I've been going bonkers reading Mike Ashley's fantasy anthologies. This was the first one I read:
I don't remember which author wrote which story, but here I found some of the titles here. These are the ones which I remember and really liked:
A Slow Day in Hell
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Shoemaker and the Elvis by Lawrence Schimel - I particularly liked this one, it was very cute!
Escape from the Planet of the Bears by Tom Holt - Excellent parody.
The Case of the Four-and-Twenty-Blackbirds by David Langford. A very Film Noir, Raymond-Chandler-private-detective tale.
Then I read this anthology of science fiction, from the same publishers.
This page contains the entire list of the stories. Special Mention:
The Pen and the Dark by Colin Kapp - Gripping suspense, IMO.
Inanimate Objection by H. Chandler Elliott - This really influenced me, I started seeing all the inanimate objects in my house out to get me!
High Eight by Keith Roberts - This one was really violent and scary...
Shards by Brian W. Aldiss - Has some Monty-Pythonesque instances of brilliant wordplay.
Into Your Tent I'll Creep by Eric Frank Russell - A must-read for ICHC fans who think cats are plotting world domination. It's actually the dogs!
and my top favourite, A Death In The House by Clifford D. Simak - a sweet, touching story about a country farmer who finds a dying alien.
And now I'm on the third - The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy. This far surpasses the first one I read.
The opening story, Happy Valley, is by none other than John Cleese and Connie Booth. BRILLeffingIANT. The second one, Attack of the Charlie Chaplins, is also hilarious. I read a couple more but I can't remember them at the moment.
All of last month and this one, the Film Club at college is showing New Wave. I saw two British New Wave films this week - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Karel Reisz, and A Taste of Honey by Tony Richardson. The effect is already showing - I've caught myself on more than one occasion yelling in a British accent to no one in particular: "Make me a nice cup o' tea, love!"
The first film is like the British version of On The Waterfront, because Albert Finney's chequered shirts look like those worn by Brando. But he's different in that Finney doesn't have any of Brando's affected mannerisms and brooding demeanor, and the story is of the individual and not of his entire class. And though he is very reminiscent of Brando at the beginning, he gradually grows into his own mould - a very brash, very British working-class rebel, but someone with a slightly playful side.
The second film is a funny and poignant story of Jo, a schoolgirl who falls in love and gets pregnant by a black British sailor, and eventually befriends a gay man Geoffrey, while her single mother Helen continues to pursue men and neglect her. Rita Tushingham, who played Jo, was brilliant. I couldn't shake off the feeling that she somewhat resembled another famous actor throughout the movie, and it was only when it ended that I realised that I was thinking of Gael García Bernal! Her mother's character, Helen, does have occasional lapses of maternal instinct for her child, but failed to redeem herself towards the end when she selfishly barges into the house after a failed marriage and drives out her daughter's caring gay roommate.
Oh, and I just downloaded the first 9 songs of Nine Inch Nails' brand new album Ghosts I-IV. Whee!
(Thanks to Bobavey for the info!)
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