Hey folks! Delighted that I can reveal this terrifyingly gorgeous cover for my next novel, The Burial Tide!
It’s an Irish folklore influenced horror novel (if you liked Knock Knock you’ll dig it) set on a remote island on the west coast of Ireland where nothing is what it seems. Should be hitting shelves 9th of September!
Hey folks, after an eon entombed in stone, Now That’s I Call Nostalgia has emerged with another episode, this time tackling the Coldstone classic (that’s a pun, that is) GARGOYLES!
Oh, and we’re also on Instagram. Come parasocialise us.
Avast me hearties and heartettes! Outland Publications have launched their Kickstarter for Rising Tides, an anthology of nineteen pirate stories by some of the best genre writers currently working and also me.
My short story The Devil’s Hoof Upon the Tile appears alongside entries from Kate Heartfield, Jason Fischer, Sarah Thérèse Pelletier and many more. Whether you like your buccaneers fantasy themed, horror themed, historically accurate or genre defying (nothing more dangerous than a genre defying pirate) there’s something for everyone.
So if that sounds fun, do head over to Kickstarter and give them whatever doubloons you can spare.
Hey remember that time Disney spent a load of money on a science fiction epic that was visually spectacular but also kinda inert, weirdly off-brand for them, with a load of tonal and pacing issues that ended up costing them a load of money?
Anyway, Tomorrowland is the second (and to date last) live action feature directed by animation legend Brad Bird and it keeps alive the proud Disney tradition of sci-fi movies that I respect and want to like but are just fundamentally too dang flawed on the writing level to get anything other than a qualified endorsement.
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The nineties were awesome.
Look, I know everybody idolises the first decade they can properly remember but this is different. The nineties really were awesome. The Cold War was over, the War on Terror hadn’t started, we’d fixed acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer (and that whole global warming thing would probably sort itself out) and the only threats to world peace were goobs like Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic who would occasionally show up to cause trouble before being punted into the air like Team Rocket.
Plus, the movies, the TV shows, the music. I love this whole era. So I was overjoyed when I finally got my hands on a boxset of the complete Daria, an animated sitcom that ran from 1997 to 2002. Not merely a nineties show, but probably the most nineties show.
And imagine my disappointment on discovering that, like so much nostalgia, it doesn’t actually hold up all that well.
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Hello hello hello!
Two new reviews have dropped for Don’t Trust Fish!
In a starred review, Kirkus says: “Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas. His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity.”
And Betsy Bird has written an absolute sweetheart of a review at the School Library Journal: “There are some picture books that you read that make you chuckle when you see the cover. There are some picture books where they might get one legitimate laugh out of the adult reader. There are some picture books that are funny to young readers. Now consider a book that makes everybody, and I do mean everybody, laugh from the cover onwards. THAT, my friends, is a picture book worth celebrating! That is a rarity! That… is Don’t Trust Fish.”
Well, we’re off to a great start!
Don’t Trust Fish just got its first trade publication review in Publisher’s Weekly and it’s a starred review!
In 1984, two broke young illustrators named Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were trying to break into comics. Eastman randomly doodled a turtle in ninja attire and the pair decided that it was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, essentially a madlib of everything that was popular in comics at the time (except for turtles).
They then wrote a silly little issue parodying Frank Miller’s Daredevil run and that, of course, was that.
This one weird joke concept riffing on an incredibly specific moment in comic book history in a black and white indie vanished without a trace, the very definition of a flash in the pan.
Wait, no. *checks notes*
It went on to conquer the goddamn world. To this day, TMNT is quite possibly the most lucrative Western comic book property not published by either DC or Marvel. Third most successful toyline of all time. Seven TV series, seven films, multiple videogames, hundreds and hundreds of comic issues and a metric shit-ton of merch. Which, on the one hand, is crazy.
How did a concept so ridiculous, and so seemingly instantly dated become one of the most successful and enduring pop culture phenomena of the past half century? Well, success has many fathers. Firstly, I think the franchise’s longevity was sealed with this:
A theme tune that catchy only comes around once in a blue moon. Play it over NINE SEASONS and it’s practically brainwashing.
Then there’s the fact that TMNT relies on a template that has proven to be amazingly durable over the last 180 years.
