around the city trying to reach safe-zones, whilst avoiding the scores of zombies that were lurking around the place. It was an utterly mind-boggling experience. The city was the game board. And going back to the key points stated by Jane McGonigal, all of the players were willing to believe in the altered version of reality described to them. Not presented visually through some fancy techno gimmick. Just some written words and some very good acting by the folks enforcing the narrative backdrop. It didn’t matter that Jo Public was walking around unaware and unresponsive to the zombie threat. It didn’t ruin the fictional reality that queues of late-night weekend revellers were standing around watching us running past as if our lives depended on moving as fast as possible: which inside of our heads, that was the truth.
During the interview the producer referred to this as pervasive gaming. And it struck a chord with me. Yes, it is pervasive.
The forefather of pervasive gaming
I was also intrigued that she didn’t know anything about the game that sowed the seeds for all of this: Killer, by Steve Jackson, first published in 1982.
I ran my first session of Killer in 1987 whilst at 6th-form college, doing my A’Levels. It was fun. Teenagers in cars staking out houses or carrying out executions with water pistols. Things went a bit serious and wrong in 1989 when I decided to expand the game by advertising for players. I ended up with about sixty people taking part, most of whom I didn’t know. 1989 there were no widely available mobile phones (reserved for yuppies), there was no Internet (at least not on the global mass-communication level we recognise today). I had Polaroid photos of players stuck to sheets of paper that contained details of where a person lived, where they worked and other facts required by any would-be assassin. Come Saturday morning these players received a package in the post, containing one such sheet of paper with the identity of somebody they had to go out and “kill”. Typically, because of the wide spectrum of players, most people didn’t know each other. This wasn’t a college game with familiar faces. This was stranger on stranger.
The first sign that things were going awry was when I saw a breaking story on the local news about a young man being abducted on a high street by masked men who bundled him into a car at gunpoint, and reportedly shot him point-blank before driving off with him inside the car screaming.
The “Killers” rang me that night, delighted with what they’d done. The young man was perfectly alright. In fact, they’d all gone for drinks afterwards. But I wasn’t so sure about the members of public who maybe thought they’d witnessed a murder.
There was an almost movie-like moment as I looked at the phone in my hand and then at the TV running the news report and I thought: Oh My God, What Have I Done?
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Things went from bad to worse, including a part of Newcastle’s city centre being closed down whilst armed police laid siege to a building containing a bunch of players who the police thought were shooters for the East End drug gangs.
Luckily, nobody got shot (for real).
I never ran another game of Killer in Newcastle.
Looking back now I can see that all of those players had willingly surrendered to the fictional reality. They stopped living by the rules of normal society and instead became assassins. They carried concealed weapons in public places; they broke into strangers houses and set traps (alarm clocks in cardboard boxes) or set people on fire (wrapped a victim in orange crepe paper whilst he slept in his bed).
Pervasive in the extreme.
This kind of game simply couldn’t (and shouldn’t) happen in today’s surveillance society; or at least the rules should be more robustly defined: weapons are things with bright colours that look like toys. Scaring the heck out of the public is not allowed.
So the fact that something like 2.8 Hours Later has emerged onto the scene and is rapidly becoming a phenomenon says several things:
SlingShot, who produce the 2.8 Hour Later events have done a remarkable job at organising and liaising with the powers that be.
A growing number of people are becoming interested in the act of play, without technology imposing itself.
Perhaps I’m being naive but I’d love to see a resurgence in the playing of board games, maybe even a renaissance in the realm of tabletop RPG (vested interest as I’ve published one).
Another strand of gaming that fits neatly into the pervasive fold is Alternate Reality. This concept is wonderfully demonstrated in the 1997 movie “The Game” with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. Nine Inch Nails used AR to promote a series of music releases and art/society concepts during the late noughties (clues leading to a rendezvous where people were abducted by “fake” police in riot gear and finally desposited at a secret location for a private gig with NIN in front of them). Check out the antics of Entertainment 42 for more info.
