Bøger af Anne Billson

This is the budget version of CATS ON FILM, with black and white photos instead of colour ones. What is a Catguffin? Why should you be wary of a Catzilla? What is the difference between a Catagonist and a Heropuss? Who or what is a Modesty Cat, and why does The Third Man have such problems with kitten continuity? All these questions and many others are answered in CATS ON FILM, the definitive work of feline film scholarship, in which critic and novelist Anne Billson explores the many and varied narrative functions of cats by examining their appearances in one hundred films, from blockbusters to art films, foreign films to cult oddities, rom-coms to horror movies. Meet Clovis, Ulysses, Jezebel, Pyewacket, Pumpkin and a clowder of other celebrated film felines, learn how the White Cat of Evil launched his career as Blofeld's lapcat in the James Bond franchise, and thrill to My Day By Jones, in which the cat's eye view of Alien is finally revealed. CATS ON FILM. No cat-loving film fan can afford to be without it.

'Everywhere you looked, there would be women dressed in black - white faces, black hair, mouths painted scarlet. It was The Look. You saw it on the street. You saw it on the covers of magazines. You saw it presenting arts programmes on TV. And some of us saw it in our nightmares...' Anne Billson's debut novel, described by Christopher Fowler in Time Out as 'dark, sharp, chic and very funny', is set at the end of the 'greed is good' era, and features a gothic love triangle between a man, a woman and the 300-year-old vampire they chopped into pieces a decade earlier. But now she's back, and this time she's building a bloodsucking empire... 'Billson honours the rules of the genre, then proceeds to have fun with them... Dark, sharp, chic and very funny' (Christopher Fowler - Time Out) 'A superb satirist' (Salman Rushdie) 'Merits a post position on everybody's reading list, even those who don't usually like vampire stories. It isn't splatter fiction; it's an honest piece of literature' (Michael Wood - London Review of Books) 'Enchanting and ominous at the same time: a rare and impressive piece of literary juggling' (Jonathan Carroll) 'A distinctive, original and refreshing debut' (Kim Newman - Starburst) 'A black and bloody celebration of wit, womanhood and slapstick, beautifully sustained to a thoroughly satisfying climax' (Chris Gilmore - Interzone)

Anne Billson has been writing about films for four decades. Now she has collected over 4000 of her reviews into one book. You won't find reviews of every film ever made here, or reviews of the latest blockbusters, but you will have fun browsing (and perhaps disagreeing with) the personal and often unorthodox opinions of a widely published and respected film writer. Find out which films she loves and which she loathes, which made her laugh, which made her cry, which have the best music.. and which have cats in them!

"The Half Man is an eldritch place!" For the mourners at Justin Saxby's funeral on the desolate coast of north Norfolk, there's literally only one place to stay: The Half Man, a creepy old inn with a deadly secret. Vic, a low-ranking foot soldier from London's gangland, has orders to find out what Saxby was hiding, or else... But easier said than done. For no sooner has Vic arrived at The Half Man than one of his fellow guests is decapitated right in front of him.Everyone knows whodunit, but why? No-one at The Half Man is what they appear to be, and soon Vic will find himself fighting for his life in an imbroglio of hot dames, nosy cops, old magic, ancient rituals and quicksand. Lots of quicksand.THE HALF MAN is a fast-paced supernatural thriller combining echoes of Get Carter, the mysteries of Agatha Christie, and the ghost stories of M. R. James.

'That cracked mirror gave me the heebie-jeebies, and not just because it was impossible to forget what had once happened in front of it. One night, while brushing my teeth, I had the distinct impression that each half of my face was following its own separate game-plan. I'd already removed my glasses in readiness for bed, so I had to squint at the reflection to bring it vaguely into focus. One half of my face was drooling toothpaste over my chin like a rabid dog; the other was wreathed in yellowish shadow and scrutinising me through brown eyes so dark and narrow they appeared almost black. Normally, I wouldn't have worried. Except that my own eyes were blue.' Clare, stuck on the wrong side of town, is desperate to mingle with the artists and writers and well-connected wastrels of fashionable Notting Hill, like her friend Sophie. But how far will she go for a W11 postcode? As far as sharing a flat with someone who died twelve years ago? Clare's going to lead the good life if it kills her. And it's starting to look as though it might... From the author of cult vampire novel Suckers comes a 'sexy, sardonic and distinctly spooky' tale of girls, ghosts and glitterati. 'A slick and remarkably controlled performance which more than equals her satisfying first novel Suckers. Ghost tales invariably leave me cold. I read this one in a single highly enjoyable sitting' (Paul Rutman - Sunday Telegraph) 'With Stiff Lips, Billson overturns the clichés of the horror genre, establishing, in their stead, her own original voice' (Lucy O'Brien - The Independent) 'Sexy, sardonic and distinctly spooky... a tale to make you shiver - if you don't die laughing first' (Cosmopolitan) 'Stiff Lips achieves an authentic and unsettling nastiness' (Sunday Times) 'A vastly entertaining story... As well as being a successful ghost story, Stiff Lips is an amusing satire... Funny and spooky - an excellent combination' (Sopia Watson - The Spectator)

While Let the Right One In is startlingly original, it nevertheless couldn't have existed without the near century of vampire cinema that preceded it.