Crime and the Supernatural...

"The lines are open." Seffi Callard from Mean Spirit by Will Kingdom.

I don't know why modern writers are thinking that these two genres blend. Yes, sometimes they make an interesting read, but often, as with this book, they're a little slow. This is one of two authors that I know of and have read that do this. The other being Phil Rickman. I actually prefer Rickman to Kingdom, but there you go.

In Mean Spirit Kindom tells the story of a medium who is suddenly being bothered by a nasty manifestation that appeared during one of her sessions, and all of the events which follow. There are a few interesting sidelines, like the concept that if you believe that a curse exists you start linking any, even small misfortune with that curse even when there is no connection... and one or two other things. But I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might want to read the book, so I won't say much more. It was an interesting read once I'd gotten about 2/3rds of the way through, and that makes it a disappointingly slow book as far as I'm concerned.

Polite Dinner Time Conversation?

So this was how it went. Dad's trying to find something on the TV to watch, and ends up making a right mess of pressing the buttons on the remote and the programme guide goes down too far.

Dad - Bollocks! Why does it always /do/ that? (blaming the remote control, of course).
Mum - I think it was your finger.
Dad - My thumb actually.
Mum - That's what I meant
me - Well it certainly wasn't his bollocks was it?

Of course this has me and mum in stitches for the next ten minutes, laughing so much we can't eat our food. Then Dad was laughing because we were laughing.