And even if these street-based games as run by SlingShot and IGFest do start to insert technology into the fabric of play, the concept of pervasive gaming is definitely growing and projecting an exciting facade of being something new, despite having roots stretching back decades.
David J Rodger
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the world of Yellow Dawn.
Rodger’s novels often combine high-tech intrigue and political/corporate machinations with elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, as created by H.P. Lovecraft. Rodger’s contributions to the Mythos include the creation of a new Great Old One in his novel Edge, and the use of the Outer God Nyarlathotep in the novel God Seed.
Rodger spent 8 years working for a non-departmental government agency, developing a virtual communications service within the IT Division, before moving into commercial project management for a UK media company. In 2000 Rodger’s presence on the Internet got him a place in the BBC documentary Through The Eyes of the Young, directed by Chris Terrill. Rodger now lives in Bristol, England, with a Braun coffee-maker, writing from a house on a hill with a view of Earth’s curve.
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Relevant Links:
IGFEST: A festival of interesting games you play in the street – click
Wikipedia page for Killer type gaming (Assassin) – click
Official webpage for Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur: a post-apocalyptic RPG that blends the cosmic horror of H.P.Lovecraft’s Mythos and the near future action-adventure of the Cyberpunk genre – click
Cubicle 7 – an independent source of new RPGs and collateral – click
UK Role Players – website with excellent online community – click
Social trends and game play: pervasive gaming – the next techno bubble or just an emerging snowball from the 1980s? wp.me/pTAKk-1MV— David Rodger (@davidjrodger) September 18, 2011
5 Star Review on Amazon for Edge, a sci-fi & dark fantasy novel that blends Cyberpunk with the Cthulhu Mythos
Available in paperback, kindle and iBook
Just caught wind of an excellent review on Amazon. Very pleased.
A great read with Cthulhu mythos flavour.
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“Edge is a great book. It’s got an epic mountain setting and brings strong characters with interesting back-stories together to face some very bad things. The sci-fi aspects are blended into everyday use with the exception of a technology that an unscrupulous and delightful maggot of a man is trying to get his hands on. People die. Some die much worse than others. There is gore but not slasher style and with a lean on genuine creeping horror. Something is bad on that mountain and I highly recommend you find out what!”
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
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5 Star Review on Amazon for Edge, a sci-fi & dark fantasy novel that blends Cyberpunk with the Cthulhu Mythos wp.me/pTAKk-1Iy— David Rodger (@davidjrodger) September 14, 2011
Some fan feedback about the cyberpunk horror short story, Oracle.
Subject: Re: Oracle
From: tad.xxxxx@gmail.com
To: cl0venfeet(at)hotmail.com
Ok, the first paragraph totally snagged me. This is pure old school Cyberpunk vibe, [...]. Ohh yes, wish you had been in the Chat back when it was hopping, they all would have raved about you.
This one I want to give you money for, based on the first paragraph, because it just sits ‘right’ in my view of good reading.
The landscape and setting deserves a ton of expansion and edification and made available to everyone that loves to read Cyberpunk.
Time to read more, fanboy gushing turned off for now…
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You can download the story immediately or have a printed copy shipped to any address.
Short story (4,300 words) Cyberpunk Horror. A corporate head hunter plans a lucrative extraction job, assisted by an mysterious neural implant he has no memory of receiving. Meanwhile another kind of hunt is taking place – where a man acts upon a violent and disturbing urge. Somewhere, within this fusion of damaged synapses and scarred nerve endings, there is a link. Oracle knows. Oracle sees. Oracle is the question mark and the key. WARNING: contains scenes of a graphic and disturbing nature. .
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Join my Facebook Page & get this short story free!
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; grab free review copies of short stories when I put out invites and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free. Plus I’m giving away a free short story to every fan. What’s not to Like. :o)
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David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Lovecraft brought screaming and thrashing into the 21st Century!
