I’ve been reading this today, and it’s splendid. A full-blooded Holmes, not a pastiche.

Oh, dearie me! So looking forward to seeing this twice at Dundee Rep next year. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGiC...

In stock and shipping now from Weird House Press - Number 13: Selected Ghost Stories by M.R. James, selected and introduced by me, with illustrations by M. Wayne Miller and a frontispiece by K.L. Turner. Limited time offer of $35 for the unsigned hardback. weirdhousepress.com/products/num...

Great night seeing Eric Idle in Glasgow. Very funny, of course, with some great stories, songs, and video clips, and with some lovely surprises along the way. Also very touching as old friends are remembered.

Such sad news. Frank's Chico in 'A Night in the Ukraine' and 'Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel' was more than an impersonation - he embodied the character completely. No wonder Maxine Marx greeted him backstage with open arms and a cry of 'Daddy!'

Remembering the wonderful Jeremy Brett thirty years after his far too early death. His Sherlock Holmes is one of the main reasons I became a devoted lifelong fan of - and occasional writer of - the character. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhhW...

FABULOUS ANIMALS (BBC, 1975): A young David Attenborough presented this brilliant children's series revolving around one of his personal interests, cryptozoology. Bigfoot, Nessie, Dragons, and all manner of folkloric beasts are covered in David's trademark soothing fashion. A delight.

Just listened to this lovely interview. Thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly John's thoughts on Hammer's modern Draculas. What a loss. @househammerpod.bsky.social @cevni.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

Currently reading: I first started reading Michael Chabon's 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' in early 2020, and was thoroughly immersed... right up until the night lockdown was announced, at which point my concentration span deserted me and the book remained closed for over 5 years.

An extremely exciting day tomorrow... though I can't say why just yet.

A whacking great treatise on Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars by my late friend John J Johnston, courtesy of Dr Angela Stienne and Mummy Stories: www.mummystories.com/single-post/...

FrightFest review – Captured Souls: In Conversation With Graham Humphreys johnnyalucard.com/2025/08/24/f...

Smack the Pony: Back in the Saddle is a lovely mix of sketches, song, clips, and a lively, relaxed, very funny chat with Kirsty Wark in the interviewer's chair. The sketches work beautifully live, and Doon, Sally, and Fiona were as delightfully silly as I'd hoped.

Thirteen tales from the father of the modern ghost story, illustrated by M. Wayne Miller, with a frontispiece by K.L. Turner, selected and introduced by me. weirdhousepress.com/products/num...

I’m teaching this free class on #NigelKneale tomorrow! Come along at… 10am: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-outside... 7pm: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-outside...

RIP Norman Eshley. Best remembered, of course, as Geoffrey Fourmile in 'George & Mildred', but also absolutely brilliant as the psychopathic 'Carnation Killer' in the 'Thriller' episode 'The Colour of Blood' - chilling but strangely sympathetic.

I just backed SINGULARITY –A Horror/Sci-Fi Anthology From VHS Publications on @kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/vhs...

‘For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James’ will be published by Oxford University Press on 10 September 2025. Set your watches, mark your calendars, and spread the word!

Currently reading: I've been in a big comic reading mood, and taking particular delight in the late Darwyn Cooke's gorgeous artwork. This Catwoman collaboration with Ed Brubaker is less superhero action and more hard-boiled heist thriller, and it's fantastic.

Just back from seeing Paul Hendy's brilliant play, 'The Last Laugh', at Glasgow's Theatre Royal. I was lucky enough to see it as it stormed the Fringe last year, and was delighted to see it again with friends I'd raved to about it.

Two episodes in - and fighting the urge to plough through the series in a single sitting - and Bookish is everything I'd hoped it would be, and more. Everything about it just works for me, the writing, the characters, the cast, the look, the sound, the direction. Bravo! #Bookish

Today's cinema trip: Superman was absolutely fantastic! Full to bursting with humour, action, character, and surprises, and perfectly cast, with great chemistry between the leads. Bold, brash, full of heart, and not afraid to be fun. Grinned all the way through it. Oh, and the dog's brilliant!

Currently reading: 'A Once Crowded Sky'. Until recently Arcadia City had superheroes, until all but one of them sacrificed their powers, along with their greatest hero, Ultimate, to defeat an inhuman threat. In the aftermath, the survivors struggle to live without the thrill of the game...

