Unshaved Mouse

Well, it was nice while it lasted. As mind bogglingly ambitious as Richard Donner’s Superman is, it’s incredible to think that the original vision was even more epic in scope. The idea was that Superman 1 and 2 would be released in quick succession and would constitute one single, massive saga, much like what Quentin Tarantino did with Kill Bill years later. Instead, mid-way through production…

Thus far, the games I’ve recommended have all been of a very recent vintage so how about we look at one of the canon classics? Grim Fandango is an adventure game written by Tim Schafer, originally released in 1998, presumably for the Ediphone. Since then it’s been remastered and released on virtually every console you can imagine. The game takes place in the Aztec underworld, reimagined in…

Superman (1978) is the greatest movie of the eighties. I know what I said. Yes, fine, there’s the number “1978” after the title but who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? Superman for me is the starting pistol of that era of huge populist genre blockbusters (Indiana Jones, ET, Back to the Future, Never Ending Story et al) that roared into American cinemas as the stings of Vietnam…

More? More! Don’t Trust Fish has been shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Awards Book of the Year Book Awards Award (I dunno man, it’s late). And, as part of our epic struggle to actually get back to a somewhat regular update schedule, Now That’s What I Call Nostalgia has a new episode about Bosco, an Irish children’s show about a small puppet who lives in a box that I watched throughout my…

I’ve been binge watching The Tick for a future episode of the podcast (so much better than I remembered, and I remembered it pretty damn fondly) and I was struck by something that happens in episode four, The Tick versus Mr Mental where the Tick is forced to confront his greatest fear: WORKING IN AN OFFICE. Dispatch is a 2025 superhero adventure game by AdHoc Studios released on Windows,…

What even the hell? Yesterday, Don’t Trust Fish was awarded Book of the Year at the KPMG Children’s Book of the Year Awards. Huge thanks, and immense congratulations to all the other winners and shortlistees. It is humbling to be counted among you. Now please watch my stumbling, completely unprepared acceptance speech for your amusement.

If you’re someone who’s had to deal with depression at any point in your life (and if you’re not, hello, freak) then here’s a piece of advice that’s stood me in good stead: keep a list of the media that makes you happy. I have a collection of movies (Emperor’s New Groove, Big Lebowski), TV Shows (Frasier, Simpsons) and books (literally anything by PG Wodehouse) that have served me well when the…

Hey! Hey! My interview with Totally Not Illiterate is now up where you can see just how badly I need to clean my laptop camera (I look more gauzy than the female guest star on an episode of sixties Star Trek). Enjoy!

I make fun of Alan Moore sometimes, but rest assured it comes from a place of purest admiration. He’s who I want to be when I grow up. When I’m in my seventies I want to be a mouthy old beard engaging in magic duals with gender-ambiguous wizards, worshipping a snake god and complaining about everything all the time. “That’s not true! I stop when I’m asleep, don’t I?” And today, while hacking…

Hello folks! Great news! I can at last reveal that the UK/Ireland rights to Knock Knock Open Wide have been acquired by British publisher Solaris for release March next year with an absolutely gorgeous new cover by Sam Gretton. BEHOLD! And in a weird bit of synchonicity I had the absolute pleasure to be interviewed by Violet and Aurora for their podcast Totally Not Illiterate (they’re not, I…

I’ve decided to start a new little mini-series here where I talk about games that I really love and try to explain why they work for me and (maybe) give some attention to titles that I think deserve more love. One of these is definitely Suzerain which is by no means unknown but, I feel, is probably more niche. So what is this game and why do I love it? Suzerain is a 2020 political simulator…

My friends, I ask you to consider a simple hypothetical: Maybe we’re the assholes? This meme did the rounds last year after Pixar’s Elio crashed and burned and someone at Disney had gotten into the hard liquor and had some feelings they needed to express. And while I do believe that 90% of the time creators blaming the audience for the failure of their project is the mark of a talentless hack…

Hey everyone! First of all, I know, I know, I know. If this blog was any more abandoned and neglected I’d be getting visits from magical Christmas snow-men warning me to change my ways before my blog grows up and doesn’t even remember who I am. I promise I’ll update more regularly and play catch with you all once this draft of the new novel is finished. You and me, just tossing the ol’ baseball…

Between the Superman radio series’ colossal decade-long run, the Fleischer cartoons and two multi-part film serials, I have to wonder if audiences in 1951 were starting to experience superhero fatigue. Remember how people complained when we got the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk so soon after Eric Bana’s? That at least was a five year gap. Kirk Alyn had barely flown offscreen before George Reeves…

Two weeks, 20,000 kilometres, 4 countries. There are trips and there are TRIPS and my contribution to the family collection of fridge magnets has been robust and muscular. Late in February I took part in the Whole Wide World book tour organised by Children’s Books Ireland and Laureate na n-Óg Patricia Forde to visit schools across Northern Ireland. And once that was over, I immediately began a…

Heeeeey it’s me, Unshaved Mouse, your favourite writer/blogger who overpromises because he’s terrified of disappointing people and ends up taking on WAAAAY too many writing projects and then spirals and completely burns out! “You know! THAT fucking idiot! Ha ha!” So, as you all know I’m currently preparing for my first North American book tour at the end of this month while also facing a huge…

Big news! At the end of the month I’ll be embarking on an epic, two week book tour of North America with my colleague in anti-piscine propaganda Dan Santat! We’ll be doing readings in schools across the US and Canada as well as some public events and I’d love to see you there! Here’s the schedule Fri 27th February, 6pm Anderson’s Bookshop, Downers Grove, Illinois TICKETS HERE:…