David Rodger has created a World where Lovecraft’s mythos enters the near future. This, one of [...] novels that he has set in a Gibsonesque environ, is a fulfilling piece of sci-fi horror, something that he evokes well. You can see the inspiration of Alien, beefed up with some Andy McNab-style action. The narrative sometimes sacrifices depth for pace, but is ultimately a fulfilling read. If you like Philip K Dick, or indeed William Gibson, and enjoyed some of Lovecraft’s genre, this will definitely appeal.
- S R Pyne, Bristol
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View this on Amazon
Dante’s Fool
“An outstanding blend of crime, terror and technology”
I’m starting to pick up your style now. When you’re halfway through the book, what you are guessing as the end, is way off! When you think its done, there is more. Really hard to guess whats next even. Kept me reading until 5am!
The main characters are wonderfully described and you really get under their skin.
It’s a wonderful story with the typical unexpected turns. It’s not the usual pulpy Mythos story either, it’s subtle and mature affair. I can really recommend this book for everyone, especially Stephen King, Cthulhu and cyberpunk fans.
I’d go as far to say it’s the best Sci Fi horror I’ve read in ten years. I can’t think of anything that beats it in terms of action, the innovative ideas per page quota is off the chain, the characters are deep and real. Drobna is the best anti-hero in the genre. A total bad ass, he makes Mad Max look like Stephen Fry.
Got Kindle? Get sci-fi & dark fiction, cyberpunk horror or post-apocalyptic novels by David J Rodger for £2.90 http://wp.me/pTAKk-1jF— David Rodger (@davidjrodger) June 22, 2011
Yet more great news. EDGE, one of my science fiction & dark fantasy novels, is now available as an iBook via the iTunes store. And for those traditionalists out there – you can still order a paperback, on demand, and recieve a professional book store quality edition delivered to just about any postal address in the world.
For Kindle users will have to wait a little longer, I’m afraid. Coming soon, though.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
EDGE { novel } In the near future, the inventor of a revolutionary new technology is close to burn out as he pushes his creation to the next level. Desperate for a break, with his personal life close to total atrophy, he grabs an opportunity to go snowboarding in New Zealand, thinking it will refresh his mind and spirit.
But a malign and alien force is oozing back into our reality, squirming across untold cosmic distances, crawling through foul dimensions of madness beyond our perception; sentient, older than humankind and growing strong as it emerges after centuries of absence.
Zen Dow snowboarding and ski resort, perched in the foothills of the volcanic mountain Ruapehu, is about to experience mind-shredding consequences as one of the Great Old Ones returns, radiating a malevolent and corruptive energy.
On the other side of the world, an unscrupulous concept scout is witness to a shocking murder; sensing an opportunity, he scrambles onto the trail of a new technology that has vanished from the corporate R&D labs, and the scientist in charge. Quickly out of his depth, it becomes a race to track down the missing components and the person responsible, before competing corporate agents capture and kill him.
David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of an extreme reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that blends corporate espionage, with a creeping, spine-chilling horror.
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Join my Facebook Page & get a free short story
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; win free stuff when I run regular give-aways, and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free. What’s not to “like”.
More great news. Dante’s Fool, one of my science fiction & dark fantasy novels, is now available as an iBook via the iTunes store. And for those traditionalists out there – you can still order a paperback, on demand, and recieve a professional book store quality edition delivered to just about any postal address in the world.
For Kindle users will have to wait a little longer, I’m afraid. Coming soon, though.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
Dante’s Fool { novel } London, the near future, a courier who’s just descended from orbit is intercepted by armed-robbers on a busy motorway. The robbers get away with the package but it’s not what they expected and leads to an enigmatic deep-space mining corporation hunting them down, with brutal consequences. Also tracking them down is a hard-nosed Detective Sergeant from the Metropolitan Serious Crimes Division. The case lands in his lap when the police computer system concludes there is a link between the robbery and an on-going case he’s investigating: the ritualistic mutilation and murder of men and woman by perpetrators who appear to be fulfilling some kind of occult ceremony.