Normal service has been resumed. Our latest newsletter has just been sent out to subscribers. This time it's about Artemis 81, David Rudkin, and a book you should all buy. worldoftelly.beehiiv.com/p/artemis-81

Your Daily Dracula – NECA Ultimate Van Helsing Figure (2025) www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfKB...

RIP Gerald Harper, still fondly remembered as the revived Edwardian adventurer Adam Adamant, a role which must have prepared him for a stint as Sherlock Holmes in the London production of The Crucifer of Blood in 1979.

WHO-RAY!!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3c9...

Two Hammer Professors are among the arrivals today - the Peter Cushing 'Ultimate Van Helsing Action Figure' from Neca (which goes very nicely with the Christopher Lee 'Ultimate Dracula' figure), and the Quatermass 2 Deluxe Blu-Ray set from Hammer, which has arrived well ahead of schedule.

Signed & unsigned editions of NUMBER 13: Selected Ghost Stories by M.R. James can be pre-ordered here. Deluxe editions are signed by the editor (me), & artists, K.L. Turner & M. Wayne Miller. (Sadly Dr James has been unavailable for autographs since 1936.) weirdhousepress.com/products/num...

Happy 45th anniversary to the BBC2 Horror Double Bill programming that led to one of the greatest Radio Times covers of all time.

Latest arrival for the archive, from March 1978, the programme for the smash hit Broadway run of Ira Levin's twisty-turny comedy thriller Deathtrap. This issue of Playbill also includes an interview with Levin, and an article on the then-current Broadway run of Dracula starring Frank Langella.

Ian Richardson stars as a Sherlock Holmes-quoting detective in Tony Bicat's 'Play For Today' film 'A Cotswold Death', an somewhat meta early-'80s take on the classic English village murder mystery.

'The Adventure of the Fellow Traveller', my most recent script for Imagination Theatre's long-running series, 'The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', has arrived on YouTube, where it shall be available for the next month or two. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YQN...

New trailer for Bookish. Hugely looking forward to this series. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb5q...

The signed, lettered, and slipcased deluxe hardcover limited edition of Number 13: Selected Ghost Stories by M. R. James is now up for preorder on the Weird House Press website. Other editions to follow. weirdhousepress.com/products/num...

Dept. Q on Netflix is superb. Really hoping there'll be a second season.

YAAAY! Tickets booked for The High Life musical at Dundee Rep!

Today's cinema visit: The Ballad of Wallis Island. Gorgeous film, very funny, very moving.

Anyway, night night, do buy one or both of these books, sleep tight, as I say, do buy one or both of these books, and sorry to hear about the bed bug situation.

Currently reading: Janice Hallett's latest compulsive page turner of a murder mystery - an epistolary novel told through texts, emails, and online messages.

Imagination Theater continues tomorrow with my story, 'The Adventure of the Fellow Traveller', a new episode of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes! Listen on the radio at KIXI 880 in Seattle at 10:30 Pacific, or download your own copy here: harrynile.com/product/the-...

A dazzling crown! A diabolical curse! A deadly case for Sherlock Holmes! Seances and spirits lead to the hunt for a treasure whose blood-soaked history is anything but elementary! #SherlockHolmes www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Hol...

More for the collection - a Japanese movie programme for the Sleuth film, and a 1976 Fortune Theatre programme for the play, at this point starring Raymond Westwell as Andrew and David Bradley as Milo.

Impressively quick service from Severin Films, who shipped Peter Medak films 'The Ghost of Peter Sellers' and 'The Odd Job' a month earlier than anticipated.

Currently reading: I'm fascinated by Anthony Shaffer's 'Sleuth' and Ira Levin's 'Deathtrap', so 'Deathtraps', Marvin Carlson's 1993 study of the stage comedy thrillers that took their cues from the huge success of those two plays, is a book I'm delighted to have stumbled upon.

Currently reading: The trilogy of collected editions of T.C. Eglington and Simon Davis's glorious and unnerving '2000AD' folk horror comic strip, 'Thistlebone'.

The original hardback got me back into reading during lockdown when I was too stressed to concentrate on books. I've reread it, some stories several times, since, and it's an astonishing work. So a paperback edition with extra stories is an instant purchase. pspublishing.co.uk/englands-scr...

A mysterious package? Whatever can it be?

18 months ago, Michelle Mone admitted she lied to the media about her links to a PPE firm that profited during the pandemic. Enough is enough. Sign the petition to demand she’s expelled from the House of Lords: