Welcome to the Book Log where you will now find, amongst other things:
Reviews of Books I have enjoyed
Notes on My Current Ideas and Projects
Some thoughts on How I Write, influences, inspiration etc.

EDINBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL and ANOTHER ME by Catherine MacPhail

My appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday, as part of the School’s Programme, seemed to go well. I was rather nervous about it beforehand, never having done an event quite of that sort before. The audience were from schools as nearby as Edinburgh itself and from as far away as Inverness-shire. The latter group had assembled for their coach journey at five in the morning in order to arrive on time. That shows remarkable dedication to the cause. My audience all seemed very alert and attentive, despite the early start some of them had made, and I was asked some intriguing questions at the end of the talk.

Most of the school groups who saw my talk were also intending to see Catherine MacPhail’s, later in the afternoon. Catherine MacPhail writes lean, hard-hitting thrillers for young people. Like me, her first novel for children was a Fidler Award winner, the snappily titled RUN ZAN RUN, which won the award in 1993. She has written many more books since then. One of my favourites is ANOTHER ME, a mystery story containing a strong element of the supernatural. Set among echoing, fog-filled streets and alleyways and empty school corridors chiming with ghostly footsteps, the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty is built up unrelentingly, as a girl finds herself stalked by an uncomfortably familiar figure. ANOTHER ME is based on the legend of the doppelganger. The term comes from the German, it literally translates as “double-goer”, and it describes the spirit or ghost of a living person, which has somehow manifested in physical form, usually with the intention of haunting its original. Although not as well known as Gothic staples such as werewolves and vampires, the legend of the doppelganger is nonetheless a tenacious one. The influence of the tale seems to have found its way into one of the plot lines of the current American TV series HEROES, for instance. The legend is rich is in psychological implications, and stories such as the silent German expressionist horror film, THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE, based on the doppelganger legend, end with an inevitable showdown between the central character and their malevolent double. ANOTHER ME is no exception to this rule, and the conclusion to MacPhail’s story is chilling indeed.