What happens next is a journey through a personal Hell, as the Detective discovers there are forces out there that will do anything to see him fail, and entities that exist beyond the ordinary planes of mundane reality. He doesn’t just have to fight to succeed and survive; he has to risk his very soul. Shocking revelations follow betrayal and bloodshed. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Within this hunt, one woman becomes the focus: the daughter of a wealthy movie industry icon who has long turned to designer drugs and crime. She becomes the key to unlocking the biggest secret of all. The identity and motives behind a seemingly god-like computer hacker: Dante.
David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of harsh reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a novel that focuses an uncomfortable light on the demonic entities that cling to our indulgent existence – and their bonds with the nameless Outer Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos.
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Join my Facebook Page & get a free short story
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; win free stuff when I run regular give-aways, and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free. What’s not to “like”.
Great news. God Seed, one of my science fiction & dark fantasy novels, is now available as a digital edition. You can purchase it as an Ebook (epub) through LULU or as an iBook via the iTunes store. And for those traditionalists out there – you can still order a physical print, on demand, and recieve a professional book store quality edition delivered to just about any postal address in the world.
For Kindle users will have to wait a little longer, I’m afraid. Coming soon, though.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
God Seed { novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond.
Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder.
David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.
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David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
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God Seed – science fiction & dark fantasy novel – now available as a digital edition http://wp.me/pTAKk-1fV— David Rodger (@davidjrodger) June 11, 2011
So I’m browsing the ‘net and I see that one of my favourite movies is on. The ‘Burbs. Tom Hanks 1989. Mock spooky comedy classic. I love this film. But it reminds me of a moment in my life that took place one summer, in Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) in 2007.
I was up North spending a few weeks with my family and writing.
This photo is Les, my mum’s neighbour.
I came home one night, poured a drink and threw myself down onto the comfortable sofa in the snug. Flicked on the TV and found The ‘Burbs was on. One of my favourite flicks to watch on repeat. I was chuckling away at Tom Hanks looking down from his bedroom window, watching his neighbours, the Klopeks, out in the pouring rain with lanterns, hacking away at their garden with shovels, as if digging up a grave…
… the commercial break comes on and I shuffle through to the kitchen for a refill. Outside the rain is still hammering down. Something catches my eye. A flickering light, coming from near the bottom of next door’s garden (Les’ side). I squinted through my own reflection in the window but couldn’t see a thing. I turned off the kitchen lights and could now clearly see the flickering glow of…a lantern, and what looked like a figure out there in the rain. Eh? What?
I hurried upstairs, cracked open the window and took a better look. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Almost an exact duplicate of the scene on the television a few minutes earlier… one man, dressed in a heavy coat slick and glistening with rain, standing near an electric lantern, weilding a shovel and digging up the earth.
There was Les, the neighbour, digging something up out of the earth…he’d reached a point where he’d cleared away the top layer of soil and was now carefully scraping away the deeper soil so as not to damage whatever was down there. The features of his face were creased with concentration, there was an urgency and desperation in his expression.
I couldn’t believe this.
Will the real Mr Klopeck please come forward?
And then I thought… hmm, I’ve not seen his wife or his daughter for a few days. Which was unusual.
I hurried downstairs, pulled on my boots and a raincoat and headed out into the back garden… Les didn’t hear me approach because of the rain, so when I muttered BOO right behind him the guy shrieked like a girl and nearly expired from a heart attack on the spot. The shovel that had been in his hand ended up about two metres away as his whole body convulsed in shock. I was in a humerous mood but also slightly wary I was about to discover the nice-bloke-who-lives-next-door was digging up some forgotten relic…or worse?
At that moment, a door in the back of Les’ house opened up and a large stocky man started striding towards us. What the fek? Who was this?