The Musketeer Archetypes are like the Four Chords of character writing. They’re bloody everywhere, but they’re there for a reason. They work, dammit. And these character traits (Leads, Does Machines, Cool but Rude, Party Dude) hold true across virtually all interpretations of the characters which gives continuity across the franchise. But, and this is crucial, with that stability and continuity there also comes incredible plasticity. The Turtles fandom is fantastically diverse in terms of its age range and that’s because TMNT can be this:
Or it can be THIS:
Once you get past the initially (very, very, very) silly premise, the Brothers Turtle can grow with their audience. There’s stuff for kids and there’s also stuff for adults. So, class, where have we heard that before? A character that has a rock solid core that’s also surprisingly adaptable and can tell stories for any and all ages?
So before we go any further, I owe you all an apology. I know I said I’d be reviewing Turtles Forever but you need to know three things:
Hey folks, the latest episode of Now That’s What I Call Nostalgia is live and ready for your ears. Join us as we discuss The Bots Master, a nineties toy commercial that may be the single worst cartoon show I have ever seen.
It’s amazing (and a little scary), to think that the brand shiny new 21st century is already at the quarter mark. How did we already go through so many years in such a short period of time? They’re so bloody moreish, aren’t they?
Personally and professionally, 2024 was a quiet-before-the-storm kinda year. I’ve been working on several projects that will (some definitely and some hopefully) all burst on the scene in 2025 which, if we’re honest, sounds more like a proper important kind of year for that kind of thing anyway.
After a quiet year I will have not one, but two books hitting shelves and rest assured, I will be spamming about both of them merrily when the time comes.
Oh, and talking about new projects, Spouse of Mouse, myself and our friend Esther (mostly Esther) have started a new podcast called Now That’s What I call Nostalgia where we talk about the cartoon shows of our youth and discuss what drugs were most likely involved in their creation. First two episodes should be live now and you can listen to them HERE (if nothing happens the first two episodes were not, in fact, live now).
Here on the blog in 2024 I reviewed 1 Canon Disney movie, 2 MCU movies, 1 animé, 1 live action movie, 9 non-Disney canon animated features, 1 Bats versus Bolts, 4 Batman movies and one short film.
The standard of movies I reviewed this year was a huge improvement on 2023’s, not least because the MCU and Disney canon’s output have slowed to a greasy trickle as they to figure out just what’s gone wrong. But, like any bout of explosive diarrhoea, just because the first deluge has passed doesn’t mean it’s safe to get off the pot yet. I look at the horizon, with the MCU stunt-casting left and right and Disney bringing their early nineties cheap cash in sequel strategy into the sacred halls of the canon itself….let’s just say I don’t think the worst is behind us just yet. That said, it’s not like we deserve better.
So, with MCU and Disney reviews slowing to a crawl, that meant I got to focus on Batman reviews and the odder and more obscure articles in my backlog. And, I’m happy to say, I discovered (and re-discovered) some real gems. Best movie this year was…I mean, that’s hardly fair, is it?
I was very gratified at how many of you said you enjoyed my review of The Third Man and I think, yeah, a little culture around here wouldn’t kill us. I’m going to try and review some more classics.
Despite the overall uptick in quality, Worst Movie was actually the more fiercely competitive category as I did review some pretty egregious stinkers: Land Before Time XIII, Wish, The Marvels and Cool World.
But there was only one movie that I actively loathed and think you all know what it is. Dawn of Justice.
Lastly, I want to introduce a new category; Most Pleasant Surprise. These were the movies that I went in to knowing little and expecting less and came out with a new personal favourite. Honourable runner up is Joseph: King of Dreams, the scrappy little direct-to-video sequel that nonetheless set up shop in my head. Some bangers in the soundtrack too. But there was one movie that I was initially cool on but where my opinion of it grew and grew even after I watched it and reviewed it. So if you read my review of Your Name and felt that it was a little unenthusiastic, you’re right. So, let me set the record straight I adore this film.
Fantastic movie. Heart breaking. Yes, Makoto Shinkai fans. I get what you meant now.
Oh, and while I didn’t review it on the blog I may as well leave you with a recommendation.
I loved it as a thriller. I loved it as a character study. I loved it as a work of cinematic art. I loved it as a Catholic. Best new film I’ve seen all year. Whatever you think it is about it’ll probably surprise you. And I will definitely have to review it just so I can talk to someone about the ending.
Anyway, hope you and yours have a safe, wonderful and happy Christmas and new year.
Nollaig shona daoibh go léir,
Mouse.
unshavedmouse 