As the large men stepped into the lantern light I saw his face was scrunched up with some painful emotion.
Oh my God…
I stepped away respectfully as the man dropped down onto his knees next to the hole, and started gently clearing away the last of the rain-sodden earth with his finger… his shoulders shuddering with quiet sobs.
Then the bloke reached into the shallow pit and pulled out a big dead… rabbit.
Turns out Les had agreed to look after this man’s most treasured pet a few days earlier. Unfortunately for Les, the rabbit had caught some kind of virus and died. Les felt terrible, especially with it dying on his watch. When the man had returned from his trip and found out Les had done the decent thing, and buried it, the man demanded to have the body of his bunny back. Apparently the man knows a taxidermist.
So the bloke took the rabbit corpse away and apparently it now sits on his desk, stuffed, one ear slightly crooked.
Bizarre, eh?
Life is surely stranger than fiction sometimes, I swear.
New Release: Killing Candy, cyberpunk horror short story download written by sci-fi & dark fantasy author, David J Rodger.
This story is based on an actual real-life, bizarre and somewhat disturbing encounter I had in a cafe in Newcastle back in the 1990s. Boy meets girl. Girl has friend. Friend has secret desires and strange interests. Everything goes weird.
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You can download the story immediately or have a printed copy shipped to any address.
Short story. (Sci-fi & dark fantasy; 4,500 words).
It’s not strangers you should worry about. It’s their friends. .
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; grab free review copies of short stories when I put out invites and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free.
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David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
New Release: Dilemma, science-fiction short story.
Strange as it may seem, the root inspiration behind this short story is the amazing film Glengarry Glen Ross, very non-science fiction, about a small group of sales reps bickering in a “closed set” environment. I thought it would be great to try and recreate that nerve-snapping tension – but aboard a cramped space vessel with a major malfunction forcing the commander into a very tough decision of life and death. I really like this story and I hope you do too.
Short story. (6,700 words) Science fiction. A tense and fast-paced plot that plunges into the heart of our fear of the ‘monsters’ we make to serve us. Biological intolerance clashes with the vain attempt to rationalise cold-blooded murder.
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You can download the story immediately or have a printed copy shipped to any address. If you’re checking this out before 15th Feb then you can score at 15% discount on this short story (and all my work) via my publisher’s current discount offer.
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; grab free review copies of short stories when I put out invites and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free.
.
David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
This is an experimental piece with a different narrative style to my usual. Strong influence from narrative monologue method used in the incredible film Pi by Darren Aronofsky. I’m very pleased with the result and judging by feedback from reviewers it’s struck a good chord. You can download the story immediately or have a printed copy shipped to any address.
Short story. (3,800 words) Speculative fiction. A man contemplates the world around him, taking seemingly meticulous notes of certain random but repeating events. Can he influence the world through such observations? And to what end? When unseen things are scratching at the doors of perception.
This one just draws you into the spiralling towards madness, subtle and brilliant. – Sammi R, Arizona
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David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Short story (5,000 words). A bunch of BASE jumpers travel to a remote rural location to enjoy an illicit exit-point; but the area cossets the corruptive remains of a site of worship, where an abomniable entity fell from the Stars millenia ago and infected the earth, air and water. Ignoring the warnings, a swift and brutal tale of cosmic horror unfolds.
The atmosphere and setting is brilliant – Peter Haughie
Very Stephen King feel to it. Excellent horror story. Tightly written and fast-paced – Simon Pyne
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David J. Rodger (born 1970 in Newcastle Upon Tyne) is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published five novels; four that are set in the same world: God Seed; Dante’s Fool; Iron Man Project and Edge, and one, Dog Eat Dog, set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn.
Join my Facebook Page
Get involved, keep up to date: enjoy early notice of new releases and updates about work-in-progress; grab free review copies of short stories when I put out invites and save a few bucks with special discount links “for fans only”. Guaranteed Spam-Free.
